Soredemo Sekai wa Utsukushii

[DooMWhitex]

I actually really liked the drama after the sand stuff arc, but another one of this style is just torture...

 

[WeebJoJo]

Honestly I grew up with the first fifty just about. The arc after the witch(in which livi semi properly evolves and matures) has got to ruin a lot. It had some potential, but there is a lack of needed punishment for a rapist and its disappointing.

 

[goronyanpai]

> I've dropped this mange multiple times
I usually am generous with ratings, stories --whether if there is a slight change in an unpleasant direction, I can still try to chew and look for a bright spot to consider it in my reading, but this is not.

I still have doubts, but if I remember how I never invested in the story, it's really annoying. This is fantasy, and maybe I like the part where the author does not make a beauty, wishful thinking, forced. But how does the logic of the environment also not support the overall movement into something that is accepted. How kindness from Nike's perspective is not, always work like that. Nike is a tough heroine and her naivety ends by hanging everything with hope and singing. She lives in a harsh world and she always paves the way compared to all the characters around her who always force themselves on her.

"The world is still beautiful" .... I like the idea, but, compared to what has often been said, I don't feel the rapist is the only problem here.
I can feel the excitement for several chapters. But I don't think there is a reader who also can survive when the male lead character who continues to act like a child, grumbles and shows his childish nature. And on top of him as a king, I sometimes did not see how he made the way for his responsibilities.
Each problem has its own long arc, but I don't feel it is worth following or important.

 

[Mhwang2002]

Thank you so much for these translations. This is such a beautiful story. The translations are excellent, Thank you! !!

 

[eshk]

Thank you for the wonderful translation!

 

[onionskins]

Wow.. I want to read this because I watch the anime version, but based on the commentaries it seems like a big no no ...

 

[princeOfBengal]

Somehow, the story of this manga gets better and better with age as the horrors of the past manifest into the present day. Give this manga a chance and trust there is an underlying reason for the way things are that you will learn eventually.

 

[WeebJoJo]

Honestly, it seemed at times that the manga was going downhill, but what manga doesn’t have that occasional feeling? The fact that it still prevailed and climbed shows that it’s a good story. Some of the character development for the main characters is a bit flawed, but you should never go into a manga expecting perfection. That’s just cruel on everyone. This current arc pulls all the previous two arcs together in a nice foundation for the building that is the next arc.

 

[Ladyrosee]

This manga moved me into tears

 

[Sanctuario]

Thank god someone is still translating this. Thanks for the translations! I got worried that this would have the same case as the other manga of anime I actually enjoyed that isn't translated (eg. Love Lab). I'll have to read this sometime

 

[john9983]

if you are coming after anime, please leave.

 

[Friend_of_Sorrows]

I'd like to start off in saying this story is missing a much needed sexual violence tag. I would have never started reading this if it was properly tagged. Damage already done though smh.
This manga is terrible simply for the simple fact that it starts off half way decent but once you're invested there is no warning for the garbage the author subjects the readers to. I will never pick this back up, I would advise readers to not even glorify

Spoiler

the level of blatant disregard,lack of knowledge, belittling, and probably contempt that the author wrote into this story wherein the main heroine Nike is sexually assaulted and finally raped, is just disturbing.I could only surmise the author is a fetishist or lives in a basement outside of society. There are so many parts of this story where very wrong things happen and the reaction of the characters is beyond sexism, it's disgusting. I was bothered most in how the author depicted her as to stereotypically walking into her own rape, and the worst part about it was the fact that the author used ambiguity and scene skipping to censor it, but make it very clear that the rape occurred After the fact, the author hardly addresses the fact that his main heroine is now a rape victim, she was unwilling, already in a relationship and essentially married yet the author acts like it was just a bump on the road. Rape can't even equal to a small hurdle, I have personal experience with this particular subject, and the author clearly has no clue how callous his interpretation is nor how emotionally devastating it is to be assaulted or raped. Not to mention the guilt and how difficult it is for the victim, family members, and significant others to get past it. Obviously the author believes that being raped is no different than being hit by a car or any typical physical trauma. As for the distortion of sex and the very real chemical and physiological consequences of it, the author seems to not understand that sex isn't like a hug, it has biological consequences and pregnancy is only one. I'm no SJW nor am I some puritan, but I am certain in my knowledge and experience that even if this is just fiction there is nothing redeemable about the situation nor how Nike or the other characters treated the sexual assault. It's doubtful any protection was used and Nike should know that she could get pregnant from sex, yet her attitude thereafter just ignores all of the real circumstances and even makes her seem like an unfeeling person who is purely selfish and betrays her own love so that she can feel good about herself because she does the right thing and she's a good person. Perhaps she really didn't care that she had sex with somebody else much at all, after all she isn't a real person. The title is completely misleading, none of the characters are even remotely realistic, and the fact that this is masquerading as a romance or comedy is laughable. The only thing accomplished in this story is generic; the characters devolve into scummy excuses for human beings, lots of out of place undertones of self righteous dogmatic spew, as well as the fact that you'll probably hate the main characters or find them so naive it just leaves a bad aftertaste. I'd be generous to call this manga a train wreck. I won't say it's bad because I don't care for loose sexuality, or for the obvious cuckolding, those are definite plot devices, I describe it as terrible because it's insidiously deceptive, the plot holes are frustrating, and to call the relationship between the Male and female leads as a romance is a far cry. I haven't read up to the final arc, but I did check to see if it changes or gets better...it doesn't. Honestly you'll feel like you got punk'd or Rick rolled. That's how I felt.

TL;DR
This isn't worth the time investment. I was left disappointed. This manga was a good lesson for me to check reviews and look into a book/manga. I've been saved countless times by researching something beforehand after my experience with this seemingly innocent manga. In a way I did get something out of reading this, but the loss of my time probably wasn't worth realizing a habit I should have had in the first place. If you enjoy this manga even after you've experienced it in its entirety, that's cool, you have more willpower and patience than I.

 

[Poisondilu]

This pains me a lot to say, because this serie was one of my favorites back in the day and I still think the early arcs are amazing, but the story is gradually turning repetitive and weaker. I am aware of the controversy about the Nephero arc, but even beyond that, the storytelling is suffering because the existing characters (and Nike in particular) are given less and less time to develop in order to keep introducing more characters and an overall plot that isnt really that interesting to begin with. I remember what I loved most about this manga were the leads' personalities and the wonderful dynamic they had with each other, their teamwork was dreamwork, but now is a miracle if they get a meaningful interaction once each 10 chapters while we keep getting flooded with the backstory of 100+ characters that will never appear again once the arc end.

That said, I still have hope for future arcs, if the author can go back to develop the characters and plot points that they already had instead trying to turn what was a perfectly fine romantic story into some Lord of the Rings worldbuilding wannabe.

 

[Funkel]

Sexual Violence tag is deserved.
read this awhile ago then i come back and this shit is what i have to read.
I loved the Anime. i guess its fine for 12 episodes. read the manga then.
was still fine. somewhat repetitive, but you can hope, even forgive to some degree. had the break.
should not have come back. i should've just left it there.
if you came here after the anime. don't read it. just be happy with the anime. you're better off.

Spoiler

around chapter 90ish and even the chapters before it gets my blood boiling. she's stupid. she doesn't learn, i see it coming. i don't want to continue reading. this just destroys what little love i have left for the author at this point.
ch 92 makes me certain. and ch 93 seals the deal. it's just one expected punch in the guts. it doesn't get better. there's no redemption for her stupidity. at this point i hate nike. i hate the author. i hate livi. and the guy is not even killed/tortured/castrated w/e his people are punished. he's let off lightly. and nike even 'kinda' thinks 'fondly' of him. whats up with that shit? the author is a cunt. i mean ok, its her story and she can write what she wants and such, but i don't know if she herself was ever raped or whats going on there. maybe its the Japanese mentality of a place of woman or some shit. i really don't know. its a sensitive topic. i wish most authors would just not touch upon it. maybe that would be for the better.
anyway, i personally immensely dislike her handling of the topic. she basically killed a character i was fond of in the beginning, less and less through the arcs, and then she killed her. for me that is.
could've saved it if it just only 'almost' happened and she was saved then and there and learned from her mistake. i'll need to find a way to edit it this way in my memory.

i think @Curetwinkle basically brought it to a point. (meaning i agree wholeheartedly with the comment and therefore will not go further into why i dislike that arc.)

the series is dead for me the author as well. i wish i hadn't spent the time reading anything after watching the anime.
i will try to make a habit of reading the comments first before picking a manga back up after a long time. should've known better.

 

[selendom]

Happy to see this is still translated. It amazed me how it kept pulling new faces to the point where i got a bit annoyed. It's a beautifull story, i like how it develops it makes sense somehow. I admit, when your reading this kind of stories, the romance and the lead characters it's what we tend to like focusing on, solely . A manga is not a novel guys, just be patient and enjoy Nike and Livi's journey ( they are some big shots governing lots of countries, i think is normal to see them with lots of people, it makes more sense).

Spoiler

btw, the niki and nephero thingy, i only saw it as a cliche shoujo thing, almoust like sailor moon when that creep prince (forgot his name) captures her and we all know, nothing happened....a bit melodramatic, but not on rape, but yes a bit of violence. But well, i can understand the reaction, i was really mortified when i read the hunchback of notre dame by victor hugo, after seeing the disney animation(i wad 12 back then)

 

[Mizumachi]

Whoever Nephero is, fuck him and fuck this.

 

[sparklemonster]

I dropped this a while ago because I felt it was dragging on and got bored of it, and I'm especially glad I did given what others have said here.

 

[Samli]

Wow I began reading this a long time ago, but I had forgotten about it. It's incredible that you still translate it, thanks a lot ❤️

Btw the story is getting deeper and deeper, we rarely see a story with such a background!
I love it ❤️

 

[Yazura]

Where’s the psychological tag at?

 

[Reademup]

ok so I read this and fell out a couple of years ago and decided since I was in quarantine to see what happened since the Desert Prince arc...yeah not better... kinda just stupid and worse. I was wondering why they added the sexual violence tag since I was last here but I now know.

There is a lot of sexual assault later on and it is really gimmicky and melodramatic. Like there is this one guy who is indifferent to Niki's feelings and next chapter that the same person will be all chummy with the people and everybody loves them for they have such "compassion" and it is so unattached from how they treat Niki. And it just feels worse since Niki will not change from these experiences because she has to be this all-forgiving and loving shoujo heroine. Like I get that the story "the world is still beautiful" wants to have this message that despite awful things there is hope and good in the world, but that's a theme I've seen done better in other mangas.

That and it drags on and recycles so much from other poorly written manga, that I could handle today for I'm the kinda person who likes to watch bad movies for a laugh if I have time to kill, so here's a list of some other things that happen in case you wanna save your time, hidden for people who care about spoilers

Spoiler

- The girl protagonist who is shown to be spunky and strong is often helpless and needs to be saved by boyfriend,
- Recycling the kidnapping arc part II
- "I can't rape a crying woman!" but it's fine if she's angry?
- The quest to find an antidote for mysterious poison while girlfriend is bedridden because of said poison
- Niki loses her powers for a bit
- End of the world prophecy that showed up around vol 20 (not as interesting as it sounds for it plays second fiddle to main characters drama)
- The past was a more advance civilization with science, but now everything is old fashioned but magic now for reasons
- To be honest, Kara would be a more interesting protagonist for she is being proactive and investigating mysteries while Niki just a reactive protagonist who has things happen to her and than needs Levi to find her
- Levi unmentioned brother of another mother.
- Kidnaped, attempt rape, often sexually harassed Niki will just forgive dudes and suffer no lasting PTSD
- The girlfriend will be jealous of another girl even if the dude explains his reasons to avoid misunderstanding

good art is all I can say as a positive at this point

edit:
Yo is the anime really a better adaptation? From the comments, it seems peopole like the anime better! Because I liked this story when it was a hurt comfort plot between Levi and Niki before they started dragging it