Zihvuda's manga / #Murder Mystery(2)

An actress during some sort of non-specified shoot falls into another world where she's saved from monsters by a Duke. The Duke decides to have her pretend to be his lover in order to 1) Avoid other political marriages and 2) Discover who dared murder his fiance-to-be on his own lands. In exchange the actress gets to maybe return to her own world though the possibility is uncertain, or the Duke will make sure she's well taken care of for the rest of her life. As can happen in the real world between two actors on a movie set, feelings slowly develop between them. The characters are likeable, and the story is interesting. The emotional beats are pretty genuine and the relationship between the actress and the Duke develops naturally. So far, the english of the translation is good, with minor errors here and there. I can't speak to the accuracy of the translation, but whoever is in charge of the english knows what they're doing. Always a plus. The art is lovely and good at showing off the romance sparkles and even the small amount of action there has been up to now. I do have some issues with the actress, and I'm not sure if this is a translation issue or what, but yeah. She's mega successful, has a loads of awards for her acting, and has (apparently) been in a lot of romance as well as action... movies? .... tv-series? both? Anyway, my issue is her telling the Duke it's her first time sharing a bed with a man. I don't think she ever specifies her age, or we ever get to know what age she started acting since she does say she's been in the industry for a long while. So it bothers me that she says she's never been in a bed with a man. I find it too hard to believe since she's been in romance things. It bothers me because her reactions to things sometimes makes her feel much younger and inexperienced than what she supposedly should (an adult in her 20s?). And her experience in acting should make her immune to much of the virginal shojo doki-doki stuff. What I mean is she should acting more mature I feel. This could be a cultural thing, so perhaps that's why it seems a bit unnatural to me, but yeah. She's from a place and time where people are much more open and I think, comfortable with intimacy and stuff than the Duke. So when the Duke goes all blushy and embarrassed it doesn't stand out and is every bit as cute as the actress feels it is. Also the Duke's influence is weird. There's a persistent noble woman (girl) who he feels is difficult to deal with. Just bar her entry?? Tell her to fuck off? I don't understand??? He's already known as a "cold hearted" man, and yet he can't keep this person from entering his estates when she wasn't even invited??? Her status isn't higher than his at all, he could just punish her, or have her family do so, like seriously wtf? I get that it's kinda for the lols and also as a first test for the actress, but it just doesn't feel believable as the story progresses and things get a little more serious with the whole murder mystery and all. <_<;; Also even though the actress has to do a lot herself, the Duke shows up maybe a little too often to save her. It's meant to show how supportive he is, but sometimes it gives off more a "she can't do anything without him" feel, which the story is definitely not going for. Fortunately those moments are few. And hey, at least they talk and actually work together really well with solving the mystery. Another thing that bothers me is the actress picks things up a bit too quickly. I get memorizing lines for a role, but even method actors take a while to learn things for their role, months of intense hard work! She has a basis in martial arts and trains (at a gym) a lot, sure! But she's immediately perfect at archery, which... It's one thing if she was being modest about her skills, but she's apparently a master. Even though she's an actress and hasn't the lifestyle where she would have kept up with that sort of stuff. Unless she did, in which case it should have been shown. Instead it just makes her seem too good at everything. It's ok if it happens with just one thing, but it starts to feel contrived when it's etiquette, swordsmanship *and* archery. It's a fun story and the romance is sweet, but if you think too deeply about it, it kind of falls apart unfortunately. Like the Duke apparently hasn't got any spies or informants or anything. The actress has to figure out everything herself, and then report back, like sir! How are you still a Duke with the powerful enemies that you have?! Anyway, for all my complaining, I do enjoy this story and do recommend giving it a read if you're into this kind of romance story. It's been a while since I've read about someone falling into another world as themselves, rather than dying and/or waking up in someone else's body. Also The Duke is immediately aware she's not from their world, there is never a wait or a need for that to be revealed to him, which is really refreshing, though perhaps underutilized in their dynamic.

This could have probably been good, though I had to drop it. The first couple chapters are good, but then the translation takes a nose dive into word salad, and it was pointless to even attempt to read. The art looked very promising, though I'm not all that happy about the reveal of the the blond being a high school kid. I'm sure this could have been interesting, but nope, another story ruined by really bad translation. Don't even bother with this unless you just want to look at the good art. It doesn't seem all that smutty though, so I'm not sure it's any good for just looking at the art either.