Season 1 Retrospective (Patreon)

Hi guys! So if you're my patreon, I'm going to just kind of assume you've read fast pass, so if you haven't read the most recent fast pass... There may be spoiler-y things abound, maybe? 

This will be an overall general retrospective, an in-depth retrospective regarding things like the nitty gritty of the webtoon production process and self-critique will be published shortly for patreons of the highest tier.

So, let's start!

Overall, I'd say my satisfaction with the first season is a solid 7.5/10. I think I've learnt a lot from doing 26 episodes, and because I've learnt it, there are some things about the earlier episodes and the plotting of the later episodes that if I could redo, I would. But I of course wouldn't redo anything lmfao because if you sit and redo things you'll be stuck on them forever, so I'm just leaving the work as-is.

I think what I'm most satisfied with from season 1 is slowly establishing the relationship dynamic Scarlet And Chase will have for the rest of the series. If you couldn't tell, I'm trying to set up their partnership/friendship early, so that it can service as a plot device in later seasons. I couldn't have them become friends right from the introduction either, since the tension between Chase being a Chaotic-Good individual and Scarlet's every-shifting morality compass (as long as it allows for her to kill people) is important for the future of the series.

Establishing their relationship was a priority and I'm glad I'm satisfied with how I did it, but I think my #1 concern was making sure that Scarlet's morality system was in place and easily understandable by the audience. Did I do that well enough? Not sure. I think I could have done better, but what I have is definitely satisfactory enough. I think that the readers understand she does not put faith into Satan's definition of sin, and absolutely has guilt over  some of the stuff she's done, but ultimately continues doing it because self-preservation is her highest priority. I think I can use later seasons to more firmly dive into this and potentially show a shift in morality.

Something I completely did not expect from this is how little my readers are interested in the action sequences. In the 26 episodes thus far, there have been two in-depth action chapters (Scarlet vs Brook #1 and Scarlet vs Satan), and while the first was received well due to the introduction of Brook as a character, the second has probably been my poorest performing chapter thus far even though I am beyond satisfied with how I wrote/drew it. In my opinion it is my strongest chapter thus far, but it performed very low. The thing that the readers seem to be interested in is just... Like, the chill chapters. Both chapters where Chase and Scarlet just sat in his apartment and talked did very well. The current fast pass chapter where Scarlet and Chase go to an amusement park is doing very well compared to my past fast passes, as well.

Also, I think in general, I'm incredibly surprised at how well ITGR is performing in general. I got into the top 20 within the first week and I've stayed there ever since, and right now I generally sit at rank 10-15. This is incredibly high, especially for a series aimed at male readers, to my understanding. Most readers on WEBTOON are female, and thus if something is aimed at males it has a smaller pool of readers to pull from. I do have a majority male readers (I sit at about #5 consistently for males 11-29), and I honestly just aim to maintain this position. Growing would be great of course, but really can I complain for doing so well when the dice is stacked against me? XD I think the one thing I had going in my favor is my anime art style, but that's about it. 

Anyway, I need to go on hiatus to rebuild a buffer. Buffers are necessary in case I fall ill/have to go to a con/etc. I used all my buffers from last season so it's absolutely necessary lol. Expect season 2 to launch in 3 months from now!