This was a wonderful read seeing a passionate fl work hard for her dreams and with a good will. A modern past life of historical setting troupe that doesnt tackle on revenge or dark themes. It explores Yuri's challenges as she navigate through another life in a man-centered world that undermines women's contributions to society, forcing her to take on the garb and image of a man just to gain a standing, and the ordeals that come with it. The story also delves into the perspective of feminism, exploring social phenomenons that happens in a transitioning society that started from a patriarchal system to a system that places women of equal value, standing and position to men. There are many characters that incredibly portrays this view from Yuri, Plum, Ivy, Matilda, Veronica, the Countess, Arsinoa and to the queen, Cesia, all of whom displayed great character growth throughout the story. This story also explored various trauma, unique problems and issues that comes with a transitioning society/government through those characters together with the other male characters; Aenon, Lesta, bandit, and even the chamberlain. Yuri managing to solve and improve the daily lives of the people, the very same that may have condemned her for various reasons, was a great way to show her unlimiting love to the new life she was given, albeit many criticisms. Many scenes contains deep introspection that further adds nuance to the characters, which not many story does. Collectively, the story made me relate and be immersed into its world.
The artstyle is also one of the factors that made this a pleasant read. The creative decisions and direction made the story able to portray Yuri's vision, as well as grounding the story in realism through somewhat accurate and effective visuals. Approaching the end, the artstyle became more developed and expressed more details that really enhance readability.
Onto the plot, the yuri's ardous journey began and progressed slowly, raising her self- esteem, skills, comnections, and standing in the society. For me, it was well phased, together with many underlying side plots of other characters. I liked how well they are all connected to each other, causing influence and impact that reflected through their actions and decisions in the story. I dont remember any bad parts here though that it really took its time and written comprehensively. Oh they also frequently utilized flashbacks that redefines previous scenes, which adds something, i found it unique
The subsequent arch, more or less brings up the overarching problem/romance? about yuri's gender and her and the ml's affection for each other. For me, its sweet, and they approach it with respect and value for the other, including their emotions and views in life. It made the story mature for me, in a sense that they recognize the responsibility and deals with the situations with the interest of the other. They are not blinded of things that could stray them, or yet they help each other not to stray. Their love mainly comes from helping the other grow and not by gifts or favors. Compared to others, this didnt appear superficial. The phasing of this is incomparably fast, utilizing more and more timeskips by the end just to speed up to other plot points left to conclude the story on an open note. This timeskip didnt really felt justified as compared to the former half of the story, it was utilized frequentlt and consecutively. It resulted in a fragmented feel of the story and that it felt to me that i missed many of the character's growth, making the story kinda disconnected in the end. Another word for it is that it felt rushed.
I also felt that other character's plot didn't really reach a proper conclusion or reach a point that adequately explains their character fully, such as with Arsinoe, Nigel, and maybe even Lester. I think that the story could have delved into them more to explain some scenes by the end that were left hanging or disconnected. Lester, for example, was last seen with queen cesia negotiating, even before that, was not close to her at all. I know for plot sake, that lester gradually fades from the scene as Aenon become more significant to Yuri, lessening his screentime for him to interact with other characters. With that said, It didn't really connect that all of a sudden, by the end and his last appearance, that he and the queen are conversing in a witty or close manner. The scene may have even felt more abrupt by the reveal of their much more close relationship. Arsinoa with her problems of understanding her people through the husband competition, and Nigel as well, of his side with his people and his approach to both the queen and arsinoa werent explained that well, even if it was supposed to be inexplicitly or for the sake of his enigmatic motivations.
Nonetheless, I liked all of the characters. All of them faced unique challenges, and with it displayed growth that highlights their strength, commitment and courage towards their ambitions. Their nuanced backstory feels adequate, and fair to make people like or not like them. None them were defined with just a single characteristics, flat with shallow motivations and involvements.
Haha Moreover, they are all cute, gave me good laughs, and opened me to new perspectives of life and of challenges in differing societies. All of this I couldn't say the same to other works of the same troupe/genre.
I could go on longer, but Ill spare you all who have read this far into my humble review and thoughts of the story. Many thanks for your time to read this, albeit me not really that good of a critique. Goodness I write really long.
This was a wonderful read seeing a passionate fl work hard for her dreams and with a good will. A modern past life of historical setting troupe that doesnt tackle on revenge or dark themes. It explores Yuri's challenges as she navigate through another life in a man-centered world that undermines women's contributions to society, forcing her to take on the garb and image of a man just to gain a standing, and the ordeals that come with it. The story also delves into the perspective of feminism, exploring social phenomenons that happens in a transitioning society that started from a patriarchal system to a system that places women of equal value, standing and position to men. There are many characters that incredibly portrays this view from Yuri, Plum, Ivy, Matilda, Veronica, the Countess, Arsinoa and to the queen, Cesia, all of whom displayed great character growth throughout the story. This story also explored various trauma, unique problems and issues that comes with a transitioning society/government through those characters together with the other male characters; Aenon, Lesta, bandit, and even the chamberlain. Yuri managing to solve and improve the daily lives of the people, the very same that may have condemned her for various reasons, was a great way to show her unlimiting love to the new life she was given, albeit many criticisms. Many scenes contains deep introspection that further adds nuance to the characters, which not many story does. Collectively, the story made me relate and be immersed into its world.
The artstyle is also one of the factors that made this a pleasant read. The creative decisions and direction made the story able to portray Yuri's vision, as well as grounding the story in realism through somewhat accurate and effective visuals. Approaching the end, the artstyle became more developed and expressed more details that really enhance readability.
Onto the plot, the yuri's ardous journey began and progressed slowly, raising her self- esteem, skills, comnections, and standing in the society. For me, it was well phased, together with many underlying side plots of other characters. I liked how well they are all connected to each other, causing influence and impact that reflected through their actions and decisions in the story. I dont remember any bad parts here though that it really took its time and written comprehensively. Oh they also frequently utilized flashbacks that redefines previous scenes, which adds something, i found it unique
The subsequent arch, more or less brings up the overarching problem/romance? about yuri's gender and her and the ml's affection for each other. For me, its sweet, and they approach it with respect and value for the other, including their emotions and views in life. It made the story mature for me, in a sense that they recognize the responsibility and deals with the situations with the interest of the other. They are not blinded of things that could stray them, or yet they help each other not to stray. Their love mainly comes from helping the other grow and not by gifts or favors. Compared to others, this didnt appear superficial.
The phasing of this is incomparably fast, utilizing more and more timeskips by the end just to speed up to other plot points left to conclude the story on an open note. This timeskip didnt really felt justified as compared to the former half of the story, it was utilized frequentlt and consecutively. It resulted in a fragmented feel of the story and that it felt to me that i missed many of the character's growth, making the story kinda disconnected in the end. Another word for it is that it felt rushed.
I also felt that other character's plot didn't really reach a proper conclusion or reach a point that adequately explains their character fully, such as with Arsinoe, Nigel, and maybe even Lester. I think that the story could have delved into them more to explain some scenes by the end that were left hanging or disconnected. Lester, for example, was last seen with queen cesia negotiating, even before that, was not close to her at all. I know for plot sake, that lester gradually fades from the scene as Aenon become more significant to Yuri, lessening his screentime for him to interact with other characters. With that said, It didn't really connect that all of a sudden, by the end and his last appearance, that he and the queen are conversing in a witty or close manner. The scene may have even felt more abrupt by the reveal of their much more close relationship. Arsinoa with her problems of understanding her people through the husband competition, and Nigel as well, of his side with his people and his approach to both the queen and arsinoa werent explained that well, even if it was supposed to be inexplicitly or for the sake of his enigmatic motivations.
Nonetheless, I liked all of the characters. All of them faced unique challenges, and with it displayed growth that highlights their strength, commitment and courage towards their ambitions. Their nuanced backstory feels adequate, and fair to make people like or not like them. None them were defined with just a single characteristics, flat with shallow motivations and involvements.
Haha Moreover, they are all cute, gave me good laughs, and opened me to new perspectives of life and of challenges in differing societies. All of this I couldn't say the same to other works of the same troupe/genre.
I could go on longer, but Ill spare you all who have read this far into my humble review and thoughts of the story. Many thanks for your time to read this, albeit me not really that good of a critique. Goodness I write really long.