My Disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined

#Before the Review
If you’re interested in the story, read it. It's a fun time that maybe you will enjoy like it seems many have, but if even considering this you are still interested in reading the review or have already read the story and want other’s opinions, go ahead.

#Context
Soulmate is a Chinese manga (manhua) written by Wenzhi Lizi and drawn by Ke Ran Bing. It focuses on the story of Qi Yu along two separate time lines, with the 17 year old Qi yu being transported into her 27 year old self along with her 27 year old self being transported into her 17 year old self. The story could be summed up as a story of connections, love, and changing regrets, if you want a better synopsis read the one on anilist.

#Intro
I’m going straight to the point, don’t read this bro, I mean it. I’ve always considered myself a chill guy, it’s very rare for me to get angry but this shit broke me. For full transparency, this review is written and fueled by an absolute sheer rage, fury, and disappointment of the likes that I think I haven’t felt for a work in years. I’m going to go deep into spoiler territory as most (if not all) of my complaints pertain to the ending and thanks to the fact that I’ll use some story beats to reference aspects. Simply, if you want to read it, do it, ignore this review, maybe it doesn’t cause you this level of vitriol like it did for me and maybe you’ll enjoy it like many people seem to have, don’t take this review as a recommendation, rather this is a structured critique of a piece of art. First tho, let’s start with the good.

#The Good
As vitriolic as this has got me, this gives me no excuse to undermine the genuine good that this manhua has.

For starters, the premise is pretty new and fresh. Stories with one sided time regression or going back to the past or future have become quite popular as of recent, but this manhua twists that basic idea and makes it so the future self goes to the past, and the past self goes to the future, creating this new, dynamic structure and premise with a lot more potential to branch and explore things. The premise also lends itself to being naturally moving and with a certain degree of purpose, unlike many of these stories that just pull a bullshit excuse to allow the story to move. In the early timeline this purpose is helping Yuanzi avoid her future illness and in the future timelines it's the simple ever moving presence of discovery and adult life. The effectiveness of this premise can be very easily noticed via the genuinely excellent and constantly moving structure that this manhua has, another one of its good points. By changing between the past and the future perspectives every few chapters, each one of these timelines gets their own period to expand on its individual story and make connections of how they relate to greater changes in the story and the characters. It’s never stale yet never convoluted either, a pothole that many stories with different time perspectives often fall into. The art also, while not the most beautiful, is still genuinely pretty and varyingly expressive, with it greatly conveying the emotions through the characters' expressions or body language. The only real negative that I can say it falls into in terms of the art (and one a lot of other manhua or manwha fall into) is the lack of compositional depth or interesting panelling, but genuinely you don’t notice it thanks to that being the standard (plus I get that doing such things in a vertical format is tricky so it’s only very minor). It’s nicely paced too. The other huge positive this series has is the characters.

##Qi yu:
Naturally, as the MC Qi Yu has a responsibility to not only be likeable, but effective in conveying the stories narrative, pace, and ideas, which she does so perfectly. Qi Yu is perfectly likeable, with her being an outgoing, honest, eager individual that shows genuine strength of character even in her younger self. This is aspect that can be seen from the very first chapters, with her in both younger and future selves showing a certain degree of determination and strength built into the character and her actions, this is perfectly noticeable by the way in which the younger self adapts into the future with earnest, seriousness, and dedication, even meditating running away but looking back and thinking, hell no. Similar can be seen with some aspects of the future self’s story (the one that returns to the past). What I also really liked about Qi Yu is that in both timelines, while different, she still held onto those core principles (principles I outlined earlier) that make her herself, core values or elements intrinsic to her personality, even if some of the edges change between the two versions, be that via maturity or experience.

What also rapidly surprised me is how genuinely not cringe it is. Usually with these types of time manipulating stories I find myself cringing so hard as either the older character in the younger body makes cringy uncomfortable call backs that stand out like a sore thumb (and maybe even getting embarrassed as a result which is even worse), despite them needing to be better and more mature than that, or with the younger person in the future body/self completely falling under the weight of the situation, which, while understandable, doesn’t make it any less cringe nor unnatural as while an initial crash out is valid, it’s only reasonable for them to start adapting. And that’s exactly what happens in the story, instead of making the reader suffer through some needlessly cringe transition period it highlights the strength of character of Qi Yu and her core characteristic by highlighting the difficulties in these new settings yet still finding the resolve to not fall under the weight and make shit work. This is another aspect that I greatly applauded Qi Yu for.

##Yuanzi:
I have less to say about Yuanzi, but still, as the second MC she brings a nice foil to Qi Yu whilst solidifying herself as her own character. Unlike Qi Yu where her core values and characteristics are more obvious and intrinsic to her, with Yuanzi the version of her from each timeline differs quite a bit, but I actually found that a nice change. This perfectly showcases how the presence of Qi Yu changes and has changed her in slightly separate ways, the differing origins of the affection, their attitudes, and so on. But this is actually a very nice and reasonable change, of course the attitudes of each of them will change. In the future Yuanzi needs to take a slightly more motherly, mature, caring and cautious(despite her illness) yet still affectionate attitude towards Qi Yu as she still remains a 17 year old in mind, while in the past Yuanzi changes towards being more outgoing, assertive, yet remains to the goofy and caring aspects that the future version also showcases at times. The differing origins for the love also serve to add to the story and the motif that no matter the circumstances, we’ll always fall in love. The origin of the sickly future was also nicely handled as it was given a legitimate reason and manner to be solved, by making it depression driven eating of sweets (thus giving her diabetes related illnesses, such as kidney failure, in the future)

##Side Characters:
The side characters are nice too, they have enough personality as to integrate them properly in the story yet not enough scene time to where they obscure the stories purpose or pace, with them instead aiding it and adding onto it, with them also serving as examples of how through the new opportunities given via this time manipulation things can change for the better.

##Qi Yu and Yuanzi:
The relationship feels genuinely believable and as if it has a proper basis on both timelines, really not much else to add. Very well executed.

##Use of the “Time Manipulation”:
This is one of the aspects that I must applaud too, just with a slight setback. The story perfectly captured how this change in perspectives and times allowed each character to fulfill the other’s regrets or possible misgivings (specially those in the past) by creating a better life for the other self when they return back to their timeline (such as rekindling with her dad, curing Yuanzi, etc..). This nicely showcased what started to develop as a core theme of the story, those being regrets, changing for the better, etc… but here’s where the slight setback sets in, which would also transition us into the negatives, the story never fully outlined what the purpose of all this was. What’s the theme of the story, what’s to learn, etc… And all this could’ve been nicely wrapped up by a proper ending, but well… you’ll see how it turns out.

#The negative

##The Ending:
This is where I am beyond mad. The ending basically consists of the future (the 27 year old one) Qi Yu returning to a better future where all the changes she made came into fruition, and where the 17 year old Qi Yu returns to an unknown past with her memories of the future erased, with the only differences being a notebook entry saying yuanzi’s name and to take care of her health. What. The. Fuck. What happened with the original future timeline? did it just cease to exist or was the sickly Yuanzi left without a Qi Yu? Either way what the fuck. By making it like this it raises a lot of questions about what actually happened while completely invalidating any and all actions that the 17 year old QI Yu took in the future. It takes away any and all weight to the incoming death of the future Yuanzi and it takes away any learning done by the 17 year old Qi Yu by taking away her memories and love of Yuanzi, something which would’ve only harnessed the theme of the ever present love more. The only timeline that had a satisfying (?) end was the 27 year old QI Yu returning to a better future, but that raises such a disgusting amount of paradoxes too that it basically holds no weight either. Imma dissect it a little more in the upcoming sections.

##Plot Holes:

• why is only the Qi Yu from the future (the one that goes to the past) prohibited from saying her origin?
• What was the process behind the body swap?
• How did Qi Yu adapt to future technology? (tho this one can be excused)
• What the fuck happens with the timeline where Yuanzi is fucking dying (the og one from the future) after Qi Yu returns to the past and the future Qi Yu changes her future?
• Why did Qi Yu (the 17 year old version) forget her memories of the future once she returned to the past?
• Did all the actions taken by the future Qi Yu (the one that returned to the past) disappear upon the return of the past - Qi Yu in case that they returned to the same time line? and if they did the future and younger personas converge at a certain point? Are they really using the “it was all just a dream excuse”?
• Did the younger Qi Yu return to a parallel past timeline where by some fortune the name Yuanzi was written in her notebook?

I could go on and on and oooooon, but that proves my point enough, the ending is so shit and non explanatory that it opens itself to a myriad of paradoxical fallacies and non explanations.

The main theory I have for the ending (call me dumb if so may but this is the one with least paradoxes) is that the Qi Yu (the 17 year old version) returns to a reality where the future qi yu was but all her actions were erased except for the notebook entry with yuanzi’s name, this pushed for Qi Yu (the 17 year old one) to, by sheer fate unite with Yuanzi in high school and thus start to do many of the things the future Qi Yu did but now with the knowledge that you need to watch Yuanzi’s health. This also explains why the divorce of Coco’s parents remained the same. Now, this sounds like a reasonable explanation, and I’d love to believe it, but upon further inspection it still doesn’t hold up the best. What happened to the og future timeline? did it just vanish? How does the future and past Qi Yu’s converge into one time, isn’t the past version lost by proxy when they converge or was it all in le head (dream) and it just coincidentally ended the same? These are just a few plot holes, and this doesn’t even call out the fact that this completely invalidates any and all actions taken in the future timeline with the sickly Yuanzi. What was the purpose of these actions taken for the future if the og future Qi Yu never returned to see the fruits of them and the 17 year old QI Yu didn’t learn shit as she lost her memories of the future? It’s all bullshit and invalidates half the story, it also slightly meddles with the genuine purpose of the 27 year old Qi Yu’s actions in the past, as now they basically just become a show piece to demonstrate a possible reality. It’s just bullshit and forms a great deal of paradoxes, like a worse Catch 22. It completely falls. It fails to a genuinely stupid degree where it can't even be excused as writing yourself into a corner.

##What 's the purpose?:
This ending also completely falls in giving the story a purpose. By not allowing the consequences of any of the changes made be felt as if they were eliminated, it looses all meaning and weight in any thematic ideas it was trying to set up. The themes of changing things for the better or whatever, which were already shallow, go to even more shit as they now prove nothing as all voluntary attempts end up being eliminated in whatever timeline or theory you subscribe to. If it had, for example, returned the future Qi Yu to her original future/timeline with her sickly Yuanzi, it could’ve explored the aspect of changing that for the better as it would’ve given the 17 year old QI Yu an opportunity to return to a better changed past with a better future. It also would’ve set up this message with the future QI Yu as it is only through this that the reconciliation with the dad gains meaning and weight. By returning to a sickly Yuanzi we could’ve also explored little motifs of grief and show how even through death the love remains, further solidifying the big motif of “I’ll love you in every timeline and circumstance” along with that having fulfilled the future Qi Yu’s wish of spending a little more time with Yuanzi (like she did in the past and will be able to experience a little in her future again) and by giving her the knowledge that she gave her past self a better future to look forward too. This would also easily explain the whole timeline conundrum by making it a simple branching timeline with a different future.

##What Should have been done?:
I lightly touched on this in the previous paragraph, but the proper ending would’ve been for each of the Qi Yu’s to return to their og timeline with the effects of the QI Yu previously in their timeline still present. This would’ve added weight to all the changes and allowed for the exploration and cementing of a proper theme or purpose as touched on in the previous paragraph. Unfortunately, the author didn’t bite the bullet. I understand that this, as an author, would hurt to write. To have your characters die and see their girlfriend die fucking sucks, but that’s what it needed. That’s what the story was building up to and it would’ve made a nice twist into a more logical and heavy conclusion. Though I recognize that this is nowherenear perfect as it would’ve made the actions taken in the past by the 27 year old’s Qi Yu’s feel a little less meaningful for her as it didn’t change HER future, only that of her past self. Truly the author wrote himself into a corner and that’s the best ending I could’ve come up with as all other just result in paradoxes on paradoxes. The author just needed to bite that bullet and return each to their og timeline as ugly and unfortunate as it could’ve been. That would’ve been devastating and would've lived in my mind for weeks to come, now all that remains is disappointment and anger. Frankly I wouldn’t even have minded if so happened that when the 27 year old Qi Yu returned to the future Yuanzi was miraculously given a few more years or even a few more decades (despite the story implying otherwise), sure that’s decently cop-outy, but that doesn’t even compare to the entire cop-out that was the ending, sorry. This ending feels like if Your Lie in April or something ended with a JK, everything's all right lmaooo, parallel words or something, blah blah. It’s genuinely tragic how much it fails.

#Conclusion
The story was great, I quite liked it honestly, the characters were lovable, there was a perfect amount of tension and release along with satisfaction in the story, the premise was nice, and the structure was great, but the ending invalidates any and all actions taken in the story, and any and all attempts to try to wrap your head around it lead to no satisfying conclusion. This is an absolute botchery of an ending and of a story really. I am now more disappointed, deeply so, than angry. It just feels like a wildly inconclusive and inconsequential end to a kinda remarkable story that decided to throw any weight and good it had out the window. This is tragic and fucking shit. I’d like to insult the author, but not only is that not allowed, but I won’t stoop that low, I just wish he had chosen a different path or maybe laid out his story beforehand so as to not write himself into an awkward corner or situation like it did. Don’t know. Such a disappointment. (Would still read a later work from him tho)

If you read this far into the review (or just skipped to the end to see the result) thanks either way. I’ll give it like a 4 because despite the absolute shit ending (god i’m still so devastated by how inconclusive it is), it just makes it bad, not horrible, but that’s mostly due to the quality of the rest of the chapters even if i’d love to give it less. Godspeed.

P.S. If someone disagrees with me i’d love to hear why. Also, the shit of the multiple timelines is so confusing to properly write without it being a confusion. Also eng aint my first language.