Where is Our Agreement to be Each Other’s Arch-Rivals Review
Where is Our Agreement to be Each Other’s Arch-Rivals? by Poplar Breeze
The story:
Web celebrity turned actor Chen Suyang gets drunk at a party and wakes up in the drama he’s recently finished filming. He’s transmigrated into the story of Archenemies. When he realizes what’s happened to him he tries to kill himself a few times to get back to his original world. It doesn’t work and he remains stuck in the role of the Evil Sect’s young master, Su Yang. As luck would have it this is the same role he played in the drama so he should be able to seamlessly fit into this new world. Since he can’t leave he decides that the only way to get back home is by living out the story exactly as it happened in the script until his character dies. He believes that once his story reaches its natural end that he’ll be able to go back home.
Now I know there are stories where this does happen. The main character lives out their time in whatever world they’ve been transported into and at the end of it they are sent back to their normal world. However, there are just as many stories where this isn’t the case. Each novel is different so as someone who’s familiar with these types of stories why does he make that assumption?
There’s no guarantee that his plan will work but he tries to follow the plot and stay “in character”. One of the first things he does is try to save Gu Feidi because the young man is the hero of the story. Worried that the plot will go astray if the hero dies Chen Suyang interferes. It’s unnecessary as Gu Feidi would have been fine, but he doesn’t know this. His actions end up pushing the story further away from where it’s supposed to be. In fact, every action he takes drives things further away from the original story.
Who’s it for?
Probably someone who likes lighthearted cultivation novels. The characters are young and naive and it shows in their actions, but they're also incredibly hard working. Some of them are very principled, and they stick to their morals when it counts.
Unfortunately, it’s not for me. I couldn’t even finish it. I tried to like this story. I really did but I find Chen Suyang exhausting. Silly main characters who run around causing confusion is nothing new, but I just can’t handle it in this story.
Chen Suyang keeps interfering with the plot and acting in ways that creates more conflict. The odd thing is that there’s no system in this story, yet he acts like there is. There’s no one telling him to do these things to preserve the plot. A plot which he doesn’t even fully know since he didn’t read the book. He’s only read the script for the drama adaptation.
With no system there to punish him if he strays from the plot he could do anything. He could explore different ways to live in this new world. Especially since there’s no guarantee that he can go back home. Instead he runs around acting out a script that no longer matters and I found it pretty boring.
At the point where I abandoned the story the romance between the two lead characters was still stuck in this awkward, fumbling state with moments accidental intimacy. None of if really appeals to me. It might get better over time, but I didn’t stick around to find out.