A review by brenticus
Babel, Vol. 1: A Girl Embarks on a Journey of Words by Kuji Furumiya

adventurous slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This read was about half way to being very good. It hits a lot of good notes with the characters and their development, the mild complexities of the setting, even the stakes for the various conflicts, but it also shuffles along in an odd way. The characters demonstrate their agency constantly, but it also feels like they're just stumbling into conflicts randomly and arbitrarily find themselves capable of resolving them. They do things, and things happen to them, but those two concepts feel disconnected.

I'm interested to see where this goes, and I quite like Shizuku and Erik for the most part, but the way the plot moves ahead just doesn't always work for me.