Roll that Review: The Daily Record of Secretly Loving the Male Idol (Male God)

[What do you get when you mix a sheep and a wolf together?]

Rong Si was sitting on the ground by some floor-to-ceiling windows and working on a jigsaw puzzle when he received such a text message. He was rather perplexed.

[What?]

A reply text came back instantly: [Still a sheep and a wolf.]

Rong Si chuckled silently. [Oh.]

Li Erqin asked again. [Do you know why’s that?]

Rong Si quickly set aside his jigsaw puzzle and walked into the kitchen to get a glass of water. [Why?]

[Because in my world, the wolf does not eat the sheep.]

Hello! This is TokyoRoll here and welcome to Roll that Review! This is my maiden review and I’d love for you to take a gander! Leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Now, before I even get to the story review it will be important to know I will not expressly spoil anything whenever I write, thus I will use a Pro/Con format while trying to not spoil anything from the story.

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Title: The Daily Record of Secretly Loving the Male Idol
Author: Ya Ba Ye (Mute Eighth Prince)
Series: Standalone
Rating: ★★★ (3/10 stars)

Synopsis: One day, the male idol Rong Si asked Li Erqin, “There is a vacant position on my end – are you interested in applying for the position?”

“Which position is this?”

“Girlfriend.”

The neverending boldness and courage of my youth has been spent entirely on loving you.

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The Daily Record of Secretly Loving the Male Idol ( Hence Forth called Male God) 

Positives:

Translation Quality: The translation quality of Male God is skilled, I am able to understand the scene, environment, character discussions and atmosphere of the light novel even after it has been through the hands of one language to another. As for the complete accuracy of the words, I can neither confirm nor deny if it is a perfect translation, however, it gets the point across and is fluid to where even if there are any bits lost during translation due to there being a missing English equivalent no sense of story will be lost, sans the play on words type humor.

Author’s use of Imagery: During sections of the story you are taken around the campus area and the town. Naturally not every space the characters enter will be perfectly described as that would increase the length and time spent on the author’s behalf to enliven the world around you, but in the case that the author does insert environmental imagery and have the environment flourish it is well done. Your brain is able to construct the rest of the environment and assuming you’re in a playful enough mood you can imagine the characters interacting. It isn’t at the stage to where I would consider the whole novel to be breathtaking, but it’s enough to take you on a rather short trip of wonder when the author manages to pull it off.

Length:  The length of novels is important as the longer a novel the more characters interwoven into the story, as well as, the harder it is to keep the focus without deterring towards an easier or more wild path. In Male God, the main cast of 4 Characters is supplemented with a few recurring characters who remain after their introduction making it easier on the reader. Not only are the number of characters not out of hand, for as short as the series is at 61 chapters (including the 2 epilogues), but the series itself is short, finishing up with the Male Lead and Female Lead together as a couple. At the very least here on Meraki, the chapters are also split into a more manageable number of characters to read, giving the reader more time to digest what they read and give thought before continuing on to the next one if they so wished.

Story: Now, this positive isn’t the strongest one, but the story itself is positive. Granted there are grievances that I have with the story, the fact that the author remains true with the desire to get the Male Lead and Female Lead together and have it be a simple romance is still something to be admired. The characters meet by chance, become friends, suffer predictable bumps in the road, but it managed to get there with the two leads falling in love…. somehow. But I applaud them none-the-less because the passion the author felt for the story could still be felt on numerous occasions. They wanted it to thrive and reach the climax and by that fact alone I’d consider the story a success as they remained true to what they wanted and didn’t derail and go in a separate direction. I’ll have my complaints about the story in the con section.

Humor: Eyebrow-raising humor? Check. A possible snort or a chuckle? Check. Insinuating someone’s romantic alignment? Double check. Li Er Qin the female lead has a bit of sass, weak sass but she does her best. With her somewhat quirky, biting sense of humor it just might tickle your funny bone. She’ll lash out and give a quick lash of the tongue at any convenience and I’d argue her sassy remarks account for at least 70% of her dialogue. Which isn’t all that much considering she follows a path of the 3 Q’s (Quirky, Questionable, Quiet), but it was enough to make me give a few hearty chuckles because of her silly, sassy biting remarks. Probably a redeeming feature if I heard any.

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Male God Negatives:

Female/Male Lead Pairing: For the life of me it was hard to support Li Er Qin and Rong Si as the main leading couple. Li Er Qin barely speaks on her own and Rong Si is definitely of the same quiet nature, their communication skills are at the bottom. Rong Si himself has a very standoffish personality which is most probably born of the fact he was an intelligent, sparkling example of a handsome student that was born in a society where academic achievement is king. Li Er Qin is just a Quirky, Questionable and Quiet individual, her background is roughly unknown which leads you to wonder about her and how she became so indifferent. The fact that Rong Si grew to like her and the two managed to figure it out still baffles me other than the possibility of him just being so bored and desiring something different in his life. A mild-mannered yet differently thinking girl appears and it’s caught his academic interest is my thoughts. Li Er Qin… well, if Rong Si is as devilishly handsome as we’d believe and if Li Er Qin likes silence, I wouldn’t doubt she’d like to just sit next to a statuesque lover for hours on end with nary a word spoken between them.

Without spoiling anything I also don’t necessarily like the changes with Rong Si after he expresses himself to Li Er Qin. His change in how he dealt with her was so sudden it left me feeling uncomfortable. It went from the indifferent handsome loner to somewhat overbearing yet still quiet brother-like figure fast.

Character Personality and background: The personality of the characters seem a bit bland, particularly the Female and Male Leads. Li Er Qin is quiet and her mindset is strange (quirky) and how she reaches to certain conclusions is just baffling. Her only true character traits are that she is quiet, quirky and sassy with a questionable upbringing and background. Honestly, Rong Si is no better as he is quieter than Li Er Qin and is mostly defined as being handsome with good grades and a good athletic ability. I myself didn’t see any other defining traits as Rong Si, as far as I could tell, didn’t even have much humor, the two who did was Peng Ze Ge and Li Er Qin, with the latter more interested in burning someone with her quick firing tongue lashes on a few occasions. Peng Ze Ge gave more personality than both Li Er Qin and Rong Si put together as far as I was concerned.

My interest in them as characters was superficial, particularly since the effort given on their backstory was cut off in the end. What is Li Er Qin’s family background? What kind of company does the father work at? What kind of job, if any, does the mother have? Are there other people in her family? What made Li Er Qin like she is? Why is she being ‘actively’ kept out of the limelight by her teacher?

Who exactly is Rong Si’s dad? What is his family dynamic? Is there any meat on the bone as far as either of their personalities go? I just don’t understand anything.

Distracting media/team talk: Don’t get me wrong, I like hearing what the translation team is saying and seeing pictures if it’s relevant to information that I would normally not understand because of cultural differences, however inserting reaction pictures or idle talk and cheers for the characters to me feels a bit unnecessary and is jarring to a reader. What is a Hanfu? I wouldn’t know so I’d like information on it, it’s handy if the translator gives a small blurb including a picture reference of what a Hanfu is, yet if it’s a beef skewer I already know what that would look like, I wouldn’t need another picture as an explanation or a blurb as to what it is. It might be handy for some people but I’m sure there’s some variant of a skewer and you can imagine what one would look like.

Cheering for a character between the translation team in private is one thing, but to have it be right after a paragraph with emotes ruins the environment the series is building up to, it can put a damper on the feel and the mood. I understand the feeling, I do, but it’s not as magical if someone else is adding extra dialogue. It’s kind of like having someone talking at an audible volume at a movie theater and explaining how they feel about the movie. It’s one thing if it’s whispered and you don’t hear it, but another entirely if you do.

Story: The story belongs both in the positive and negative because the story itself was shallow when it concerns the romance. The scene where she was confessed to was well written and endearing but as for the build-up to the romance? I didn’t see much of it, Rong Si barely acknowledged that she was there for the first half of the story, the ones who noticed the most as to whether Li Er Qin was there or not was Peng Ze Ge, Su Zi or even Ruan Ming Xian. Plus with so many bumps in the road, a lot of those were even because of Rong Si’s looks, but he did nothing to stop them because of his indifference. Plus, just how Careless, Clumsy and Clueless could Li Er Qin be? With how often the plot required her to get injured it’s almost as though that was an idea formed just so Ruan Ming Xian could pop up and help her. Minus one or two incidents, the other times Li Er Qin tripped or got hurt Ruan Ming Xian was there to help her. My thoughts are out there for you Ruan Ming Xian, my fists raise in solidarity over how little affection you got despite the good work you did.

There were also unresolved plot points used to give life to the characters which were ignored. I don’t know, I just felt like the author had way more that they could have explained yet didn’t. Maybe they wanted to continue it but had another responsibility so they at least continued with the main story and finished it off instead of de-railing and ruining what work they had put forth. For real though, I wanna know what kind of stuff Li Er Qin sang, dubbed and did inside of her room other than do her homework and study. Plus, I would have liked to have heard more about what Rong Si on his travels, and for the Author’s sake, give Ruan Ming Xian some peace of mind!

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Characters:

Rong Si: The top student of their High School, always getting the top percentile marks on every test. He frequently listens to music while studying and is quiet and reserved, though if asked he will offer insight on study questions. Rong Si finishes his tests early and turns them in, unknown if he double checks his answers or not and takes extra time. A handsome student who lives in an apartment complex with his family. He has a good friend called Peng Ze Ge and the two are almost always seen together. His demeanor is cool and unhurried. He helps Li Er Qin with her studies.

Li Er Qin: A student who is miserable in Maths and Physics but excels in English as well as a few other studies. She thinks outside the box and a little too hard, coming to different answers than some would expect. Li Er Qin is easy to make laugh and that gets her into trouble, especially after meeting Peng Ze Ge. She is a go-your-own-pace kind of girl who is incredibly clumsy. Her hobbies include dubbing and singing. She apparently lives in a nice house with her mother and father. Her concept of ‘no problem’ and ‘should be fine’ are two incredibly different grades, one is a failing mark and the other is a very good passing mark.

Peng Ze Ge: He’s the foolish student but he still gets good grades in most of the studies other than English where its harder for him. He’s very talkative and can hold a conversation for his own for quite a while according to the rest. He doesn’t like the idea of using sunscreen but is very active. He’s easily excitable and gets lonely quickly. He also stays with his family and takes the initiative to visit his friends whenever he can. Constantly bickers with Su Zi trying to surpass her grades.

Su Zi: An indomitable existance to Peng Ze Ge as they are constantly bickering about something. She is good at sports and joined the group because of Rong Si. She and Li Er Qin are roommates and the two become good friends.  Su Zi is a part of the ‘studious trio of good grades’ along with Peng Ze Ge and Rong Si. Su Zi is usually the last one to finish her test as she tries to double check until the last minute.

Ruan Ming Xian: A third party upperclassman who met Li Er Qin and Co by chance as his sister Ruan Nuo Nuo was a temporary addition. He seems a bit rough around the edges but when he is passionate about something he doesn’t change his feelings easily. He has his own group of friends and is also said to be a handsome and charismatic figure. He helped Li Er Qin with her studies once.

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All Recommendations will not be rated until they are re-read and subsequently reviewed.

Recommendations:

Rebirth of the Thief Who Roamed the World – The world’s largest VRMMO, Conviction, was almost like a second world for humanity. It had integrated itself into the real world’s economy, with both corporations and individuals seeking their fortunes through the game. In this game, Nie Yan prided himself in his Level 180 Thief. He could barely be considered among the top experts in the game. Though, that was the only thing he could take pride in. He was penniless and unable to advance in life; a situation he was forced into by the enemy of his father. If it weren’t for the little money he made by selling off items in Conviction, he would’ve barely been able to eat. In the end, he chose to settle his matters once and for all. He assassinated his father’s enemy. He lay dying shortly after being shot in the pursuit. However, that wasn’t the end of his story. Instead, he awoke moments later to find that he had reincarnated into his past-self. Armed with his experience and knowledge of future events, he sets out to live his life anew.

After being reborn into his younger self, he challenges the future to turn it all around. It’s a story about how he, who became a spoiled young master in his past life became a capable man in his next.

Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon – He, who was an authentic Vending Machine maniac, died from a traffic accident while protecting a vending machine. He, who had expected that his life was finished, woke up in a lakeshore surrounded by abundant nature. He didn’t understand what had happened to himself. He only knew that he had become a vending machine. Alone in the labyrinth of another world… As he wanders alone, he meets a lone girl who causes the story to change.

What more is there to say about a talking, (eventually) mobile vending machine? After reading through it once, my sides were in stitches.

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Feel free to recommend your own suggested reads! I look forward to your suggestions!

I will write a review once a week and I will post it every Thursday at 7AM EST/EDT.