2.5 stars

Slow-going. Little is actually happening.
I have no problem with the main character being ridiculously OP. Not sure how I feel about her wishy-washy attitude though. It's really starting to annoy me. ( )

Sei and Albert spend a day in town together, relaxing and doing a bit of shopping. Considering the amount of time Albert spends holding Sei's hand, it's clearly a date, but it still comes as a shock to her when people later call it that. Why would a guy as handsome and wonderful as Albert possibly be interested in her? After all, Sei was never very popular back in her own world.

After learning more about a gift Albert gave her, Sei becomes interested in the art of enchantment and is given the opportunity to try it. She also finds herself slowly losing her private battle to keep the strength of her saintly abilities a secret - as much as her introduction to this world still bothers her, she also can't bring herself to just do nothing when she sees a situation where her powers might do some good.

The artwork is lovely - good, clean linework, nice use of screentone, and attractive character designs. Unfortunately, I continue to feel that the characters and story are pretty bland. This second volume of the manga covered the latter half of the first light novel. Sei's date with Albert and the aftermath were overall sweeter and more fun in the novel, despite my issues with the writing. I don't know exactly what the problem is, but somehow the manga seems to be flattening out the story's emotional beats a bit.

Something about the manga also highlighted a few of the story's problems: not much happens, and Tachibana can't seem to decide exactly what she wants this story to be. If it's a fantasy romance, then it's pretty weak - Albert is handsome but otherwise bland, and pretty much disappears during the second half of the volume, turning up only briefly for the gift scene. Otherwise, it's mostly Sei chugging mana potions in between enchanting a bunch of gemstones and occasionally chatting with folks.

Which is basically the same as the novel, but for some reason it didn't bug me as much there. You'd think it would be the other way around, since it takes fewer pages and less time commitment to get through the same events in the manga.

One thing I did prefer about the manga vs. the novel: the hints of what's to come. I thought that was communicated a little better here.

Well, I'm interested to see what I think about volume 2 of the light novel series, once I finally get it. At this rate, I think it'd probably be best (for both my budget and shelf space) to stop buying the manga and focus on the novels instead, for however long they can keep my interest. I could definitely see continuing the manga series via library checkouts at some point, though. It really is pretty. And I really need to watch the anime at some point.

Extras:

A couple very beautiful full-color pages, an afterword by the series creator, and an afterword by the artist.

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