If youve enjoyed works such as Bottom Tier Character Tomozaki ReLIFE and Oregairu I would go as far as to say this is a mustread. If youre not a fan of the genre Id still recommend it as a fun school romance novel with great characters an interesting MC and enjoyable prose. To begin with the core idea of the novel is nothing new. The main character Haibara Natsuki is reminiscing about his grey Highschool life and through a miracle is allowed to return to a month before his Highschool debut. The story that follows is his quest for popularity a girlfriend and honestly an allround colourful school life. This might sound generic but where the story really shines is through the beautiful cast of characters and their individual characterisation and motives. To really emphasise that point the first volume the only one released so far in English isnt actually focused on the romance aspect at all. Instead it focuses on two key themes: Selfimprovement and male friendship. On the note of selfimprovement I really love novels of this genre in the sense theyre pretty inspirational. Although the actual focus on selfimprovement is somewhat glossed over in its event the ideology behind it and the effect it has on the protagonists perspective really shines through the text. The main character has been a gloomy otaku has been an overconfident asshole and has been someone who looks up to others like idols and is crushed when he cant meet their expectations. For me I feel like everyone can relate to at least one of those things and I do find the protagonist relatable while still maintaining his own unique characterisation that distinguishes him from being a selfinsert. Despite knowing it might not be his true self he puts on a consistent mask mixed in with honesty to force himself into the position of a cheerful popular kid. The juxtaposition between his internal narrative and his actions are a joy to read and often relatable with pangs of both Ive been there and Haha good for him Its strange but some parts of the volume really do make you feel proud for him as if youre the parent of some fictional protagonist or something. Although the plot is very SoL focused the first volume is an enjoyable 8/10 read for the first twothirds before setting up a beautiful final arc which I would say was genuinely amazing and earned the novel an instant spot in my favourites. I dont want to say anymore in fear of spoiling but the life messages and themes of being true to yourself and acknowledging your own twisted perceptions of others and theirs of you is just perfect. You know its great when you spend the whole night up reading a damn Slice of Life novel like a pageturner. Its also great that despite such a strong female cast the series is clearly not set up to be a harem and it hopefully will never be which I have to give props for as its not often seen in its contemporaries. Thats not to say there arent flaws as there are some very clich LN scenes such as the classic trope of the flatchested girl feeling insecure and similar along with the protagonist being awfully dense not to do with romantics thankfully about certain things but the latter does make sense logically later on and its a cathartic moment to see it explained and explained well. With all that out of the way a quick note on the characters. Despite only being one volume none of them feel clich. The main female lead honestly hasnt had that much development in the first volume but it looks like the second will focus on her while the others have all had significant development. Tatsuya a guy got quite a lot of good focus and characterisation in particular which is again rare for these types of novels. Moreover the rest of the side cast like Nanase Reita and Uta all have their enjoyable moments. Though Uta and Reita arent that developed yet theyre entertaining even as currently static characters and have qualities that really make you want to learn more about them. To conclude this novel is a great and underrated gem so please give it a chance hopefully youll love it as much as I did.