Category Archives: Rumblings

Daybreak Volume 3 Closing Thoughts

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Now that Volume 3 has ended... a bit of self-reflection.

This volume was not received well. So as an author, I ended up having a do a lot of soul-searching in the past few weeks... longer, actually.

I've written in the last Daybreak Dev Diary that Volume 3 was me trying to tackle a particularly ambitious topic -- the judgmental biases of human perception -- that proved somewhat beyond my skills as a writer. Sure, I managed to finish the volume and make it... mostly work? But there were definitely some jarring parts, some poorly paced chapters, and a whole midsection that seemed to have thrown people off.

Sylviane -- the main focal point of Volume 3 -- was meant to be a bipolar character from the start. She has a rather mild (yes, mild!) form of a serious psychological illness, and it took a long time peeling back the many layers of issues. Her nearly-molesting Kaede and her suicidal-moment in Volume 2 were meant to be the first peeks of her Hypomania and Depressive episodes. Her bulimia was also a lead-up, as for somewhere between 75% to 90% of anorexia/bulimia suffers, the bulimia is actually a "secondary effect" of a stronger psychological disorder (most commonly chronic depression).

Then she actually, truly crashed in middle of Volume 3 and hit her lowest spot... and a lot of readers hated her for it, and what it did to Kaede in exchange.

(Spoiler warning up to Chapter 12.)

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Where is the love?

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Swazik Doujin Cover Art by Fumi

Swazik Doujin Cover Art by Fumi

Toctoc, Kadi here.

It's taken me a while longer than I hoped, but here is the first web novel review done. The first among... an alright number, I hope. I'm still taking recommendations, details can be found here, I've gotten a few interesting ones already.

But now, without further ado...

 

The Swazik Futuer - The Outcome of Good Intentions

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Five Year Plan: Traps, traps, traps...

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Toc toc, Kadi here.

No, not a release this time. I'll be working on that, I really will, but no. It's about WN reviews.

In the past. people have asked for "stories similar to Alice Tale", and I could only say "Yeah, there are none". I still don't know any, but there are other good stories out there where the male protagonist ends up with a female body. Or at least readable ones. And little-known web novels that I find interesting. So my latest stupid idea was that I might as well review some.

Therefore, here are the corner points:

  1. Reviewing something doesn't mean I'll translate it. You know better than I do that my plate is more than full with Alice Tale.
  2. Reviewing should not slow down translations (further). I can read anywhere, any time, but translation eats up mental reserves.
  3. I'm accepting suggestions. Email me under kadi@krytykal.org, subject: "WN Suggestion - *title*", and add a link to the WN in the mail's body. A little description and/or reason why you think I would review it will help draw my interest. I don't promise to review every story suggested, I won't even have time to properly read many of them, but knowing about more stories helps. Somehow. I'm sure.
  4. At first, I intend to focus on genderbender-themed stories, so send me suggestions for those. I'll probably start with the ones I like, worse ones and other genres coming later.
  5. Only stories appropriate for minors. I know of the adult-only sections of syosetu/narou. I know there are genderbender-themed stories in there. I know there are good stories in there. None of that will be discussed on the blog.
  6. No light novel reviews from me, not over the course of this series of posts. Trappy or not, don't bother suggesting them, it would be too much work. Hell, I haven't managed to read "I am a tutor in my sister's dress" for my own enjoyment, so there's that. (No, no visual novels with trap protagonists, either, although I remember two enjoyable ones)

 

... that's about all that's coming to mind at the moment. The first review should go up over the next few days. *drops dead* (go away, Vic)

 

So far!

——Kadi

 

P.S.: All WN suggestions in the comments will be deleted or crippled with much prejudice. There's a reason I want them via mail, and with their subject lines formatted like that.