Usually I dislike these convoluted relationship webs, but it's really working on me here. It makes me cheer for what's probably the endgame relationship, when at the start, I felt like Higawa and found him to be too fast and intrusive.
Why are they both so cute agghhh this is the best. Cute on cute romance let's gooo.
"Is she?" What if I just combusted right here right now.
Guys, when you're feeling bad undertones here, it's not because you're paranoid or because your gut is speaking to you, you just subconsciously understand the visual hints and narrative format that manhwas use, to set up a certain atmosphere.
This chapter has a really nice example of this. While many artists think that the art of paneling is not present in scrolling formats, that's not always true I think. The tension you feel when teacher is flipped over isn't because of what's happening on screen, but how it's presented. This could be just a sexy gesture, but the artist decided to make this panel very long (which creates an imposing effect of a sudden shift in a situation). There is a lot of space above it, with only a speech bubble, giving the feeling of anticipation. With how large the frame is, unlike before, you can never see two panels on screen, so you're locked in with the characters. The background color also suddenly switches to black, making it clear that the situation has somehow changed (here, Guwon no longer seems like a naive animalistic man, but as a manipulative intelligent man). These are all artistic decisions, that they made as they were storyboarding, sketching and coloring this chapter and they're there to make you feel the way you do.
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.....Also he's totally doing an evil smirk in the cover
What the hell???? Did the artist make a deal with the devil between making this and the dangerous convenience store??? How is this art so beautiful?? The characters so expressive and gorgeous?? The atmosphere fun, yet with an undertone of danger following both of our characters??? And that shmjt. that smhut. that smut. Very good also????
Grrh grrrhh a collaborator >:(((( Hope that that boot tastes better than Dr. Seek. Anyway if he gets tortured again because of this..
I'm going to rant about other similar yet different heroines here a little bit, that make me drop other stories, but not this one. I give you the description: beautiful young traumatized and shy woman or girl, who's not aware of her positive sides at all. You can now imagine dozens, probably blonde, main characters. I'm not here to cry about repetition, I'm in the villainess genre for goodness sake, but what makes some work and some not.
Even a broken down heroine needs agency. Here, Lia's goal is to save her loved ones. Rubrika's is to make herself appealing enough to survive. Being a shy shut-in who accidentally stumbles into meeting the love interest and is dragged along is not an agency. Literally anytime the plot is, that a mc is forced into a situation, that they just passively go along with while complaining on the inside, that's just the end of any interesting characterization.
A main character, that breaks down repeatedly, fails often in her efforts to get better and doesn't communicate her needs well is a hundred times more interesting than a character that just stands there, as plot happens to her.
I want to take a second to appreciate how the artist draws the main characters. I can easily imagine how "a mc with bangs, that helps a grandma run a restaurant and a love interest, who's a big boss, with poison death powers " would look like in other manhwas. They both look the same age and you can tell that the mc has gone through some shit with how tired he looks all the time. I don't necessarily dislike big giant eyes and a bushy face on a borderline anorexic body and a triangle shaped ahjuicy with chin and eyebrows that could cut rock, but I appreciate this breath of fresh air.
God, I need to say this after the long turn-around panel, but the art in this story is fucking phenomenal. Genuinely the best colored art I've seen on here. It doesn't have that stiffness, that comes with inexperienced artists focusing on making all the characters as attractive as possible.
Did they use stock 3d models for the background? I genuinely do not know, but if they did, they did it masterfully. Characters aren't teleported from place to place, we can see Slan maneuvering the tight corridors of the palace. Rather than the studio-lighting we're all used to, the artist isn't afraid to color grade and let the characters blend in. The pacing is GORGEOUS, the composition is BREATHTAKING!!! The character design is great! The motions are great!! The subtle details are great!!!!!
Despite not being tagged as such, I'd argue this is largely a psychological manhwa. We are put in a place of the amnesiac Slan and we know for a fact, that someone is scheming against him. Not only can we not trust the other characters, but we can't even trust Slan, as he sometimes hallucinates or falls into complete panic. The art of this manhwa serves this atmosphere phenomenally. What is real and what is a delusion? What do those tiny twitches in that characters face mean? What can I get from those fragments of a memory? Why did the artist decide, that this character needs another panel to capture their reaction or lack of it? It keeps you wondering and it keeps you tense. It's so goooooooooood oh my god it's so good!!!!!!!!!
I am her, she is literally me, I want to tuck her into bed far away from any shitty romance novel and feed her pumpkin soup. AGHJHJHHJHJ
Rip princess Caroline, you would've loved taking T and changing your name to Elliot or Edward
I'm so happy about this story. If all the characters met the writer and their story became one or two chapters, I wouldn't have minded at all, but seeing them return over and over again, exploring the familiar places of their shared living space and most of all, talking to each other independently of the writer is wonderful. Even with their grim and melancholic stories, by sitting Shizuko-san and Yachiyo-san at the same table, having them talk without the writer present, they're suddenly both very real and tragic figures. They're no longer doomed characters, but broken people, who have a chance to heal. I love it here.
Too much pain for me, I'm sorry, but I'd literally implode if I read another chapter. I lub them all too much <///3
Obviously people can change, I'm not saying he's barred from relationships ever. But he hit Tsumugi. Mari is Tsumugi's only friend, the only person she can rely on if things go south with her yandere boyfriend and her dysfunctional family.
I know how this will go. Tsumugi will find out about the split, give Mari an inspiring speech about true love and it will be solved. Since this is a relationship we're supposed to cheer for, they'll live happily ever after, the end. Let's hope Mari doesn't get too emotional on him, and he doesn't kick her! Let's hope that, if they move in together, Tsumugi won't ever need her help!
And just in case, I was misremembering things, perhaps exaggerated a shove or something, I went back to the start and:
He kicked her, in the back, while she was only in underwear, to push her on the floor outside their residence.
He tried to hit her with closed fist, only to be stopped by Itoshi
He did actually hit her.
Pulled her by her wrist, after they broke up.
AAANNDD this isn't explicitly said, and I'm sure now that we have to pair these two people up, author pretend it was never implied, but I feel like chapter 3 is pretty much saying, that he was violent towards Tsumugi during sex, to the point that her crying was really concerning for Itoshi.