- #1
At first the title doesn't seem like it makes sense because the protagonist is basically a Stardus simp to comical levels and is always calling for her attention and whatnot, so you wonder why the story is named the way it is. But over time, you realize that the protagonist literally enjoys her as a comic book character. He doesn't have any actual interest in her as a person, only as a kind of project to work on and a provider of entertaining fights.On the other hand, Stardus herself gets more and more focused on him because she can't really figure out what he's doing or why because his behavior, speech and public persona do not align and responding to his apparent obsession with her. She gets upset when he doesn't appear or makes trouble that doesn't involve her directly, which only makes her obsess over him even more. Honestly, it doesn't even really feel romantic, just that her life outside of being a hero is kind of empty and she's fundamentally a very simple person, so when a complex recurring obstacle appears she doesn't know how to handle it or emotionally detach. So she just thinks about him more and more. It's actually pretty interesting and amusing.So that part is all cool. If I had to raise a complaint it would probably be that most of the female cast don't really seem to serve any particular purpose? The hacker girl fits in well with the story occupying a role somewhere between little sister and younger girl with a hopeless crush on an older guy. The hostage girl also helps balance out the overall dynamic as a kind of team mom. The rest of them seem to exist purely on a functional level because their powers are needed to advance the plot the way the author wants and otherwise don't really matter much apart from maybe having a crush on the protagonist and maybe not. I'm hoping the cast size stays where it's at because I think it's still just barely at a functional level, but if any more girls get added then I think they're all going to fail as characters because they won't have the necessary screentime. Which is unfortunate because they mostly have pretty distinct personalities and aren't bad characters, it's just that they don't fit well into the story.
