• Volume Rating: 3/5
• Series Rating Average: 3/5

Inee's first foray into Manga Serialization starts off with a bang--literally!

An unconventional tale of love involving beings incapable of it who serve humanity's pursuits with the hope of one day being given a second lease on life! While also being at each other's throats when disagreements and misfires cause these modern-day cupids to collateralize.

Koharu is reincarnated as one of these Cupids after a tragic accident leads to her untimely demise after being confessed to by her best friend Aki, having never fallen in love herself and being at a loss up to her death as to how to respond to her friend.

The series has started off quite interesting, though I confess I am not as hooked as so many appear to be. I absolutely respect it as an outstanding first outing, and the artwork is top, but I find myself not on the edge of my seat for more. I can see how the author might weave some interesting stories and borderline-mysteries in trying to deduce fitting matches(since Cupids' bullets only affect someone if there is compatibility), but I also cannot help but find there to be a fair bit of arbitrariness going on(seemingly only one cupid..one team?..maybe group?..but what distinguishes when there is disagreement?..gets credit for the target, so why would any Cupid ever work together other than as allies when there is threat of extermination, or otherwise out of spite?). The first mission we see has four Cupids who are at a stand-still, but their mock battle that ends in the decision being made by Koharu was specifically stated by them to be practice for "the real thing"--what real thing? Did they not just straight up do exactly the thing?

We see that with when we see Koharu's first mission too--Where it was not a mock battle at all, but two cupids having the same target, one elected by the Koharu's senpai(does the senpai get credit for kouhai success? Not stated either), which was also copped by a rival cupid(how did the senpai volunteer herself anyway, and why was that mission not considered sacrosanct?). If cupids can group up to get credit why not always, and if they do not, why is there a senpai/kouhai system? Is only the latter valid? If so then Mission #2 makes no sense.

The arbitrariness with there being compatibility requirement too--Two folks were straight-up in the weeds of divorce but forced back in love by collateral, another was a random business bloke and a random employee. The latter sure maybe, but the former clearly shows that the "compatibility," was surface-level or at least that there was a deeper issue at play, and it seemed no different than traditional force on the part of the Cupids. It seems the rule only applies when it is convenient for the plot, which is not good. Consistency matters.

For that matter, one chewed the other out about collateral since they were only there for their target, but the other character's statement basically echoes the readers': Who cares? They are supposed to be Cupids, so their mission may be X, but if Y happens, why would they give the slightest bit of a care?

The author's note at the end mentioned that they basically put several elements they liked into a melting pot, and as I said I respect the first-try nature of the Manga. But I think it way too overrated. Maybe it can get world-built into making sense, but the first volume should be fairly foundational, and it really just was not.

Once again, great artwork, I respect the first attempt, but I may cancel my pre-order of the next volume and let it be one of my abandoned-works on my bookshelf. If someone else has read it and has a different perspective, please do share it. Maybe I missed something.

It appears the interface I tried to use to originally post this ate my post, so let us try this again!

I absolutely adore Yuri, and I encountered the image accompanying this post rather recently and decided to dig deeper, discovering that there was colored Yuri just like there is colored noise, which is quite interesting to me. I have not dived into the particulars of the differences or overall nature of them as I want my first experience to be mostly blind, I have been told it will be quite a difference from what I am used to though.

The gist of it is pretty much summarized by the title(hooray for the long-titling meta of modern media!). It seems interesting. I have seen the scenario play out personally since I used to be in environments where it was an unfortunate commonality but most people communicated in good faith and the misunderstandings were cleared up(and sometimes led to them having fun). I remember a personal anecdote of loosely the reverse(we were not romantically inclined towards each other, just friends), but he was such a cutie(did not think much of himself though) and hit me effectively with that "bruh I'm a guy," since he used a feminine avatar in the game, though I was not focused on that like he seemed to think at first.

Curious if anyone has any thoughts/reviews, but please keep spoilers out! Seeing other perspectives might make it an even more fun read.

Sorry for no pictures dearies, I do not have a smartphone so I cannot really take one that would be worthwhile. But I do have names!

1. Love's in Sight [Picked up on a whim, seems like it will be a neat read.]
2. I Had That Same Dream Again(complete work) [The synopsis really grabbed me, it is about a trio of extremely different yet connected persons that all are wrapped up in the tale, and is not shy about the darkness it is trying to talk about]
3. RuriDragon [Read a bit of the beginning and was hooked, heard about it for a bit]
4. Tsumiki Ogami's Not-So-Ordinary Life [Immediately was hooked on this]
5. Pen, Handcuffs, and a Common-Law Marriage [Already know I will be buying this whole series]
6. Our Aimless Nights [Another on a whim, seems like it will be a fairly cozy SoL]
7. Workin' the Night Shift at Akumart [The cover art was cute, and I think it will be interesting]

My backlog grows, ahhhhhh. I now have four Manga fighting for my top to-reads. Whisper Me A Love Song, Guy She Was Interested In, "Pen, Handcuffs," and I Want To Love You Till Your Dying Day.

Firstly, what an absolutely amazing ride it has been so far! I have been on and off with this for a while as I have soooo many things to read, but it is always delightful to return to, like an old friend.

Volume 5 being the first two-parter on one floor is quite interesting. Kawahara-san mentions in the A/N that he wants to "get it out of [his] system," but just like I did not mind my bookshelf having 100 books of it for SAO to be fully fleshed out with every floor having been gone through(ambitious and exactly what I was crestfallen about with the OG Anime that they not only did not do that, but did not even face the final boss), I do not mind that being 200+ if more two-parters are thrown in. Though it seems like even early on there is a bit of a tension between book-per and two-floors-per. I do not mind necessarily a short floor as a transitional filler but still notable, but I much more prefer the book-per or books-per like Volume Five and my upcoming read of Volume Six will be.

Onto the Volume itself, I was absolutely rooting for Kirito to defeat Morte/Morumo, though plot armor aside, it still did make perfect sense that his shrill companion using his real(?) name broke through his shock, and Kirito hesitating so early on in the game, him being young as he is, is also completely believable, as was the instinctual reaction to a potential pressing danger. As also was his later jadedness, the burning anger to never let them even near Asuna again. I believe that next time, if given the chance, Kirito will have his first PK. I say first, because not only do we canonically have the one kill in the OG, but I imagine there will be more along the way, as PKing is playing a much greater role, and making the series much darker, than the OG went. Not only that, the discussion around the technical specifics of the Alignment Restoration quests not only is good world building, but I believe is a foreshadowing that we will see likely more than one of those, with the detailed added difficulty of each(Kirito mentioning three layers deep).

Also, Kizmel is still Kizmel, and such a dearie. The hyper-protectiveness of our early-blossoming couple of misfits is heartwarming, and she continues to make us ask the questions Kirito asked but we never had in the OG a good insight into why. What truly is the difference between the virtual and the material? Are we not all going through our own realms, on our own quests, doing our own things, engaging with one another and those who connect to us outside our network? And where is the line drawn regarding what is "real," and to be valued, to be treasured, to be protected, to sacrifice for?

I do not foresee a happy ending to the Elf War questline. I think Kizmel is going to end up sacrificing herself, possibly not even against a boss but against the meddling of Morumo yet again, getting slain and giving Kirito the final tipping point to exterminate Morumo, even though I think Kirito might have already reached that point or will with their next encounter even without Kizmel being slain. Time will tell, but I think the Storyteller and the poison curing side-quest will prove to be an instrumental part of Volume Six and beyond. Our favorite FullDive Non-Conformant might come into play depending on if the cure can be augmented onto any weapon/item. Or it may just be some sort of early-stage crystal(which was mentioned as starting to rarely drop), which is fine too.

I need more Argo. Argo is my favorite, absolutely love her. Such a cheeky little rat(literally), but also so genuine, earnest, and caring. She wants money sure, and absolutely plays broker-games, but she has her morals locked tight, and she above all else wants to ensure that the Frontline is equipped to handle what lies ahead, between these early stages with the beta knowledge and her highly-specific build to scope the differences early on and the unknowns that lie ahead.

So so good, ahhhhhhhhhhh.