Akumi AgitogiRezensionen

Man, it’s horrible how some people can demean another person so that they lose their own conception of self worth. I’m just looking forward to when Miyo rises up above this 💪💪

I am tempted to not continue the series. It is very slow moving and it seems like each chapter is a repeat of the last. The FMC is constantly thinking the same thoughts over and over again. I get that it is her biggest struggle, but we are on book four of this.

Ehh, I wish it would have had more of a focus on Miyo.

Genre: manga
Age: new adult manga (although appropriate for younger)
Series/Standalone: book 3 of series
Tropes: Cinderella
Content: nothing
Rating: 3/5 Stars

Interesting story and good art

The best manga I’ve read since A Bride’s Story. The artwork was detailed and story interesting.

There is a decided lack of action as the story goes all in on mopey angst as the lead characters are weakened by sleep deprivation from Miyo's incessant nightmares. Still, I enjoy the company of the characters, and the cliffhanger at the end promises to break open the logjam next volume.

FOR REFERENCE:

This fourth manga is an adaptation of the middle part of the second light novel of the same name.

Contents: Chapter 21. A Match for the Master -- Chapter 22. Arata Tsuruki -- Chapter 23. True Family -- Chapter 24. The Visitor -- Chapter 25. Feelings Unaligned -- Chapter 26. Tear-Streaked Morning -- Special Short Story: To Ease the Pain of Loneliness

A spectacular finish to a kidnapping story arc takes up the first half of the book, but then things slow down considerably and a bunch of new characters are introduced with some vague new story points. I did a little research and found that the adaptation of the first light novel is now complete, and the second half of this manga adapts the start of the second light novel, shuffling through the set-up and throat-clearing bits. I hope things pick up again next volume.

Miyo and Lord Kudo confront some of the emotional issues that have had them holding back from each other. And when her enemies see that the relationship is going better than they expected, they decide it is time for some overt actions.

I'm on the edge of my seat waiting to see the consequences of that bad choice in the next volume.

This series is cheesy and overwrought, but oh so fun.

Oooh, a sappy romance I can really sink my teeth into.

Miyo Saimori, a humble and unassuming 19-year-old woman, has been broken down by years of abuse by her evil stepmother and stepsister, and her emotionally distant father has finally shoved her out of the house for a possible engagement to Major Kiyoka Kudo, a stern nobleman eight years her senior who has a reputation for driving away potential fiancées with his curt manner and simple way of living. But of course, he has a heart of gold and recognizes a puppy that has been kicked when he sees it . . .

It's all set in the Taisho Era (1912-1926) of an alternate reality Japan where the nobility have supernatural gifts like telepathy and pyrokinesis, so the clothes and technology are all quaint and old-fashioned and the court intrigue promises to be key to future developments.

I have the next volume on hand for tomorrow, so yay!

The thing I didn't like in this volume was when Kiyoka and Arata agreed that, "Whoever wins will have Miyo." As if she was a property or something. And, this dumb girl left the decision-making to her betrothed. Rather than talking things out, they went along with it, just for sake of the plot.

3.75 ⭐

It's your typical Cinderella style story, but I still liked it. The main reason is the writing style. Unlike other light novels, this novel's writing style exactly suits my taste. The translation quality is SS tier. I liked the setting of the story.
The cover art is just stunning.

I would've liked it more if Kiyoka had some flow. The writer described him as flowless. Maybe it will be in the next volume. Who knows?

After the events of the first volume, Miyo never has to worry about the Saimoris again, but that doesn't mean the poor self-esteem they left her with is gone. In this volume, Miyo decides she wants to start studying etiquette - she's painfully aware that her education as a young noble lady was cut short due to the way her family treated her, and she's concerned that she'll be an embarrassment to Kiyoka. Kiyoka asks his sister, Hazuki, to be Miyo's teacher, which has the additional benefit of giving Miyo another friendly and supportive woman in her life besides Yurie.

Unfortunately, it isn't all flowers and sunshine where Miyo and Kiyoka's developing relationship is concerned, due to a combination of Miyo's poor self-esteem, Kiyoka's increased workload, and the two of them being too socially awkward to know how to communication openly with each other. Miyo is having nightmares so frequently that the lack of sleep is starting to take a toll on her health. Although she thinks she's hiding it from Kiyoka (she knows he's busy at work and doesn't want to cause him problems), Kiyoka knows about the nightmares and is waiting for her to talk about what's bothering her.

While these two anxiously hover around each other, a newcomer, Arata Tsuruki, decides to take advantage of the situation in order to become closer to Miyo.

My description makes this sound like the setup for a jealousy storyline. Same with the publisher's description. Rest assured, however, that that's not the case. You'll probably still want to smack the characters silly for not talking to each other properly, but at least it won't be because one party is convinced that the other has started falling for someone else.

Anyway, this volume had some issues with its writing that I didn't recall in volume 1. As it turns out, volume 2 has a new translator, so I'm thinking it's definitely a translation issue rather than a problem with the original work. That said, it's still readable, even if certain sentences are structured a bit oddly.

Storywise, I think I liked volume 2 more than volume 1, although problems were still resolved way too quickly and easily. Volume 2 includes some political machinations and Usuba family developments. I wasn't expecting the Usuba family to turn up so early, and even then I thought they'd hover in the background for a few books before actually doing anything. One of the benefits of this series being so tightly written (possibly overly tightly) is not having to wait for fun things like the introduction of the mind-controlling Usuba family. Granted, just like other Gifted characters in this series, they don't get much opportunity to show off. You'd think Miyo would need some actual on-page training before gaining better control of her powers, but no.

I like this series despite its issues and plan on continuing. I just hope that the characters stop getting in their own way so much in the next volume. (Although internal conflict is the only conflict this series doesn't solve in an instant...)

Extras:

Includes an afterword by the author. From the sounds of things, the original web version of this had more bloat. I think we may have a unicorn: a light novel author who listens to their editor.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)½

Miyo Saimori should have been raised as the beloved eldest daughter of the noble Saimori family. Instead, since she wasn't born with her mother's Gift, her father neglected her after her mother's death and allowed his new wife to treat her as though she were less than a servant. When Kaya, his daughter by his new wife, turned out to be Gifted, it sealed Miyo's fate. The best she could hope for was the possibility that her father might allow her to marry Koji, her childhood friend.

Unfortunately, he instead arranges for Kaya to marry Koji. Miyo is sent to Kiyoka Kudo to be his bride. The Kudo family is wealthy and powerful, so normally this would be good news, except Kiyoka is known for being so cold and harsh towards his prospective brides that they've all left within three days of arriving at his home. However, Miyo has nowhere else to go. Whatever Kiyoka says or does, she'll have to bear it. Luckily for her, he's not as horrible as the stories about him and made him seem.

I read the first light novel volume a few months ago, and my biggest complaint was that the writing and story were very, very spare. There was none of the usual light novel bloat, but the author also didn't spend much time on things that could have used more attention.

I had hopes that the manga would be better. In several ways, it was. The artwork was gorgeous, with more in the way of backgrounds than I'm used to seeing in manga based on light novels. The artist did a great job with characters' facial expressions, although for Miyo that mostly meant something in the range of either "sad" or "hopeless." My absolute favorite character was Yurie, Kiyoka's servant, who was adorable in this adaptation. She reminded me of Touko Fujiwara in Natsume's Book of Friends, a total sweetheart.

Unfortunately, it seems like the manga may have inherited some of the light novel's problems. There was barely any conflict, and what was there was generally dealt with quickly. Miyo's biggest concern was that Kiyoka would throw her out when he found out that she didn't have the power or education that one might expect a girl from a noble family to have. Instead of letting readers fret along with her, it was made clear by the end of the volume that Kiyoka found out about everything she was trying to hide from him and was fine with it all. It was obvious early on that Kiyoka was falling for Miyo, and every older woman in Kiyoka's acquaintance recognized it too and gleefully encouraged the match.

Koji's father has only made a brief appearance so far, and Miyo's father is already showing himself to be an idiot who assumes it's a given that Kiyoka will throw Miyo out. Here's hoping the manga can wring something interesting out of the whole "mysterious and powerful Usuba family" aspect.

As in the light novel, the fantasy aspects were very slight. Gifts were mentioned a few times, but we only saw them used on-page once, near the end of the volume.

There's a good chance this isn't worth continuing, but I'll probably do so anyway, because this has a few tropes I generally enjoy ("icy hero who turns into a softie for the heroine" is a big one). I really want to like this series, so I'm hoping one version or another (the anime maybe?) eventually makes that possible. I'll suppose foolishly keep trying until I don't have the willpower for it anymore. At least the manga (and eventually anime) version gives me pretty artwork.

Extras:

A bonus short story by the original light novel author, in which we learn how Miyo got the comb she used prior to the one Kiyoka gave her.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

In this fantasy reimagining of the Meiji/Taisho era, there are beings known as Grotesqueries that can only be seen and fought by those with Spirit-Sight, known as the Gifted. Miyo Saimori was born to a Gifted mother and father, which should have guaranteed her a comfortable noblewoman's life. However, she never demonstrated any ability to use Spirit-Sight, nor any other Gift. After her mother died, Miyo's father neglected her and married the woman he'd preferred over Miyo's mother. Her daughter turned out to be Gifted, so it wasn't long before Miyo became less than a servant in her own home.

Miyo's only ray of hope was that she might one day marry Kouji, her childhood friend, but even that wasn't to be. When her father tells her that Kouji will marry her stepsister, Kaya, while she will be betrothed to Kiyoka Kudou and sent to his household immediately, it's all Miyo can do not to cry. The Kudou family is powerful, but Kiyoka is known for being so cold and terrible that he has thus far scared all his potential brides away within days of their arriving at his household. Unlike them, Miyo will have no home to return to if she leaves.

My first impression of this book was that it was very, very short, only 156 pages if you count the afterword. Granted, it doesn't have illustrations, but it was still a much slimmer volume than I was expecting. I hoped this meant it lacked the usual light novel bloat.

I really wish I could say I loved this book. In many ways, it was a breath of fresh air. It wasn't yet another isekai story set in a vaguely medieval European world. The heroine wasn't a Japanese woman reborn as the villainess in the last otome game she played. It was written in the third person.

This had so much potential, but sadly the execution was lacking. This was a quick read that didn't dwell much on unimportant details...but that unfortunately also didn't spend much time on anything else, and never allowed even the slightest potential conflicts or complications to brew for long. Even the romance went much more smoothly and easily than I expected.

Kiyoka's past potential brides were depicted as being overly spoiled, but considering the way Kiyoka first acted towards Miyo when he met her, I thought his past potential brides probably had a point. However, Miyo was used to being treated worse, and it took barely any effort on her part for Kiyoka to become curious, investigate her background (it was his father who arranged the marriage, so he didn't know much about her), and realize he'd been acting horribly towards someone who'd already suffered years of neglect and abuse. He felt bad about this, and it wasn't long before his efforts to make up for his behavior resulted in both characters falling in love.

The book's various villains were idiots who reacted to everything in the way most likely to lead to their ruin. It was honestly kind of amazing how quickly and thoroughly they managed to screw everything up once they all got going. And once again, the author robbed the story of all its potential tension by having solutions basically fall into characters' laps. At one point, Miyo was in danger and I thought Kiyoka might at least have to spend some time frantically searching for her, but no, after approximately two seconds of worry, someone came and gave him everything he needed in order to wrap things up.

The fantasy aspects have potential. So far there have been no on-page Grotesqueries, but several characters used paper familiars (shikigami?), and some of the Gifted used their abilities on-page. I wouldn't be surprised if members of Miyo's mother's side of the family become prominent characters in later entries in the series, which could potentially lead to some exciting developments. In general, it was nice to read a series that didn't include the usual generic RPG creatures and monsters.

I'm glad to see a light novel series with a female protagonist that doesn't follow the usual "reborn as the villainess in an otome game" template, but this was a depressingly bare-bones start. I'll probably give it another volume to see if it improves, but I suspect that this is one of those cases where I'd be better off trying the manga instead (although that won't be out until later this year).

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)½