Manga Questions, Recommendations, and Discussion Thread [2026, Week 15]

Got nothing new today, I do however have an update to the series I mentioned in the last thread so let’s go with that. - The Peaceful Life of a Maid Who Hides Her Power and Enjoys It
It got 18 new chapters since last week so there was plenty to catch up to. It’s a bit weird - this series has everything necessary to make it into something I really like (plenty of humour, “straight man in a crazy world” MC, mystery and a bit of unhinged situations) and yet a lot of it just falls flat. It’s not bad but it doesn’t really hit the way it should. Art has some really cute moments so there’s that at least.
I’ll probably read another 20 or so chapters (whenever they happen) to see if things click but so far I feel rather neutral on it. - Melody: The Crazy Flower Blooms
It’s good but the more I read the more I feel like something is missing. Not only that, the more I read the more bland and disappointing it becomes honestly. I think it has to do with the lack of real conflict or struggle for the main character. The story likes to pretend there are challenges, especially in the beginning but the truth is everything just falls into place with very little effort or problems - things just work out flawlessly for the most part. I think that’s why I ended up being more interested in the arc of a side character (Daisy, Melody’s sister and also a princess) who doesn’t have the super special powers of the protagonist and has to actually work against her environment. It’s honestly a more investing plot than Melody getting everything she wanted with little challenge or (real) resistance.
Things started pretty interesting and there are some good scenes throughout but it really feels like the wish fulfillment aspect of the story becomes more and more of a focus with each chapter. Also, the bad guys become more generic and one-sided as time goes by, making them less interesting in the process.
I just started a new, (seemingly) more serious arc so we’ll see how it goes but I’m leaning towards dropping the series if it ends up like the previous story beats. It’s a surprising disappointment. - 100 Curses of the Ellestone Manor
This ended up as an unexpected hit among the three. It doesn’t have the hit-and-miss issue of the first series (humour here actually lands) and while things go relatively easy most of the time, this story doesn’t present itself in a serious manner that Melody does, making it less of a problem. Finally, it avoids making the MC feel like a typical “OC donut steel” which is a huge issue with Melody.
It’s not the best thing ever but it’s feels more solid and thought out than the other two, if only in the production and planning aspects. I actually look forward to reading more of this story, too bad it’s on pause following the end of season 1. I hope it comes back even stronger in the future.

I still have some chapters of Melody left but that’s about it for now and I will most likely have to look for something else soon. Well, that or I’ll go back to clearing my backlog - we’ll see which side wins this time.

I picked up two manga recently.

The first is Rentarou’s Family’s Families’ Daily Lives.

The illustrator for 100 Girlfriends is on maternity leave, which means fewer chapters will be released for 100 girlfriends in the coming weeks. This spin-off of 100 Girlfriends, written and drawn by the author, is meant to plug the gap. It features shenanigans that don’t fit in the main series.

On a side note, I thought that the author’s drawing is pretty good.

The second is Release That Witch after having picked up the anime adaptation. It is one of the biggest disappointments for me recently. I came in with high expectations due to the anime, but my impression (and rating) for it just drops lower and lower as I progressed through the chapters.

In hindsight, I should have expected this. There’s this quote (can’t remember the exact phrasing or origin) that goes something like: the characters in a story are only as smart as their writer. IIRC this quote was directed at mysteries, but I found it to be very relevant to kingdom-building stories too.

This story has the same flaws as all the other kingdom-building manga / novels I have read: the writer is an expert in one field, but is lacking in everything else. I thought it was quite obvious that the writer has an engineering background, if not a strong interest in the field. The protagonist’s dialogue made that clear, but beyond that, the manga can go into details when it comes to the technological advancement. However, when it comes to other fields (e.g. medicine, law), it is so shoddy and handwavy.

And that’s just the common / baseline flaw. It has plenty other flaws too, the most glaring one being: starting a subplot that I don’t give a shit about. For some reason, there is a dream world / side story with so many characters, development and chapters dedicated to it. But! The main plot wasn’t even resolved! Why side-track so soon, and so much?!

I ended up finishing all 695 chapters of it due to the sunk cost, but I should really have dropped it. In hindsight, there are plenty of signs that this manga would turn out to be trash. For anyone who’s interested in this series, I’d recommend picking up the anime instead. Or not picking it up at all - the anime could turn out to be disappointing too…

One last thing: I noticed that the way the kingdom is being built is essentially China. Not ancient China like in The Apothecary Diaries, but modern China. Not saying it is good or bad, just that it’s distinct from the typical kingdom-building stories written by Japanese authors.