Jun 22, 2023
Ngl, I didn’t expect it to end so soon. And even though it’s called vol1 end, I think that it’s more of a midpoint break, and with the time left from this contest you can pretty much do another volume with ease. But I’ll still write tis with the assumption that this is indeed the endpoint of your entry:
At first, I said that Maniavolution was similar to SAO, but the more I read it, the more I realized that it went the opposite direction. While SAO attempted to tell a serious story with real stakes, consequences, and overall sense of dread in its setting (let’s ignore how well it did that), Maniavolution was anything but. It’s wild, it’s wacky, it’s fun, and most importantly, it’s always treated as “just a game”. There are stakes, of course, but those are more tied to the characters personally rather than a grand goal for all. And for a large part, it worked.
Then there’s the overarching plot and the mystery aspect about the main villain and heroine’s backstory. While I still stand by the fact that you’ve done incredibly well on the execution of the emotional value, looking at it overall, I can’t help but feel like it’s a bit lacking. Nidma just kind of… appeared like a plot device, and the “final battle” ft. Sakura, while very interestingly set up like an “unstoppable force vs immovable object” duel, kind of felt like a bit too much on the random buffs scale.
The same kind of problem can be said with the main point of the entry - the romance. While there are some romantic interactions (or rather, interactions that can be seen as with romantic intentions) throughout the story, I feel like this aspect is very underdeveloped compared to the rest of the story. This chapter is the biggest offender of it - to be honest, I feel like the kiss scene came out of nowhere, almost as if you forced it in to make it a romance, while I believe it can be done in a much more tasteful, yet equally, if not more emotionally impactful had there not been this “limiter” on what you’re supposed to show. To borrow the words from one of my acquaintances, Maniavolution is what I’d call “an isekai first, romance second”, with the latter aspect should have been spread out and had more time develop.
Still, overall, it is a great entry in the contest, as expected of a previous winner. I’d say, fellow contestants should be wary of a potential finalist candidate in Maniavolution :)
