![[The Academy's Undercover Professor] Where do i begin...](https://preview.redd.it/464kmueg1d2h1.png?auto=webp&s=3ade17ece135c7cd6ab1f7240d8fd8e36a71a6af)
[The Academy's Undercover Professor] Where do i begin...
Here's your review with a few more paragraph breaks to improve readability, while keeping all your original wording, capitalization for emphasis, and corrected grammar and punctuation exactly as they were:
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I was surprised both ways by this series. I wasn't looking for much, just something to pass the time.
The first few chapters were a BORE to read through. It followed the generic formula: introduce stuff as you go, as if it was something that was already there from the beginning; conveniently introduce something just to make the plot move forwards. The villains are generic, with not much to talk about. The MC is overpowered and has layers of power levels that he chooses not to use.
BUT there were things I indeed LOVED about the series.
For starters, NO WOMAN WAS UNNECESSARILY SEXUALIZED, which in the world of webtoons is a BIG step forwards. Every single one of them feels like their own person without the need to be centered around a romantic relationship specifically.
And even if you call out how a lot of the women seem to have a good bit of their problems solved by the MC and therefore feel indebted to him, it goes both ways; the men feel the same thing. A good bit of women are capable combatants and have their own arcs that they are going through. Hell, going to be honest, it's one of the first times when I read a series and it just feels like the men are flat as hell and only serve as cardboard cutouts.
Hans and the MC just feel very servant and master-ish, and being honest, their dynamic just makes Hans boring as hell—like, hella predictable. Is he a good character? Ehh, I don't know. He has all of the great semblances of one, being the informant and being literally the guy that makes everything the MC does possible, but beyond that I don't feel like there is anything that draws me to him beyond the other characters, even after the almost 3 seasons I spent with him.
Now, the latest arc of the second season was BOMB, but being honest, I feel like one of the best ways that they have written fixing a misunderstanding ever was like swept under the rug in a moment's notice.
And even though Casey More finally understands what ACTUALLY happened, it just feels like the emotional weight of it all was destroyed by a scene RIGHT AFTER it happened. Hell, I feel like it should've been more of a character shift for Casey to understand what actually happened. I mean, if your view of yourself and someone you know to be x, x, and x was so completely shattered and you were SO WRONG, I feel like it would be more and more hurtful, especially with Casey's (still) heavily inflated ego.
Now onto the main character.
I have him as a "good" morally grey main character, but he just falls into the "I like them so even if they were bad they can live / I don't like them so if they're bad they must die", which for once is one of the most real things I've seen in a while.
But all of the interesting parts of his character are hidden to keep the audience interested, and I just feel like the plot that goes along to stop us from actually figuring out what is going on in the story can't carry the story like they think it can. The dialogue is nothing to write home about, and the character interactions and dynamics only exist between Casey and the MC, and then nobody else.
And all suspicion that the MC might be somebody else has stalled for SO LONG that it just feels like there is nothing that great that would happen.
There have been almost 3 SEASONS of chapters and it feels like the stakes don't really raise that much since the MC has SOOO much more experience than everybody else that every single situation is something that he can navigate through without most issues.
And I get it, it's a webtoon, probably an adaptation, and they gotta satisfy the badass male power fantasy somehow. But even so, you can do both.
You have the characters, you have the setting, the story could be SOOO MUCH BETTER DEVELOPED ONLY WITH THE ELEMENTS IT HAS NOW.
How the hell do you wipe a gang OVERNIGHT and don't IMMEDIATELY create a power vacuum that creates EVEN MORE DEATHS than the original gang working?
It feels like the consequences are way too linear and there are no branching paths that would make things worth it, and it just feels like what happened with Esmeralda was written to bail out the MC from making a choice that would upset the readers.
TL;DR: read the series, has potential, could be better.