I am Smart Chapter 30 Discussion

I'd like to preface this review by saying that I actually really enjoyed the novel's early chapters and would have rated it a solid 10/10 if it continued in that direction.

A basic synopsis is that our MC (originally male, quite smart, not particularly blessed physically) suddenly wakes up as a girl who is significantly less blessed intellectually but made up for with a huge buff in her physique with a side effect of some new hobbies and altered tastes. I loved how the author approached the MC's identity dissonance.

Spoiler

For instance, our MC (as of chapter 30) is still in heavy denial that she loves her bear dolls or that she is a gaming addict lol. She also tries desperately to cling on to her past academic achievements from when she hadn't transformed yet e.g. by mentioning she was a top Korea University student.

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This is an aspect that I feel isn't focused/elaborated on enough in GB works and it's done excellently here.

Also, how the author wrote in the drastic drop in cognitive capabilities was great too. The idea that, while our MC could still theoretically do the same calculations or similar thought processes as pre-transformation, it hurts her head to do so and takes a much longer time than it would have previously. Meanwhile, her past acquired knowledge is still intact (e.g. when she was asked some history/trivia questions by a viewer and answered perfectly). It makes it feel somewhat more natural. (as natural as waking up as a girl one morning could be, I suppose)

The earlier chapters (I'd like to say around the first 20?) focused primarily on these changes and how our MC learns of each of them and adapts and/or makes changes to her daily routine and spending habits to accommodate for these new things in her life. It's a slice of life without much real plot development or anything, but it was still a great read as a GB and SoL enjoyer and I would've personally liked for it to continue in this direction and have her discover more new things about her new self or dive deeper into her newly acquired hobbies.

With all that said, why did I give it 4/5 stars? It's because the primary focus shifts quite quickly from the genderbending and other transformations/alterations to the MC to a focus on livestreaming content (around the chapter 20 mark or so I would say). I'm aware that it is one of the tags in the work, but the synopsis doesn't exactly give you an idea of how much livestreaming is actually involved in the plot itself. As of chapter 30, it seems it will be almost entirely the focus of the novel from here on out.

It'a quite disappointing for me personally as the livestreaming content doesn't interest me all that much. It's not really something unique or new nor is it particularly well-done here. (off the top of my head, I can think of at least 3 other korean GB novels that also have livestreaming as a main focus... What is up with that?) It also takes away from the possibility to explore more of the aspects I mentioned earlier as streaming and gaming takes up a huge amount of her time.

Spoiler

It's mentioned she logged around 300+ hours of play time within a month in the game. Assuming she started playing on the 1st day of a 30 day month, that's an average of 10h/day for someone who still has a part-time job to go to on top of that... Pure insanity.

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Also, honestly, I have absolutely no interest in (what seems to be) a League of Legends type of game that's described in this novel. Half the explanations go in one ear and out the other for me. I really only went in wanting to read a GB novel, not gaming tactics for a LoL ripoff.

The interactions with her stream viewers actually aren't half-bad, I'll give the author that. However, I would've much preferred to see more focus on her irl interactions which feel more personal and not so superficial as the viewer chats.

Spoiler

e.g. I really enjoyed the chapter where our MC spent time at the arcade with her co-worker Lee Daram or the chapters where she goes to the the doll shop and interacts with the boy who works there and makes the dolls. These chapters alone were much more interesting than all the chapters where she livestreamed combined.

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Alas, it seems that isn't the direction the author is taking the work. Perhaps it's a little early to judge as it seems the raws (as of the time of writing) have about 118 chapters and, maybe, the focus does shift back to the GB and other transformation aspects later. However, skimming up to chapter 33, (latest TL available on NU) I can't foresee that and I'll have to leave a 4 star rating. If I had known how much livestreaming and gaming would've taken center stage, I probably wouldn't have bothered with starting at all.

Tl;dr - Livestreaming is a big part of this novel. If you like that content, great! Read on. If you don't (like me), don't bother. You will only experience disappointment.