I'll try to balance the good and the bad things I say about this but it's a little difficult to be positive when I'm fresh off of finishing it and I kind of found the ending lacking.
Please note: I am primarily using speech to text to write this because my dominant hand has been injured from, ironically, typing too much.
Artwork is gorgeous. panels are easy to understand and read. The political stuff isn't too hard to follow at all. I never felt like things were dragging on. And the romance is nice and spicy while not being rushed at all. It's a fantastic slowburn with a delicious amount of teasing and a logical, strong female lead who breaks stereotypes in what qualifies as a beautiful girl's personality.
I've tended to read a lot of gender bender comics throughout my life because I'm trans. I like having a character that I can relate to in gender dysphoria, or otherwise read comics that disregard sterotypes of gender as something vitally important. This satisfied me well, but.. the main character really doesn't get to show off her strength often, and is usually - no, ALWAYS - saved by someone else when she's in danger. I feel like this is such a terrible and negative feminine stereotype that's so painfully overdone and really needs to die. she's got all those muscles and no reason to use them. I felt like I was tricked because the comic always reminds you how strong she is in dialogue and a few moments where she gets to do one or two cool combat things, but it always ultimately didn't actually matter to her character. It felt like such a disappointment every single time she had to be saved instead of figuring out a way to solve problems on her own. I acknowledge that she has a very good strength of character, but that leads me to my next complaint: character arc conclusions just felt rushed. The ending to the romance just felt kind of... unhealthy? cold? wishy-washy? nothing like the spicy romance we see throughout the comic leading up to the end. It seems to go from sexy to lovey dovey and it just doesn't really work because the characters don't talk about their feelings enough leading up to that point beyond a confession. maybe my taste in romantic themes is just different, though.
I feel like the supporting cast characters could have had way more character development or backstory explained and their arcs just felt sadly one-note, I didn't really believe them to be realistic people. I felt like I was missing panels to explain their feelings a lot of the time. I also don't understand why some sad things had to happen at the end at all, they didn't really add anything to the plot beyond trying to steal some tearjerker points. Am I too cruel?
a big good point though: The villain is absolutely great in that they just have such a punchable aura. You don't find villains that you love to hate as often as this. Their conclusion, though.. also felt kinda one note and rushed? It feels like it should've been harder. I dunno. sometimes it feels like the author was just squishing a bunch of important points into a few chapters instead of spacing them out naturally. unfortunately I would not be surprised if this is a contracting problem with tapas or something. I dunno.
I'm over critical. This might honestly be your most favorite comic ever after you finish it and I absolutely would not blame you. It has all the right notes, It has fantastic artwork in a fantastic story that isn't too boring or rushed for the most part, all of it is technically good. not giving it a try is a genuine shame because it really is of high quality. just don't get your hopes super up for a natural feeling ending I guess?
(-30)
(+115)
