Omniscient Reader

Kim Dokja does not consider himself the protagonist of his own life. Befitting the name his parents gave him, he is a solitary person whose sole hobby is reading web novels. For over a decade, he has lived vicariously through Yoo Joonghyuk, the main character of the web novel Three Ways to Survive the Apocalypse (TWSA). Through Joonghyuk, Dokja has experienced secondhand the trials of repeatedly regressing in time, in search of an end to life-threatening "scenarios" that force people to act out narratives for the amusement of god-like "Constellations."

After reading 3,149 chapters—long after all other readers lost interest—Dokja finally resigns himself to the story ending. However, he receives an enigmatic message from the author, stating that the story will soon be monetized, before his surroundings suddenly go dark. He swiftly realizes that fiction has become reality and he is now living through TWSA. Although he is the singular omniscient reader of the events yet to come, his success in the scenarios is not guaranteed—but perhaps his advantage will empower him to step into the protagonist role that never suited him before.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Omniscient Reader is an adaptation of sing N song's Jeonji-jeok Dokja Sijeom web novel series. It is originally a webtoon series which has been officially published in book format by A.Tempo Media (에이템포미디어) since December 29, 2020.

The series has been published digitally in English by LINE Webtoon since August 19, 2020.

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Omniscient Reader

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Characters

Kim, Dokja

Main

Han, Sooyoung

Main

Yoo, Joonghyuk

Main

Uriel

Supporting

Lee, Gilyoung

Supporting

Jung, Heewon

Supporting

Bihyung

Supporting

Secretive Plotter

Supporting

Yoo, Sangah

Supporting

Lee, Jihye

Supporting

Reviews

Dec 30, 2020

Addy_theOtaku

Recommended

Preliminary (36/? eps)

Ahh this seems to be a new addition in here and I was WAITING for this to be added.

Note that the webtoon just recently released a few months back and I will be writing my review for the 36 chapters I have read, not the webnovel.
So let's get to it now, my review might be a bit too long with some spoilers.

STORY: 10/10
This starts off with a simple yet exciting plotline that many readers might be able to relate to. Our MC here is an avid reader of webnovels and he followed one of them in particular called "Three Ways to survive the apocalypse" ...

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Jan 5, 2021

GrimAge

Recommended

Preliminary (31/? eps)

Omniscient Reader isn't the first manhwa to bloom outside its home, few others managed to do the same but what separates it from the rest is the fact it's very unique and I've personally never read anything like this ever before

Story : Incredibly immersive and Exciting with amazingly written lore. The manhwa starts with our protagonist Dokja realising that web novel he has been reading for years is the reality now. Apocalypse striked, the world has fallen but he knows how to survive and what will happen next. He was a reader, reader he still is, but a reader who knows it all. The characters ...

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Feb 24, 2022

chips901

Not Recommended

Preliminary (21/? eps)

Oh boy, a Korean Webtoon that hits ALL the right vibes but manages to be completely meaningless.

Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint (or ORV) is about an underdog hero who had faithfully and loyally read a webnovel to its conclusion. You can say he's dedicated, since he turned out to be the ONLY reader after 3,149 chapters.

It's easy to see why ORV is so appealing. It's your typical... I guess "hybrid" isekai where the world manages to turn into a video game. It has fresh and interesting ideas, blending in RPGs with a worldwide battle-royale streamed to the... stars in the sky.

But not only does the world-building fail ... to captivate me, I just found the story to be oh so very DRY. I dropped this webtoon at chapter 21. I think I gave it a fair enough shot.

At the very least, I expected a functional game because well... I'm a GAMER. As sexually repre- cringe as that sounds, do I really need to explain myself? Do you not understand the significance of my undoctored photo of Marianne smiling? Hmph. Casual.

Even though my expectations are bare minimal when consuming media, ORV manages to be even worse than my baseline expectations. Not only does it fail to prove that it's a game, it abuses the creativity of game mechanics solely to drive the plot forward - a catastrophic and fatalistic flaw.

Where do I even begin with this mess? Well, let's just start from the little details. Whatever the hell this "game" is called, it appears to be an RPG from the onset. You have stats and skills to complete your objective. You even have traits, which allow for a "General Evaluation" of the character. What's repulsive is that all of the things I've mentioned are more labels than anything. While that IS what they are in typical RPGs, the way ORV uses them is to merely assess a person's capabilities and personality. But you don't need to be a GAMER to tell that the edgy teenager has the "Edgy Teenager" trait, or that the Reader can read text faster. It's this uninspired creativity that makes me think that "Press F to pay respects" had more meaning than this.

Okay, but what about something tangible ORV has? You mean the "regressors"? They just seem like the same archetype as "Edgy Teenager". You can't tell me that "Regressors" have a special meaning behind them because they don't. They're innately edgy because they look like they've seen some shit. And those Dokkaebis? Seems like a cop-out that act like tangible beings for the CONSTELLATIONS to watch via twitch.tv. Bleh, the Constellations. They're these beings that sponsor your journey to beating whatever game this is. Through a dialogue box, you can basically surmise what they're thinking and that their donation of a paultry 100 coins is enough to say they like what you're doing.

Ugh, these dialog boxes are my biggest gripe with this webtoon. They tell the reader (both Dokja AND you) EXACTLY what they need to know. But these boxes are EVERYWHERE and explain SO much that you don't even need to think about what's going on. Oh, slap a kid? You'll get 5 dialog boxes from different constellations that basically tell you whether or not they approve of your action (they don't). It feels... too convenient. Almost as if the author is using game mechanics for sheer convenience...

But hold on Mr. Chips901, if you were actually IN a game, you'd actually want that kind of information to drive your decision-making. And you'd be correct, wayward reader. But this convenient information doesn't stop at what the gods think of you, the convenience extends to EVERYTHING. From the skills to the traits, all of it is just too convenient and the writing is to blame here.

Yes, I'm saying the writing is trash. Because in the first "game," Dokja SUDDENLY becomes super OP and is already well beyond our mortal comprehension. I mean, he literally has a skill called "FOURTH WALL" without any description to its abilities or capabilities. Holy shit, the authors are BRAZENLY going for the WOW and SHOCK factors! You'll never know what THE FOURTH WALL is fully capable of, but it can negate you from fear, block people from spying on you, and can even do your final exams for you so that you don't flunk high school. Neat! Now, if it could do my taxes and date my women for me, only then would I consider it "overpowered."

The point is, this shitty facade of a game won't work on me. The story bombards you with window dressing words to tell you that Dokja's playing the game right. But do YOU know what's going on? The answer is no. If you did, you'd be able to explain the significance of everything exactly BECAUSE it's a game. The failure to prove otherwise means that the game... isn't really a game.

Okay, let's move on to the lack of foreshadowing. Every situation/conflict/obstacle that the characters face are all so predictably boring. Instead of using what you have in the environment to formulate a solution, which would showcase the writer's creativity, ORV almost always elects to tell the reader that Dokja had it all figured out all along. All of this is presented in the SAME moment that the problem is being solved instead of showing the character doing ominous things for the future. It's exactly like you inviting me to a hardware store to assassinate me. And instead of using the wealth of tools at your disposal, be it a hammer or screwdriver, you instead call in an ICBM missile to blow up not just me, but the entire hardware store solely because you want to look cool. +++++S T Y L E.

Isn't it obvious that this webtoon isn't for me? This is a story that doesn't need you to think about anything, really. The story lays itself out, from how characters feel to the most overly convoluted solutions for convenience's sake. If you don't like substance in your anime because it simply hurts to think about it, you'll enjoy this story just fine. But even if this webtoon "gets good" much later, I just don't see a point to it when I'm being spoon-fed everything from character expressions to THE PLOT TWISTS.

What's the point of the journey if you know where you're going? There is none. Curiosity is what drives your passion and reasoning. The lack thereof proves that the journey isn't a meaningful one. In other words, I find ORV completely tasteless because there's nothing to be curious about. Its ideas are great ones, but it can't manifest itself into something much greater. If ORV had something going for it, then I would have already found out within the 21 chapters that I read. And if you still think that I'm missing the point, then please enlighten me. If you can prove that ORV had something worth reading about, then I shall continue reading and change the rating accordingly.

"A Reader should fight like a reader." - Chapter 21. This is where I gave up. Everything about this statement shows just how unfortunately shallow this webtoon is. Go ahead, go outside and announce to the world that ORV is the next greatest thing since Sex 2. I'll just go play a REAL video game like Hades instead. Just be back before dinner, mkay?

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Poll: Omniscient Reader Chapter 173 Discussion lazy_Modifier - Aug 29	0 replies	by lazy_Modifier »» Yesterday, 7:45 AM
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