TheMidnightower's Topics (13)

Easily a top manhwa for me. Totally got psyched out with that concept in the beginning, thinking it was going to be silly, but it really hits later on. Also forgot it was BL to the extent it was almost a jumpscare because the story & characterizations were progressing so gradually that they're creating one of the more believable relationships I've seen in this medium outside of straight up romance. MC is an earnest, damaged sweetheart & ML came across as pretty arrogant to start but is proving to genuinely be the goodest boy & I so much wanna see them be happy together.
Also, I'm intrigued that the whole dungeon/Gaia system has a theme so off to the novel for me next.

I get the complaints but idk who managed to get this far without realizing this story is dark... & probably needs a psychological tag. Our MC is literally a human sacrifice who's spent his life knowing when he's supposed to die and has had his family leveraged against him to ensure he won't step out of line.
He's not in love with the ML- he's fixated on the fact that death is the only acceptable way out and there's only one person he's allowed to seek that from. If, after all that, him accepting whatever pleasure he can eke out of the worse possible situation (which was tailored to mess with his mind and was probably gonna lead to his ideal outcome anyways) and then immediately begging to go back to it to numb the emotional pain if he can't just die seems pretty on brand. That end read less like a love confession and more like the start of some codependent shi and an allusion to whatever past life stuff we're getting a look at in dreams.
If you wanna have a good time with this one, it's better to think of it as smut with a lowkey psych horror component. That ain't for everyone and but I'm guessing it's not tagged horror because we won't be seeing that kind of a bad end (though honestly I'd be here for it tf is this making me do analysis of smut.)

I'm just inferring this is one of those things that needed a better explanation and what Aresh actually means is that he want's him to drop the honorifics (Aresh-SAMA vs Sigma-KUN) because it would verbally reflect their relationship, and not that he wants to be talked to like he's a child. We do get a weird handling of honorifics though cuz every once in a while there's also a Mr. so it's not super consistent how they're handling them throughout.
Also, dang, the art in this chapter is gorgeous...

Far be it from me to complain about art but it kind of seems like the proportions on the faces are just... really off. What happened?

Directionally, this headed where I was expecting but I'm wishing the best for these two and I kind of don't see the way forward with both of them getting what they want & need... I'm rooting for them but the last time I saw this setup, it didn't end in any way that was satisfying (though that might also be that the characters were also just terrible people.)

Finally got caught up and honestly, considering how good the art was and my expectation with that title, it was pretty disappointing. MC & ML both proved themselves to be kinda terrible and pathetic. I think there's a need, when you have a revenge story where you know the characters are going to be morally dubious, for them to at least have tenacity. What we get instead is Reinhardt losing her nerve about halfway through and being unable to commit, one way or the other, to what she wants while Will is obsessed but unable to get anywhere with that obsession. I usually love seeing that kind of intensity in a character and, honestly, I would have loved to see it followed through at literally any point- lock her up, politically maneuver her into marriage, kill yourself- anything so he didn't come across as completely toothless after he makes some seriously messed up, decisive, interesting choices. Granted, when they went back and explained why he was even about her, it was so shallow the whole thing felt pretty silly.
Also, I feel sorry for the children: they were born into a bad situation and more or less used to further the shallow motivations of their parents, who obviously didn't give a crap about their futures and only bothered with getting them legitimized once they had settled down. Deitrich was the only one with any sense to start off with, and I didn't even get to enjoy it because initially, I didn't trust his motivations since his character was setting off my Suzaku alarm bells. It's not done yet but I don't feel like I even have the energy to finish the side stories so rating it, reviewing it, and keeping it moving.

Well, I didn't before but damn... I might hafta actually consider now.
I barely even read this kind of thing but this is just some excellent character-building. The importance this couple has to each other considering the point in their lives they met is so realistic and while I don't like or sympathize with Na Seungwoo, he's pretty much just an animal, caught in a trap, searching for any possible way out. The vibe shift as he realizes it's not going to happen is perfect; I don't think I'd fully conceptualized someone as pitiful up until now.

Honestly, I love the art and how long the chapters were, I just wish that it was a bit longer. The character design really did give me big Legal Drug vibes, especially when they were in uniform.

While I love the art, and somewhat expect the MC to be the moral center, I am baffled by how all these guys just spring fully formed into the plot, only to be told how they were somehow in our MC's past already but are actually more significant than previously assumed. My expectation for an isekai-into-a-story-you-read type plot, is that you actually have enough foreknowledge to anticipate and change current and future outcomes and, so far, most of the subversion was done unknowingly, pre-story, while we've nothing to anticipate except for the vague, far flung future, and the most of the actual changes have been her... inspiring other characters to take action? I don't hate it, it's just a weird choice that most of her actionable foreknowledge comes down to just correctly identifying who or what someone is.
I will afford this author a bit of faith though; our MC is principled and it's the actions she's taken because of that which is have lead to most the love interests being interested. While she's stated her type, so far none of the guys clearly fit the bill, which makes her disinterest feel reasonable, especially since she's being set up so she's in a position where she doesn't have to bend (though we don't really have any other characters that seem to agree with her.) If she ends up with none of them I can't say I'd be surprised.
On another note, the amount of times in Manhwa I see married women completely beholden to the family of their birth despite them not being the more powerful than the one they've married into really makes me realize the western concept of marriage is probably way different due to those biblical undertones.

Ugh, Cedric is pretty great no messing around just straight 'don't try and hook me up with someone else,' 'I this to be a real marriage,' 'I know you plot, you don't have to explain, I trust you' that could easily have been angst and instead we get straight relationship building I love it