The slowest damn series I ever did read and I loved every chapter of it!
This is a ploddingly slow series, detailing the life of an apprentice gondola rower (or Undine as they call them) in an oceanic martian city modeled after Venice. That premise alone is enough to raise a few eyebrows about how they're going to tie all those elements together, but the series does an absolutely masterful job of ensuring all the various elements don't distract from each other.
There's sci fi elements, in the weather control systems and the gravity pipes, you always see flying ships and floating islands in the skybox and
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there's several mentions of how things are done back on earth (or "Manhome" as they call it which is the most "we need a name that's not earth" name I've ever heard).
And I adore the vingnettes of these sci fi elements. Going up in the sky to see the salamanders at work in their weather control station, or down in the depths with the gnomes and their gravity organ, both of which keep Mars livable for everyone. And unlike so many settings, nothing goes wrong with these, which is a good thing as I feel it'd be cheap drama in a story almost defined by the lack of drama. I would have liked to see more of them though, you can tell there's so much to tell with these concepts and entire stories with casts of characters that could be whole series on their own. I'd so love to see a short series on both the salamanders and gnomes and how their lives and work goes!
But sci fi is not what defines Neo-Venetzia, spread through all the chapters the historical elements of both the new city and it's historical coutnerpart are a common theme. Descriptions of the cities construction, multiple festivals the real Venice has or had, even small pieces of the citys Catholic history get shown off with a couple chapters talking about specific statues and their reason for being there. There's this constant undertone that everyone in the city adores both the current and historical iterations of Neo-Venetzia, and always do things the old fashioned way, eschewing the modern conveniences you'd see on earth. There's a sort of Amish, approach to things, and it's relentlessly charming.
And charming really is the word for the whole series. Despite being in a customer service role, you basically never see them take customers, I think only a handful over the entire series. Instead it's the story of a young woman and her friends learning a job they love and exploring a city they adore. You're almost always following them on their days off as they go around the city exploring and practicing, and it's really sweet. There's also much done with "bog standard teenage girl drama" that have been the subject of stories going back into antiquitiy, a lot of them doubting themselves but having their friends come around to help pick them back up again, and it never gets old to see.
All three girls are apprentices to the current top three Undines, and as the series progresses you get to see how what they're going through reflects what their mentors did at their age, showing that the various troubles and issues are universal. I think a lot of young readers, of any gender, will relate to these girls in a big way, and older readers relate to their mentors and the troubles they once had to get to where they are now.
The story has a real strength to it that way, the setting may be both futuristic and historical all at once, but the themes and concepts are eternal. Finding yourself, understanding your place in the world, the fear of mistakes, learning how to live in a new place, later on they even touch on how bad they feel not being able to see each other as their careers progress and their lives get busier. They're all themes that everyone can relate to, and it makes this piece timeless in a way.
***SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT***
If I had one complaint, and it is a MAJOR one, the ending comes on too rapidly. After so many chapters and multiple in universe years they show Alice graduating middle school and going from an apprentice to a full fledged Undine, and it's this beautiful moment of the reclusive genius finding her own footing. You can tell it's just the start of her journey, and it means a lot that we get to see it.
And then Akari's is done at once, basically just a panel saying "You're graduating", the chapter does give it some significance having Alicia say that she wanted more time with Akari despite the young apprentice having been able to graduate for a long while now. But it still feels cheap to do it so fast since the chapter is much more about Alicia leaving the company to work at the organisation overseeing all the gondola groups, and how that makes Akari feel. Her own thoughts on graduating are damn near tossed aside, to say nothing of Aika who gets one line stating she graduated and became a branch manager for her company in the same chapter. Hell we don't even get to see Alicia's husband, or learn his name, anywhere in the series. There was no hint whatsoever she was even dating anyone.
It really does feel like there was meant to be more, maybe volumes more, written to bring it to a proper conclusion but they ran out of time, budget, or interest and just hit the brakes, writing the end-state they were leading up to but without any of the buildup it required. And it ruins an otherwise stellar story and setting. The final chapter is well done, and super sweet going over all the major players and where they are, showing off how the former apprentices are staying friends and finding time to spend together. Even the older mentors coming by to ensure Akari is doing well, and the final scene showing Akari taking on an apprentice of her own, thus bringing her full circle is very nice to see. However it's all so rushed and "get it out the door to move on to other things" that it really sours an otherwise sweet series of moments.
This series is absolutely incredible, and it's dissapointing to see it ending done so poorly. I don't know what happened to make it end like that, and considering it's been almost 20 years since it finished I don't think we're going to get anything new here. Apparently the anime based on the mangas have continued up until 2021 with multiple specials and movies, and those are now definitely on my list because I'm not ready to leave Neo-Venetzia behind for good. As someone who was fascinated with Venice for years and has always wanted to travel there, this series feels like I've met someone with that same fascination. It is masterfully done, beautifully drawn and has defintiely earned a spot on the list of manga I'll force everyone I know to read.
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Mar 19, 2026
The slowest damn series I ever did read and I loved every chapter of it!
This is a ploddingly slow series, detailing the life of an apprentice gondola rower (or Undine as they call them) in an oceanic martian city modeled after Venice. That premise alone is enough to raise a few eyebrows about how they're going to tie all those elements together, but the series does an absolutely masterful job of ensuring all the various elements don't distract from each other. There's sci fi elements, in the weather control systems and the gravity pipes, you always see flying ships and floating islands in the skybox and ... 
Mar 18, 2026
And excellent example of quick, simple, and beautiful worldbuilding.
Mars covered in water to the point of using gondolas and boats to get around is such an interesting and unusual concept, and the life they live inside Neo-Venetzia is much older fashioned than what they do on Earth (or Manhome as they call it which smacks of "I didn't want to call it "Earth" because that's boring" more than a bit), something they even draw attention to. The journey of Akari to become a gondola driver or Undine as they call it, is the same kind of story we've seen a million times in a ... 
Mar 17, 2026
This is basically just Overlord with some changes to it, but none of those changes make it anything else but a different Overlord.
Same focus on non-human races being the subjects and major units, same city being teleported idea, same idea of it being a game albeit a different genre, I could go on and on. And that's kinda one of the major problems I have with it, Overlord wasn't some niche thing when this was published, it would have had three seasons of anime and many volumes of the manga released. I doubt the author thought they could get away with ripping it off so ... 
Mar 17, 2026
Jaryuu Tensei
(Manga)
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This is a textbook example of how pacing problems can ruin an otherwise interesting story.
The first few volumes take it slower, easing you into the world and it's setting. And if this was a 10 volume, or even a 9 volume manga this pace would be how the entire thing goes, ramping up the stakes with each fight, giving a chapter or so of downtime for us to relax, you know, things you expect from a competently structured and paced stories. Instead this is a 7 volume manga, and that requires the pace to pick up a frankly ludicrous degree. The ending few volumes is one ... 
Mar 16, 2026
Dragon's Heaven
(Manga)
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I honestly cannot recommend this as something to read as aside from the stunningly beautiful artwork filled with detail it's kinda just too short to really BE anything but an artbook.
Some of these panels must have taken them days each, and while the story hints at a wider universe filled with interesting things we just don't see any of it. It's light on explanation, heavy on imagery, and while it is a beautiful read there's not much story here. The length is really the killer here. The characters, the plotlines, the backstory, the ideas, the themes, everything just doesn't get explored because it's a single ... 
Mar 16, 2026
Cowboy Bebop
(Manga)
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After reading this I really have to wonder just how bad inflation is in the Cowboy Bebop universe that the blow through their money so damn fast. This has 11 chapters, all of them showcasing the Bebop crew doing their jobs mostly competently, with some hijinks of course. The two chapters in volume 3 are longer and more fleshed out, and I wish the other ones had been as well as they're by far the best written stories of the bunch.
And honestly, that's really all that can be said about this manga. It's a short sweet manga of characters you know doing the thing you ... 
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(Manga)
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This is such a sweet little romance, but it moves a bit too fast for my liking. I wish for just one or two more volumes to really flesh out how everyone in the situation feels about it and the actions they all take. I mean there's four princesses left by the end of the first round and we never even see the dog princess I don't think, much less have a conversation with her or see how she feels about things.
There's also a lot of very heavy loredumps, about the world, the clans, the politics, individual things like fated partners, and so on. ... 
Mar 16, 2026
Surviving as a Fish
(Manga)
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Unironic PEAK!
Maybe I'm just supremely susceptible to loving these weird "reincarnate as X" litrpg survival things but this has a lot behind it but I wish it took less time to get there. The first like 30 chapters is almost a pure survival game with all the ups and downs that brings, and it's really well written don't get me wrong, but man it pales in comparison to the later chapters once the author finds their stride. What starts as a survival game with the mystery of why they're all fish, turns into a crime thriller crossed with a tale of winning against all odds ... 
Mar 15, 2026
There's a scene towards the end of volume 4 when the protagonist Tarou admits he did something purely because it was fun. And that is absolutely the vibe of this entire manga, and not always to it's benefit.
It's absolutely devoted to being a light-hearted comedy series, and that shines through in every page. The downside of that is, both the genre being immediately apparent, and the ridiculous magical power the protagonist is established early on to have, means there's no stake or tension or even just drama in the entire story. You always know he's going to win or solve the problem in some way, ... 
Mar 15, 2026
Wanwan Monogatari: Kanemochi no Inu ni Shite to wa Itta ga, Fenrir ni Shiro to wa Ittenee!
(Manga)
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This is one of those series you're probably only going to read if you are like me: Too deep into the isekai hole to get out and just reading anything that you find out of bored curiosity to how bad it can get.
And this is a just sort of decentish series. It's not bad, it's not good, it's just sort of "yeah I exist". And while there is certainly space for those sorts of media in the landscape (I mean hell look at the slew of crappy D-list action movies from the 2000s that we all have at least one of in our favouries) there's ... |