Japanese authors may sometimes have a weird perspective on European history be it Middle Ages Queen Victorias ruling or introduction to French Revolution. Ironically the downfall of this manga is caused by its indulgence and excessthe very things it portrays as leading to the downfall of the French aristocracy. You see especially in the latter half it indulges in symbolic and metaphorical pictures as well as snapshots of potential futures or poetic representations of events. I noticed at least twice when they had characters presumably singing their internal thoughts. All that means that each chapter has very little actual content. The character of Mary from a freefalling sociopath becomes some sort of analysis on gender roles LGBT history in 18th century france polyamory racial discrimination all in the span of 1020 chapters. Its so on the nose its almost funny. Charles had a slow transition into the character of his father that went slipping down at the speed of light as soon as the author decided to focus on Mary all she has to do is drop random quirks about how he changed as he whines about family obligations. He tortures his own son. His opposition to torture set the basis of his character from the beginning it defined his values and worldview to the point where he was ready to topple the seemingly endless power of his grandmother. It led to his liberal sympathies. it was the central reason he didnt want to kill people violently which was what would have led him to seek out the guilottine. The reader is never given any reason as to why he changed he just did. Theres two comments about the world being rough and how raising kids made Charles more conscious of his family. Which could certainly be explored as a reason for him to enjoin with the system. But here its a magical incantation that transforms him from a grey morally tormented character one page into a saturday cartoon villain the next. Replete with last minute doh moments as his dastardly plan to have his sister married is befuzzled scoobydoo style. Everybody gets simplified flanderized almost a caricature. At the start it was beautiful and read almost like a novel. The father grandmother uncle were all villains but were given ample space to prove that they had a 3dimensional personality and were acting out of selfless motives but constrained within a hierarchical system that forced them to participate in violence which hurt them as much as the victim. When father Sanson tortured Charles. He acted out of a belief that the firstborn must inherit the family business and therefore has to be strong in character to take a life. Something that can only be achieved by getting one accustomed to violence. Said torture also had a secondary purpose of forcing compliance with the unreasonable demands of his family such as the inheritance itself. He knew it was painful for the son but justified it by claiming that his son was his flesh and blood and an extension of him. Despite voluntarily participating in child torture he is a victim as well. What could be done to fix this? Removing constricting family institutions authoritarian systems classbased understandings of occupation societal acceptance of child violence patriarchal norms. For there to be no Jean the whole political economic and cultural landscape has to be changed from the grounds up. When a bunch of white french aristocrats attack a halfblack french noble for being mixed then burn down his orphanage with the children still inside provoke him to a fight kill him and publically leave their family emblem in his body. They did it because they were assholes of comedic proportions. Even with all the discrimination present in prerevolutionary france burning down an entire orphanage wasnt something people laughed off. What could be done to fix this? Literally like stop being evil. Thats all the message there is. No compulsion from a higher system no psychological explanation for their actions. The reason they burned kids alive was because they wanted to burn kids alive. The way to stop them from burning kids alive is for them to stop burning kids alive. The art is admittedly welldrawn. Though to be honest it might be too ornate. The lips are overly lush and shiny. The backgrounds are grainy and at times theres too much going on making it hard to focus on the relevant details. Also sometimes characters eyes look badly placed on their faceslike theyre just tacked on. But even if the art was perfect that wouldnt justify adding needless pictures. If this manga had trimmed all its padding and perhaps been only about half as long it wouldve had the potential to be a masterpiece. The last half of the manga introduces Marie Antoinette into the storyline and begins setting the stage for the events which lead into the French Revolution. But thats all that its doing: setting the stage. The entire last half doesnt really feel like it has much purpose other than acting like a prequel for the next manga.