1/2
Secret lady is a very complex and richly woven manhwa, I enjoyed it a lot but I would be lying if I said there weren’t any flaws. This story can be pretty challenging to follow at first due to it’s complexity and heavy political themes. Like heavy on the heavy and the thing is, to fully understand the story, it’s unfortunately important to pay attention to the political discussions rather than always skimming over them (will not work lol) Just at least have a basic understanding of what’s going on! The quality of translation can add to the confusion, it has its ups & downs.. Sadly, the pacing does not make this any better. It’s for the majority a slow paced manhwa so taking everything I said into account, this manhwa can be boring sometimes and might not be for everyone, especially for those who prefer fast-paced or straight forward stories (especially when it comes to the romance aspect)
You might wonder, “is this even worth reading then?” The answer is yes!! This manhwa features one of the most well written historical story I’ve ever read. The storytelling is phenomenal, complented by a beautiful artstyle making it visually appealing and pretty well developed interesting characters which includes the side characters. I also appreciate the historical accuracy a lot!! (I noticed a lot of cool symbolism btw)
2/2
What kept me engaged despite the flaws I mentioned would be the intriguing mysteries and the fl & mls dynamic which was slowly but noticeably (to me) developing ^_^
It’s not like the beginning was bad but it just has an odd pacing you gotta deal with. It can get boring, but then something interesting would happen that pulls you back in. That solely along w the mysteries kept me reading without stopping until chap like 46/48? cuz thats when i ACTUALLY locked in (i never felt the need to drop it i just wanted to take a break from reading and continue the next day which i refused to do because i wanted to finish all of it in one sitting for some reason☠)
around those chaps is when everything will start to make sense and the romance picks up. The story becomes particularly compelling then imo. Not to glaze this manhwa tm but I honestly consider the lore of this manhwa a masterpiece it’s soooo worth reading but this manhwa is best suited for those who enjoy & understand deep, complex narratives, don’t mind heavy political themes, aren't solely looking for romance, and are patient with the storytelling process. If this sounds like you, "Secret Lady" could be a gem for u !! (I’m a one piece fan so hopefully this says a lot about my patience)
As for the new season that many are finding confusing, boring and are thinking of dropping… go ahead and drop it! This is a manhwa that needs time to marinate because of its pacing Reading it weekly would sound like a nightmare given how complex the story is. Like of course, it's not going to make sense immediately idk what y’all expect this ain’t nothing new, secret lady has always had certain slower parts and confusing aspects that eventually always get resolved well & make sense in the end. The season just started too so chill I'm planning to put it on hold for a few months and then come back to binge-read it, i suggest binge reading it rather than following weekly as it may allow readers to immerse themselves more fully in the intricate plot without losing track of important details. anyways sry this was lazily written n too long lmao but erm i loved this manhwa
I agree!! This stories plot and world building was super interesting and it made me binge read it in one sitting ;;
I would definitely recommend it to people who enjoy the political parts and history of manhwa like this.
And for the second season I think it would be best for people to wait for better translations and for the story to sit longer to get a better grasp on what's happening. (Im probably just going to put this in a list and forget about it for a year)
Yesss u get it!! i love it sm but I’m def not reading this weekly lol
I just finished this manga and lets just say.. it was surely an experience! Idk if i can say I wasted my time or not, i appreciate the depth and complexity of the writing but I also recognized areas of improvement too, particularly in the portrayal of female characters.. I wouldn’t say they’re badly written however every relevant woman’s character revolved around s3x? That theme isn’t directly invalid bc this manga does focus on societal issues and I don’t think it was inaccurate either. The author did a decent job sowing how women r objectified & reduced to their sexuality in society but that’s just one issue, kind of the only one the author decided to mainly portray in his female character writing. It is arguably the most common one & a very big issue but the male characters had a much more diverse & well-rounded portrayal I’m sure the author knows that there’s many other realistic issues he couldve delved in when it came to his female characters but just decided to choose that probably cuz we’re reading this from a male perspective but oh well i still wish for works that offer more multidimensional female characters
This manga also um delves into very uncomfortable and controversial themes so if you’re a sensitive & narrow minded reader I probably wouldn’t recommend you to read this, it will really just be a waste of time and won’t do you any good either. There’s quite a few of problematic situations such as the mc, a grown man, graping a highschooler n the thing is that it literally led to her finding herself so it helped her in one way.. idk its all very weird. Theres also a few boring parts lol which is to be expected, wanted to drop it a few times but forced myself to continue reading.
I was expecting the mc to find himself in the end which he didn’t, instead of finding internal peace by the end we witnessed him descending into madness instead. While this may be a realistic outcome considering his traumatic experiences and sacrifices for others, I think it could’ve been done better. I also don’t fully agree w the solution to him kind of discovering himself n shit is through someone else “seeing him”
The last few chapters were very odd and it kind of just lost some of the plots coherence in some way the ending was unsatisfying to me but it’s still generally an interesting manga w a very good concept n i enjoyed the beginning a lot it was vry funny too (I might’ve already mentioned this idk)
The first like 90 chapters were decent however jt does NOT deserve the hype BUT POST TIMESKIP?? this is actual dogshit, bad female character writing I’m so disappointed (esp the main girl her writing is AWFUL), tm unnecessary r@pe to the point where it got me wondering if the author has some kind of fetish, urumas character lowk changed and worsened, the main plot kinda disappeared for a while after post timeskip ☠?, dragged out asl, bad plot twists, plot holes, useless amnesia trope
deadass what is the author doing bruh
I will continue reading tho just to see kyou dead, quite literally the only reason as for why I didn’t drop the second part after a few chapters in ^_^
ngl the beginning was better