Amelia (An OP MC Isekai LitRPG)

I saw this in one of the trending tabs and saw all the reviews were good, so I gave it a try. After reading all the way up to the latest chapter, I was bored out of my skull, another victim of the site's algorithm. Definitely not a five star fic.

A quick note: There's obvious surface level comparisons to be made between this fic and One Punch Man, but there are crucial elements that differ between the two. I won't be making any comparisons in this review however, and leave it as an exercise.

Anyways, to start off, the writing style seems designed to be digestible by the lowest denominator of reader, eschewing complex vocabulary and nuanced descriptions until it finds an equilibrium at a middle school reading level. It's readable, but not evocative. In my opinion, this writing style holds back the entire fic, from characters, action scenes, worldbuilding, etc, turning what could've been interesting ideas into bland descriptions.

One of the major issues I have with this fic is that Amelia has no distinguishing traits whatsoever beyond being OP. There is nothing she likes, only things she finds annoying. Her reaction to eating and sleeping for the first time in 10 years of nonstop danger is tepid at best, and that's her reaction to everything. Tepid. 

As such, she's a terribly boring character to follow around all the time. The other characters are better in that they have personalities, but the vast majority of them are irrelevant and lack crucial character elements like motivation and relationships. Noele is the most developed character in the fic, but isn't strong enough of one to carry the entire story by herself.

Additionally, the premise of Amelia wating to live a peaceful life despite what the system wants her to do falls flat for two reasons. First, the system doesn't actually do anything beyond just showing Amelia the option to be a Hero a couple of times, leaving her free to do whatever she desires (that is, if she had any desires at all). Secondly, she is perfectly capable of settling down but doesn't for some reason. She cites money as an issue, but

But let's be real here, the actual premise of the fic is seeing Amelia use her OP strength to humble the arrogant. So how does it fare there? Not well, as it turns out. The nonevocative writing style mentioned earlier in this review really comes into play here to create incredibly dry fight scenes. Amelia stands there while her opponent unleashes their best attack at her, she moves/slashes too fast for the eye to see, rinse and repeat. Yay.

The one sided beatdowns are not incredibly satisfying either, since those she beats down have little to no buildup to them getting their just desserts. They basically ineffectually attack her thinking that Amelia's a nobody. And that sums up everything bad that they've ever done to her. Never have they threatened the things Amelia cares about (she doesn't care about anything), nor have they had the chance to showcase their strength against someone who isn't the literal pinnacle of strength. They essentially are props with fancy titles for Amelia to smash. 

But is it funny though? No. The main gag about people's common sense being destroyed by her displays of strength compared to her lack of levels is repeated a lot with no subtlety or variation. With how nonevocative the writing is, it usually boils down to the reader being told how shocked a character is instead of shown, usually through the character outright stating their thoughts on the matter in plain dialogue. The other gags suffer from much of the same, not being evocative enough to paint a funny image in my mind, nor nuanced enough to support being used multiple times. 

Overall, not my cup of tea. If you like the elements present here, power to you, but I personally would recommend passing over this one even if you're into dumb fun.

A decent light read. Nothing groundbreaking, but a pleasantly cliche op mc lit rpg. Effectively utilizes lit-rpg elements as a societal backdrop without getting bogged down in menus and repetitive descriptions. Also unlike other similar works, manages to balance its arcs well between action, plot and character growth. I also appreciate the brisk pace, although it might not be for everyone. Like most good op mc stories, leverages civilian death and minor character dangers to drive tensions during action arcs, although it sometimes feels like some supporting characters have plot armor that's a bit too strong. I still can't tell if the MC forgetting that she used to have a dog is a continuity error, a point of foreshadowing, or just something I misread/made up. 

Love this story. I've always been a sucker for insanely overpowered characters that just blow shit away with no effort. Amelia is just that. 

Also, the writer has a style that is not only very easy on the eyes, but also does not waste any effort in painting a mental picture. They construct their story without too much fluff in unnecessary adjectives and verbiage, which I much appreciate. Would give this story a six if I could, but I'm very biased.

Reviewed at Chapter 79.

     An interesting story of a isekai'd woman in a world of Skills, who tries to get a Skill that she wants, only to fail again and again. In the meantime, she keeps running into great evils, wasting her time, that she could be using to learn Skills and get a Class. I enjoy the story of her struggles, her frustrations and the reactions of the people she meers.

Standard jp isekai fare plot wise. MC is "Ore Tuuueee", op basically.

Read dozens of Ln's like these, main focus in these are the world and the characters. In this work neither the characters or the setting has dragged me in really. Additionally the op comedy gets repetitive pretty quickly.

Author has become quite good at writing though, and is leages beyond normal jp writers. Still, nothing hooks me. This kind of lacks the orignality Salvos has, so feels very standard to me.

Readers who are new these kinds stories will prbly love this. Can't really reccommend it to more well read people though.

Edit: Now that more chapters are out I revisited the story. And I have to say.. My opinion hasn't really changed at all..

Why is this a gamelit / litrpg?

I'm over 20 chapters in. Sure, the whole premise is the level 0 hero. But no skills. No spells. No stats. Sure we see other characters skills on occasion, but no descriptions, no levels, nothing about this is gamelit except occasionally we hear someone else has a level, or a skill name.

Aside from that it's fine. The MC is a bit bland. Allegedly super powerful but is pointed out to have no skill or finesse in terms of her movement. You'd think she'd have an absurd equivalent of stats, to make her graceful, or silent in a forest, but nope. 

Wants a quiet life, immediately causes countless scenes.

Doesn't want an apprentice/ people harassing her for training, immediately gets an apprentice with a couple paragraphs of less than average persuasion.

Eh. The more I think about it, the lower the rating I want to give it.

The grammar is good. The world building... I can't say as I'm super far into it, but it's going.

Style and grammar are flawless. 5/5 stars.

Story:

As far as the label of LitRPG goes, this story offers very little. The MC refuses to take part in the "system", actively deciding against chosing a class, the corresponding skills and the usual progression that comes with it. As the title says, the MC is OP enough she can do without, but this removes a huge part of the expected character progression of a LitRPG setting. I expected the MC to go through enough progression/change/character development on a personal level to make up for this but here the author failes to deliver - the MC is introduced ready-to-go and very set in her ways. I feel there has been zero progression or change in this regard.

The setting and world seem generic to me and very little lore has been conveyed as of chapter 30.

Character:

MC: 1.5/5 stars. Except for being OP the MC as a whole is a bland experience and forgettable. The few amusing moments happen when the "NPCs" interact with the MC for the first time, usually by realizing she's abnormaly strong and an anomaly in their established world of classes and levels.

Supporting Characters: 4.5/5 stars. The story's one redeeming point in this regard are the people that meet and interact with the MC. They are interesting, unique enough to be enjoyable so far and given enough background to become invested in. If only the MC had as much appeal...

I'm struggling to like this one. I suspect that if it was written by lesser known author it would not have the ratings it does.

Amelia is a unlikeable MC with a focus on money. She doesn't actually do anything with the money except focus on "retirement" - whatever that means in a fantasy world. She's suffered for years due to the Void yet she has no thoughts of revenge just hiding away as the world burns.

There are plenty of other issues as outlined by other reviews but my main issue is with the character or lack thereof of Amelia.

Amelia, the level zero Hero, is a pretty great story in my opinion. You shouldn't approach this as a classic progression fantasy LitRPG story however, as you'll be quickly disappointed. See, Amelia is strong. OP even. Based on what we've seen so far, I don't think we'll ever see her struggle in a fight. While that may be rebuking to a lot of people, you should try to hang on at least a few chapters. Because if you were scared about the lack of stakes or tension within the story, then think again. Amelia is not really the main character. She's more of an excuse to develop a world around her. This is, in my opinion, not a bad thing at all, and where you don't have any stakes at all coming from Amelia, you do feel some coming from every other characters she meets and interracts with. She's the only immortal one, and she cannot be everywhere at once. So while she's off doing something, trouble can still and will happen. 

So yeah, don't go into this story expecting a grand and long progression fantasy like Salvos, but more a slice of life story, with some strong action scenes and a bit of tension from time to time. Also, the characters are great, I really like what MelasD did with Amelia in particular. She has the perfect personnality to make this story work, and it's really cool to follow her. 

I wanted to wait until a bit more chapters to leave a review initially, but I decided that 28 was a good number to finally get a move on. There are still some fears remaining on my mind though. The problem with a story where the main character is too strong isn't lack of tension, but repeatability. It is very easy to fall into the pattern of "thing happen, op character gets away cause of reason, stress, op character comes back to save the day". So I'm a bit scared of that happening, but the author seems to understand it and has taken steps to prevent it, by making Noele the target of a progression story herself. And as everyone knows, if you want to get stronger, you have to face troubles and not get helped. 

Anyways, it's a good story, and I like it! (Sorry if the review is a bit messy, writing it on a phone which isn't prone to the cleanest reviews ^^)

I am glad I found this story when I checked Rising Star. It is light and suitable for my taste.

As a newcomer in litrpg community, I find it hard to integrate myself with stories with over-complicated system, but this story is focused on a plot where the main character needs to do something in order to live in an unknown world, not solely focused on the system. Even though it sounds ordinary, this story's simpleness is what I need.

The other element I like about this story is the side characters. There are many side characters I love to hang around with. Having read a few progression stories, I realized the stories I have all read always abandon side characters, which are a shame because side characters are what make a story lively, and this story seems to be a type that won't cast away side characters, and I wish they will appear more as importan characters for the main character.

Overall, this story is good, and I am thankful for this story because I think I can integrate myself into litrpg community (because of this story). Love from me, thanks for writing this wonderful story ❤️