I like this series, but there are aspects that could have been done better.
I don't care if people are mad about the switchbait with all of these aloof genres. I enjoy GB, but GB is not the best integrated in this story. (I'm not going to scapegoat the random GB event because it's irrelevant to why I gave it this score.) But that's not the issue here. The issue is that the tone and pacing are mismatched, there's a lack of focus and it can be seen by some frustrated readers.
From the beginning, we've been introducing to the dilemmas of Country K, and it seems like that the author wants to open this up as a political intrigue.
Then we switch perspective to a group of merry-go-round adventurers where let's call it as Party A, cool. For about 30-40 chapters and lo, we pretty much "forget" about the initially introduced Country K and focus on Party A, which is a bunch of some funny shenanigan comedy and light hearted action.
Then suddenly BAM! We are reunited with Country K's dilemma, and the author tries to tie the characters of Party A to Country A, from a light hearted journey to something way too heavy.
It's the whiplash that's the issue.
Afterwards, the author introduces us to characters of Country C, Country A, Country... you know the gist, and there's like at least 5 major characters per country! It's as if they wanna do their own GoT and is playing civilizations.
No more funny shenanigans, just serious political events.
Even then, the political events and war events are not well done. You know the rule of "show not tell", well instead of witnessing the action during these events, we just have everything mostly as a flash back and have the military commandants narrate everything... Oh god it feels so long and not immersive.
Then suddenly like out of NOWHERE there's some random ass character that let's call Papa A (those who read it know who I'm talking about), then with him it's like Sponge Bob tier comedy.
The problem with the series is that the tonal shift is not handled carefully enough after the GB event, and that the war events are well, too descriptive and make people lose sight of the story. It feels like MEMORIZING FROM A HISTORICAL EVENTS TEXTBOOK.
If the author introduced us to Country A without giving much focus on the adventures of Party A, it wouldn't devolve into this kinda issue.
Also, the author keeps introducing some characters where you'd go ohhhh hmmm it might be relevant later, but... they don't, just more setups for no reason. And it could be quite a let down. You'd be like, oh is that going to be a major plot point, then you endure for like 100 chapters while keeping that small detail in mind then... nope... or not yet! (I'm referring to
Silver Dragon, the Spirits, and the Red Dragon, and Lana )
Eventually, it become really hard to track all these people. Imagine that you're a guild leader of a video game, there's no way you can keep track of everyone in your 500 guild. But this is what this series is doing, and it's hard to keep the focus on.
Strong points
- good comedy, when the author decides to insert comedy (cute funny chibi, misunderstand comedy)
- pacing is tight; kinda close to GoT
- lots of genres and if you like lots of different genres you won't get bored
- multidimensional characters (the author takes care of his side characters and gives them limelight nicely; so it can become surprising when he forgets about them); the villains can also be very compelling as it's not a black and white story; everyone have mostly reasonable rationales behind their actions and they're not really cartoonish (which is rare)
- the character designs; each character look unique and so are the mechs. There's a lot of efforts in deg the emblems, which is super cool.
- Unpredictable <--- this is this series' strongest point
- the MC has good chemistry/interactions with almost everyone except a select fews; making it not too much of a pain to read
Cons
- you can't turn your brain off when reading this. You will need your full focus and all your IQ because of the issues with the localization.
- Fights to be honest are kinda boring and badly choreographed; sometimes you have no idea what's going on
- artist sometimes reuse angles and poses (traces their own drawing multiple times; which can be seen with the Water Spirit early sequences)
- the climax and cliffhangers don't have the strongest hook; making it boring having to wait for it weekly, and binging it is the best experience
- the official translation has mistakes in not convey ing the actual meaning; the fan translations can't keep the names of the characters and places consistent. Making it a pain to follow unless you are ready for a reread.
Ambivalent (personal opinion)
- They did not use Castle nim but their own castle, which I applaud the effort. It can make the story look cheaper but I'd love the meme potential.
- main character is not being teased enough. I'd have more fun if he got the same treatment as the green brother in 4cuthero. Wasted potential lol.
- highly controversial but my favorite character is Torziel. I really enjoyed the Torziel X MC interactions (not romantic of course). And the amount they had was not excessive but quite right.
