A decent story that makes questionable choices?

I never write reviews but after catching up to the most recent chapter of Snow White with the Red Hair (137 by the time I'm posting this), I just had too many thoughts buzzing around in my head to not say something about this series because as someone who adored the anime back when I first watched it years ago, seeing how things play out in the manga afterward was... interesting.

First off, as the only other reviewer stated, the series is slow, gets sidetracked, and no doubt has its flaws. I am going to be a bit more critical than the first reviewer, but I did want to make it clear that I do still find plenty about this series enjoyable regardless. The art is lovely, the characters and their relationships are sweet and meaningful, and despite the slowness, the mangaka does know how to make things really interesting and engaging at times and provided me with just enough to want to keep reading. Still, with a story nearing 140 chapters that has canonically taken place over the course of multiple years, I feel like we could have reached the end result with half the time since not a whole lot actually happens. There are some serious arcs yes, but those few moments are largely surrounded by slice of life moments, royal court duties, and herbalist research. Now, I'm not the type of person to find those things boring. I love slice of life, it's my 3rd highest genre, and it was what drew me to this series to begin with. The court duties and herbalist research could have also kept me hooked because I've enjoyed my fair share of royal/research stories. When done right, they're super fun.

But at some point, the story just really stagnates. Particularly, (spoiler) after the main group gets split in half and separated. The story takes a noticeable shift, the writing falls flat for a spell, and it's like we can actively see the mangaka try to figure out how the story should work from here on out as it undergoes some trial and error to try and get used to the new normal. As much as I like Shirayuki, Obi, and Ryu, I found it a chore to get through their Lilias focused chapters because those took some time to actually hold my attention. And even now, when all the research stuff starts and we get the info dumps, I just have to skim through it all. However, my main criticism of the series isn't that it's long and slow and sometimes uninteresting, my biggest issue is the development, or lack thereof, of some of the characters and their relationships. Spoilering the rest.

~!Thinking about this very topic is what prompted me to write this review because I had so much to say, but to be completely honest, despite me saying earlier that the relationships are sweet and meaningful, I don't... fully enjoy the way some of the relationships between our main group play out, and I desperately wish certain relationships were given the chance to play out at all. This whole problem for me starts from the moment they get separated. Now to clarify, I know the series has its whole "love triangle" thing going on, if you can even call it that, but I'm not super invested in any ship so don't take this as me just being a diehard Zenyuki shipper. But the second Obi was ordered to follow Shirayuki to Lilias to spend those 2 years with her, I knew this would be the beginning of something I would not enjoy and it's the forced dependency between him and Shirayuki. A dependency that continues to exist to this day and was further reinforced in one of the most recent chapters where someone tries to separate them and it turns into a whole big deal because gasp, Obi and Shirayuki separated? That's sacrilegious.

The thing is, Obi's presence alongside Shirayuki as a bodyguard during those 2 years isn't even necessary because nothing even happens. They get to Lilias, the herbalists do some research, and then we get a timeskip. In fact, the next time Obi's presence becomes necessary is when Zen is in trouble and he has to run off to help him. If that was just going to be the case, why separate him from Zen to begin with? Sticking him with Shirayuki is an odd choice that ultimately doesn't pay off because the next time we see Obi acting as her bodyguard and helping out with her side of things isn't until those 2 years have already ended (and when Zen and co weren't even stationed too far from the Lilias crew so had Obi been with them, he could have easily just run over to help Shirayuki with no issue).

And honestly, it just made me sad as hell to read through because I love Shirayuki as a character, and Obi is great as well. But they are just never allowed to be their own people anymore because they always, always have to be together for whatever reason. I'm sure the shippers love that, but I don't. And I will admit I feel more offended on Shirayuki's behalf because she's a grown woman who was just assigned a perpetual babysitter, is given no independence, and is treated like she can never take care of herself. I know people love the Shirayuki/Obi/Zen dynamic and how they both trust Obi with their lives, especially Zen who is fully aware that he has feelings for his girlfriend and has never been bothered by it. And sure, that is sweet, I've enjoyed them plenty myself. Still, it's the manufactured codependency of it all that's killing me. If Zen can't be there for Shirayuki (and he isn't there for 2 whole years), it automatically has to be Obi, no questions asked. While there are other characters Shirayuki is friends with, we're never able to see them have significant development with her because Obi is the default guy. Mitsuhide? Nope. Kiki, the only other main female character who Shirayuki had the potential to seriously bond with? Nope. The only character who comes close to Obi is Ryu, who also spends those 2 years with her, but even then, his moments with Shirayuki always have Obi off to the side as well so those are never truly unique to them.

It's to the point where I genuinely think the series would be better if Obi and Shirayuki just got separated for a while so they could be their own people, form/deepen other connections, and grow into their own characters without being directly linked to each other. I mean, if Shirayuki can be separated from her actual boyfriend for 2 years, giving them less development at this point than she's had with Obi, then why not just let her and Obi do their own things for a bit?

I don't know, maybe I'm the only one who cares about it this much but as I said, while this series still has plenty for me to enjoy, this one aspect of it is a major flaw that prevents me from fully loving it the way I once did. !~