and their ideas of romance being aggravated hyper-masculinity and domination. within world it made sense why urich threatened her but narratively/thematically the fact men really do read this and find it cool and macho to threaten to snap a woman’s neck off just because she’s a little sassy.
i always felt like this manhwa was better when women weren’t in the story at all not because i’m some fujo peddler who didn’t want female characters in my ship or because i’m misogynistic but precisely because i hated the way they were written. i still remember that one brown girl who was treated like a joke from every angle then killed off. god, i really did love reading this webtoon in the beginning but was sorely reminded overtime why i took a break anyway.
also urich is so ugly now, not even by personality just by art style. remembering how pretty he was in the earlier chapters
While I agree wholeheartedly with most of this, I feel like Ulrich would've done the same if Damia was man in that situation, there just wouldn't have been the weird tension in an inappropriate situation. The loss of Ulrich's prettiness is truly devastating tho, and they have overall treated women to be very surface level so far, I do like the acknowledgment of the shitty situation of women in this world tho, that's something that even most of the fluffy shojo manhuas just treat as normal and ok
yeah you’re right my gripe isn’t with the characters they aren’t real after all it’s just what statement the author is saying with them. also yes ulrich used to be so beautiful however i think there’s been a degrade in art overall? i could be wrong its just that nothing pops the way it did before
So i guess I wouldn't be reading this...sounds terrible
The thing is the beginning was so promising but I don’t know I should’ve figured months ago when I tried reading this on the scanlation groups site and seeing how misogynistic the comments were that this was clearly a manhwa made for a demographic of guys. Typical
If I could just steal Urich and put him in something else, that would be my dream. If you still want to check out I think you’ll find the story digestible for quite some time. Maybe up to 50 chapters at least….
I mean he was younger at the start, and it's winter, and it's a war. It's something I like about this series, while Ulrich is OP, he's not invincible and it's got some realism. He's creative and rolls in shit if need be. Makes sense he's not hot right now, idk if he will go back to being, he looked good in that dream of him exploring the ocean later. As for the women comment, I'm used to it in historical series. It's a horrible situation, but one very realistic of the time, sadly. Also we are viewing this story through mercenaries, so they often deal with the bottom of the bunch, or the top of nobility, neither really respect women, because most didn't. damia just got introduced and she seems interesting, I wouldn't be surprised if the author plans on making her a figure in starting support for women's rights, she definitely has her brother's backing. He wishes she could have taken over the throne. But plot wise, it's more important to focus on the war at the moment, but now that that ended, who knows what direction it's going to take. Like a previous person said, the author at least showcases how it's fucked up, and I think that might mean the author is willing to start doing something about it by using damia. A very complex, well thought out series on so many fronts, with attempts at realism and historical accuracy. if characters and situations started out perfectly, there'd be no room for growth. But this is a story of Ulrich, so any women's rights things going on will always take the back burner as a side story.
Sadly the brown girl was cannon fodder in a few ways, as Ulrich explores the world more, he'll probably come across the snake tattoo people again, and they were an introduction to them, how they were treated, and their reputation. Also just an eye opener to us readers on how women are treated. Ulrich is just a man of his time, and there's room for growth, which I think the author is going to do. This is definitely not a story that will pass the Bechdel test though. And I can understand if it's not a story for you.
won't be reading this then....thanks for letting us know, it saves time
the worst crime of all is how ugly edith’s fashion i think the only female character who seems to have good style to me is the princess
always the same concept and always executed lamely and the MC this time is just so cringe, and cringe in the way you read an OC centric fanfic and they try and make the OC stand out by having the personality of a manic pixie dream girl
but i’m still reading because they are sexy and that’s enough for me
one minute the art is super detailed and the female lead looks gorgeous and the next minute it almost looks like it was drawn with their non dominant hand. also sometimes it looks a lot similar to the artstyle of Angelic Lady…
Lmaooo
hes very handsome likes HES HOT but i find obsessive men kind of pathetic … like is there an ulterior motive here or are you just a simp that’s begging for coochie..
I mean... my main issue is that they are siblings
i mean yeah i agree but i’m just confused on what his goal is
He likes to see Roxy cry. Since that’s the only way he can feel emotion. It’s when she cries.
is the feeling lust or excitement or something? if so he’s got that dacryphilia kink
No lust or excitement.
this story is also really fast paced. i don’t really mind that everyone minus yohan is crazy even the FL it’s an interesting take compared to the countless ditzy good-hearted FLs we get that are carbon copies. if she could just stop being so triggered at every instance she’d be a great villainess.
also i heard the scanlation group for this is translating weird that’s why it’s confusing
I wish I could send this personally to the author. Her leaving doesn’t even hold strong emotional weight and tension because it’s been dragged out for so long and we all know she’s going back. This story became so bloated it abandoned so many established things before to bring new conflicts that aren’t nearly as interesting.
Also she’s such a shit villainess. It’s hilarious how they gave up on that like halfway but then had the nerve to have her say shit like “it’s so hard being a villainess.” Well yeah? Because you’re not one. You can’t do heroic things that defeat the purpose of being a villainess because your morals get in the way, at most that’s an Anti Villain.
That’s what was most frustrating to me end of the day. These Villainess stories can never commit because they’re scared of their leads being unlikable yet it’s by the stagnation and wishy-washy characterization that ends up making them unlikable. It’s not even like these are villainess who are morally grey and complex, it’s just a waste all over.
I’d kill for FL who is an ACTUAL villainess, none of that fake nice or fake mean bullshit. An Actual evil, smart and ambitious woman who still wins at the end of the day. More Cersei like than anything. Ugh, these manhwas drop the ball every damn time.
Try Your throne
BLESS YOU, I'll read that asap.
I’ve read it already lol
Can you give me the link here, i could not find here
Its also called
I Want to Be You, Just For A Day Webtoon
She was never supposed to be a villainess though? I don't think that's a valid critique when neither the OG Robellia nor the new one were villains. The new Robellia tried the stereotypes of a villainess to get away from Alexandros but it was shown that she doesn't have the hearts to be fully evil unlike Aisha. If you want questionable FL I would suggest Your Throne or Sister I am the queen in this life. The villainess turns the clock and Beware of the villainess are also interesting as in the FL is the villainess simply by being a strong FL.
This is going to sound meta but I’m sure you’ll understand it: The narrative within the story for the FL didn’t frame the old Robellia as a villain but the narrative from the story we the audience are reading understand that this FL plans to subvert the in-story storyline by becoming a villainess. So I’m not criticizing the story within the story, because we haven’t read it.
I’m criticizing what we do read and how the narrative attempts to utilize what it means to be a villainess, fails to do so, and how that is a microcosm of a bigger issue within shoujo isekais centering villains. Robellia doesn’t have what it takes to be a villainess this is true but she also hasn’t done anything to be on the level of a villainess at all.
We all can see this, there’s a distinct difference between a character who is an antagonist and is a villain. It’s not above any of us that coincidently the female character who is a villainess along with an antagonist is the black haired girl, and she’s not a necessarily good one either. So we have a poorly written villainous who’s schemes barely make her worthy of an antagonist that they have to bring her father in and then we have a character who is not a villainous but attempts to be. The story makes that obvious as the plot goes on but my opinion is that if they dropped the villainess act completely and having the FL give up on that veneer that would actually be better character progression for her. Even before that, her attempts at being a villainous are poorly diluted to me and that’s a frustration that is directed at this manhwa but is actually addressing how this is a common trend in a lot of shoujo isekais. Imagine if the FL was a good person but in order to drive her partner away she had to become a villainess, she had to do actually terrible things to get him away from her. Not just attacking people who already deserve it but people that would make her feel morally compromised in doing so? So then there’s an inner conflict within her feeling guilt for her actions but having to decide more often what would free her from the clutches of her husband?
Unfortunately, this manhwa is not looking to do that because that’s not the type of story it wants to tell. It’s why for all these building blocks and potential concepts, it’s quite elementary for how it tackles its subjects. The king could’ve continued to be truly tyrannical, his insistence to keep Robellia in this relationship could turn abusive and suffocating— giving us readers an understanding of her urgency to leave, the black-haired girl could’ve been smarter.. maybe taking each of her failures against the FL as a lesson where she comes back around smarter more keen and diligent. If Robellia is hard-working, then she becomes a workaholic. These are subtle but effective ways of building each character to help or block the FL in her goal, none of them happen because that’s just not the type of story being told.
Which is okay, to each their own, but unfortunately that just makes it feel like wasted potential to me.
Also, I have read all the manhwa you’ve recommended I don’t think Beware of the villainess is what I’m aiming for. It’s not about being strong, it’s about being morally grey or black— again someone like Cersei.
You are absolutely right. TBH I'm just rage reading this at this point when I realised the ML is the emperor. I never really expected her to go through with the villainess act but now that that's gone, all the faults in the other characters are showing. The antagonist not being a competent villain, her falling in love for a man she knows is freaking abusive. It's kinda disappointing when her character started out strong. Specially when she doesn't even get a reason for dropping the act. She just forgets about it and this just adds to this story feeling like all the others which is a shame since it had potential
Oh I see. I suggested "Beware if the villainess" because she's a villain simply for not taking shit from anyone and being her own person. Obviously that's not a villain, but for shoujo standards, she totally would be. It's kinda hard to find FL committed to being morally grey. The only to examples I can think of are Your Throne and Sister I'm the queen in this life. I thought "My nemesis" and "Wished you were dead" would have given me a good grey FL but it wasn't meant to be :/
Yeah, I agree! There’s so much potential it feels like they underplayed it? I feel like maybe because the rating is pretty low that’s why the story feels shallow? Maybe if this story was 19+ it would be a lot more grittier and challenging? I also agree, I wasn’t into the Emperor being the ML but I thought they could maybe do something interesting with that but it’s dragging too much and there’s no appeal in it in my opinion. I also binged read in a couple days so my review was a bit of a vent rant I apologize!
I agree and I’ve read all of those! I really hope something comes a long because I think the genre can get quite stale when there’s not much changing. Also, this might be my own opinion but I think the quality of the art for this manhwa declined as I kept reading…. but maybe I’m being too bitter and hateful? I don’t know, disappointed either way!