I watched the first arc via the TV show and it was really good. So, rather than waiting for the next season, I took the unusual step of reading the manga. And it was quite good, for the first half. I'd say the first three arcs were all very fun and interesting. I couldn't put it down for volumes at a time, and learning more and more about the setting was always intriguing. The shift in power dynamics when they start taking the fight to the demons was delicious. It's absolutely worth your time to check it out if you're into stories about super-smart kids (who never act like kids) or about complicated plots that get constantly explained in a thrilling fashion.

But, Jesus Fucking Christ, the last arc (which is at least 80 issues long—almost half!) revolves around a very peculiar, toxic expression of the Shounen manga trope that you should convert your enemies into friends. Essentially, Emma just decides that she doesn't want to kill the demons and the narrative contorts in extreme ways to make her seem justified and the people who want to kill the demons seem insane. It is this dril tweet given form: "the wise man bowed his head solemnly and spoke: 'theres actually zero difference between good & bad things. you imbecile. you fucking moron.'" No. Emma's position is completely unjustified and dangerous, especially when it extends beyond the demons to their other enemies. There are no consequences for eliminating your enemies to tie up loose ends once you've won, and stories like this are written to get impressionable people to believe the lie that there are, so they allow evil people to keep festering the world from positions of power.

Another thing that bothered me through the whole second half was how the story kept concluding that the world would be better off if better people were in charge of the same systems. No. Sure, they may have abolished the farms, but they still would have the monarchy that was built from the lies that the farms built up. Rather than overthrow the entire system and start from scratch, we're supposed to believe that things will be fine once someone else takes power. What if nobody was "in power?" Not seriously considered. Likewise, the humans' goal of getting to the human world became very grating after a while because we knew nothing about the human world at all, and were meant to presume that it was basically just the real world. What's the point of escaping the symbolic representations of real world oppression when your plan is to run to a world or oppression or continue to cling to the trappings of your system of oppression? I was somewhat surprised and relieved when this was FINALLY addressed in the concluding chapters.

Art was phenomenal, especially during key scenes where you could feel the extra effort.

Another big criticism is that the characters other than Emma rarely, if ever, seemed well-used. They fall to the background when they're not in focus, and may as well not exist during those times. Even Ray, who is ostensibly one of the main characters, frequently disappears for what would have been months of serialization time. He doesn't really matter much after the first arc. Phil never really matters. His popularity is utterly baffling to me, considering he is barely a character.