The Extra's Academy Survival Guide

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Genuinely this is good junkfood. It has a fairly basic magic high school plot with somewhat overpowered mc, but the survival element is actually sick. Too little chapters out rn (23) though, id wait till at least 50. There are romance elements, but mc kinda ignores it, a least rn. It is a decent trash mahwua. prlly around a 7 but its an 8 for me.

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The story is enjoyable but may be too cliche at times.

The parts I enjoyed the most were his interaction with side characters and building his base in the woods.

Summary:

Art- 7/10
The art is sometimes choppy and undefined. Face shapes are sometimes too plain. Pretty good overall but could be better, although it doesn't really influence reading comprehension much.

Story - 6.5-7.5/10
... The story is pretty cliche and similar to other stories I've read. His unique identity as Ed Rothstaylor and how he survived in the woods was a nice addition to the story.

Character - 6.5-7/10
Character interaction was enjoyable but not realistic at times. The female characters' attraction towards him in the beginning seemed unnatural and forced by the author. This story is clearly a harem, so a word of caution.

Pacing - 6.5/10
Pacing in my opinion was slightly too fast and awkward. His interaction with side characters sometimes felt unnatural and too unrealistic.

Additional thoughts:
I would have liked to see more interactions between his family, although I'm assuming that it will be addressed in the future. His woodworking and the wholesome moments between the female main characters are nice, but it lacks depth at times. Almost all the females that come into contact with him for more than a few chapters start liking him, which I feel is a bit too forced, although understandable since this is going to be a harem (or maybe our MC is too charming?)

Rating - 7

A binge-worthy manhwa with plenty of wholesome moments.

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Just read [Demon King of the Royal Class] instead of this. its better in every way (in my opinion ofc)

I thought this manhwa would be interesting because it heavily reminded me of that other manhwa, but 20 chaps in and Im starting to hate this the more I think about it. So heres my rant.

The description:
I possessed a third-rate extra villain character in my favorite game. I have no ambitions, and I just want to live a quiet life. (Ed has every opportunity to leave and distance himself from the story) But sheesh, this world is a hard place to survive in. I will survive ... to the ending of this story, in a way the protagonist cannot. I will survive in the way of a third-rate villainous character. (By the end of the first arc, everyone likes him or at least no longer hates him, so what villian is he really?)

Art:
The art is decent, pretty standard style of shounen manhwas. My problem with it though is the paneling and aesthetics; There are barely any creative paneling, or rather, only the most stiff and boring paneling exists. Theres either the borderless spread page, or a large, centered block panel, barely anything else, which wouldve helped with fights especially. (ex. when Ed fights the rabbit, it looks like the rabbit was being useless and let him shoot its master, when really Ed dodged its attack and made the shot, something a closeup panel wouldve helped clarify)
My other problem is the video game aesthetics, this is a videogame isekai, so no suprise they exist, but its as if the manhwa almost forgets. SO FAR, there have been only TWO instances of Ed's stats page , NO character menu shown of anyone else, and the only thing that reminds the artist to include the video game UI are the items that get shown a couple times randomly every arc (NOT THAT IT MATTERS BECAUSE THERES NO WORLD BUILDING AND THUS NO SIGNIFICANCE, which ill rant on later)

Characters:
They're all pretty boring. I liked Janica in the first arc, AND THEN SHE GOT STRIPPED OF ALL AGENCY AND REDUCED TO A MINDLESS LOVE INTEREST.
The manhwa has a habit of exposition dumping/ introducing new characters to move the plot, which ends up turning everyone into a plot device. The biggest perpetrator of this is Lucy, the top magic student, who is the deus ex machina of the first arc. Oh so this great mage gets introduced as OP but sleeps all the time, she sleeps in Ed's camp randomly despite being afforded a dorm, a pretty cheap way of forcing them to interact/ be friends. The climax of the first arc has a dragon that has a shield nobody in the main party can break. But because Ed played the game he knows exactly where Lucy would be sleeping (even though canonically in the video game shes supposed to not be involved in the first chapter so how does he know?) and gets her to break it. While im at it, I'll point out how Ed "the worst student in the magic faculty" Rothtaylor cut the dragons neck clean off with a basic skill in one try.

Phoenia was cool, I liked her in the first arc, TOO BAD SHES GONE FOR MOST OF THE SECOND ARC.

Taylor, the original protag, is a huge plot device, with no personality of his own. He just serves to drive the plot, since he HAS to be the one following the story, the manhwa is just Ed setting up everything else for Taylor to complete.

Taylor's childhood friend- who? she does nothing at all

Lorthelle was meh, her setup in the first arc was interesting, especially since it created a interesting dynamic with Janica, being omniscient essentially and watching her try to recruit Ed. Too bad the exposition dumps made her story confusing.

The MC Ed, is bland and uncompelling. Whats his goal? Why is he doing all of this? Hes like a Gary Stu, how he easily earns his achievements. Again, he is presented was the worst student, but after what? living outdoors for a month? Hes suddenly got "high magic proficiency" For abilities like "ignition" and "windblade" to instantly set an entire room on fire and cut metal chains, Ed sure earned his proficiency by lighting campfires? and cutting wood? No stakes for him, and nothings a challenge.

Story:
Its like the author is making stuff up along the way, no, even if he did, the pacing would be smoother. For example, Ed earns the ability to make a spirit contract during the first arc climax, so why doesnt he form a contract after the arc is over? (is he stupid?)
I like how after the first arc destroys the school the second arc immediately returns to tearing up the school, with little downtime. Theres no school/ class plot, which is fine but would've better developed character relations and I'd like to see them interact since SOME CHARACTERS JUST MEET ED "THE RUMOURED ROTTEN EVIL GUY" Rothtaylor for the first time and immediately decide to befriend him. *cough* Jikks, Janica, Jikks GF *cough* Jikk's does have a good reason to like Ed but he really flipped his opinion of him 180 degrees within minutes. BY THE END OF THE FIRST ARC EVERYONE LIKES HIM SO WHY DID THE AUTHOR SET HIM UP TO BE DISLIKED IN THE FIRST PLACE IF IT BARELY MATTERED!?! NONE OF THIS RELATIONSHIPS WOULDVE BEEN AFFECTED. AT LEAST SAVE IT FOR THE END OF THE FIRST SEASON

There is no reason why Ed lives in the forest, Janica's maid, the one who kicked Ed out of the dorms no longer hates him, in fact has shown favor towards him, and he is still a student at the academy, so it makes no sense why he shouldn't be offered residency.

I noticed theres a lot of exposition in the second arc, almost like the lines suit a novel format better, which makes me think this is just a bad adaptation. Some lines would make more sense as a thought bubble but its just a paragraph of narration.

About worldbuilding, yeah, it doesnt exist. The world is limited to the school lmao. 'we cant introduce the outside! It would be too hard to explain why Ed chooses to stay at the school instead of living a commoners life in town, yknow, like the quiet life he says he wants in the DESCRIPTION??' Phoenia introduces the existence of corrupt nobility? TOO BAD! we arent gonna explore that because its outside the school! Lortelle has a evil merchant king boss as a guardian and drama from the fact he killed her bio dad? Oh we'll just make him come to the school to settle that drama! No need to explore outside the school! Oh Jikks comes from a wild tribe? Oh Janica introduces the existence of spirits? Oh the Rothtaylor family is large and actually corrupt? LETS EXPLORE NONE OF THESE

Its like there was a checklist of archtypes the author wanted to complete and shoved all these characters haphazardly into this manhwa with half a thought allocated to each of them.

2nd arc:
Oh... thats the beginning of a harem...
Oh... Janica is gonna become a yandere... :/
Why is Alice an enemy? She betrayed Lorthelle, who was supposed to be the boss, so really isnt Alice just doing her job as head maid? And Lorthelle avoided any punishment, i guess nobody caught on that everything was her plan?

Thanks for coming to my TED talk