This is my review for the beginning of the manga. It is not intended to be a full overview of the story, but instead a focus on what someone knew to the series will experience.
Enjoyment: 4
The beginning is incredibly generic, although the setting seems to at first have some potential. An atheistic, knowledge driven student staying in a shrine? Lots of room for comedic moments as well as self discovery and introspection.
...Except the entire first chapter is fan service. They throw away the MC's characterisation at a whim, with no real buildup or payoff to his actions. If you're going to have a moment where he breaks away from his feelings against religion, why do it in the first chapter? Why do it in that way? It feels like there is a strong agenda behind it which is being very blatantly, and poorly, enforced. There are also moments where it shows the MC's hands as being damaged, indicating the effort he has put into something. This is used lightly, and doesn't invoke the feeling of self-sacrifice that the mangaka intends as there is very little weight to these moments.
I am only a few chapters in at this point, but there is another glaring issue with it. 80% of every single panel is speech. Manga is inherently a visual medium where it is far easier than any other form of literature to show rather than tell. However the general panels are lackluster, and the wall of text you are faced with serves to confuse and irritate rather than make you connect with the characters or plot.
Art: 7
On a similar note, the art is actually pretty good at times. It switches to a more emphatic sketch style when something "emotional" occurs, which is quite pleasing to look at. Most of the panels are generic, however.
Character: 1
The characters are bland and utterly uninspired. Each of them is generic from their looks to their personalities. Perhaps this will change as the plot develops, but any drastic differences from the norm will just seem contrived attempts at originality.
Story: 2
The story is... Well, we don't really know yet. A "forced marriage" scenario is common, and an easy plot point to force drama. Is it annoying? Yes. Is it necessary to advance the plot? No. Which really makes you question why it is there in the first place.
Some of these aspects could change as the story develops, but the beginning is incredibly lackluster. A story needs a strong beginning to draw its readers in, and this one seems to have failed in that regard.
Overall: 4
