pluckaduck's manga / #historical(105)

story was interesting at first. the plot was messy, but the mc's characterization was solid. the other side cast's characterization was decent (such as Ivan, midwinter, may, miranda, macalo) and def could be explored, and there was other side charas introduced that could've been relevant later (but never was). the overarching plot was slowly but steadily unfolding, introducing new plotlines. but at some point, somewhere in the middle, it all went down the drain. like, it's obvious the author did not care about the story anymore. miranda's characterization and redemption was speedrunned; in fact, the flashback in which it showed how she was shot and captured is inconsistent with the first chapter. like when she was reintroduced into the story, it was with a sudden flashback trying to explain she isn't an entirely horrible person, she just didn't know how to love her kid, etc. it should've been a slow and gradual pace with flashbacks of her time as a mother, which would've made her growth cathartic and eventual death actually bittersweet. midwinter, the mysterious antagonist who was promised to be interesting was dealt with so anticlimatically, and the overarching conflict was trashed along with midwinter's character. so many questions and potential plotlines unresolved, such as the mystery surrounding the death of bacchus, what happened to may, what happened to the children macalo befriended and the rest of the experimented children and her weird doctor, what happened to the hitman organization, who the fuck is midwinter, etc etc. and this is just the first arc. you can tell in the exact scene that the author just gave up on their manga, which was when midwinter just plainly states his ambition in his thought bubble; it was honestly jarring since before he and his intentions were covered in mystique and the story was steadily unwrapping them, but now it's just revealed so suddenly? i really should've dropped it there. but like i said, i like mc's characterization, but with the rapid pace of developments, the decline of quality writing is inevitable. his chara growth was absolutely shit. given his background and fucked up mind, it doesnt make any sense why he was so in love with katy. she is said to be important to him (he claims she is his everything), but it never fleshed out her chara and their relationship, hence her death lacked the gravitas it tried to convey. and what happened to his murderous predisposition, after his mother died? that is never addressed again. anyway, with how the story ended, with a bunch of loose ends and new journey for mc, it's possible the author may come back to the story again.

surprisingly good for a historial drama manhua. it focuses more on the political machinations and drama, than the romance aspect. the targets are pretty good as well; no forced romantic developments or cringy aspects. the main problem of the story is the shitty pacing and storytelling. the plot points and their developments are well-thought-out, but how we get from point A to point B is poorly written. the worldbuilding could also be better, but the lack thereof doesnt distract too much. overall, above average entertaining read.

ch. 44: the only saving grace of this manga is the art and the beautiful men. storywise, the plot points are fine but the delivery is incoherent and lacks structure and the pacing becomes god awful as it progresses. it's almost egregious. in the beginning, when it was just simple adventures, i definitely felt the author wanted to incorporate as many twists as possible for shock value but doesnt know how to incorporate them into the stories naturally and fluidly. later on, it legitimately feels as though the author is making things up on the fly. for example, shiro is in love with the leader but there was only one appearance of her double, and then later the real one is introduced and the story tries to convince us shiro is in love with her via explaining the letter correspondence and all but it's so forced bc despite her importance to him, any hint of their relationship was never mentioned at all prior to this plot point. like shiro only likes her bc he relates to her, and finds her insecurity and lack of confidence lovable? The other character introductions is pretty dogshit as well. also, this isn't even shounen-ai; why is people even tagging it as such. there is a lot of scenes with romantic tension between shiro and the officer, but it's strictly platonic. the way the author sexualize the male characters is exactly the same as how male authors sexualize female characters.