Jan 16, 2025
TLDR: not enough philosophizing until the last chapter. misleading title. 4/10.
(Kidding, kidding)
I'm sure you've heard the same words enough times about the story's strengths so I won't inundate you any further about the cozy vibes, the witty and sarcastic dialogue, the eccentrically charming cast, that slightly melancholic tone which lingers like background noise, underpinning everyone's interactions (but hey! it's a Harmonic Future TM, right? so it's fine .. it'll all be fine...)
.. all of which characteristics are all very true and applicable, don't get me wrong--Robot Catgirls is certainly all that; but there's something MORE here than just the sum of its parts. Hmm, what do I mean? I'm not entirely sure to be honest. I mean: it's funny, but it's not a straight up gag comedy. It has romantic elements but it's not a pure romcom either. It's set in a utopia, which grew out of a (likely) dystopia (and really, how long can peace last anwyay?) In any other work this would probably work against it, trying to be too much at the same time while not committing to any one, but that is NOT the case here. I've been trying to wrap my head around it, but it's as though all the disparate elements sort of come together to form some kind of ... hard to put into words, aggregate quality to it. It's really that quality that keeps everyone here coming back for more. And I think that's really hard to pull off, but you have done it.
I really enjoyed the last few chapters of this. Actually I took my sweet time with them because I didn't really want it to end yet. I don't like leaving characters that I've grown attached to, you know? The Shigure and Stella dynamic started off strong, and never let up at all. Sometimes I wanted to give Stella a hug. Sometimes I wanted to karate-chop her (with love, of course).
Writing style is good. Prose is clean and lean while getting introspective when it needs to. The voice takes on Stella’s (and other’s) voice(s) when necessary. The overall structure is simple but a tried-and-true one (ongoing central story of the peach pie store, meet the other characters as they try to win approvals) and leaves you satisfied while still giving you just enough of a taste to imagine about the unanswered questions. (Stella’s past, the war, Robert…)
I don't have any real criticisms to offer you (also because you also obviousy know what you're doing) but the only thing I will share about my experience is (I should preface that happened more often in the earlier chapters; in the final third I had this issue less and less): very occasionally I did have a bit of trouble following the topic at hand during conversations. Like, characters will be talking about 'it', or 'that', or 'them', and sometimes I would have to stop and go through a list of potential relevant topics and try to understand what they're talking about. (My head would be like: 'Hold on. Are they talking about Kou? No, couldn't be. Maybe they mean Isla. No, wait ... How about ... Shigubob? .. etc etc). In those rare instances it felt a little like I was in a conversation between two characters but not really part of it, like trying to come into a discussion halfway between two really close friends and you’re just on the outside listening it.
I also felt (minor nitpick incoming) in that early middle-stretch (pre-Isla, around Kou&Rebecca intros) it still felt like the story was still finding its footing a bit, so it has a slight first-draft disconnect syndrome--but that's a total nitpick, and it's only because what follows after is so comparably strong that I felt the need to point it out.
But yeah. I think this is something really special. You have a very distinct voice, and this is a very unique story. You should be proud of what you’ve accomplished here. I think you were fighting against the deadline in the last few chapters too, which is all the more impressive because I think they’re some of the best in the entire thing.
TLDR: not enough philosophizing until the last chapter. misleading title.
(Im kidding again)
…
…
…
Shigure’s balls.
