clown's Manga

this is a very good read imo. i like the way the story is broken up into phases: trying to reconcile with unrequited feelings, struggling with past traumas and seemingly broken relationships, and growing and overcoming hardships with another. there is sa in cirrus's backstory but i'm very pleased to see that it was handled quite well. nothing unnecessary was shown, only enough to imply what had happened, and we focus on the mental scars it left cirrus with. i think the development and pacing was rather good as well.

my only complaint is that i wish there was a bit more clarification on cirrus's side, specifically his family dynamics. i understand that his father grew to dislike him after cirrus's mother died and then tried to fill the void with other women, neglecting his child in the process and causing the deterioration of their relationship. i know cirrus wants to bridge that gap between them and yearns to repair that relationship even if it ultimately fails in the end. i'm not unhappy that they remain distant. i just wish that was explored more and that cirrus made more of an effort to talk to him, but i completely understand why everything led to them giving up on each other. overall good read but wished there was a tiny bit more.

read it originally as it came out on webtoons, reread it here bc of the paywall. amazing reread. sometimes they say cringe stuff but hayan has the strength to back it up so go queen.

started off strong but i feel like a lot of the plot was glossed over just for the author to end the story with jerry & ilya. there was more characterization for siren than karyan i feel, he barely showed up in the later episodes. i like the idea of circumventing the system by being honest with yourself instead of thinking about everything and calculating ur every move, treating people like targets instead of actually enjoying the moment, but it should've been a whole arc. it feels like he found the solution through eins and then speedran it with everyone else, which isn't unrealistic per se, but doesn't translate well for storytelling imo.