Apr 18, 2022
To be honest, when I picked this up I expected another smutty manga of poor quality. Reading dozens of Harlequin manga certainly helped steering me into that direction of though and cultivating my distaste towards the usual adult romance storyline. But this one is different.
The characters here are realistic. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the world is grounded in reality – while the characters have their quirks, eccentricities and straight out distasteful flaws, while there are some unusual situations, they are handled and developed rationally. Well, rationally by the author, the characters of course sometimes behave irrationally, like real humans
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do. What would be fetishized, justified or overlooked in regular romance manga is rightly pointed out as weird, what would be the “Mr. (almost) Perfect” is closer to an antagonist as the heroine isn’t blind to red flags in face of fortune and pretty body.
The series uses its cast well and works to make believable but intriguing tangled character relationships. As this isn’t exactly the genre I usually prefer, when I deem the romantic relationship interesting that’s saying something. The mirroring of opposites that is a theme through the manga is also quite interesting and certainly helps in dragging the readers’ interest in.
Going back to the Harlequin comparison, at least reading those helped enjoy this series more, as it dodges most of the peeves I have with the usual storylines of similar ilk. Well, technically you could still call this smut – there is plenty of erotic content in Duet of Beautiful Goddesses. However, it’s not played just for its own sake, these scenes too are used to forward the plot, and frequently serve for exploring the characters too.
Consider giving this manga a try, it would be a pity if it continues to be overlooked.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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