The relationship between Hahp and Gerrard is lovely; I’m really looking forward to seeing where this is going. And Sadima is neither stupid nor a bottomless well of patience.
We did find out that the planet is inhabited mostly by dinosaurs, though. And there was canon acknowledgement that yeah, this world is kind of on crack. As long as they know it’s on crack, I’m willing to forgive much.
Also contains: carnivorous unicorns, embarrassing rumors, dinosaurs, child prostitution, return of the steamy fencing instructor, crazy ideas that just might work, and invisible walls.
Also contains: crossdressing, steamy fencing lessons, evil student councils, duels, assassination, school plays, scaffolding, aristocratic underwear, drop ceilings, evil sex-ed, pen names, and bad nuns.
I am not remotely impressed by the story in this manga, which involves a bog-standard cheerful peasant girl of highborn parentage in a medievaloid landscape, but it does have some weirdly entertaining stuff in it, like underground societies, forbidden research, and hints of Big Cosmic Doom. The occasional touches of Big Cosmic Doom do actually manage to add some redeeming atmosphere, but I suppose I am a sucker for pictures of starry night skies. Firiel is utterly uninteresting to me, as are most of the others, but I’m enjoying Rune enough that I’ll get the next couple of these out of the library.
Also contains: invisible injuries! invisible furniture (leaving the characters hovering in space)! palaces made entirely out of platinum! disposable parental figures! lonely towers! pretty astronomers in glasses! unreasonably perky heroines in frilly dresses! court balls! with obligatory Snobbish Socialites! men in leopard skins! heretics! inquisitors! geeky kids with Dark Pasts! dramatic but ineffective chains! books of Mysterious Stuff that everyone wants! Significant Jewelry!
This is an odd favorite for me, since I much prefer stories with a high level of continuity and plot complexity. (There are a few short plot arcs; the one about the two girls who happen into minus’ washroom kingdom is my favorite part of the archives.) But the artwork is really pretty, and the individual episodes are charming and inventive enough to keep me interested.