Agathe's Manga

22 - difficult
Hard take on world war 1 and ptsd
It’s nice that this isn’t another "heroic " tale, but a more brutal and realistic view on how horrific war truly is

Of course, as a result, it’s rather painful to read :/

31 - new tragedy slowly building on past tragedy ?
It’s hard to understand the author intentions
Stuck up in social conventions, the old duke chased his beloved son who fell in love with his maid
As nothing is very original there, the son die, and the story begins with his daughter coming to the duchy , years later, to beg for her mother’s life
Grivious people of the household, of course knows not of how to welcome her
A very mean head maid will spread lies after lies to aggravate that already distorted relationship - and thanks to the stupid absence of communication, it works
The girl believes she’s hated, trust no one
The family does a very bad job at showing love and interest while they truly care
Misery is building on misery - this is bad enough

The pain of grief, the weight of social status, the stigmatas of pas mistakes, there plenty enough for a story

But -alas- you have to add some stupid transmigration into a novel bad trope (useless and ridiculous)
Then you also shove a psycho prince
Make a very informed girl betray her bad family, using an innocent man ad a scapegoat, and ridiculously plan to use the same prince that should be her would be murderer as an escape ?
It’s vile, it’s nonsensical

The selfishness of the MC , the absurd mix of childishness + bad grown up strategy is very bad , the character doesn’t make sense and also suddenly became as deranging as the psycho prince (sorry manipulative 12 yo playing with people don’t sit well with me)
Also the prince is described as being devoid of emotion, but he seems to be more able of understanding emotions than the MC, and understand pretty well that her family is not doing a good job at showing love, but that theirs feelings are sincere and far from superficial

The MC is prodigiously contradictory : that’s a very common side effects of the transmigration /rebirth tropes. Maybe the author finds it convenient to have a child who is an adult in a child’s body, with some opportunistic childlike mindset, having a family that’s not a family, but book characters with predictable behaviors and predefined feelings, etc.
But in the end, it makes this type of character into seriously deranged and unrelatable chimeras

It also seems like the author’s narrative has strong prejudices against the duke family which brings towards punitive conclusions, without much hope for healing and growth ?
Again, reasons are neither excuses nor justification, but if you want to give a humane background to your characters, none will be faultless, so at least I’d wish for the follow up to have a bit of heart

35 - very nice , It’s relaxing to find a character with no greed and pure kindness,There’s also a bunch of cute creatures, it’s a carebear version of dungeons ?
The MC here has a great heart, despite a very normal constitution very far from hunters and heroes of the world

So far, it’s sweet, with some slice of life vibe, not much tension and very little depth
It’s a bit sad ot become like a video game and the MC literally get some god powers without much challenge or plot tomake things interesting

63 -meh what to say
Human made a game to train kids against monsters from another realm
As the title gives away, the other realm is very real too
Our MC being a bug player gets to know he’s being used, and grows reasons to rebel against humans who, not only are using him and his friends, but can attempt at his life
The truth behind the making of the game is still mostly hidden, and the Mc being pushed by the game maker will also have to survive with dangerous choices
The fights are too long and numerous, the characters rather superficial
The result is mildly entertaining, the appearance of monsters as interlocutors is certainly welcomed, but it still feels like everything is lacking depth

99 - amazing
Great pace , great characters, impeccable ethics
It’s a true gem, the MC is a true doctor in the real sense, never asking money from the poor , sharing knowledge and pushing forward to help those in needs
There no raise to power, no golden goose chase, no expectations for praise or medals, but true intrinsic desire to accomplish his task with all he has
Contrary to many titles, there not much quirk, very little supernatural talent, and mostly none of the exhausting flaws that are used to cover true heroes under a mediocrity blanket. That character is truly simply sincere and devoted, the author spares us of greed , lust or gluttony, and we can enjoy a very rare good guy facing adversity with simply heart and compassion
I also appreciate that despite a few magical things, the MC never tries to bring a full 21th century arsenal, there’s no time to loose at comparison, all what matters is making the best of the resources he has

23 - some ugly ( evil families)
Some good (nothing lethal or extreme even when it comes to revenge, at least so far ; systematic perceptions of evil ( like the terrible empress might have been a good mum if her husband had not been collecting murderous concubines)
Some tiresome : yet another MC leaving in the delusions of a pat life novel being akin to a prophecy : she obviously changed and so di her surroundings and the people she influenced
That is going to add hips of painful misunderstandings and lengthy chapters … sight

98 - (half chapters since 9x? )
Very unexpected mix of dungeons and slice of life
Mostly working, with a bigger and ever growing danger (plot? ) in the background to stir up the pace
Very nice bunch of characters, you can’t see a villain for a big while, you meet a lot hunters who cares and protect the weaks without bullying and nice peoples in the office
There are some evil idiots too but luckily, nothing dominant so it’s relaxing

The MC is super OP, but thankfully he has no desire to show off, takes no pride or joy in killing, and often spare potential enemies
He’s neither impressed by money or fame and simply wishes to enjoy quality time with friends and family - how refreshing !
The only bad thing is the badly obsessive females , his red haired colleague is dangerously obsessive, and his adoptive daughter is strangely possessive too - this can become exhausting pretty fast

22 - dropped ? (Long review, i truly searched what didn’t work for me as it could really have been my type of read)
Well, i like her ( i think ?) she also is so engrossed in her dutifully life that she has no life, but at least her motivations are intrinsic
I have a hard time with her mother injunctions :obey, bow, smile, etc
Accept your position as a subordinate, be submissive, don’t question even the most ridiculous orders
It’s scary

Basically the ML is just the opposite, raised as an heir and a pleaser, it’s easy for him to loose focus when everything he has done so far is for the sake of an image constructed by his greedy father.
He’s, of course, full of himself, absolutely abusive and disconnected from his feelings
As often too, then unbearable chaebol Ill be painted as pitiful
So she’ll have a reason to endure his stupid bullying in the name of budding feelings, or jealousy he can’t recognize

In this story, she’s better than him (nice!! So much better than the clutz waiting for a man to make her grow up!),
Yet, she has to be his subordinate : because they are « born this way »
No one questions it
The fact that she’s threatened into becoming his secretary instead of being promoted is simply brushed away
It paints her as a person ready to sacrifice for her family - as if being extra obedient /submissive was not enough
When you reached that point, you realize the « independant / modern woman «  is in fact stuck in the boundaries of very traditional patriarchal values ?
In fact,this pretended josei, s named after the ML, and the representation of desire are also very male centric ?

I enjoyed the story about secratary kim, it felt hilarious, but i have a heard time laughing here
The characters are just an inch away from the caricatures that would have me laugh
Instead, they feel both predictable and real to an uncomfortable degree
She’s typical of a woman who will accept her inferior position both because of her social origins and maybe partly because of her gender
The inuendo of the drunken incident show her as a dumb seductress, not even knowing about the wolffish thoughts of males - the part where she’s the attraction of both ML are not exactly great

Both leads feels like children in their way of handling of feelings, she’s a dumb /naive gose, he’s a meany, the miserable oppa is painted like a bit of a perv

Romance is excruciating
I don’t want to root for any of these relationships
The oppa feels two faced
The boss is both is boss (unequal relationship), and a grown up with mental problems, he’s absolutely immature and possessive when it comes to her
Both guys playing cock, when obviously, one is the boss of the other feels both ridiculous and miserable with a predictable loser on the forehead

In fact it would probably have felt better if the oppa was boyfriend material and would win in the end
But neither is a possibility and it’s hard to really imagine a mature and healthy relationship between the ML and the MC when all they truly have in common is a working addiction

Honestly, i would have read more, without the oppa chosen narrative -
He could have been a great brother, he could have been disruptive, without being romantically inclined in many funny ways, maybe pushing the bully boss to grow up a bit
He could also ha been a better romantic inter:they do have a lot in common, they shared good and hard time, friendship and family -there was ground to make him the final winner of a better kind of story
Instead, the author chose to have him fail in both place- with the bit of serious vibe, that makes him feel more cowardly than clumsy, . It also makes his good intentions feel fake

With the narrative choices, it’s hard to understand why he would feel attracted to a girl he new as a baby, it just feels like he had an hormonal response to a sexy girl who he happend to see as his baby sister
That’s not love coming from care, that feels like lust?
While the former could have been welcomed, he then would have had many years to become her boyfriend -

The fact that both male leads seemed to find their feelings through lust feels forced and a bit gross
I don’t deny physical attraction, it’s just that the way it’s depicted feels sexist : imagery of clivage of a sweaty or drunken woman are so totally in what you.d expect of a ecchi shonen
Maybe it feels like another porn invasion - male fantasy becoming dominant and absorbed in female narrative, instead of finding its own voice and pace (and i’m not talking censorship or prudishness, i just feel there could be so many more ways to depict attraction and intimacy, that I’m truly appalled male porn have became some kind of universal standard)

46
Excellent pace , interesting characters, not original one bit, but very entertaining

9 duh making vilains out of little kid is just dumb