Tag: manhwa

Don’t Be Too Nice
by Yoo Saera, Ryuhwa
published by Tappytoon (20 chapters so far)
2024 – ongoing

My favorite new comic charmed me so quickly, I was caught off guard – it becomes eventful immediately, in an engaging way.

We meet former mage and knight Rustica Genas after she has fallen on hard times. She was a promising teenage battle leader close to power, but after years of progress-free war, she wanted the Caleta Empire to change its approach. The impenetrable Great Barrier spewing monsters remained unchanged, and countless people had been consumed by it – including her beloved parents. Her unwanted advice on a new approach to her Emperor leaves her fired, magically disabled, and miserable.

Her efforts to fade into obscurity in a small town far from the capital seem to be working after four years, but a drunken, one night stand saddles her with an angel-faced, excessively friendly, former child-soldier. Once he disappears (in a magical manner), there is big news. The Great Barrier contains an opening (!), there are countries on the other side of it (!!), and the Emperor wants her to be a diplomat, even with her current weaknesses (!!!).

What the hell?

Rustica (Rue to her friends) rolls with it… and on the other side of the Great Barrier, things take a turn for the fantastic. Well, awkward first, and THEN fantastic.

The story moves FAST, and we get to see what life is like through Rue’s eyes in an unknown, highly developed empire that rivals her own. Life as a diplomat from an “enemy” nation isn’t easy, and her team is completely certain she is being bullied by the emperor on this new side. But the revelations about how the rest of the world sees her home empire come fast, and revelations about how she lost her abilities change Rue’s world view.

I picked this up and wouldn’t put it down until I’d read all available episodes. I love the pacing! I adore the ‘enemy’ emperor! I love the humor panels! (I need to also have the word ‘pitiful’ hovering beside me at various points during the day.) The story is action-packed and developing quickly. I’m eager for more.

Not Your Typical Reincarnation Story
by Lemon Frog , A-jin
published by Webtoon (55 chapters, ongoing)
2023 – present

Dislcosure: it is a reincarnation story, if you were wondering. But it’s an interesting one.

Suna Choi gets murdered in the contemporary/real world, and wakes up as a villainess in a novel she read before she died. While Edith Rigelhof as a villainess is glamorous, seductive, and famous redhead, Suna realizes that Edith is also completely doomed. No one is on her side. She has no friends, no support, and is unlikely to survive the well-intentioned character’s shoddy investigations into things she is accused of. As so many contemporary heroines do, Suna decides she will take control of the story by turning Edith’s life around, and will live to have a happy ending.

In these respects, this story DOES have much in common with other reincarnation manhwa.

Yet… Suna/Edith can’t tell the other characters how badly Edith is abused at home. She can’t reveal any of her secrets or plans, or she loses consciousness. Also, she learns in flashbacks to a place between her world and that of the novel that she is the 13th Edith to try to fix this narrative! (I would likely have called this novel Edith the Thirteenth.)

Worse: she isn’t just in a fully written book: she is in a hellish afterlife in which the author of the novel can (and will) intervene to make the story turn out the way THEY want. They are determined to kill off Edith, and give the blonde princess the best of everything.

Can Suna/Edith beat the author and survive? Or will the author/deity of this world keep pressing the other characters to hate / blame / attempt to kill Edith, despite her best efforts?

I appreciate that Suna, who was so broke and miserable in her modern life, really APPRECIATES the good things in her new life. Also, unlike countless other stories, she gets to enjoy her hot husband – she isn’t a child, she is having a grown up relationship! What Edith wants for him is better than what the author wants, and he is willing to become a better person to pitch in, as he should. Also: she gets to go to the gay fashion designer for her gowns, and I wish this for all good characters!

I’m rooting for abuse survivor Edith the 13th and her hot husband to defeat the author/deity who is conspiring against them.

My In-Laws are Obsessed with Me
by seungu, Han Yoon seol
published by Webtoon (100+ chapters, ongoing)
2022 – present

This comic has a cheerful prologue to reassure you that things WILL GET BETTER . Because you need that reassurance so you don’t panic and flee after the first full episode!

Pereshati is getting murdered as the story opens. She tries to convince herself that her clear murder memory is all a dream when she wakes up in what appears to be the past. That can’t be right – time travel is impossible! However, she soon realizes the events leading to her murder are playing out EXACTLY as they were before, and she wants to make it stop.

Her rash new plan seems to be going well… right up until she is being buried alive. But somehow, waking up as the dirt hits seals the deal she was trying to make with a scary Grand Duke. After this, she can seek revenge against her murderers from a position of power and try to not get murdered again!

This story suggests that a “curse” might just be a technology we don’t understand; that intimacy is difficult with people who are literally poisonous; that you shouldn’t rule out your daughter-in-law’s accusations that someone might be committing terrible crimes using [the family secret]; that it’s good to make your husband blush now and then; and that being kind can make your in-laws very CLINGY.

I reread the series up until the present chapter, and realized its long serialization made me forget key details. I enjoy the story even more for having refreshed my memory.

Pereshati looking shocked is hilarious; I like her outfits; I like her facial expressions (and the jokes about the Duke’s facial expressions)… She seems like a rather nice, normal person going through some extremely terrible things, and trying to remain kind while doing so. The Duke also seems rather… like a normal person? (Dukes in other stories are merciless killers who draw their sword several times a day to dish out punishments; this one is somewhere between chill and chilly.)

Cute, fun, with good collars, with accurate-feeling scenes of awkwardness… I’m looking forward to more.

A Not So Fairy Tale
by hyobin
published by Webtoon (44 chapters, ongoing)
2023 – present

This contemporary Korean comic tells the traditional story of the Fairy and the Woodcutter in a modern zombie-fighting context!

A thousand years ago, a goddess came to earth, and (under instruction from a suspicious deer) a human man stole her clothes (her keys to heaven) and demanded that she have his children, only to die without returning them, leaving her trapped on earth with humans. (See Wikipedia’s summary of the variations of this folktale.) In the contemporary Korea of this comic, she is still here – and she is PISSED. Zombies (called Fiends) are killing people, and Moran Cheon, as she is now known, is a famous actress who SECRETLY can kill zombies with her bare hands. She can also leap from tall buildings, is inhumanly strong, and is unnaturally beautiful.

She wants to go back to to the celestial realm, is angry at that evil deer, and has been waiting impatiently for that damned woodcutter to be reincarnated so she can get her situation sorted out.

There is more to the fiend situation than anyone knows, and the detective who is investigating isn’t dazzled by the goddess at all – a sure sign that HE IS THE PROBLEM – I mean, the reincarnation she has been waiting for. The goddess has struggled with with loneliness, resentment, a fox-spirit child she raised as her only other potentially immortal companion, and the risk that she will miss the chance to return to the heavens forever.

This story has: a celebrity, zombie-fighting, immortal actress; a handsome cop who may have hidden memories of his past lives; luxury condominiums; corporate cover-ups; secret crime-fighting identities; unnatural healing abilities; characters who lack human ethics; monsters posing as normal people (until they are ready to eat you); eternal villains and their adversaries; and the fox drawn in…vulnerable moments.

This comic is refreshing – contemporary urban settings, a new type of monster, a non-traditional interpretation of a folktale, lovely art – and is the least predictable of the stories I’m reading. I’m looking forward to future chapters.

Made of Stardust
by Kalisami
published by Webtoon (42 chapters, ongoing)
2023 – present

Kalisa falls to earth naked, in pain (from an energy weapon still protruding from her body), and with amnesia. Her human assailant is thrilled, and takes her back to his kingdom to make her his wife.

What Kalisa doesn’t immediately understand is that she is a powerful being from the sky. Beings like her, called stars, can be shot with human weapons and brought down to earth to either spread fertility while alive, or to extend the life of the powerful if consumed while dead. Unclear on what awaits her in the hostile human kingdom after witnessing human violence against innocent creatures, she makes a break for it with her tiny, winged dragon, Lumi.

The story is largely presented as Kalisa experiences it – with no memories of what is happening, innocence as to how the world works, mysterious voices, danger, and the dread of seeing what has become of others of her kind.

The art is pretty: cheeks and lips are rosy, bodies are slender and strong; Kalisa’s clothes are painted on, while those of a handsome ally resemble draped costumes of ancient Greece; her dead peers turn into dark, sparkling glitter; her fertility creates clouds of blossom colors across the landscape…

Chapter 42 is the mid-season finale, and it isn’t clear if Kalisa and her new friends and allies will survive, why the planet is dying (though this seems to be about human greed and a lack of compassion for other living things leading to environmental ruin, making it very relatable), and whether humanity dying out is inevitable. The loveliness of the illustrations will lure me back.

I Abdicate My Title of Empress
by Kim hee sung , galbi
published by Webtoon (54 chapters, ongoing)
2023 – present

When we meet Adelheid, she has given up her crown princess title and left her country for an arranged marriage to a hostile-but-hot blond emperor in a far off empire.

Not only does Emperor Karl exude hostility to Adelheid for not being as passive as a flower in a vase (the way he likes his women), but his jealous young mistress controls the money, and chooses not to fund Adelheid to show her who is really in charge. Karl tells Adelheid that if she minds her own business, she can do what she wants (though we grasp that this would involve having money to live on).

Oh, and the empire is being picked apart by sky monster attacks that the church has responsibility to stop, yet doesn’t seem inclined to do much about, especially if their delays kill off their rivals, those noble knights who actually try to save people from being killed.

Between Adelheid’s ability to read the law to determine her rights, a handsome noble who wants to beat the sky monsters and so becomes her official-aide and official-if-not-actual-lover, and that fact that ADELHEID CAN FLOAT WHILE DEFEATING SKY MONSTERS (!!!) because she is an unusually POWERFUL MAGE (!!), the empire’s power structure starts to crack beneath her booted feet.

Brazen attacks on Adelheid and whiny demands from Karl’s mistress might make Karl rethink his life choices. We will learn why Adelheid REALLY left her kingdom, and how many attractive warriors from back home want to turn up to fight alongside her, and about council meetings (because governance requires those, sadly).

This story has: a golden-eyed, monster-fighting, floating heroine; a handsome, ineffective emperor; a whiny, blond, unethical mistress (the primary mistress type in manhwa, from what I can see) with power-hungry allies propping her up undeservedly; a beautiful nobleman who isn’t sure why he stares adoringly at the heroine (duh); a corrupt church; neglectful authorities; and AN EVIL POWER THAT DROPS BUILDINGS AND MONSTERS FROM THE SKY! (This may be crossing into sci-fi. It’s unusual, and I’m here for it.)

The next season promises (even more) pretty men from Adelheid’s home empire, and more Adelheid-floating-sky-battles so I’m looking forward to it.

The Remarried Empress
by Alphatart, Sumpul
published by Webtoon (174 chapters, 3 seasons, ongoing)
2020 – present

While I am tired of reading about royalty, the fact that royalty are always at each others’ throats does make for light entertainment. [Sound] Oh, I meant in fiction. What? [Conversational sounds.] Yes, I suppose that’s also true in real life, but the characters are more compelling in fiction!

Navier grew up as the designated empress-to-be, and was childhood friends with emperor-to-be Sovieshu. They married, appeared to make a great couple, and Navier proved herself to be an effective empress, picking up Sovieshu’s slack. However, as the story opens, Sovieshu is demanding a divorce in favor of his childish mistress. Navier shocks everyone by not only accepting the divorce, but demanding remarriage to the emperor of a neighboring state, who makes an entrance and marries her on the spot!

How did we get here? That’s what the first two seasons set out to explain, while the third season proceeds once we’ve caught up.

This comic features: men who like their women childlike and dim; the stress of losing a not-great partner to a tantrum-throwing younger woman (I was going to joke that ‘we’ve all been there,’ but realized I have experienced this, and am unsure how to make it funny beyond assuring you that it is funny); blackmail; love potions that might work; pity; people who think power means being able to mutilate one’s own domestic staff; an empress who trained for one job her whole life, and isn’t sure how to pivot; divorce lawyers; love letters delivered by unusually clever birds — a reason not to EVER eat birds for dinner; secrets; regret; an attractive man with an improbably muscled torso standing in a fountain in a way that burns his likeness into Navier’s mind…

The art evolves over the course of the story in a way I like: the lines firm up in pleasing ways, so give it some time.

This is a story that teaches us to let go of partners who aren’t that nice to us, and let them reap what they sow; to accept flirty love letters from pretty birds, and flirt right back; to do right by people; not to harm the family members of journalists; to get to know friendly men who look amazing naked after you spy them in abandoned places; and to find a place that will appreciate your leadership.

Twilight Poem
by Kim Suji, MIDNIGHT STUDIO
published by Webtoon (69 chapters, complete)
2022-2024

This story has a controversial ending that set the comment pages afire.

What if… the angelic heroine of a story, who was abused terribly from infancy until the age of marriage, can’t stop crying? What if… the handsome, heroic male lead forced into marriage with the female lead is a self-absorbed jerk whose character growth heads in the right direction, but too slowly to benefit the female lead? What if… the villain is the only character who behaves consistently? What if all of this happened in a gorgeously drawn Chinese period costume drama?

THAT is this story!

Yes, female leads are usually perfect, and male leads usually grow up to be admirable human beings. That… just doesn’t happen here. The female lead is so busy weeping and trying to martyr herself that the male lead can’t even deal, terrible things happen as a result of his neglect, and then everyone makes bold choices accordingly.

I won’t post spoilers, but I think the ending was fine! Perfectly reasonable! MORE dramas should end this way!

(If this sort of thing amuses you, I encourage you to peruse the angry reader comments at the end. The best comment was a complaint from a botanist resolving a character disagreement on whether a valley had moss or flowers in it – HILARIOUS.)

The drawings are lovely, the glowing-lantern-filled scenery and palaces are well executed, the ribbon-style hair is shiny, the male lead looks like a face painted on a traditional kite when he is angry (which is most of the time)… I enjoyed that characters are flawed, I enjoyed not liking the characters, and I even enjoyed the fact that the ending is controversial to some readers.

I Tamed My Ex-husband’s Mad Dog
by CMJM, Jagae, Jkyum
published by Tappytoon (71 chapters, in season 3, ongoing)
2022 (?) – present

I didn’t expect to try to read all available chapters of this story in a few days, but it is fun enough that I didn’t want to put it down.

Reinhardt is a woman who has been wronged. She spent her youth engaged to the crown prince, only for him to send her father off to quell unrest the crown prince caused himself, get her father killed, and THEN call off the marriage and send her far away… Embittered, Reinhardt wishes for another chance – and when she gets it, and finds herself at her father’s casket 15 years in the past, she uses that chance to stab the crown prince in the leg with a sword in a way he’ll never recover from.

Her exile is harsher this time, but she is rescued from a mercenary by a feral boy – whom she recognizes as the crown prince’s henchman from the bitter version of her life. Perhaps she can raise this young version of Wilhelm in her exile to turn out differently. Perhaps he can be a tool of her revenge.

Or, as Will grows up into a powerful knight who is obsessed with her, perhaps he can be more than that – her partner or… her downfall.

Revenge is a tricky business, and one needs more than that to live a good life – as our characters discover! This story involves: speech therapy, loyal knights, daddy’s sword, stolen corpses, younger men, peat (no, seriously, peat), jealousy, teleportation crystals (!), empire-building, wars, love, obsession, annoying empresses, dungeons, capable female heads of state, wars, head injuries, male line verification science, fancy outfits, and lies… I’m very much in suspense in chapter 71, and am eager for more.