sucreslibrary's reviews
1219 reviews

only bumping up to a 3 star for that cliffhanger, the rest of this is just kinda meh and all because of the guy we're stuck with throughout + the constant misery of living as a woman in modern society that the guy is oblivious to. sure, he googles stuff, but the fact that he's gone his whole life not having to even think about the daily trials of the women around him pissed me off so much. I read the first chapter of the next volume and it looks like the story really picks up so hopefully his role gets toned down a bit b/c I don't find his antics amusing, they mostly just piss me off.

i think if we got more from the main character outside of the daily misery that this would have worked better for me. i wanted to see her be passionate about her work! i think there was opportunity to show her passion for movies but it was skipped over to give a little more exploration to the male character and that makes me frustrated. one thing i love about josei is that i feel like they usually give depth and nuance to female characters that a lot of other manga genres don't; while we do get to see the mc's frustrations and understand why she feels the way she does, i wanted to see a bit more of her outside of that, outside of the daily drudgery and mental exhaustion of living as a woman. i would have loved to see her hang out with her coworker and have more conversations between the two of them! hopefully upcoming chapters dive into her more or stick to the emerging story line. would also love to see her standing up to the dude more and communicating to him instead of just letting him steamroll over her with his words. 

absolutely adored this. probably helps that I read Frankenstein for the first time a couple weeks ago and loved that too. this does such a great job of weaving in the original story while adding onto it, and the ending is absolutely devastating (as it should be!). the writing style was lovely without being overly florid, and painted a great picture of the island and its inhabitants. i need to buy myself a copy of this ASAP.

note: there's trigger warnings listed at the end, but they're vague with "spousal abuse" - be warned that there are several rape scenes in this book as well as lots of physical violence.

 lots of really good info in here but it unfortunately doesn't translate well as a graphic novel. I feel like I could have processed it all better as a full on book rather than the huge chunks of text forced into small boxes. the timeline jumps around, and in general this doesn't have a ton of context for anyone who isn't as well-versed in this place + time in history. I feel like I walked away from this with some more knowledge, but it would have been better conveyed and easier to access through a different medium. there could have been other additions made (a list of the key political players and brief bios on them, a generalized timeline that could be referenced by the reader, a glossary for different terms and organization names that crop up a lot) that would have made this work easier to keep up with. 

im compelled by this one, but i wouldn't classify it as a good yuri. the relationship between the two women is very rushed and i'm hoping we get them more fleshed out in later volumes. part of that is my hope that the biphobic rhetoric Akari is spouting is challenged later on (women always leave her for a man in the end, which I know is a lived experience for many and I imagine something more common in such a heteronormative/homophobic society as Japan, but there's reasons why that happens that can be discussed without disparaging bi women in the process). I feel like previous works I've read from this mangaka have handled bisexuality in a more nuanced manner, so I have hope that that will be addressed later on. 

the pacing in this volume is all over the place, and I feel like we skip some key conversations between characters that would have added more depth. the art is nice, but it doesn't add much when the story seems to be speeding along so quickly. I think Ayano could be a very compelling character if we're allowed to see into why she decided to cheat on her husband, and there could be interesting relationship dynamics addressed depending on where the plot goes. Akari is also a character I would like to know more about, and I wouldn't mind learning more about her past relationships and why she goes after the women she does.

i will be continuing in the series, but more from a drama perspective than actually rooting for the two main women.