Tearmoon Empire - Reviews

Thoroughly enjoyable. There's always the possibility, of course, that it could grow more dull over time, but for now all I can say is that it was a pleasant read and that I am almost desperately looking forward to further installments.

The shifting bloody diary is an excellent narrative device that can propel the plot forward and maintain a clear structure to all of the improvements they implement and connections they build. Though it's actually not referred to all that often, especially after Mia starts attending the academy. I am slightly disappointed in the shift of focus after that point. Before then, Mia was implementing changes and reforming the system so that the lives of the general populace were improved and so that there was less corruption and unfairness that might lead to the average people feeling slighted--it was a bottom-up approach. But after fe started attending the academy, fe started a top-down approach where fe built connections and alliances with other countries in the hopes that they would come to feir aid in the event of a revolution and tried to prevent the leaders of the revolution (Tiona, Sion, Rafina) from wanting to lead a revolution. I don't appreciate the slight implication that the populace might not revolt if they didn't have certain people leading them to revolt or the idea that improving things with the elites inherently ends up trickling down and improving the lives of the average people, but the cuteness and humor make it so that it's still a very enjoyable read.

The humor is based on misunderstandings, which is always a good source for humor. Basically everyone who comes into contact with Mia develops some level of "Miaitis" where they assume that everything fe is doing is wise and unpretentious and kind, when in actuality Mia is often doing things for pragmatic or self-serving reasons. Fe is still a largely selfish person (though there are a few people that fe genuinely cares about), but fe has become more down-to-earth and appreciative after having spent years in prison and faced deadly situations in the previous timeline.

[Reviewed at chapter 13]

It follows the plot of "death- go back in time- change actions" BUT I like it, mc being consistent in her character is already a good start. Her remaining as the selfish and ignorant princess that she is the right way of writing. Now how does she change her future if she is still lacking in a lot of fields? Her knowing what the future holds helps her with this and not in an OP way, she doesnt solve these problems herself because even if she reincarnated, since she was ignorant to what is happening to her country in the past, she doesnt have the answer to solve the problems. So what does she do? she tries to make a connection to people that will be solving them in the future. With her way of doing things she accidentally gain companions that trust her and believes in her wisdom,  a whole Sasuga Ainz sama moment (in a comedic way). 

While events are shifting directions, our mc remain the character that she is with her top priority aimed at avoiding the guilotine. 

What other great things are there? The narration. The characters as well are engaging, most of the time you'll feel like the whole attention is on the mc, in here there are a couple of people that you would like to see more often.

I was reluctant to read this manga because I've been very disappointed with mangas that try to represent morally gray characters, but I'm glad I decided to give this one a chance. I think there are many things that make this manga different and great, I'm sure there are many factors, some I can't even explain exactly what is, but I'll try anyway.

I think that firstly, the use of comedy was an excellent choice, because our protagonist would not be so easy to like in a drama setting, but, to have written her in any other way would also be a disservice to the story since it is precisely because she's not perfect, the story ended up so great. And honestly, it's rare for me to say this since I've been very disappointed with morally gray characters in the past.

Secondly, the author knows how to navigate that line between "she's a redeemable villain" really well. You can accept that she really was a villain, and yet you can also understand how she got there, and without the author having to use a super tragic past to balance things out. "Oh she got to this point after years of torture" This is not the case here. She was just a product of her enviroment but also, she could've done better, so she is at fault, and the author doesn't try to justify her actions for the reader to like her more. She was dumb, and naive, and in her position this is a sin. But also, she wasn't malicious, and the fall of the country was not her doing alone, there was a lot of intricate motives and we get to see that woven in story. (No info dump, yay!).

The result of the author's emotional maturity is that we have a selfish main character, who has caused many disasters, but who you can still like and root for her development instead of just wishing for her downfall. The author explains but doesn't force any ideal on the reader, and everything ends up flowing naturally, you don't have to keep making excuses to like the character. To be honest is pretty dificult for me to like characters who have no self-reflection, so I was surprise the author could do his/her job and manipulate me to like MC so easily. I dropped so many works because I couldn't get over the injustice or the mistakes, like "Who made me a princess", or any thing with possessive yanderes who treat everyone like shit "but oh he has a tragic past". Anyways... Give this one a shot even if you're like me and avoid "real-villains perspectives"  or can't stand bad behavior excused. You probably won't regret it.

At first I thought this would be a typical story where you can guess what's going to happen because it follows all the cliché plot lines, but I find this hilarious because Mia's thought process is affected by her previous life which makes her do kinda cliché things but with a super funny reason behind it. I really enjoyed reading this and I can't wait to see the development of this story in the future!

Story - 9

As I've stated, it's kinda cliche. But its comedic and can capture your attention in many interesting ways.

Art - 10

Well, the art is good so no complaints, I don't really have much to elaborate on.

Characters - 10

The character's interests and ideas were from their previous experiences and all the characters felt unique in a way so that they didn't seem too one-dimensional and they became more real.

Overall, this manga is super cute and I got a good laugh out of it. The MC is very whimsical and even though she comes off as an airhead, it's enjoyable to see the reactions of the other characters and what they think of her. She is also a really good girl at heart despite her efforts to gain benefits to avoid her death from her past life. Anywho, this is just a really cute read that gives you a good laugh and I highly recommend this.