Is That My Alter Ego

rob z says:

A number of these reviews are confusing AF, so I will try to offer some clarity.

First, MC is a possessor (and calls himself such in chapter 0, but for whatever reason calls himself a reincarnator in chapter 1), who possesses a 20 year old person by the name of Venice in some fantasy world. The author gives away very little about the Venice character the MC possesses. He is short, implied to be overweight, and a hikikomori. (In the real world, the MC was a hikikomori gamer – so basically a loser. It seems as if the character he possesses is similar to the MC in the real world, but it is not fully revealed yet how similar).

We know the character the MC possesses (I will call him “Original Venice”) is in some room in a house or apartment. We know the world he now lives in has no computers, phones, or other technology, but does have monsters, heroes, mercenaries, swords and sorcery (and beer, which MC is fond of). But we know almost nothing about the Original Venice except his age, appearance, and basic characteristics (at least, not yet – I am still in the dark sorcerer arc). We don’t know much of anything about his life before the possession. We don’t know if he is rich or poor, what he does, does he have a family or friends, etc. We know nothing about MC’s house (except a little about the room he is in), neighbors, or the town, other than that somewhere in town there is a library and a librarian. MC excuses not interacting with other people because he is a hikikomori, but the author never even mentions other people in the town other than the librarian (at least based on what I have read so far).

So, Original Venice has a power where he can “merge” with (basically takeover the body and control of) what are referred to as “dopplegangers” or “clones,” but they are not really dopplegangers or clones – they are just other characters in this world that the MC / Original Venice can possess who also happen to have the name Venice, but are completely different in appearance, temperment, and abilities. Basically, when he merges with the doppleganger, his main body falls asleep, and when the doppleganger falls asleep or is unconscious, he returns to his main body. As one clarification and a minor spoiler, the merging with dopplegangers (again, at least so far) is serial, not parallel. I.e. he does not go back and forth between different dopplegangers, but only merges with one until that one’s story is finished, and then can merge with the next one).

So the first body MC merges with is a 29 year old mercenary captain that has supreme physical abilities (unlike Original Venice), who is helping a female vice captain restore glory to her mercenary brigade. And the story proceeds with Original Venice running the captain like a video game character, and then returning to his main body. While in his main body, he goes to the library and does research to help out the captain character with his work (e.g., studying different kinds of monsters). There seems to be something for the overall plot developing there, as when he goes to the library, he feels like somebody is watching him (maybe the librarian).

As is mentioned below, MC / Original Venice takes on the characteristics of the doppleganger he merges with (at least, when seen by others). So in possessing the mercenary captain, he is serious, professional, precise, brave, and gruff. However, certain annoying characteristics of MC / Original Venice come through. MC is dense AF, and at least so far, a bit of a d!ckless eunuch. Don’t expect any real romance for the time being.

Note that the intro in chapter 0 seems to be a scene where three different female charters from three of his dopplegangers lives (i.e., one for each such doppleganger) meet up with the Original Venice. We have presumably met two of these female characters so far. However, this is another example of a web novel where the prologue scene won’t happen until chapter 100 (or well over that), like Incompatible Interspecies Wives as one example.

The story started out OK, and is a somewhat different concept. But my major beef is I just don’t like the MC. He is more like a typical Japanese protagonist – basically a loser as noted above. This is masked when he is merged with a doppleganger, but still some aspects come through (e.g., his denseness, his reaction when he has to go to the Academy in the second arc, his whining internal monologue). I will keep reading for now, but if things don’t change or show some growth, I would give this a 4/10.