We can all agree that when COTE was first introduced, it wasn't the most original concept in the world, but the author executed it well enough for the story to be enjoyable. From the characters we know and love all the way to the carefully thought-out mind games and strategies inclusive of special exams.

However, cracks began to be more visible during volume 9 with Ichinose's underwhelming past reveal (I understand that different societies have different reactions, but I'm sure that it could have been something more shocking like Ichinose secretly going on compensated dates in order to afford her sister's birthday gift and support her family while her mother was in the hospital. This would have helped enforce the idea early on that Ichinose will readily sacrifice herself for the ones she cares about.)

And I can go through the other volumes but frankly, that would take a lot of time plus no one would actually read it.

However, from year 2, the plot was basically stagnant with the author attempting to force all these new characters down our throats, who would be irrelevant to the plot by the next volume. (He's basically adding these new characters as one-time devices to force the plot along because he can't do so creatively with the already-established characters.)

Not to mention the writing quality is getting even worse, especially with the author explaining something and then re-explaining it, almost like he's padding the word count. Also, we're being told how smart the characters are but never shown which makes the experience dull.

There's also the lack of a proper antagonist and don't you dare say Nagumo because he hasn't done anything besides reveal KiyoxKei's relationship with Ichinose and got all the 3rd years to stare at him. (Ouuuu scary.)

Oh let's not forget the stupid pseudo-harem that is forming for no apparent reason. (It's like every time a girl breathes the same air as the main character, she automatically becomes smitten by him.)

A special mention would be volume 0: I have lost all hope of the main character ever genuinely being defeated because apparently, he's this adaptable super soldier (There's no way the author can write a proper ending where the MC loses without it feeling like some major asspull, especially when you constantly show how inferior the rest of the cast is compared to him, especially the other WR students who should realistically make him sweat just a bit, but nooooo, let's make it that he's the Messiah of the WR by completing the hardest curriculum and not having any other student come close by completing level 9 or something similar.)

Basically, COTE became a typical power fantasy where the MC effortlessly gets every girl and is easily the best at everything (including having the biggest dick). (Honestly, I think the author is just self-inserting into Kiyo at this point now.)

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