#probably because it was written by a therapypilled 20something

[yurious-george]

please spill the sleepless domain opinions. ive only ever seen praise for it

DISCLAIMER: SD's story is simply not to my preference. No issues with that - normally I would just stop reading and move on - but I was on the official SD discord server during my formative years, and basically had to pretend to like Sleepless Domain to interact with the server at large. Pent up bitterness, thy name is hallowed.

That said, my god. The two main characters are insecure little bores with one of the most unimpressive lesbian relationships I've ever seen in fiction. They are So. Damn. *Samey.* They spend so much time reassuring each other and talking, so much that any conflict is brought up and resolved within pages. You can skip whole pages of dialogue and not miss a single thing of import!

On a similar note, all the other major characters have very similar flaws. They're all insecure and hate themselves in pretty, palatable ways. All of them are so afraid of hurting each other and reassuring each other, binging the comic is genuinely frustrating - I desperately wanted someone, anyone to have a different flaw besides "I'm insecure!" Just because it manifests in different ways does not mean they're different characters - they're the same characters with different set dressing.

None of these are bad characters, but they don't have a single interesting character dynamic to rub between them. Besides which, this connecting trait reveals an alarming reduction in what a good person is, compared to Kiwi Blitz - good people put others first, good people secretly aren't confident, good people hate themselves. In KB, Mary's earlier comic, the majority of characters are all trying to do the "right" thing, but have very different motivations and contexts around the concept, and here they're all... the same...

SD is most engaging when it follows Rue, an unregistered, confident magical girl with a lot of siblings. She's a conspiracy theorist, but she actively asks questions about and discusses her world - such as what's outside the barrier, how to study it, etc. Her confidence causes her to break things off with a very vulnerable character over a small lashing out, and was possibly the final snapping point in her depressive spiral. She's far more proactive than the mains in Figuring Out the World, and I would like SD a lot more if she had more focus!

Speaking of the world. I find the author. frustratingly liberal at times. As in, we've had very different experiences with mental health and Ms. Cagle's parents Probably Didn't Threaten To Send Her To A Ward Overseas For Being Suicidal :) Or torture her with an overdose of psychotropics to make her 'productive'. (you can read more about my experience here.) Opening up with loved ones has clearly been beneficial for her and that's awesome! Unfortunately some of us got tortured more for doing that. And her (so far) refusal to acknowledge that in her story is... such a massive gap in her worldbuilding?

So, despite setting up a system with a monetary benefit to torturing children, she refuses to actually depict a child being tortured by her parents into compliance with being a magical girl - the logical, ultimate conclusion of her capitalist system. All the parents are So Scared For Their Kids :( Ok, well - where's the parent who's scared of losing their meal ticket? Why Are You Setting These Things Up And Not Putting Your Whole Pussy Into It

The art and paneling are fantastic, and Ms. Cagle has some of the most clear action sequences in comics. Sleepless Domain is a great comic when it's not about the main characters.

Also the "teenagers" all talk like therapypilled 20somethings and it makes me nauseous