As of Chapter 52:
This action packed thriller about a special forces soldier who wakes up in a teenager's body starts out comedic but has enough tension that it never gets dull.
I went into this with low expectations, since it's kind of marketed like one of those boring "OP power fantasy with a brainless harem" stories, but I was pleasantly surprised. For one, there's no romance.
Things I liked about it :
- the comedy
- mature storytelling
- nice narrative tension
- nice, fleshed out characterisation
- strong female characters
- great art
- the outfits
- MC's thoughts on the transmigration
- MC wants to protect her but respects her decisions and doesn't just tell her to run away
- super powers don't mean automatic invulnerability. A knife to the throat is still gonna kill you
- MC is actually affected by his injuries
- MC is not an asshole but he's pragmatic and skilled enough that I can believe he was special forces
I do have to mention that while I do love this and think it's great, it's obvious that the author had to end it early and didn't get the chance to flesh it out nearly as much as they had set up for (I'm assuming that it's completed because that what it says on the Bilibili translation). It's like the story ended at season 1. The author quickly wraps it up at the end of the arc, and though I feel like it's a bit of a shame since there are some interesting plot lines that weren't explored
(I would have loved to see a meeting with past Gucheng!)
I was satisfied with the ending, and I'm not taking off points for it feeling incomplete. Tbh it's a lot better than what a lot of authors that * did * get to choose when they ended came up with.
I was a little leery of there being romance - because of the MC's huge age gap, being her father's peer in his previous life, any romantic thoughts on his end would have felt pretty creepy to me. Though the girls do have crushes on him in the story, he doesn't seem to have any romantic thoughts about them. Maybe this would have changed if the story had gone on longer, with him falling in love with the girl he wanted to protect, but now it's over so who knows? I'm more satisfied with their current friendship.
Cons:
If you're the kind of person who finds stuff like "my best friend is super rich and can conveniently supply things" or "this bodysuit is bulletproof" immersion breaking, there's some of that but tbh I'm reading fiction, not a biography, so I can accept it. And to me it's better than * not * having an explanation and being like "I can shrug off bullet wounds", so whatever floats your boat I guess.
In conclusion: this is a great, maturely written short story that feels a little incomplete but was wrapped up well, and I recommend giving it a chance when you have the time.