I don't even know why I even bother trying to find a gem among Higuri You's works. Every time I read something she writes, I want to punch something--or, rather, someone, namely the characters within her work.
Oh, and are her characters horrible or what? Laures is the textbook version of an abuser. He's horrible and evil and conniving and hurts pretty much everyone in the story, including Hilda who is supposedly his true love or whatever. He keeps saying how much he loves Hilda and etc. etc. etc. but he still continues to force himself on her, even when she says that she doesn't want it! And it seems like the manga gives the "I was nice to you and protected you, so you should love me!" excuse for him. No. That is not how love works, Higuri You. Just because you are a decent human being doesn't mean the girl has to like you. (And, he's not even a decent human being either, so.)
Hilda, if anything, is almost worse. But I can sort of forgive her since Laures is an all-powerful demon, and she would probably die if she resisted... So I don't have so much a problem with her personality (though that's pretty shoddy too, by the way) as I do with the way Higuri You uses her. If you look up damsel-in-distress in the dictionary, you'll see her name in big, neon letters. Seriously. The manga keeps trying to tell me that she's this strong heroine and stuff, but it keeps having her being rescued by other people. Now, I understand heroines can't be heroines all the time, and they do need some rescuing every now and then, but when every time she tries to rescue someone else ends up with her being rescued herself... then I have a very, very big problem. She's basically thrown around by the plot for the sake of it, utterly devoid of any positive agency of her own. It's frustrating, ridiculous, and ultimately perpetuates sexist ideologies.
The side characters are, well, mildly more interesting. But that's not saying much because Laures and Hilda are as interesting as a tub of lard. (By that, I mean not very and makes you want to throw up after consumption.) Rod and Asubaru are probably the best characters of the series, since they're the only ones I can read about without wanting to buy the books and burn them to ashes in a bonfire. Teti and Zardi are interesting to read about, but Zardi is also a really abusive boyfriend (and a rapist, basically) so they are also joining Hilda and Laures in the bonfire of death. Karoun and Iria were nice to read about, but their development was ultimately really lacking (but, then again, so is all the other characters in this series)... and Karoun's motivations for his actions were ridiculous to the extreme.
The plot itself isn't horrible... but it gets so convoluted after a while that all I know is everyone hates each other and Laures is an asshole. It's not really confusing in the sense that you don't know what's going on. It's more confusing in the sense that you're left wondering why in the world Higuri You made all these unnecessary subplots when they didn't contribute at all to the manga. But, then again, why did I ever expect at least halfway decent storytelling from her?
Finally, probably the only good thing about this manga is that the art is nice. But, after reading so much of Higuri You's stuff and hating them all, every time I see her style, I just want to throw something. So.
TLDR; this is a series that makes me want to participate in book-burnings. That is not a good thing.
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