Another week in the books. Let’s chat about manga in the general discussion thread! Feel free to use this thread for questions, comments, recommendations, etc.
Like normal, please be careful with spoilers. I wrote a guide about spoilers in case you need a refresher on how to handle them (also linked in the sidebar).
Got nothing new today, I do however have an update to the series I mentioned in the last thread so let’s go with that.
It got 18 new chapters since last week so there was plenty to catch up to. It’s a bit weird - this series has everything necessary to make it into something I really like (plenty of humour, “straight man in a crazy world” MC, mystery and a bit of unhinged situations) and yet a lot of it just falls flat. It’s not bad but it doesn’t really hit the way it should. Art has some really cute moments so there’s that at least.
I’ll probably read another 20 or so chapters (whenever they happen) to see if things click but so far I feel rather neutral on it.
It’s good but the more I read the more I feel like something is missing. Not only that, the more I read the more bland and disappointing it becomes honestly. I think it has to do with the lack of real conflict or struggle for the main character. The story likes to pretend there are challenges, especially in the beginning but the truth is everything just falls into place with very little effort or problems - things just work out flawlessly for the most part. I think that’s why I ended up being more interested in the arc of a side character (Daisy, Melody’s sister and also a princess) who doesn’t have the super special powers of the protagonist and has to actually work against her environment. It’s honestly a more investing plot than Melody getting everything she wanted with little challenge or (real) resistance.
Things started pretty interesting and there are some good scenes throughout but it really feels like the wish fulfillment aspect of the story becomes more and more of a focus with each chapter. Also, the bad guys become more generic and one-sided as time goes by, making them less interesting in the process.
I just started a new, (seemingly) more serious arc so we’ll see how it goes but I’m leaning towards dropping the series if it ends up like the previous story beats. It’s a surprising disappointment.
This ended up as an unexpected hit among the three. It doesn’t have the hit-and-miss issue of the first series (humour here actually lands) and while things go relatively easy most of the time, this story doesn’t present itself in a serious manner that Melody does, making it less of a problem. Finally, it avoids making the MC feel like a typical “OC donut steel” which is a huge issue with Melody.
It’s not the best thing ever but it’s feels more solid and thought out than the other two, if only in the production and planning aspects. I actually look forward to reading more of this story, too bad it’s on pause following the end of season 1. I hope it comes back even stronger in the future.
I still have some chapters of Melody left but that’s about it for now and I will most likely have to look for something else soon. Well, that or I’ll go back to clearing my backlog - we’ll see which side wins this time.