Apr 28, 2025
it is done
since I'd already given my thoughts earlier I'll kind of obviate those, just saying that while I did like leo's spiral near the end, it kind of felt like a "because story" moment. As in, hero's journey story circle act 3 fallout kind of thing. I knew everything would go wrong because story, like I knew the main character would spiral because story, like I knew he'd get a pep talk and succeed against all odds because story.
Again, weirdly, I feel like you did this better with the last entry. Up until the end I was wondering if they get would get separated, thinking they wouldn't actually kill the robot and would just go on a sapphic road trip or something... but that didn't happen at all so not only was I surprised but it was actually an emotional gutpunch (vague spoilers for anyone wanting to read zika's harmonic fic it's pretty cool go read). In this case I'm not telling you to end it sadly, obviously, but maybe toying with story beats a bit more or adding more layers to the main character would've helped, because it felt, and I'm sorry to say this, very formulaic.
My opinions on the other characters remain unchanged, though it sucks that they were left so underexplored because of contest/time constraints I assume. I'd really like to see more of soren and meike's relationship developing not offscreen, or the inevitable moment when he'll ask her to elope and she will, or nela's princess duties, the brother's studies, even the relationship between nela's parents (both siblings are such nerds point and laugh). If you ever make a sequel/spinoff/expand on this I'd definitely been down for reading.
With that said, it was pretty easy to read and I can see this being a feelsgood relax and have tea kind of fic, like last year's (aside from you know what). I'd agree with other commenters that your style of writing is comfy, and so are the topics/themes presented so far. I also share the opinion with last entry that this is a pretty nice first draft, but that the actual potential is still untapped, not to mention that there's tons of possibilities for more with leo and nela's "real life" just starting so to speak.
I wasn't going to mention this because I feel like I yapped about it already but I MUST, and that is leo's presumed tragic backstory. Not only does it feel formulaic but also convenient. Like I'm glad his life was shite and he had no friends and an absent father, no pets, aspirations, or even online acquaintances other than literally only nela, or else his experience would've been a LOT different. The feelsgood vibes wouldn't have existed if he had any connection WHATSOEVER so his life, like 99.9999999% of the population. This wouldn't be feelsgood but stockholm syndrome 101. Moreover, if leo didn't have this extremely specific set of circumstances and "personality" traits, then he'd probably be pissed and sad about being kidnapped and surrounded by randos whose language he can't understand and who keep belittling him. I don't know, when I see the story through that lens, it does feel like everything was based off contrived conveniences, and it becomes a lot harder to buy the instalove connection since it basically feels like leo was a passive puppet on top of a light novel protagonist(TM) until five chapters before the end, aND EVEN THEN, his call to action is doing what every main character does in every story ever, so I'm not even sure if I can call it development. (I also can't help but think about his father irl randomly losing all his family and spiraling even more. At least Leo has no friends, other family, acquaintances, dreams, ambitions, hobbies, personality... ANYTHING to make him miss his life so gg I guess)
Compared to last year's entry, I've said what I said about the characters and ending, but I do feel like the structure was a lot better despite being so by the numbers. It was, again, very easy to read, had clear plot beats when it had to, and despite the open ending it did feel like a conclusive arc rather than something rushed for contest purposes. Obviously it fits the prompt to a T... honestly more than 99% of entries I've seen 
so I'm really hoping that this makes it through because, frankly, the sheer amount of entries I've liked but which are irrelevant to the prompt makes me wonder what they'll even choose when most love transcends boundaries entries are about a normal couple with very minor inconveniences 
and/or they have like no romance which I include myself in or just go batshit insane near the end in a not good way AND YES I MEAN YOU. YOU KNOW WHO I'M TALKING ABOUT.
anyway, I sincerely hope this makes it, so best of luck in the competition c:
yeah I think so too. I honestly don't think it's anything a second draft can't fix, especially when it comes to any underexplored elements you might want to dive deeper into, but I would also suggest maybe considering which beats might fit your story and which don't, or how to include them based on setups/payoffs rather than because the template says so.