Responses
What harem are you talking about? I only see one love interest and that is the high ranking lady he protected....
Novel Updates is a site where you can find information and links about novels. Since this series has been adapted from a novel, I checked it out on the website and read the tags mentioned there
Oh no.....this was finally so promissing...
I don't dislike harem, highkey think it's fun when written well. But the thing with action series, especially written by/for men....
This has been a great series so far, no toxic masculinity so far as I'm concerned. All mentors having different personalities, GREAT art genuinely beautiful.
I was a little irked at the fact that female candidates were chosen but none were introduced as a formidable opponent, in fact I was wondering whether there weren't any female martial artists at all! But then they introduced Sou Zhen who simultaneously felt like a fresh breath of air but also a victim of misogyny unfortunately.
On one hand, out of all martial artists introduced so far, I don't think any of them wore anything against the typical martial arts uniform save for the demonic island master(? That old dude with wild hair) and a little cleavage here and there. But her outfit is not only not adhering to what martial artists wear but also to me it feels of the wrong era? Take this with a grain of salt because I don't know the dress culture and history anyway.
On the other hand, I see her character as the most unique of them all. Her being a woman is part of that, she's bold, unapologetic, dominant and scary! Like many other masters, she doubts Enxue's abilities but also does finally accept that he's a prodigy like a grown adult. However she treated him, it's clear to me that her team trusts her decisions.
Coming to Xiao Wu. While she doesn't seem to have martial prowess, they showed that her wit and observation skills make up for it. I don't dislike her either. They're both great characters.
My major concern is that so far... genuinely have only two female characters been introduced? In comparison to at least 10 male characters? I don't keep expectations towards male gaze media but this story is addicting, I hope they consider introducing more female characters OTHER THAN the potential love interests.
Who would've thought, that there would be harem in such a series? Where the supposed goal was to avenge his grandfather's death. I even thought to ship him with red eyeliner guy if they'd keep in contact. Will the mc's personality remain the same like so far or will having love interests change it? I hope nothing lecherous occurs or the harem thing depicted in a strange way.
Romance sub plot works well when planned out and harem can be a fun addition too. Series like SSS Suicide Hunter, and Regression Instructional Manual do it super well. They're not the best examples since they're a completely different genre but I can't remember martial arts series that can be applied to this.