Rating: 6 (Fine)
Time of Review: Chapter 115 / Complete (Manta)
Favorite Aspect: I genuinely love how relationships are represented physically in this story. The way characters interact- Hugs, friendly smacks, and intimate moments all felt very comfortable and realistic, and were never stiff.
When I stopped taking this story seriously and accepted it for the Saturday-morning cartoon Comedy is was trying to be, I had a lot of fun! Who cares where Rina got the resources to build her wacky inventions, or if she had enough proper technical knowledge? At the end of the day, she's stuck in video game that she made! Sure, I would have loved for the author to go a little more into detail about how she was able to do all these outrageous things, but it was not such a huge plot gap in something that was supposed mainly comedy.
The story is not without it's flaws of course, no story is. I take particular offense to some very abrupt scene and story cuts that left me fumbling to catch up to what was going on, and some very important questions pertaining to the ending that just got swept under to rug and ignored.
It's also unfortunate how close the author got sooo close to being body-positive and gender-affirming, but at the end of the day anything that could have gone that way was played off as a joke, as per usual. For a story with heavy themes of women's rights to peruse the way they want to live, it's upsettingly dismissive about personal expression that is anything other than "ladies are allowed to do guy stuff!"
The dip away from comedy and into more serious drama and action from season 1 to season 2 was jarring, and I understand why some readers would not enjoy it. I personally understood and sympathized with the message Kim Suo was laying down, and while it may have not been perfectly delivered it resonated with me.
If you have Manta and want some more Fantasy Romance, it may not be the best and it is not without some nagging flaws, but it's still an enjoyable read~
You Might Also Like: If you liked this story, and the themes of disguising ones gender, you will definitely love Empress Cesia Wears Knickerbockers. And it you didn't like this story but almost did, I would still try Empress Cesia. It's like I Choose The Emperor Ending but with more thought out realism!