Maddies Manga

Anne once again proves herself to be far too good a person to have to deal with any of the craziness that seems to follow her wherever she goes.

Author

This series was written by Miri Mikawa (X), YozoranoUdon (X), and Aki.

Genre & Tropes

Fantasy, romance (but not really), the importance of being kind, forgiving and forgetting.

Info about this series (complete)

This series is complete at four volumes

TL;DR rating

I was rather disappointed by this volume. As it was the final volume of the series, I had expected it would focus more on our main cast.

My thoughts on this volume (Spoilers!)

I was genuinely very disappointed by this volume. As it is the final volume of the series, I had quite a few expectations, all of which fell flat. I had hoped there would be something of a conclusion to Anne’s story, and I also really hoped that this volume would focus on Anne and Challe’s relationship. Instead, we’re forced to watch the Duke and his storyline—something I could not care less about.

Perhaps in the light novel he’s a more fleshed out character worthy of compassion, but we really don’t get to see enough of his background in the manga for me to care about him. While sure, it’s sad that his fairy companion disappeared right in front of him however long ago, it doesn’t excuse him locking Anne up until she makes a candy that he approves of. As Anne is the protagonist of the story, it only makes sense for readers to dislike a character that would imprison her, right?

He’s clearly meant to be a villain, so why is so much of this volume spent focusing on him? Even when Anne is in the driver’s seat of the story, the focus is still mostly on the duke—a character who just appeared towards the end of the story. Why oh why is so much of the finale spent focusing on him!? I also genuinely can’t understand how Anne was able to feel compassion for him to the point that she opted to stay and make candy for him once help arrived. While yes, her job is to create sugar candy, I feel like she would be excused for not creating candy for her literal captor.

While we do get to see a bit of Anne and Challe together in this volume, the large miscommunication born in the previous volume left a bad taste in my mouth that lingered. I found it difficult to believe that after all the time they spent together, Anne simply telling Challe to go away—with teary eyes and a voice full of hesitation, at that—had him actually leaving her alone to be a prisoner in the mansion. There’s no way he didn’t know that she was under some form of duress.

All of this miscommunication, mixed with the Duke being the main character of this volume, left me feeling rather disappointed. When I first started this series I had assumed we would follow Anne on her journey to become an accomplished sugar crafter, following in her mother’s footsteps. Instead, we really only saw the very start of her journey. Everything was set off course when just about every side character began treating Anne cruelly, and it never really got back on course. Even when Anne accomplished an amazing feat at the Duke’s mansion, the narrative that “she satisfied him in bed” came about. Even when she does good, the world has to try and bring her down!

While I found Anne’s endless kindness to be a praiseable attribute, I can’t help but be frustrated at the happenings of the manga. No matter how good a person you are, you shouldn’t forgive people who prove they will only betray and badmouth you whenever given the chance.

From here, I’m planning on giving the light novel a try. Hopefully I will be able to enjoy it more, as I did truly enjoy the first two volumes of the manga.

You can read a free sample of this series below!

You can check out volume four of this series for yourself below!