Ames 🪻

I’m also providing links to charities to help Congo, Sudan and Lebanon!!

(this is all in chapter 1 but ofc some people want to go in completely blind), skip this block

In Infinite Returns to Save the World, Tesilid is essentially the universe’s anchor: if he dies then the universe basically implodes itself. He is what keeps the universe working, so because of how important his role is, whenever he dies, he regresses to a specific point in his life, getting stronger every time. But the world is already Highkey collapsing due to forming rifts (known as dungeons) between the human world and the demon realm, so he has to close all of these dungeons and stop the demon takeover. Easy peesy right? NOPE BECAUSE ALL THAT THE POOR GUY DOES IS GET FUCKED OVER AND BETRAYED. His ability, known as the “Seven Commandments” boils down to: he gets a boost when he displays the 7 virtues but punishes him when he exhibits any of the 7 deadly sins. Mind you, as a human being it’s pretty hard to avoid displaying any of these sins, SO HE’S FORCED TO BE THE BIGGEST PUSHOVER AROUND with no other choice but to take it. I hope that displays just how much work Ailette has under her belt

Okayyy so outside of that summary let me provide some spoiler free elements i loved and also a couple of cons (of course I’m biased so there will be more pros than cons but there’s no such thing as a perfect work)

PROS

CHARACTER WRITING

Ailette Rodeline

I LOVE HER SO MUCH!!

She’s super relatable as a Transmigrator that it makes the story super enjoyable and you can’t help but root for her

She has her flaws and her charms, notably, SHES NOT A PUSHOVER!!!

She’s snarky and she gets back at characters that do her, or more often, Tesilid wrong. (We love women in male dominated fields)

She behaves how you’d expect someone put into a bullshit novel to behave. She trains to be as strong as possible to keep not only Tes, but also the people she loves, alive.

SHE GETS A LIBRARY OF ALL OF THE BOOKS SHE READ IN HER PAST LIFE. So she doesn’t have the entirety of IRSW memorized which makes so much sense

Tesilid Argente

See I usually don’t like the male leads in OI much, they’re enjoyable but they’re typically pretty meh to me. Esp if the FL is SUPER likeable or also bland. I CAN SAFELY SAY THAT I LOVE TESILID SO MUCH

First off, we veer from the typical noble ML with dark hair and red eyes, instead he’s a knight of the church with white hair and blue eyes.

He has things he wants and his own struggles that he compliments Ailette a lot, instead of feeling like a cardboard cut out next to her.

HES GENUINELY SUCH A COMPLEX AND WELL WRITTEN CHARACTER IN TERMS OF WHAT HES BEEN THROUGH. The story really digs in that he’s been repeating life god knows how many times and that he’s been wronged just as much.

You really connect with him, AND HE DOESN’T READ LIKE AN ACCESSORY OF AILETTE’s but an actual person

I could genuinely talk about both Ailette and Tesilid’s character writing for god knows how long but we’d be here forever and I’d dip into spoilers.

ROMANCE DEVELOPMENT

Genuinely such a sweet and well developed relationship. In a sort of way they remind me of Natsu and Lucy from fairy tail (not their dispositions), they’re equals and partners

The romance is central but also breathable. It’s not shoved down my throat or like the story is saying: “CAN’T YOU SEE THEY’RE IN LOVE??? THIS is what you should be rooting for”. It’s undeniable and casual, they love each other, the story doesn’t require an admission (as of yet) to convince you.

Ailette is Tes’ recluse: the only person who is unconditionally on his side and who wants to give him things/take care of him in a world that has only ever hurt him. She knows of his regressions and the laws of his powers aren’t enforced with her. He can be honest and human, she’s a symbol of his own humanity and hope.

Allie’s love for Tez, is a little more subtextual, we know she does it’s the why. He praises and acknowledges all of Allie’s hard work, trusting her to be on his side. She wants to protect him because she knows that he’d do anything to keep her safe. Although he knows that she knows more than she lets on, he doesn’t hold it against her. She cares and wants to protect him unconditionally, often getting revenge for him. Her care goes beyond her survival but a genuine love for Tes. Tes prevents Allie from sacrificing herself for the greater good (similar to what he’s been forced to do).

It’s also a slow burn so to my fellow readers who get bored if the main ship is together fast, strap on

MOOD AND TONE

The start especially, is comedic. The story reunites a dark premise and heavy environments with humour and wholesome moments

She has the sweetest relationship with her family that you can tell that in a way, they heal her inner child and motivate her.

Because of this, the characters feel relatable and that much more human. You get invested in them and these bonds via the moments outside of high tension scenes.

At the same time, it also balances this humour with the darker aspects of the story, the team behind the manhwa knows when to dial the humour back for rougher or heavier scenes. The novel she’s in is inherently dark and you are always reminded in one way or another.

Plot

It knows where it’s going and you can tell. It has a finish line and isn’t stretching out needlessly.

THE FORESHADOWING IS PHENOMENAL. Every twist that’s been revealed is hinted from the very beginning, in a way that you could logically come to the same conclusion while also not being incredibly obvious (Genuinely it’s all so intricate that I still get giddy when I reread and catch the clues)

It does a great job at conveying just how ANNOYING IRSW is: showing rather than just telling: Secret s class level bosses in lower-ranked dungeons that can be released under specific conditions.

You can tell that it’s HARD to survive in this world. Genuinely had me frustrated until it dawned on me that this was written on the tin: Allie had been saying the original novel is FRUSTRATING, I wasn’t prepared for it to be proven

By doing this, you get a clear idea and assessment of the stakes for Ailette: why is she so stressed about getting strong to protect one man? Why does she have a negative reaction when she realizes what novel she’s been placed in?

Even though Ailette is incredibly strong, often OP (comes with the territory of transmigration stories), she has decent weaknesses and the book’s setting is so intense that she struggles too.

CONS:

I can see why people would drop this early on, not because of quality. I can see people finding the plot to be slow.

Allie is a child until chap 50ish and the plot of the novel only kickstarts by chap 65ish, so people who don’t care much for the story outside the dungeon clearing may get bored

Although I’d recommend to read it regardless, there is a lot of important groundwork and exposition in these chapters. They’re pretty silly though and I love some of the arcs that I would say to read it.

I can also imagine the argument that Allie is overpowered or a “Mary Sue”. She’s a Transmigrator who’s landed in a novel that she knows the major plot points and twists; and she’s changing the plot obv. She ends up being a master at god knows how many skills too. Obv this is a cons kid but I do want to put it in quick perspective

She’s overpowered in the TUTORIAL period of this extremely hard novel. She is in a peaceful, near irrelevant place where she’s the only person training for what’s to come. Mind you the tutorial difficulty rating is F whereas the story’s is SS; she’s a shark in a tiny pool. It’s not an accurate representation of how she’ll fare once the plot starts up.

Even then, she isn’t able to one tap all of the bosses and a lot of her overpowered abilities have pretty crappy drawbacks that render her unable to fight. She also still isn’t a match for the main villain of the novel either. It’s why she needs Tes, she has someone to watch her back and protect her