This is a Toika novel, so expect the fourth wall breaking and skeleton jokes. This is like a VRMMO novel with the grinding and stuff at the start, but it will probably stop or lessen at the middle parts. Everyone expects it to suddenly at the end the MC killing the last boss like a tr*sh mob, probably.

Toika really wants to make a novel without a harem (but forced by fans to do it anyways) so he probably made the MC a skeleton and I envision him laughing like a villain saying "NOW NOTHING CAN STOP ME FROM MAKING A NOVEL WITHOUT A HAREM"

I pray to whatever deities out there that he succeeds.

C40 part3

Mission failed, we'll get em' next time. Can we get an F for Toika who was dragged by the Korean mob to the dark path?

Sorry to be the guy that shits on the new novel but, for these 25 chapters (each 'part' is as long as a normal chapter) I've felt like I was reading a videogame log.

To be more specific, a MMORPG log.

The MC transmigrates as a skeleton hero to purge the undead and so far he just kills monsters, gains skills and stats. The skill list gets longer until you're just bored to read everything once the status screen shows up.

Stats are also just numbers that mean very little to the story, serving only to compare the MC strength with that of the next monsters. There is no story so far and also no characters. His only interactions are with some other heroes in a chat ability he gets, but even that is quite mild. Just a bunch of random people talking in a chat about levels, quests and itens. The only difference with a common MMO chat is the lack of spammers selling and buying game currency.

The translation is great as most novels in wuxiaworld are, but unfortunately I can't recommend this, unless you enjoy reading about a skeleton mindless killing mindless monster mobs and getting their skills with endless repetition.

But hey, a lot of people love "Kumu Desu ga, Nani Ka" while I find it boring and repetitive, so maybe you'll like this too, which is, in my opinion, very similar.

AKA Grim Reaper: Origins

Toy Car's usual genre-savvy protagonist meets Brook the Straw Hat, complete with all the skull jokes. Really, if you at any point liked the author's other stories, you'll probably like this one. It's exciting and well-paced so far, at least, though our sketagonist's getting stronger quickly, so hopefully it'll still be interesting when he's powerful.

Plus, since he's a skeleton, we definitely don't have to deal with a harem strangling the action/adventure and turning this into a rom-com. Definitely not. I hope.... good gods, I hope, because this'll just get weird if it does.

Utter disappointment. Is this really the same guy that wrote Everyone Else is a Returnee?

ZERO character development.

ZERO plot.

ZERO interesting characters.

ALL of the nonsense and pacing issues.

ALL of the numbers rising at an exponential level.

Seriously, what the f*ck did I just read? For those that read EER, imagine that story (300+ chapters) condensed in only 80 chapters minus the fun and quirky characters. That was my experience so far.

Supermegahyper OP equipment comes and goes every two chapters for something even more OP.

MC somehow is a genius of magic, and all he did to show that was focus and manipulate mana in a slightly different way. Twice. In the entire novel.

The pacing is jarring to say the least. MC visited a few areas at this point, but with no world building whatsoever it makes no difference. One chapter he is at the sewers, the other he is at some forest that was introduced the very same chapter and only now we get to hear why the forest is important or how that one race that was also introduced on the fly is a important part of the world and also under extreme risk now. Thank god MC is there to save the day.

This is seriously one of the worst novels I have ever read. No world building (which includes no proper description of any area). Sewers are described as... sewers. One word. That is seriously all you will get. Figure yourself how the f*ck that place was supposed to look like or what is happening around the MC besides some monsters (that are also not described) attacking him.

I have no investment in the characters, I have no idea where the MC is, where is he going, what he wants to do or why. Who is he? What did he do before being summoned? How does that affect his mindset? If any of those themes were touched, it was for one paragraph tops.

This novel is a hard drop. It is really f*cking bad. As flawed as EER might be, I still like it, so I don't need a masterpiece to have fun while reading. Nevertheless, this novel bored me out of my mind. I am even starting to get angry at it. It is like the author regressed into a complete amateur overnight. My disappointment is immeasurable.

In the end, this novel is all about numbers rising. It is all about the 'tell' instead of the 'show'. MC is now super op, and we know it because we are told so, instead of being shown with proper actions on his part and creativity on the author's part. A f*cking disgrace. I seriously don't know how this is rated 4.2.

It only gets a 1 star because 0 is not an option.

It was really good in the beginning, with a really strong start, but as the story progressed I found it to be a bit boring and predictable. Everything becomes really repetitive. Hero kills something, gains new skill, and this repeats with every enemy he meets. There is no goal in sight, its just a mindless power up with no real adversary. As soon as he starts a fight you already know he will most likely win the fight and gain a new skill at the end of the "struggle". Its just rinse and repeat. At the current chapter, MC already has a wall of text filled with skills.. And it just keeps increasing.

The only saving grace and the thing that kept me going were the witty remarks which are made occasionally by the MC, which I must admit are quite fun to read from time to time. All in all its a decent novel to pass some time with as long as you dont think too much about the story. My rating for the novel so far:

Translator: 10

Story: 3-4

MC: 7

Side character: 4-5 (not many side characters have been introduced so far into the story, but from what have been introduced.. In my personal opinion, there is little to no depth to their character)

As of writing this review, I am completely caught up with all the chapters that have been released so far, and I have been loving it. In fact, for me it's a personal 5 stars, but a rated it a 4 because I know that it definitely has some problems that other people might care about.

Side note, this thing is long as heck, so if you want to skip several paragraphs of reading, I've detailed the main points below.

Strengths:

This novel's greatest strength is the interactions between Lee Shin Woo and Jin Taylor, his companion. They make a very good comedy duo, with the MC being the funny man and Jin being the straight man. If this kind of comedy isn't to your tastes, you'll probably find it stale after a while, but to me, it always seems to find ways to develop in new directions. It mostly comprises of the MC reacting in a very absurd way to the world around him, and Jin reacting to his reactions.

Another high point is the actual relationship between the MC and Jin, as they have a strong friendship that you rarely see in novels like this. Most often, friends in shounen novels are the kind who will "support each other to the very end!" and "will always be friends no matter what!", but the MC and Jin have what feels like a real relationship with it's own ups and downs. Like, I could totally imagine them just hanging out in our world as friends without the crazy context of the Underground Empire.

Spoiler

I was slightly disappointed to find out that Jin was a girl, and that she would soon be turning into another, very sexy human girl, who was close to the MC, but I guess this is a Toika novel in the end. At least it became a nice point of character development for them, as we realize that the MC already new this, but was just avoiding the fact because he didn't want it to affect their friendship. It's nice watching them come over this and still be friends anyways, even though one rides around on the other's back all the time.

A third point is that you can feel how hard Toika tried to not make this a harem, even if it kind of devolved into one anyways. Like reviewer BigBadBoi said, the author seemed to have tried to make his MC as unlovable and unsexy as possible, but he still ends up surrounded by a bunch of hot necrophiliacs anyways (-_-). At least the author made it so that there were other hot guys, especially a very typical harem protagonist, Lloyd, for other hot girls to fall in love with, as well as hot girls who just did their own thing. The MC also goes out of his way to only encourage girls falling in love with him when it'll serve his own purposes, which leads us into the fourth strength...

The MC is really interesting, actually calculating, and realizes that there are girls that are in love with him and uses that! Yay! Unlike some of Toika's other novels *cough*EER*cough*IRFN*cough*, SFF's MC is completely cognizant of the fact there are females who exist and that are attracted to him. He also acknowledges that he totally wants to have s*x if he can get his human body back. Asides from this, the MC is very clever. Although it seems somewhat over the top on occasion, he actually uses his brain to solve mysteries with clues that the reader was given, but that they probably didn't figure out. Also, though it's mostly because of his karma, he is quite good at using others for his own ends, which makes for very interesting and funny fight scenes. Despite of this, there are still characters who drive him into a corner, either through pure strength or by outwitting him, like the Generals and the Emperor.

Lastly, the world and the mysteries hidden in it are very interesting. I won't speak on it too much here, as it's a huge spoiler, but there are enough twists and turns to always keep the story fresh. Unlike most CN (yes, I know this a KN, I'm just using them as a point of contrast), where the same things happen, just on a larger scale, the set pieces and action in the novel are always changing so that you never lose interest. One chapter, it could be infiltrating a city and setting up a spy network, followed by fighting a giant monster, followed by army building. This novel is packed with flavorful and dynamic world building and power systems, even if karma make no sense whatsoever to me.

Weaknesses

Unfortunately, like many Toika novels the main problem is a lack of tension, and it's especially egregious here (yes, I said egregious). Unlike with some of his other MCs, LSW is never really in any danger. Since it appears so early on, I won't put it in a spoiler box, but one of his starting skill is Invisible Heart, which essentially gives him 100 lives, as well as a boost every time he revives. Although it might seem like he could still be in danger if he loses a lot, by this point, he's only died like 4 times, and he's always finding cheat ways to get more. Jin's revival system is a lot more limited, but by now they're both way too OP for it to matter.

Spoiler

It does seem like the Invisible Heart is going to be part of the way he becomes immortal later on, but we knew that was going to happen anyways, it's a Toika novel. Lee Shin Woo also seems to be taking the path of a flame god like the MC of EER, but at least this time he's mixing in the power of edgy-ness.

Second! Problem! The MC gets OP way too easily, which also hamstrings the tension. What, I can't beat this guy because he's a higher level than me? Oh, let me just absorb all the bones and mana on the battlefield for miles around, level up, then whoop his ass. While some people might say that he has to put himself in deadly situations to raise his resistances, we all still know he has like 90 lives left, and that he's too smart to ever put himself in real danger without a backup plan. Although, Jin's reactions to this do make it a bit better.

Numero tres! Frankly, some of the side characters can get kind of one-note, especially some of the members of his pseudo-harem that's only now really getting off the ground. The Dryads and Ye Jin Jin are purely devoted to the MC, which is the same with his entire army. In fact, pretty much everyone who is in an army is completely devoted to their leader, which I think crippled what could have been some interesting characters, like Chi Paul and the Giants. Also, because of the base instincts of the undead which get explained later in, a lot of their actions are like records on repeat. The more background heroes like Lloyd and Ereina (too lazy to check if that's how you spell it) are kind of flat as well. Character growth, much like luck and beauty, is not evenly distributed in this novel.

Summary

Essentially, if you're looking for a fun, comic romp through an apocalyptic isekai world, this is totally for you. If you're okay with a lack of tension and just want to watch the main characters work their way up through a screwed up world as they get closer to finding out the truth behind everything, then you should definitely give this a go. If you can't do without proper stakes or an underdog protag, then... Well, I hate saying "this isn't for you", since I think a novel this good deserves at least a chance despite it's flaws, but you are less likely to enjoy it.

This was my first review, and I liked this novel enough to get off my lazy ass and make an account just to write this. Thanks for reading, even if you just skipped to the Summary.

-Coin

P.S. I'm too lazy to go back and write a paragraph for this, but as expected of WuxiaWorld, the TL is exceptional. Keep up the good work.

If you like infinite competitive dungeon, you'd love this. Basically same concept, except hes a skeleton and everything that he does has bones involved. It's not surprising since its written by the same author. The MC thought process is smarter than a moron though, which is better than his older works where everyone was basically a big fat idiot at first. This one actually has a decent common sense. Lol

First off, each "part" is about the length of a normal Web novel chapter, so the author has that going.

The premise was an interesting idea, but maybe it was just my misreading it, but I thought the story would be more about the challenges of being an undead while his friends who weren't kept trying to kill him. Instead its about the MC who is undead and killing his natural teammates, the other undead. Not necessarily a bad story idea, but just not the one I was expecting or hoping for.

Here is the major flaw of this story in my eyes - the story revolves heavily around stats and levels, making a big deal out of it most of the time, but then the MC pulls these miracle wins out of his hat all because he stabbed harder after dying. Now he gets a stat boost from dying, but there is a significant difference between level 1 and 2 but he ignores that? Find myself not caring about the stats, which means I find myself not caring about the main portion of the story.

First off, each "part" is about the length of a normal Web novel chapter, so the author has that going.

The premise was an interesting idea, but maybe it was just my misreading it, but I thought the story would be more about the challenges of being an undead while his friends who weren't kept trying to kill him. Instead its about the MC who is undead and killing his natural teammates, the other undead. Not necessarily a bad story idea, but just not the one I was expecting or hoping for.

Here is the major flaw of this story in my eyes - the story revolves heavily around stats and levels, making a big deal out of it most of the time, but then the MC pulls these miracle wins out of his hat all because he stabbed harder after dying. Now he gets a stat boost from dying, but there is a significant difference between level 1 and 2 but he ignores that? Find myself not caring about the stats, which means I find myself not caring about the main portion of the story.

This is a novel that was decent enough to read but nothing to write home about. Honestly, if it wasn't for ratings being so inflated, I would deem this more of a 2/5 instead of a 3/5, it's not that bad but it's certainly not that enjoyable of a read. As we all know, anything below 3/5 is deemed as not readable tr*sh here.

It had quite a lot of potential. I expected something somewhat grand, because this setting was truly interesting and in the hands of a truly talented writer, it would've been amazing. Sadly, while readable and even somewhat enjoyable for the first half of the novel, the author just made way too many bad decisions and it's clear that he's not truly invested in his own works, at least not in finishing them as he tends to lose interest after a few months, it's always clearly reflected in his novels when he stops caring and just feels like ending it.

Honestly, one of the most disappointing things is that my expectations were betrayed. The novel title and the picture tells you a story about how he'd get chased by humans and get into awkward situations because how he's undead, but that never actually happens during the entire story. He hides his identity to everyone and never has any issues like that, just a few people know and those he tells would never attack him. It could've been hilarious if it was used for comedy, but the author never uses the very thing that seems to have been the core idea of this novel at the start.

The karma system is just confusing, no one really understands what it's about and it's not explained even at the very end. I guess the author just thought it sounded cool and mysterious. The battles are honestly so-so at best, it used to be decent enough at earlier chapters but quickly turned into a bunch of deus ex machina. One of the most infuriating parts of this novel is honestly the part where we don't understand anything that's going on, clearly the author hasn't really thought it out and that might be a big part of why he just ended it all without explaining all these things, because he didn't know and didn't want to think about it. We're not going on an adventure with the MC, we're just being dragged along forcibly, that's how it feels.

The author also has this peculiar habit of making everyone love the MC and praise him to the heavens. The girls are rarely ever present without saying how awesome he is or praising him in some other way. It all feels quite artificial. Also, the author doesn't keep in line with his own power levels, we KNOW that the MC is supposed to completely crush any enemy he meets with his ridiculous abilities that we know for a fact that he has and can see in stats, but he always pretends that it was a hard fight, often after the fact by telling us that "phew, that was so difficult, you didn't see it during the fight but god was it a close call!", it doesn't really work well, it tends to be more annoying than anything. The MC just keeps on getting abilities very easily to the point where you don't even care to keep up with it all and none of the abilities seem to notably increase his fighting prowess. I never felt that I had a clear grasp on the powers of any of the characters. The immersion was just way too lacking to make it a good read.

The biggest issue I have with this novel is the utterly anticlimactic ending and all the several dozen chapters leading up to that point. Nothing is explained in the end, we don't get to see him actually reach god level, we don't get to see him getting to the final point in his relationship with all the girls, we don't get to know what happens after the utterly rushed final battle. You know what this reminded me of? Yeah, an axed manga. Everything is just suddenly cut off as if he has no choice but to stop it because the publishing company dropped him. It's very underwhelming and ridiculously disappointing. It somehow felt even worse than when authors drop their works in the middle as we were supposed to get answers but didn't get them. Managed to read all the way until the end but everything just drops right at the finish line, the last few chapters and epilogue seems to be missing even though they aren't. "Everyone is a returnee" had a pretty disappointing ending but this is far worse as we at least got to see him reach the peak and settle down in an epilogue. Sigh. The author essentially acted like a kid building up a sand castle and then kicking it down right at the finish line.

In the end, there are so many things to complain about concerning how the author handled this novel. So many loose ends and plot holes. So many expected scenes that we were waiting for and were "promised" but didn't happen because the author just rushed to end it all.

Spoiler

The romance between the MC and the main heroine for one. We don't even get to confirm if they became a couple. Neither did they even have sex, despite the fact that he did a few of the side girls. We don't understand what'll happen later on to any of the girls nor any of the other people there. We don't know what'll happen to the world afterwards, as it's all cut out right at the end of the final battle. What of the god and all the other characters? All the unanswered questions are grating. Will he even reach level 10 (god level) ? What will the god that sent them there do now? what are gods in the end and what's the situation concerning all these worlds? The main heroine just got turned into a human from an undead horse, don't we get to see her enjoy herself instead of just seeing one line where she's transformed by the mc? The MC got a ridiculous power-up at the end for no real reason and instant finished everything... Seriously, calling it an "axed novel" would be the best description of what happened, even though it wasn't forcibly stopped or anything, the author just had enough and wanted to end it all and start his next novel, so he pummeled the card house right before placing the last two cards at the top. Saddening and even somewhat infuriating to have read this all the way to the end only to get hit with that.

Honestly, I don't have anything that good to say about this. It wasn't too bad of a read, the humor was good at times albeit extremely repetitive as it was usually the same thing over and over again, like being called a demon by his teammates and him pretending to be innocent, in other words, very low-level stuff. The only reason this was worth reading was because it was so short. The first 200 chapters were decent enough but I feel like it got progressively worse after that as the author tried to end it quickly. If anything, it was easy to read and the translation was great. If you have nothing to read and want something with absolutely no suspense whatsoever and where you had better not think closely into things, this does the job. It's not bad to the point of dropping it, but it's not really a novel I can recommend. Something you can expect from toika is that all of his novels tend to be identical even in completely different settings. It's a gathering of nonsense, soulless harem members that exist to praise the MC, a MC that is a god disguised as a human right from the start, a bad and rushed ending and usually a lack of explanation for most things. Everything always goes in the best way possible for the MC and nothing can stand against him as he meets absolutely no real hardships. His MCs are also kind of crazy in various ways, they're surreal as human beings. It just doesn't seem to change as he always seems to write day by day without proper planning. That's why I recommend just reading one of his novels, then it might be quite a good experience, and "everyone is a returnee" is easily his best work thus far, so go for that instead.

I hope this overly long review has helped you.