Its interesting that you guys mentioned disruptive storytelling as a critique at the end... attempts at subversion that felt unsatisfying and the like, because the friend group I have that read this series had similar complaints at this point in the story. Some of it works like you guys mentioned, for characterization and tone purposes, but some of its feels arbitrary and unsatisfying. I think this all speaks to the greatest strength and weakness of the series. What I think it amounts to is the plotting, as in the actual sequencing and pacing of events. Its a victim of its own ambition in this regard, because it has really intriguing worldbuilding and characters, so the plot is asking the story to be more deliberate and considered to flesh this stuff out, but its still formatted as a battle series.(joins organization, fights that reveal back story, conflict mediated by action, power systems etc) There's nothing wrong with this and and it balances things well for the most part, but this is the point of the series where reading weekly became a bit laborious for me. I think the series does best when it formats the story in a way that highlights its themes and motifs, rather than trying to fit into a template... because when it breaks with tradition, it feels like there is a synergy between Narrative format and story content(themes,worldbuilding etc). However, it can come across as a storytelling execution error when it subverts because we the reader are used to a specific familiar rhythm, and the payoffs are more long term than immediate. The best parts of the series imo are the intrigue, mystery , worldbulding and character writing. So when we pivot to a 15+ chapter long battle arc with multiple characters(its not a focus early on, but is increasingly becoming the case) its not bad per se, the action is great, its just takes us away from its strengths. When we do get chapters where theres a harmony between plot , theme , character and tone, thats when the series really shines. I wont spoil anything, but there are lots of upcoming revelations that recontextualize much of the story and they do this exactly by being disruptive and breaking with tradition. The more conventional plot structure then become a boon and not a burden, as its a familiar status quo thats being upended. It just makes the week to week of getting to those moments a little harder, because its taking its time to set things up and denying immediate gratification and resolution... while still trying to be a fun battle shonen. I think this is why this series is much better consumed in batches or by volume imo. But yea, it will be interesting to hear your guys opinions about the next few arcs, because this is where a lot of complaints crop up , but also some of Gachiakuta's greatest moments.
I'm curious to continue reading, as always. I think really my issue with this volume was 3 wild twists/subversions in 4-5 chapters, which is too much. A subversion or twist is VERY disruptive to the reader, it's essentially a tool to purposely take your reader OUT of the story they may be immersed in and start asking questions from a meta/more detached PoV. Which is why it works GREAT at the end of a story, because your audience is about to be done and taken out of the story anyways, so ripping them out with a twist or subversion only lasts for a small amount of time before they are out of the story, and ready to be analyzing things from that unimmersed PoV anyways. When you don't let your audience settle into 1 twist before you present the next one, they stop caring a bit because why would we get invested when we know we are just going to be subverted so soon afterwards? Twists that come mid story are good and fun, but doing it 3 times in quick succession essentially means that my mind has been ripped from my immersion repeatedly and it is VERY hard to get reinvested after being tricked so many times because you are prepared for another twist at any moment, which removes immersion. The rule of 3s(mention a thing or hint at it 3 times if it's important) in storytelling applies here too, I legit think that 2 twist moments would have been okay, but 3 was just too many, because 3 creates a pattern(that we are going to be ripped from immersion with subversions and twists a LOT) which takes a lot of time for a reader to buy back in. 3 twists/subversions suddenly means that the surprise is the important part, and not really the rest of the story or characters. Which I don't think is actually true of Urana's writing, but I think its the misstep with this volume. I honestly think that if you cut Jabber getting shot at the end of chapter 60 and just give us 'Zanka is hallucinating' in chapter 59 and the gun reveal with Riyo in chapter 63, those two event are far enough away and separate events that it would flow much better. Or if you just did Zanka's hallucinating and Jabber getting shot and pushed Riyo's reveal later, even just the end of the vol, that also works. 3 is too many here, and too close together. 2 would work better.
And yeah, I mentioned that I initially dropped it during the Amo fight when I was reading week to week for much the same reason, issues with subversions and pacing. I can tell you that if I was reading it week to week during this volume(8), I probably would have dropped it again, or at least been frustrated by it more. The start of the volume was tempered by the back 3-4 chapters, where it was more exciting and coherent. If it took me 4-6 weeks to get some good stuff after the twist fiesta, I'd have been a bit frustrated.
Its interesting that you guys mentioned disruptive storytelling as a critique at the end... attempts at subversion that felt unsatisfying and the like, because the friend group I have that read this series had similar complaints at this point in the story. Some of it works like you guys mentioned, for characterization and tone purposes, but some of its feels arbitrary and unsatisfying. I think this all speaks to the greatest strength and weakness of the series.
What I think it amounts to is the plotting, as in the actual sequencing and pacing of events. Its a victim of its own ambition in this regard, because it has really intriguing worldbuilding and characters, so the plot is asking the story to be more deliberate and considered to flesh this stuff out, but its still formatted as a battle series.(joins organization, fights that reveal back story, conflict mediated by action, power systems etc) There's nothing wrong with this and and it balances things well for the most part, but this is the point of the series where reading weekly became a bit laborious for me.
I think the series does best when it formats the story in a way that highlights its themes and motifs, rather than trying to fit into a template... because when it breaks with tradition, it feels like there is a synergy between Narrative format and story content(themes,worldbuilding etc). However, it can come across as a storytelling execution error when it subverts because we the reader are used to a specific familiar rhythm, and the payoffs are more long term than immediate. The best parts of the series imo are the intrigue, mystery , worldbulding and character writing. So when we pivot to a 15+ chapter long battle arc with multiple characters(its not a focus early on, but is increasingly becoming the case) its not bad per se, the action is great, its just takes us away from its strengths.
When we do get chapters where theres a harmony between plot , theme , character and tone, thats when the series really shines. I wont spoil anything, but there are lots of upcoming revelations that recontextualize much of the story and they do this exactly by being disruptive and breaking with tradition. The more conventional plot structure then become a boon and not a burden, as its a familiar status quo thats being upended. It just makes the week to week of getting to those moments a little harder, because its taking its time to set things up and denying immediate gratification and resolution... while still trying to be a fun battle shonen. I think this is why this series is much better consumed in batches or by volume imo.
But yea, it will be interesting to hear your guys opinions about the next few arcs, because this is where a lot of complaints crop up , but also some of Gachiakuta's greatest moments.
I'm curious to continue reading, as always.
I think really my issue with this volume was 3 wild twists/subversions in 4-5 chapters, which is too much.
A subversion or twist is VERY disruptive to the reader, it's essentially a tool to purposely take your reader OUT of the story they may be immersed in and start asking questions from a meta/more detached PoV. Which is why it works GREAT at the end of a story, because your audience is about to be done and taken out of the story anyways, so ripping them out with a twist or subversion only lasts for a small amount of time before they are out of the story, and ready to be analyzing things from that unimmersed PoV anyways.
When you don't let your audience settle into 1 twist before you present the next one, they stop caring a bit because why would we get invested when we know we are just going to be subverted so soon afterwards?
Twists that come mid story are good and fun, but doing it 3 times in quick succession essentially means that my mind has been ripped from my immersion repeatedly and it is VERY hard to get reinvested after being tricked so many times because you are prepared for another twist at any moment, which removes immersion.
The rule of 3s(mention a thing or hint at it 3 times if it's important) in storytelling applies here too, I legit think that 2 twist moments would have been okay, but 3 was just too many, because 3 creates a pattern(that we are going to be ripped from immersion with subversions and twists a LOT) which takes a lot of time for a reader to buy back in. 3 twists/subversions suddenly means that the surprise is the important part, and not really the rest of the story or characters. Which I don't think is actually true of Urana's writing, but I think its the misstep with this volume.
I honestly think that if you cut Jabber getting shot at the end of chapter 60 and just give us 'Zanka is hallucinating' in chapter 59 and the gun reveal with Riyo in chapter 63, those two event are far enough away and separate events that it would flow much better. Or if you just did Zanka's hallucinating and Jabber getting shot and pushed Riyo's reveal later, even just the end of the vol, that also works. 3 is too many here, and too close together. 2 would work better.
And yeah, I mentioned that I initially dropped it during the Amo fight when I was reading week to week for much the same reason, issues with subversions and pacing. I can tell you that if I was reading it week to week during this volume(8), I probably would have dropped it again, or at least been frustrated by it more. The start of the volume was tempered by the back 3-4 chapters, where it was more exciting and coherent. If it took me 4-6 weeks to get some good stuff after the twist fiesta, I'd have been a bit frustrated.