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I gave this manga a 3/10. But I am only writing this review to address the criticism people lob at this series for being 'racist' or 'colorist.' On the one hand, I will happily concede that the mangaka has stumbled a lot in the execution of this plot line. But in some respects I think the intentions behind it were fairly good. The mangaka has never validated the racist society that Claudia was born into. People have been behaving in a foul manner to her her whole life due to the colour of her skin. But there were also good people, like the butler, the prince and her close friend. In fact, when the blessing of the light spirit turns her skin white, while the behaviour of the public improves considerably, it doesn't change Claudia herself. She doesn't just take it in her stride and celebrate her new 'upgrade.' In fact, she is upset. Her parents change of heart upsets her immensely and she finds the people who truly love her for who she is -- not her looks. This is an important distinction. A racist manga would just assume by default that Claudia's lily-white skin has now fixed her 'faults.' But this manga shows that the faults were with society all along. Many people in the story come around to seeing Claudia's kindness and beauty before she even turns white.
Obviously, with the politics of the real world, this was a whole minefield that the author chose to walk into. It could have been handled with more grace, but I don't think this is some racist mangaka out to sell white-supremacy. In fact, many other fantasy stories can be more racist than this totally unintentionally. For example, by creating an entire universe filled with people and aliens, but not showing any people of colour. As an Indian, I've noticed that most Star Trek and Star Wars productions feature more aliens than they do Indians. Considering we make up 1/7th of humanity, that is quite the achievement!
This is still, however, a bad story. It is filled with tired cliches and one-dimensional characters. I am only up to chapter 13, but an entire story arc has concluded, and I don't feel like I know any of the characters well. More time should have been given to flesh out their characters and intentions. The world-building is also piss-poor. I don't really understand the importance of the spirits or their abilities. I don't know why this nation alone enjoys the power of the spirits. I don't know how this continent and the various powers in it balance each other. It's just an empty world in which one boring story arc plays out.
