Pincare

I enjoy the vague, fractured tapestry that is the protagonist's narration at the beginning of this story. An odd amalgamation of half-remembered memories coupled with immediate fourth wall-breaking and a humorous reference greets the reader, welcoming them into the story by using the odd narration to provide a sense of relatability, attaching this factor to the protagonist and constructing a bridge out of it, recovering from the gap of confusion this type of narration might fall into and, through the journey across, transforming the reader's puzzlement into curiosity. This introduction provides the perfect segway into the later chapters as information about the world, magic system, and science references serving as inspiration for the magic system are delivered rapidly, requiring the careful attention elicited by the feeling of curiosity the first chapter already paved the way for and instilled in the reader. This method of introducing the world to the reader doesn't suffer from the "info-dumping" problem a lot of other novels, especially Isekai, suffer from, for two main reasons. First, the information is a mix of history and fiction, so some of it is based on real languages and countries, which means the reader doesn't have to memorize entirely new terms. Second, those that are fictional have a concrete, meaningful connection to the story. This storytelling is already flawless. But while describing the environment and sensations of the protagonist, Kairi Veylith, through analogies and metaphorical symbolism does draw the reader in, the lack of specific descriptiveness doesn't keep the reader engrossed and instead kicks them back out. Often times I can't visualize the room or environment a scene is occurring in. This is unfortunate because you've already succeeded in getting me interested in visualizing the environment of the story, but now I can't. In a way, however, the lack of physical descriptors and abundance of symbolic parallels and metaphors come together to create a personable and creative dynamic, wherein the protagonist becomes an unreliable narrator through their absent-mindedness and external obliviousness. It keeps them rattled and confused, but the reader intrigued, and the problem of a lack of physical descriptiveness of the environment is solved in the scenes of Kairi's past life, and fades to the periphery when the writing becomes more humorous and casual, beginning in the fourth chapter. The scientific inspiration serving as the foundation of the story's magic system is elucidated well in Chapter 7. The computer science references are outright noticed by the scientifically-minded protagonist. The abilities characters are able to manifest relate to and counter each other in ways much more intricate than "water countering fire" or something like that you'd encounter in other magic systems. It gets you imagining scenarios in which they compete with each other. Some abilities are only useful if used in anticipation of another ability being used, which keeps you cautious. I look forward to how these ideas are stressed as the story progresses especially as the protagonist is thrown into the mysteries surrounding what happened to Kairi before she took over her life, but if you want useful meta-commentary make sure to check the Creators' Thoughts section at the end of every chapter. Stay with it to Chapter 11 to see the story and its mysteries to start really coming together.

Coincidence can be freaky.

I imagine her looking in the mirror and screaming at how different her face was, then screaming at how her voice sounded so different, then screaming at her pointed ears. Terrifying.

Ah, it's the Gacha Game Chant, what a classic. Me at 4 AM a week into obsessively trying to get the character I want in HSR. Thanks for the PTSD flashback.