Ran to Haiiro no Sekai
Ran and the Gray World

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Ran and the gray world is the story about a little girl who has an extraordinary amount of magic. Its a slice of life series however there is a story here as well. And unlike most SOL that try to blend plot together this one actually did it surprisingly well. Now this series took me by surprise. I wasn't exactly sure what the series was about as in the beginning it actually looked like an age gap romance however it became much more than that. Now some of the characters fell flat and the main romance was.. weak. The series did almost everything well. The ... side romances, the story the artwork, the tension the angst. All of it was well done and addicting but the age gap romance was poor. Age gap itself is a thin line which done well is exceptional and shows the quality of the author but done poorly leaves an incredibly bad aftertaste. And the author doubled down on the poor age gap romance rather than loosening it. Now i liked the other romances in this series as well as pretty much everything else. With the exception of the age gap all the other poor parts of this series were actually minor when you consider the series as a whole. And i definitely absolutely loved certain parts of it. Now the older in the age gap romance was actually the most interesting character so it wasn' a complete situation. Overall the age gap brings the series down from Epic to just awesome instead. Also the author clearly has a fetish for older rough men.

8/10 100% check it out

I don't understand why the score is so much higher than I think it should be. if it's because of the art, yeah I would say the art is far better than I expected and I like it a lot. but the thing is, when I read this manga it feels like nothing. the story itself feel rushed and the conflict isn't interesting at all. it's just about a child who can change her appearance into a grown-up adult, then she meets a typical playboy who becomes interested in her. then, the man turns into an antagonist because he is infected by an insect. like, ... what the hell is this coming from.

the world-building and some magic stuff are interesting, but it really doesn't well written and well described. It feels like I'm forced to understand the world-building and ignore the other thing that makes the story more confusing.

so, what about the characters? not good at all. yeah, I meant it. there isn't any character development for the protagonist even though there are many events in this manga that can be placed for her turn point.

In conclusion, I recommend this manga to people who looking for god-tier art. but if you're looking for good stories with a well-written protagonist and interesting conflict. then, this manga isn't for you.

Let's get this out of the way first. As someone who read all 51 chapters, would I recommend it to someone? No, please just spare yourself and don't get baited by the beautiful art and other reviews. I know everyone else is entitled to their own opinions but I don't know why else is recommending it to others. So, I will do you all a favor and say you would waste your time.

Let me warn you about this character Otaro, he is a pedophile, it was the one of the things that really bothered me and poisoned the whole story. So just beware that ... this does happen and the author doesn't even bother to fix it all and none of the other characters see it as a problem other than the other kid who is the MC's friend, quite absurd really.

Another thing that was disturbing to me besides everyone just being bystanders to a child being groomed and m*lested, is the MC's brother. He at some point just did some weird things and led him to an encounter with a woman that pines after him but regardless if she likes him or not, and while some may say consent was there it was just a bit awkward and weird. But that just depends on how you take it personally.

Plot:

Okay, so the plot has so much potential. Like sooooo much potential. This manga could really be something very valuable, it would have been such a cool coming of age story with a bizarre world of much but all it took was a pedophile to ruin all of that. I don't hold Ran accountable for liking him and accepting his advances because she is a child. She is in her phase of wanting to be a grown up and doesn't really understand why it's wrong. I hold every other adult in this manga accountable, they all just stood by did nothing and accepted it. Completely absurd! It was was very frustrating, and because of that this story just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
The potential was there but it was badly articulated and handled. We could have had a masterpiece but we ended up with a dumpster fire.

Issues aside, it was really cool to see a coming of age story of a child wanting to be a grown up but learning that grow up it's a process and a journey, as well as exploring her own magic and finding her purpose. Acting her age and trying to make friends but doesn't know how, it was great.

Art:
The art is absolutely stunning, that gets a 10 from me. It's very enjoyable and everything is clear. I can't add much more than that because there is nothing to nitpick about it.

Characters and World building:

Absolutely beautiful. The character designs are wonderful and the world building was amazing, lots of originality that I have never seen before in the genre of fantasy, so I give this a good 8.5 out of 10.

All in all, I don't recommend it. If you still want to read it to judge it for yourself, you are more than welcome to but to me I see it as a waste of time and a heartbreak because you will begin to read and realize that you may have found a masterpiece only to see it burn down to flames by the middle of it.