Reincarnation into the Barrier Master

It is my habit to cook a large quantity of a food I like, and then eat it daily. I’m a good cook, but on rare occasions, I have made a mistake in the recipe. I am always reluctant to waste food. So, grimly, for a week or two, I eat a disappointing meal every day to atone for my sin. Reading this manga reminded me of that experience.

The author starts with great art, good settings, a decent magic system, attractive characters, a little mystery, and heavy foreshadowing. But the execution is clumsy and thoughtless, the ingredients are wasted, they should not have let him cook. At any time, a good author could have picked up this story and made it delicious. Instead, the author repeatedly says, ‘this is going nowhere, abandon that story arc, let’s start fresh in a new location. Here’s some new characters, here’s a new crisis, see if I can wait five chapters before MC magics it to a conclusion and we move on again’.

It also has one of my pet peeves, that MC has “barrier magic”, but it quickly becomes ‘the omnipotent power to do anything at any time’. He uses “a barrier” for creation, destruction, generation and manipulation of any magic element, purification, transport, teleportation, storage, telepathy, divination, blessing, healing, and summoning. Also, rarely, as a shield. And his barriers can be permanent, on a timer, or only while he’s thinking about it, and he can make them infinitely without cost. It’s so lazy.

In case you were wondering, I’d recommend you skip this.

Summary: orphan child with magic potential gets taken in by a wealthy family. The world is his oyster until tragedy strikes and he must pick up the pieces. So, instead, he goes somewhere else and starts another story, rinse and repeat.