+C: Sword and Cornett

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The first few chapters of this manga really pulled me in - I loved the main cast of characters and the premise of the story. Belca, Orcelito, and Kiliko in particular were fun to read about as they developed over time. Eco, on the other hand, was a character with a very interesting background who intrigued me a lot initially, but over time he seemed to be reduced to a characature of himself. I did enjoy that the story wasn't overtaken by romantic interactions.
The final third portion of the manga became increasingly difficult to follow (as the manga began to jump around in location ... and the time line more often, and as more supporting characters were added). I also felt like the ending was a little anticlimactic. If the manga had ended with the same strength that it had begun with., I would have rated it a 9. Overall, I would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys a story with politics and world-building.

We have a crown prince born out of wedlock, a mysterious bard, a shunned tribe of people, and power-hungry government officials pulling the strings from the shadows. Put it all together, and what do we get? One amazing manga!

STORY (10)
The story takes you back to a time and place where corrupt nobles take advantage of the fact that the king of the country is sick and unable to rule well. Enter Belca, (the crown prince born out of wedlock) an outcast who wants nothing to do with royalty. With his brother, Orcelito (legitimiate crown prince), Belca accidentally uncovers one of the nobles' well kept secrets. ... When the brothers try to escape, Belca and Orcelito get separated; Orcelito is left at the mercy of the nobles while Belca is rescued by a stranger. Thus begin Belca's adventures!
This manga has a little bit of everything: theres a dash of cross-dressing, a hint of shounen-ai, a pinch of romance, a dark and twisted plot and LOTS of comical scenes.

ART (10)
I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE this art. It looks so clean and simple, yet when you look closely, there are all these amazing details. . .
Additionally, its not so easy to draw. My friend and I have both attempted to draw Eco, one of the characters, and it took us forever to come up with a (barely) decent imitation. Mind you, we both got over 90's in art class.

CHARACTERS (10)
The characters are really amazing too. Everyone has a distinct personality. There's Prince Orcelot, who's adorable and optimistic, but has no idea of how evil people can be. There's prince Belca who doesnt realize his own value, feels like an outsider in his own home, yet does everything he can for those who are loyal to him. He is open to new ideas and has shown considerable growth in just 2 volumes. And there's Eco (my personal favorite) who's funny and quirky, but extremly devious and clever.
You feel like you know these characters as you read the manga (well, at least I did).

ENJOYMENT (10)
I enjoyed this. A lot. You will too. Definitely. As long as you give it a try. Its not some boring history textbook. It focuses on characters and their relations to history. As you read, you wonder "how will this character react?" or "what will happen to this person?" and the characters never fail to surprise you.

OVERALL (10)
+C: Sword and Cornett is (according to MyAnimeList's definition of a "10") outstanding. If you're looking for something to read, or even if you're not, I suggest you give it a try. See for yourself, you wont be disappointed~

C-Sword/Cornett (Manga) (finished)

Final thoughts?

DISUASIVE

1. Too many characters are introduced in the latter half of the story through connections with the side characters as opposed to the main protags/Antags, which leads me to not care as much for what’s going on as these characters then have little to no gravity to the plot/story and I really fell out of love with this manga consequently around the late 30s early 40s chapters (there are 51 chapters in this manga)

2. Every so often throughout the manga, at the introduction of a new scene (a scene change) there would be this rectangle in one of the top corners of ... the page (Ex. NEU FAUVRILLE, EAST SIDE OF TOWN). This had text in it to signify the setting of where the scene was, but this rectangle was inconsistently used, unfortunately. Now, I don’t need a rectangle to tell me of a scene change, I can tell by other cues, but then just get rid of the rectangle if that’s the case. I would’ve liked it to be consistent- used for every scene change. Instead, it did a lazy/lousy job, only coming in every few scenes.
Scenes would change without this rectangle and I’d have to tell by the other cues that we weren’t in Kansas anymore, Todo…

3. The story wasn’t anything original. This isn’t to say that unoriginal stories are particularly bad per say, but when the thoughts that a reader has when opening up the pages are “I’ve been here before”, then that isn’t very compelling. It’s why so many people I know have fallen out of love with a lot of the marvel/DC movies as of late- it’s the same shlock. This story starts off with an illegitimate son of some royal king being caught up in political upheaval and taking his own reigns in the story. There is also another race of people who are dehumanized and thought of to be evil that the royal families and royal citizens of the main town of the story despise. The main character has long black hair and has a younger sister who is a bit naive and too optimistic as she is then more connected to the royal family as opposed to her half-brother. Sound familiar?Yeah. Code Geass… and possibly many other stories.

I give this manga a 5 (or if we going by the average of the scores I've given uptop, then it is a 6.8) and I’m as disappointed as anyone else is who probably liked this work. Seeing how it only got 1,000+ ratings from people on here, I was interested in its underrated and/or underdogged reception. However, I can sadly see why it hasn’t broken its barriers of being unheard of and that it is in fact not a hidden gem.