I agree with another past reviewer (ohkimch) that said this manga had a lot of potential. It could’ve been made quite an interesting psychological masterpiece but it morphed to become more fluffy and shoujo-like. Despite this, reading this as a fluff and shoujo is still an enormously enjoyable read, with a little ‘edge’ coming from that psychological aspect I was referring to. There is also a certain down-to-earthiness to this isekai story that seems to lack in other isekais... the female lead seemed to retain her realistic modern outlook in life compared to many isekais I’ve read. What I mean is, most of the times the female lead becomes assimilated to the culture of the new world and the reader would have completely forgotten she was originally from our world-modern day setting. This one does not though... at any point in the story even though the fl is handling political intrigues, she still has a mindset of the modern day world.
The female lead is strong minded, independent and smart.... my biggest gripe is she could have been truly badass but at some point in the story she succumbed to a more shoujo fl, although the author seemed to still have permitted her to keep her brains, to be able to roll out a good political intrigue plot line. I’m not saying she is lovesick and helpless female in distress, she’s not. She is still independent and quick thinking, it’s just that she did fall in love with the male lead faster than I expected for someone who clearly used their intellect much more than the usual shoujo female lead. The male lead could have been a psychological, cruel and sadistic masterpiece, too but he sort of mellowed out during parts of the story.... his psychological streak does pop up once in a while in the story to remind readers that he’s not entirely Mr Princely Right and Morally Upjust, and when it does, you get a sense that the author really intended him to be this way... the way it’s written is just too detailed and intricate to ignore. Somehow I felt the author wanted to write an edgier, more serious manga but was pushed into doing something less heavy, but still managed to slip in bits of these edgy stuff here and there. Because honestly when they do pop up, you get a sense that it’s much well thought out than the fluff aspects.
The political plot is interesting, and the antagonist is also quite the character. The pacing could have been a bit better but shouldn’t bother the average, non nitpicking reader, although it might bother ones that are concerned and critical with uber perfect, ultra smooth writing. Personally they did bother me (I’m the nitpicking type) but I just let it go and tried to accept it as a light, fluffy material. I had issues with the pannelling for the first few (5-10) chapters as they made it not so easy to understand but it improved a little later on.
Overall, very nice for fluffy reading, liked the occasional gruesome, psychological aspects that pop up throughout the story, plot is nice, but still wish it could have been much, much better if author handled it more seriously. I honestly keep thinking about the what ifs bec the portrayal of the male lead’s psyche was so good. But despite that I still don’t feel cheated and still had a good time going through the chapters. Nice read.
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