@konzolmester hmm... tht title should explain it... This is a slow pace politic manga at its core.
In Novel, it is more interesting, but somehow the manga version can't translate the excitement well.
I don't know... about your rule of thumbs... if it was applied to every manga, people won't read lots of popular manga such as Dragon Ball, Naruto, One Piece.
To me, a not so exciting arc is needed to build the plot.
Most of the times, there would be a cycle of tick-tock or tick-tick-tock.
Tick when it is the exciting one, while tock is for building the plot.
Without the tock, you will feel that the story is forced, it will not be pleasant to read
Again... this is my opinion