aken's Manga

Trope subversion at its finest. Starts off with a premise typical of the romance genre: a woman ousted from her own relationship and from her social position by a rival. But gradually it becomes clear that this is less a romance than it is a story about women. If this was a different kind of story, Psyche would be torn down to build Medea up. But rather than resorting to such laziness, the author carefully uncovers the similarities between Psyche and Medea -- both trapped by circumstances of birth, by gender roles, and both subject to injustices and indignities at the hands of the men around them. It is easy to venerate Medea for her cleverness, her ruthlessness, and her power. But the narrative suggests that Psyche possesses a different kind of strength, one that Medea has to work at -- the bravery and conviction to remain good, and to live, open and tender, in a world that is senseless in its violence. This is not a manhwa to read if you're looking for romance. Romance is secondary to the storyline, but love (for humanity, for the strangers around you) is central. The story deconstructs the typical villainess trope, showing the tension between pragmatism and idealism, and the value of choosing to be kind when it's easier to be cruel. I can only hope that the comeuppance Eros faces will be commensurate to my expectations in the finale. It's not perfect -- the author really doesn't give you any reason to believe that Eros is in love with Medea. For that matter, Helios' slavish devotion to Medea feels ungrounded, but that may change if his history is further developed. At this point in the manhwa, a romance between Medea and Psyche would feel more realistic (they both have many reasons to care for each other, and their character arcs are complements to each other), but alas, the likelihood of that happening is probably nil. But overall, a great pleasure and surprise to read.