Tag: manhwa

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Book (Manhwa): The Dark Lord’s Confession by Topseoung

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The Dark Lord’s Confession
by Topseoung
published by Webtoon (100+ chapters, ongoing)
2022 – present

Lapis is a girl living in a world divided between people naturally marked with a symbol of good / holy magical power, ordinary people, and unfortunate people naturally marked with the symbol of an incurable curse and magical powers. Those with the mark of the curse are automatically deemed evil as a result of their potentially contagious illness, and must live in hiding or risk being murdered at any age upon discovery. Their murderers blame their victims for being inhuman, so that they can feel better about slaughtering their own friends and neighbors who bear the mark. Those who survive by hiding their mark will inevitably turn into literal monsters if they don’t kill themselves first.

Lapis has the curse. Optimistically, after living with two sweet girls who have their own sad backstories, Lapis is determined to go to a holy school to become a holy knight – surely, if she can master holy powers, she can find a cure!

After failing the entrance exam for knight school countless times, Lapis is attacked by monsters while practicing magical symbols, and accidentally summons the Dark Lord, the being who is supposedly responsible for the curse. When holy soldiers turn up to see what all the ruckus is, Lapis… somehow barely passes the holy power test, and can study to be a Holy Knight!

If anything goes wrong, Lapis will be murdered in cold blood by her classmates and teachers. If things go right, Lapis will be forced to murder innocent people who bear the curse, something she is far too kind and ethical to do.

Illustration of Lapis and Calla dressed up in a scene from The Dark Lord's Confession by Topseoung
Lapis and Calla dressed up in a scene from The Dark Lord’s Confession by Topseoung. Topseoung’s style is fun – the characters are so bold, Calla’s hair goes on in curls for many panels, and women warriors are giants!

Meanwhile, the Dark Lord, to the extent she can be trusted, is telling Lapis that holy and magical powers are the same, and that the curse CAN be undone – but the holy knights and will try to prevent that from happening. Lapis has a role to play in fixing the world, saving those with the mark, and exposing the thousand year old plot that made the world this way – if she can survive in the heart of a holy place founded by the Dark Lord’s rival.

This is a story of religious corruption, a goddess from outer space, cults with their own agendas, lasting traumas over murdered loved ones, the persecution of minorities, land poisoned with curses/diseases/magic based on Roman mythology, health crises, girls swooning over handsome women, secret basements, broken swords, unique powers, dancing with romantic interests who would kill you without a moment’s hesitation if they knew which mark you had, violent sibling rivalries, betrayals, arena duels, the unconditional love of friendship, and falling stars.

I didn’t want to put it down (see me recharging my phone after hours of reading), and read through 100+ chapters in three sessions – and I’m eager for more! I like high stakes fantasy tales, and look forward to this story continuing.

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Book (Manhwa): Turning the Mad Dog into a Genteel Lord by V_An, Yepbee, zuisha

Cover art for Turning the Mad Dog into a Genteel Lord by V_An, Yepbee, zuisha

Turning the Mad Dog into a Genteel Lord
by V_An, Yepbee, zuisha
published by Tappytoon (28 chapters, ongoing)
2024 – present

This is another comedy that makes me laugh out loud (so I read it when I’m alone, as I don’t want people to fear me on BART), and one I eagerly await new episodes for.

Diarin is a priestess who always gets the worst assignments. Her new project is to take a magically-brainwashed, berserker veteran soldier from a notoriously murderous military unit, and spruce him up so he can be a regional noble.

It’s… an impossible task, and one that puts her own life at risk – she is dealing with a man who can hear a heart beating from a great distance away, and then seek that heart out to kill – but Diarin will try with a smile! Especially since she gets to live in a mansion with her charge who, despite is formidable size and strength, she protectively comes to think of as an unruly puppy.

As with other manhwa, I want to point out the effort that went into the background art:

Attractive architectural backgrounds in Turning the Mad Dog into a Genteel Lord
It’s not just the details of the building, but also the reflection of the sun, the dappled shadows, the elements in shade, the different shadows on the sculptures of peacocks and shadows from the stairs… Goodness. (Yes, I can’t unsee the size of the guards, but the landing is really deep so they are in perspective, okay?)

Diarin is extremely expressive, and I laugh at her reactions to being blinded by someone attractive (illustration below), her eyes bulging at her first sight of Ceres’ attempts to write, or her mental process after attractively-built Ceres stands naked in front of her (pieces of fruit on a table have never been funnier). The use of exaggeration is well executed.

Left: being exposed to an especially attractive person; right, an argument about taking on additional work.
Before reading manhwa, I hadn’t realized how I also want cartoon letters to float around me for emphasis, though I admit they would create problems for me professionally.

This is a light, fun, well-executed comedy about an ambitious, optimistic clergy member trying to re-train a dangerous man-puppy whose head has been magically reprogrammed in what might be some kind of trap. It’s fun! I recommend it.

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Book (Manhwa): I Am the Villain by Sejji

Cover art for I Am the Villain by Sejji

I Am the Villain
by Sejji
published by Webtoon (51 chapters – ongoing)
2023 – present

I mentioned in an earlier post that I appreciate the background art for many of these full color, digital manhwa, and that’s what I’d like to emphasize in this review.

Sejji’s work in this story is SO GORGEOUS. I Am The Villain is the sort of comic you just stop scrolling through to appreciate the background art. Let me show you:

Beautiful backgrounds in Sejji's I Am the Villain manhwa
When I write that I am being spoiled by the quality of the art, especially architectural forms, this is what I mean.

Yes, Lucy wakes up in a friend’s novel as the doomed villainess, but LOOK AT THE DRAWINGS! Oh my goodness! The gardens! The interiors! The rooms where the heroine walks in beside enormous flower arrangements! It is so LOVELY.

It’s not only about the scenery and architecture: the attractive characters are also drawn with love and enthusiasm, and each has a different style of costume with different levels of ornament.

A collage of Sejji's attractive characters in I Am the Villain
The lovely characters each have a different style, and I appreciate the effort to distinguish their costumes. Meanwhile, look at the room that Lucy is in, once you can take your eyes away from her gaze. It’s SO PRETTY.

There are other comics I’m reading which are more traditional simplified drawing style – strangely proportioned, exaggerated, very limited colors, very simple costumes – and works like this feel like an entirely different category.

The heroine in this story feels more like a ‘normal’ person: she struggles with her isekai (falling into another world) situation. She makes decent decisions to improve her ability to survive (without making much progress), yet is also burdened by a sense of being a fraud (she is a modern person, not the rich woman whose body she is in) worried about the ethics of making life decisions for someone who may… come back? Also, she’s a bit too trusting, though that would fit in with the sheltered woman whose life she has taken over.

I’ll wait to write more about the story once a full season has been released, but I recommend this manhwa now for its art quality.

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Book (Manhwa): The Spark In Your Eyes by Muro

Cover art for The Spark in Your Eyes by Muro

The Spark In Your Eyes
by Muro
published by Webtoon (144 chapters, 1 complete season, ongoing)
2022 – present

Finally, I’m writing about a comic that is NOT about modern gals being transported into books or any character getting a second chance at living the same life!

Hildegard, as her captors rename her, is just a little girl who bleeds (and possibly dies) on a sacred altar during her village’s capture. Her blood activates the altar, and she receives the powers of the sun goddess. The King of the Mormerattan invaders wanted the goddess’ power for himself, but takes the girl, forces her to learn his people’s language, and crafts her into a child-weapon, holding her people’s fate hostage to her performance on the battlefield.

Hilde can feel pain when grievously injured, but will not die – she can repair herself from horrific damage, and blast light that can burn away material things, from castle walls to people. Forced to wear a mask, she is an anonymous and lonely young goddess of death, who must lose the few dear friends she has on the battlefield on behalf of the nation who stole her. She grows numb and ages during the long war with the north. The king wants to exploit her power against foreign rivals in battle forever. Meanwhile, his domestic rivals believe Hilde is a crime against nature that must be destroyed. Even in immortality, she has no real safety or peace.

Erkin is a strapping, peaceful, blue-eyed boy devoted to his parents’ herbalist-medical arts. Told his parents died at Hildegard’s hands, he leaves his defeated homeland to head south, in hopes of (somehow) avenging their deaths. He winds up being hired by a mysterious noble to treat an illness he is not allowed to see with his own eyes, and finds purpose and friendship in the country that conquered his people, but still perceives him as a threat.

I’d like to tell you that they meet in therapy, but therapy hasn’t been invented yet in this brutal feudal fantasy world.

This is a story of people who die too young, of greedy elders who exploit soldiers and captives, of rumors, sabotage, jealousy, and hunger for power that destroys countless lives. Plus, a story about the exploited heroine, the innocent-but-vengeful northerner, and the community of survivors around them who struggle to live in a fragile and perilous peace in a quiet corner of a restive kingdom.

This story has gorgeous clouds, and many sad scenes of death and war. I was completely engrossed at the heroine’s reluctant survival, the pain of her losses, revelations of the many betrayals she has suffered, and her hazy memory of being told by just one person to live on…

examples of pretty backdrops (skies and landscapes) from The Spark in Your Eyes by Muro

I like that the major characters talk to each other: they keep secrets, but also can reveal them; they have revelations about communications misunderstandings before people die over them; they help each other, but can also be manipulated by concern for their families (a recurring theme). This is a high stakes story about people with capacities for both compassion and brutality, who are too often put in difficult situations. I am eager for the next season!

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Book (Manhwa): I’m the Queen In This Life by Themis

Cover art for I'm the Queen In This Life by Themis

I’m the Queen In This Life
by Themis, Omin
published by Webtoon (106 episodes, ongoing)
2022 – present

Ariadne desperately loves Cesare, and will do anything to win his approval and become his wife – including regicide. She is also willing to wait, and wait, and wait for their engagement to lead to an actual wedding after her dirty deeds open the throne to him. Cesare and her half sister betray her, however, and as she lay dying, she asks for another chance at life… She is offered one more chance – WITH CONDITIONS.

Ariadne wakes up in her distant past as her desperate, 17-year old self, living on a farm in isolation from her powerful Cardinal father. She knows her father is going to send for her and pass her off to Cesare, which she can’t allow to happen. She also knows she can’t just live a normal life: this time around, she has to make up for the evil deeds she did last time.

So much is asked of second-chance heroines, and Ariadne gets this treatment at an unusual level. She has to be multilingual, pious, must bravely confront a heretic pastor in the national cathedral, prevent an assassination, survive her conniving and evil family, impress her highly political father, and NOT under ANY circumstance, wind up being handed off to Cesare like property. Oh, and be NICE, which isn’t something she had much practice in within her predatory surroundings.

Her efforts don’t always work out – she is actively being sabotaged by her stepmother, her stepsisters, jealous servants, Cesare, local gossips, and even assassins from a neighboring kingdom! People die on her. Plots succeed against her. Rumors swirl because of an issue with the color of her dress as a masquerade… Her new love is pledged to marry someone else. But she wearily fights on.

I can tell you that the title of this comic doesn’t seem like it will become true anytime soon 100 episodes on! But there is hope, and she’s going to keep fighting. (I want to buy this girl a drink and give her a hug.). There’s still a possibility it won’t literally happen, but she’s been through so much personal growth that she deserves a crown.

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Reading: A Note About Digital Manhwa

I know I write often of comics, manga, and manhwa, but I wanted to make a fuss about how digital illustration has really changed how comics look now, and has made manhwa (comics from South Korea) in particular so attractive to me as a person who used to work in architecture.

I previously wrote about A Not So Fairy Tale by Hyobin on Webtoon. Look at this scene:

Just a scene of one character waiting in a restaurant for another character to show up. (She won’t.)

Look at the details. The textures. The shadows that the evening sun makes on the floor (which has a sort of wood parquet treatment). This level of effort in webtoons is VERY appealing to me. And is spoiling me a bit.

Even if/when the characters are highly stylized in unnatural ways, the rendering of the world they live in – backgrounds, the interior design, the furniture, the foliage – these have some remarkable details. Some appear to be produced by specialists who just create castles, modern cities, European rococo ballrooms, etc. Others appear to be photo-to-illustration conversions of some sort (but that works only for places based on real settings).

Drawings produced at this level when I was still in architecture would have been award-winning marvels of the profession: now they are the routine product of manhwa studio artists!

I admire the effort (and artifice) that goes into producing these scenes.

I have other favorite scenes to express my admiration for, but I haven’t reviewed those particular manga yet, so they’ll likely turn up in a few weeks.

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Book (Manhwa): Monster Duke’s Daughter by Han Ocean, Chal Lan

Art for Monster Duke's Daughter by Han Ocean, Chal Lan
Wholesome father-daughter scene

Monster Duke’s Daughter
by Han Ocean, Chal Lan
published by Webtoon (151 chapters, ongoing)
2022 – present

Tiny Lotilucia is transported away from her beloved mother, who was still trapped in their eternally snowy forest home/prison, to the estate of her unknown father, Duke Frodium. She knows her mother said a forever goodbye, and she knows that her father factually accepts her existence, but isn’t entirely sure how to relate to her.

As she tries to maintain a low profile (out of sight, out of danger?) and learns to read, she finds a book in the library. A book about a little girl named Lotilucia, whose father is also Duke Frodium, and who… dies very young, without every being fully accepted by her father. In the story, she is replaced in her father’s improved affections by a new adopted daughter, who appears to be the true heroine of the book, and who resembles Lotilucia’s lost mother. Despite being a tiny-but-literate girl, she decides that she won’t allow the book to determine her fate, and strikes out to really live – this includes forging a bond with her surprised father, preventing her untimely death, and perhaps becoming the lead character of her own story.

As she grows, she realizes she can do more than just survive – she may be able to protect her father’s secret (he’s a demon protecting the human world from the demon world), use rare powers she inherited from her mother to protect her loved ones – including her friends, one of who is growing up into a handsome boy, and is secretly a dragon – and become a protector of the human world and ally to the emperor as her father’s successor.

There are sci-fi technologies in this fantasy story, questions about whether Lotilucia is living in a real world or if the book was the real world, and scenes that were supposed to be flashbacks, but where the participants (or at least one important participant) can see Lotilucia and interact with her in what should just be a memory…

Our child heroine really has too much on her shoulders, and has to exceed the abilities and expectations of other so much, it’s unfair! Despite her young start, she is SO DETERMINED and so unnaturally skilled, that she is pulling off improbable rescues and stirring up trouble much larger than herself. The giant-eyed child does grow up over the course of the story, so her body catches up (mostly) with her enormous eyes.

I’m 151 chapters in, and the fact that I’m 151 chapters in tells you that I’m committed! This is a cute fantasy story about being true to yourself, thinking you are old enough to make independent decisions when you are four years old (you are not), making your own future, caring about your parents, worrying your father, and having everyone say you make a good-looking couple with your dragon guy pal.

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Life / Reading Notes of the moment

  • The comics I await most eagerly are:
  • While weekly serialization feels brutal on the artists’ side for being too fast for them to produce the work, this pace remains slow for readers. It is jarring to open a chapter in a middle of a conversation when I can’t remember who was even involved… I’m definitely going to have to re-read many of these to write about them once they are complete. Or delay reading them until I can do so in larger sets of chapters.
  • Most of my comics are about women, and that’s because I’m picking those out of the adventure, drama, and romance sections because action heroines are fun (I’ve had decades of male-centered stories!) and prefer their art.
    • There is more gender balance in the women-led stories – so many male characters all around in various roles (not just as romantic leads, but also as allies, fans, supported, fathers, villains…) where the reverse isn’t always true for the man-led ones.
    • There are more elaborate artsy details in most of the stories I choose. I skim lots of types of comics, and reject many of the heroine stories if the art doesn’t call me (or if they are beautifully drawn but ramble about strategic agriculture!), but I have this problem more frequently with the action hero stories. Those are generally illustrated much more simply, and I’m less interested in those art styles.
  • The ‘boys love’ comics I’ve chosen combine drama and adventure successfully with romance elements. (Love IS love!) As I was telling a friend about them, everyone is remarkably good-looking, plus, there is sex, drama, and adventure – what’s not to love?

Reading current Korean comics has become a proper hobby. And I get excited when I see other people reading comics from the same publisher on the train, but am hold myself back from asking for their recommendations… for now.

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Book (Manhwa): Winter Wolf by soonmu, cheong yong, rubyche

Cover art for Winter Wolf by soonmu, cheong yong, rubyche

Winter Wolf
by soonmu, cheong yong, rubyche
published by Tappytoon (2 seasons; 61 chapters, complete)
Undated

I’ve read the first season (through chapter 36) of this spooky mansion romance. Because, as a former redhead, I feel obligated to read manhwa about other redheads. (You know, for the cartoon sisterhood.)

The revolution arrived, and Lysithea is on the losing side. Her family members and others in the nobility have been executed or will be once they are found. She is paying smugglers to get her out of the country by sea, so she can live abroad with a foreign aunt. But while she is exhausted from being in hiding and on the run, her horse takes off, and she finds herself traveling on foot through the snow to an abandoned mansion, where her next ‘broker’ (smugglers are fussy about their professional nicknames) awaits her.

Her broker is expecting her, but her next step required the horse she just lost, plus getting to port before the ice does. Also, the abandoned mansion they are sheltering in has a reputation for being haunted. Her broker insists that the moaning and cries for help she hears at night are just her imagination. As her lack of sleep wears down her sanity, she fears she may need an escape from her own escape plans…

This story has classic horror movie tropes delivered well, and a heroine who is both brave enough to investigate things that go bump in the night and exhausted enough to periodically choose to just stay in bed and pretend not to hear the moaning – I respect her deeply for BOTH of these attitudes. There are very few characters in the story, and they are all suspicious! There is plenty of suspense at the end of the first season. (The fact that there are two seasons is something of a spoiler, I suppose. But: you’ll live.)

Season 1 of Winter Wolf is enjoyable.

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Book (Manhwa): The King and Me by W.Y.

Cover for The King and Me by W.Y.
Cover for The King and Me

The King and Me
by W.Y.
published by Tappytoon (74 chapters so far, ongoing)
2022 (?) – present

My subscription page notes that I’m trending into gay male fantasy/adventure stories (known in the industry as “Boys’ Love”), and it’s time for me to write about one!

Li visits an archeology site at Ebiz, and winds up bleeding in an ancient ruin, being set upon by grave robbers, and then rescued by a statue that his blood brought to life. His handsome stone rescuer seems to know and want to communicate with Li, whose interest grows until the man crumbles to dust before him. Somehow, Li finds himself back in time in the ancient (Egyptian-style) city of Ebiz at its peak, where he suspects that the stone man is the handsome but also casually murderous King Mehemis.

If Li can survive the tyrant king’s challenges and earn his trust, perhaps he can get to know why his stone man seemed so sweet toward him in the distant future. Mehemis, meanwhile, has political fights to win, a power-hungry religion to suppress, dangerous rival relatives, and a mysterious army of the dead to defeat, so there is plenty to do!

You’re waiting for me to write that ‘they had me at beautiful men with eyeliner,’ but that merely drew me in: this is a fun adventure story! Li has skills (archery competitions paid off!) and modern scientific concepts; Mehemis has abs forever and yet somehow is convinced that he is disguised while wearing a wig; and Mehemis’ most loyal male servants are an attractive gay couple that offer loyalty, friendship, emotional support, a model of a happy relationship, and even fantastic tactical competence when our boys need it. (Women are visible in the story, but are not central characters.) The drawing style is charming (Li’s sweet facial expressions while looking up at Mehemis are ADORABLE), the costumes are flattering, the hair is long and flowing, the eyeliner colors are specific to the characters, and there are plenty of humorous chibi comedy asides to address awkward moments in the Li-Mehemis romantic tension.

I adore this comic, and look forward to more!

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