Chiasmus's manga / #revenge(4)

An interesting premise of a city-state run by nobles within 'modern' Japan. Unfortunately, the author didn't really expand on the set-up, which can be said for many aspect of the story. Everything is very rushed in the way I feel like I'm reading a Wikipedia synopsis of it rather than experiencing all the intrigue, mystery, and drama. In some ways, I like it. I like how the Emporer almost immediatly finds out part of Iori's plans. It shows how she are really out of her depth with her mission and how smart the Emporer can be. I like how Iori is quick-witted enough to figure out the Emporer already knows her revenge plans. At the same time, I also wish certain revelations were slower. Iori's identity as the child of an exiled duke was discovered by nearly everyone within the first five minutes of meeting. There was never any 'oh no, will the secret be found out?' feeling. The Emporer jumping from 'wait, you're a woman?' to 'please be my wife and I will fix all your problems' seems a bit rushed considered he thought of Iori as a tool eight chapters ago. Beyond a kiss and an offhand remark about being spunky, we don't see a change in feelings for the Emporer in relation to Iori. One of the things done really well was showing the role of women in Genkyou. As someone who knew this was a gender bender going in, it was really obvious how the author wanted to show the extent which women were confined and contrast it with Iori, who, not only being the child of a disgraced duke but a woman in diguise, broke those restraints on herself in order to get to the truth of her family's tragedy. I really wish this were longer. If I TV adaption were made of this, drawing out the plots and themes, I would watch it in a heartbeat.

The intrigue was a bit confusing to follow since the audience followed Gabriel's perspective for the most part, who was kept in the dark about the true motives of the nobles. I thought something was going to be expanded on with Gabriel's own past as a fallen noble, but aside from some offhand remarks it feels like she could have been a commoner and it wouldn't have mattered. The ending was a bit abrupt and side plots and characters could have been given more detail. I liked how the epilogue showed that despite events, (mostly) everyone moved on and had other life to experience. Honestly, there are mixed feeling about the happy love ending. It didn't really match with the rest of the story.