To preface, I am not the hugest fan of the ‘reincarnated as a villain / minor character’ style of series. It’s just not really my thing. I watched a fair bit of ‘My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom’ until I more or less lost interest. I read a decent amount of ‘Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs’ until a choice was made about a character that I didn’t precisely like — though I can’t say it wasn’t consistent with the story before — and I felt little inclined to continue. So when one of my friends [Footnote 1] recommended ‘The Extra’s Academy Survival Guide’ to me, I was a bit skeptical. I waffled about for two days until I finally figured I didn’t have much else to do that weekend and decided I would give it a look. I finished all 52 chapters I had access to that day. In my humble opinion, it’s not just the best example of a ‘reincarnated as a minor villain’ story, it’s one of the best fantasy Manhwa / Manga [Footnote 2] I’ve seen. Not only did I finish the series in one day, I was tempted to reread it the day after because I found it that good. So where to begin?
The most natural place to start, I think, would be the protagonist himself: Ed Rothstaylor. Now there’s a lot I have to say even about Ed alone, but to start, I truly enjoy how well the ‘reincarnated soul’ is incorporated into the world of the game he finds himself in. By which I mean, I feel like one of my problems with most of these types of stories I’ve tried is that the protagonist often feels unnatural. To an extent, that’s to be expected. Some of the point is that they are outsiders to the world and their outside knowledge sets them apart. But it still often serves to make most of the cast feel like caricatures; just puppets moving alternately to the whims of the protagonist’s superior foresight and the in-universe ‘plot’ that forms their destiny. Here, Ed feels just like Ed. There are obvious differences between our protagonist and who ‘Ed Rothstaylor’ was before — he is still outright a different person — but the way in which he interacts with the world around him and the other characters feels natural. He feels like he belongs. And something which I feel serves this end well is that we know just about nothing about who our Ed was before being reincarnated. Much like with the Faraway Paladin, the entire Isekai conceit only comes up insofar as it serves the plot. It helps make the character we see feel more like their own person rather than an awkward layering of two people upon themself.
And to the point of what we do know about our Ed before his reincarnation, it’s limited to just about “he was a mega-fan of ‘Silvenia’s Failed Swordmaster”. Which ties into another one of the true strengths I find in this series. Namely, how the protagonist interacts with the world of this game that he loves so much. All too often, I feel that these stories almost miss the mark with what that would mean. Their protagonist finds themself in a world they love and then proceed to try and steal a march on the ‘hero’ and make themselves number one or just use their prescience to treat the game world like their own playground; often trampling all over the thing they loved in the process. These aren’t necessarily unrealistic approaches — I can see the same happening if someone in real life found themselves in this situation a la Plato’s Ring — but it can be somewhat disheartening.
Here, you can see how much Ed loves the story he’s found himself in through the way he interacts with the plot going on around him. In the first place, there’s his simpler motivation of survival — which I’ll get to — leaving him largely on the periphery. But then there’s the ways that he is thrilled to see the hero he loved in action. While making his plans to deal with plot points he knows are coming, he makes sure to schedule in the time to watch Taylee — the ‘hero’ — have his moments of triumph, because those moments meant so much to Ed when he was playing the game. He has no desire to steal the moments from Taylee because he wants to see the story he loves unfold as it should and the characters he love grow as he know they can. In that same way, Ed tries to find every opportunity he can to learn more about the world he loves. He is delighted when he can interact more with the npcs that simply weren’t focused on in the game and finds ways to, in a sense, peek behind the curtain and see the parts of the world that the story never showed him. Which brings up another strength of the series, but we’ll get there. All in all, it feels in some ways more natural — or perhaps more mature and nuanced — of an approach to having the opportunity to live one of the stories someone loves.
In a similar way, there’s the point of the character inherent in both Taylee as ‘the hero’ and Ed as the protagonist. One of the complaints I have with many other series of this ilk is in where hero and protagonist collide. All too often, it feels like one’s quality comes at the expense of the other’s. Whether intentional or not, it feels as if one or the other is just a massive jerk. Whether that be the protagonist in their selfish approach to the game world they find themselves in or the ‘hero’ so as to justify the protagonist in taking their place. And in the former case, the hero is often rather pathetic as well, making it hard to root for them even if the protagonist is unlikable. In this case, Ed and Taylee are both rather enjoyable characters — at least for what they are. Taylee is somewhat thin in his characterization — largely since he simply isn’t the focus of the story — but everything we see of him proves that he is every bit the hero you would expect from such a game as ‘Silvenia’s Failed Swordmaster’. He is a genuinely good person with the sheer determination to make it through any obstacle he faces. By that same token, Ed, in his attempts to simply live his own life, feels very relatable. But of course, that leads into Ed’s motivations, so…
Ed stands out as not only a protagonist who wishes to be left alone and tries to avoid the plot, but in the way that broad lack of ambition is realized. It all starts with the fact that the story starts with Ed at the lowest point possible. He is quite literally on the verge of becoming a beggar on the streets. So there isn’t much for him to do but try and hold on to what he has left, rather than try making himself some grand hero. More than that, he immediately recognizes that the only advantage he has at his disposal is he knowledge of the game’s plot — knowledge that will become useless the more he tries to leverage it for his own purposes, changing the plot in the process. So he immediately decides that avoiding the game’s main cast and their plot as much as possible is in his best interest, so he can simply lay low and try to graduate into a stable life. It makes the story less one about world changing events and more the perspective of one skirting the edges of those events. As I said, this perspective makes Ed very relatable since he is far more ‘just some guy trying to live his life’ than a lot of other protagonists.
Which naturally leads into Eds competencies as well. It’s a common trend in stories of this ilk — and isekais or reincarnation plots in general — for the protagonist to have some kind of overpowered ability or weird quirk. Alternately, for them to use their exterior knowledge to find such an overpowered ability. Ed, on the other hand, is exceedingly underwhelming and remains that way for a good chunk of the story. His abilities are limited because of how the character he replaced acted and his situation prevents him from training much because of how much he needs to focus on simply surviving. To the tune of hunting and gathering in the woods with nothing but a lean-to for shelter. He certainly does have the knowledge to try manipulating the world’s systems and find items which can help, but… Those are always presented as long term goals he can’t do anything about because his means are limited. The best he can do is focus on leveraging the skills he needs to survive into more broadly useful proficiencies: he grows stronger because he’s subjected to hard physical labor each day, he learns to use his beginner spells more efficiently because they’re the only tools he has to do things like cut wood and light fires, and he becomes decent with a bow because he needs to use one to hunt.
In this way, the story deals rather well with the broad topic of ‘talent vs. hard work’. It doesn’t quite come to the fore until the third arc, but it is discussed that our Ed proves to be an incredible paragon of hard work. He finds ways to use what little tools he has at his disposal to punch above his weight. This is seen at its best at one point in the second arc when he manages to stall out three far superior opponents by ambushing them, targeting their weaknesses, and leveraging the environment to his advantage. But, to the left, it’s also made exceedingly clear that this can only get him so far. While he does go easy on the three in that fight, it’s pointed out that he can’t really match them in anything less than an optimal situation. Moreover, Ed is surrounded by exceptional geniuses. People like Yennekar and Lucy who he can outright never hope to exceed because their raw power is beyond him. And the sheer effort he puts in trying to hold everything together does come back to bite him, since he only has so much stamina before he will quite literally collapse under the weight of his effort. All of this works together well to make Ed’s skills and growth feel natural and earned. Once the later arcs have him become an indomitable force in his own right, you can see every step of how he got there and it never feels like he eclipsed other people without reason.
To the point of Yennekar and Lucy — two character I have not yet mentioned — I also appreciate how well the story shows off as a ‘villain route’. Not, to be clear, an evil route, but a kind of plot which showcases the other side of the villains in the heroic fantasy story ‘Silvenia’s Failed Swordmaster’ is shown to be. Every member of Ed’s “Party” — insofar as he has one — is one of the game’s antagonists in one way or another. And the story doesn’t pull its punches in their flaws. Once more proving the broad maturity and nuance of the story, it addresses these flaws in a way that makes them understandable without ever excusing them. We are shown why the antagonists turned out the way they did and allowed a sense of sympathy for them, but Ed — and by extension the story itself — is merciless in the degree they must take responsibility for their actions. It goes the distance in proving how understanding someone does not mean their sins are forgiven. Yet even still, one of the story’s strengths is in showing off these hidden sides of the ‘villains’. In showing what drove them so far and what happens to them after the plot is done with them.
Also, to the point of Yennekar and Lucy — since it is tangential to their introduction — I will note that this is somewhat a harem story. Ed does find ways to accidentally attract the attention of a fair number of ladies — to the point that a side character is stressed at having to oversee such a situation — and while that’s not really a downside for me, I can understand why it might for some people. But I will say that the way in which the story approaches this subplot is done very well. In the first place, the general lack of resolution isn’t — necessarily — left solely up to Ed being oblivious. At least one of the girls interested in him has made it very clear what she intends. It continue because, as with all things, Ed’s situation simply doesn’t allow it. He’s living in the woods, pulling twenty hour days just to keep himself alive. He jsut doesn’t have the time for romance and he makes that clear. In that same way, the way the girls involved interact with each other feels a good deal more natural than often comes across in harem stories. Namely, they don’t like each other. Rather than try to find ways to preserve some friendship in their romantic interests, they immediately recognize each other as rivals and butt heads in nearly all things. Except for Lucy, who is just a cat.
But to circle back, perhaps what I appreciate the most about the series is the way that it approaches what I’ll call ‘destiny through free will’. Though the game’s plot is still in place and broadly dictates the flow of the story’s plot, it does so in a way that truly helps the characters to shine. Characters take actions not because the ‘plot’ dictates they must, but because of who they are at their core. Even with the small, rippling changes that Ed’s presence introduces, the characters still make choices that lead them to the same conclusion because that is who they are. This is seen at its best very early on, in dealing with Taylee. In one of the first chapters, he finds himself in a fight that he’s supposed to win, setting himself on the path of a swordmaster that makes him ‘the hero’. But because of something Ed didn’t even realize he did, Taylee gets taken down without ever having the chance to rise to the challenge. This, naturally, leaves Ed concerned that the plot will get thrown entirely off the rails, but he eventually realizes that even this isn’t enough to keep Taylee down because the determination that made him the hero still exists, even when faced with such an overwhelming defeat. His childhood friend, who was always his motivation in the game, is still there and manages to spark his will nonetheless. In this way — and with just about every character — things change from what’s expected, but they are always still who they should be. It makes the characters feel more like people, rather than pieces in a plot.
And that’s about all I have. I’m sorry for the abrupt ending to this review, but I did somewhat lose track of my train of thought by the end. I probably have more to say, but it just doesn’t come to mind right now. I’m not kidding when I say this is just a good story. I’ve recommended it to just about every one of my friends and I do the same here, to you. It’s worth the read. Perhaps the greatest praise I can give it is this: out of every series I’ve seen which focuses on the world of a fictional game, this is the only one in which I actually wish I could play the ‘original’ game. I want to be able to interact with the world more. I want to see the hero’s tale that we’re only seeing the ‘behind the curtains’ view of. I’m not joking when I say that I would absolutely try funding the development of ‘Silvenia’s Failed Swordmaster’ if I had that kind of money.
Footnote 1: I forget if I’ve ever brought this particular friend up before. It doesn’t especially matter, but he’s someone from one of my DnD groups.
Footnote 2: I only conflate the two because I just don’t read enough Manhwa for it to make sense otherwise; basically just this one and one other.
Footnote 3: Also, for what it’s worth, I struggle to say that any character is truly my favorite, but I do have a serious soft spot for Tanya, Ed’s younger sister. I’m a sucker for drills, alright?
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