nickiq452's Topics (171)

actually peak?

Started out decent but gradually ran downhill which disappointed me. :(
It was a semi-solid story, but it lacked depth and intrigue between the characters, resulting in shallow understanding of them and little-to-no-care about their fates.
The author’s intention of making the characters actors was what broke my immersion. And if that was actually a relevant decision, then I would agree that reading this story felt like a drama. It lacked
inner monologue and depth to fully understand everyone’s motivations. For example, Kangjin was just a huge idiot who couldn’t decide who to love, or rather, he always went back and forth confusing the reader why he would suddenly switch. From staying with one dude, saying he loved him, to then promising another they should run away together. In my eyes, he was just an indecisive cheater who would bend his ass on a whim.
Despite Jungkwon having many reasons for the reader to care for him—debt and such—he was nothing but a shallow-written character. I had sympathized with him being financially tortured, but even then, there was nothing in store. In a few scenes, his words seemed to suddenly cure the other’s depression effortlessly, which was so rushed. Take Roah for example. What… impact did he have on the story except for being a meaningless character? He could’ve been removed from the story and it still wouldn’t leave a stain on the major plot.
One thing that rips the characters apart from truly making you care is that they all lacked direction—inconsistencies in their writing that often emerge, accompanied by lack of understanding their motivations.
Chisoo was a cold-hearted mafia boss, unpredictable and had always kept everyone on their tippy toes. Then he becomes some… conflicted corporate guy with a soft heart? I get it, but the transition with his personality felt so jarring and honestly way too rushed. He felt like a totally different person. He was made to be some mysterious evil guy, then the story suddenly expands more on the context around the organization that pretty should’ve been revealed earlier than later.
Interactions between the characters felt so little, and the time the characters had spent together was so short, there was barely any connection to understand them on a deeper level.
All in all, the climax and resolution was lackluster, making the ending meh. Since this is the author’s first work, these issue are fairly common.
Unfortunately, my original post had to be re-written (accidently reloaded) so there may be some things I had missed while writing. Other than that, decent read.

oh wow. oooooooh wow

This was really good. Need more chapters to fully satisfy me, but nonetheless, I enjoyed every part of the story <3

Too many "dark" manwhas end up being a realization of the author's fetishes and romanticize the characters' immoral actions and behaviors, and so far, I haven't seen this here and pray it stays that way.
The psychological elements are visible and the storytelling isn't too bizarre, accompanied by little things 'in between the lines'. The characters aren't one-dimensional and there is some sort of effort to drive the story forward.
Currently, the story is engaging and pretty interesting. Hopefully there's a satisfying (bad) ending in store and doesn't end up disappointing like "Warehouse". I genuinely hope the author's intentions are on the right place and they don't plan on pulling a BS maneuver anytime soon.

There is nuance behind the characters’ struggles.
I don’t even know where to begin with how much I loved the cinematic paneling of the story, given how it revolved around Myeong’s career as an actress. Not only that, the display of the acting industry and its effects. Genuinely, I immersed myself in the filming procedure and the backstory of some characters.
Myeong as a character has gone through a lot of development and her maturity throughout the course of the story’s arcs had developed in a way that I can appreciate the author’s intentions of grasping the characters’ emotional turmoil, turning it into a delicate flower that can be marvelous to look upon, but also crush.
My personal favourite arc was Jin Cheon’s. I enjoyed the broken expectations and unexpected reactions of the characters. Not only did the scenes/backstories offer some kind of attachment and meaning, there was depth that I could relate to, even without experiencing. This also relates to other arcs too.
Without becoming too sentimental, I also have to praise that Yena Ban wasn’t used as some sort of stepping stool for Myeong. What I want to say is, she didn’t have a boring sole purpose to stay in the plot line. I was given the opportunity to sympathize with Yena despite her selfish actions, and revealing vulnerable sides to herself without being too forgiving or forceful, her end was splendid. I believe most writers struggle to achieve that demise, and that’s what makes Muse on Fame deep without being too complex. The scenes have their own purpose, not overstaying for long and setting sail.
The story may have imperfections here and there, but the mentioned aspects are its convincing anchor.
I believe the weakest and least impactful part for me was the plot twist of why Myeong was selected to become an actress in the first place. I could brush this off as the theme introducing more multifaceted storylines, but it was quite anticlimatic. </3
As I’ve said before, Yuhan’s departure was also a bittersweet yet brave decision. I could go on and on but I don’t want to fill the comment section LOL.
Reading the author’s notes definitely had helped in brushing off a few aspects I was critical/skeptical of, and filling as much important points as I hopefully wanted to make, overall this was a worthwhile read.
Thanks to those who actually read till the end. :P

AHHHH IM SO HAPPY. Thank you so much to the author. It was a bittersweet decision to let Yuhan go, but I believe it adds value to his departure and the theme’s complexity.
Also Jin Cheol is the maaaan. The way he’s written and his character reminds me of one of Fujimoto’s oneshots.

The art is superb but the story itself is wishy-washy. I came to read this solely because I admire the artist and of people’s comments, but there’s really nothing else.
What sets this story extremely back is the pacing, and the scenes that were supposed to be impactful should have been given more chapters. I see so much potential, given the overall power system and sort of cliche tropes—thing is, this can all be doable and impressive, if someone within the writing team took a step back and reaaaaally processed the plot points slowly.
Like there were so many interesting scenes to flesh out the characters’ motivations and their dynamics, but all we get is this “So anyways, fuck this and fuck that, here’s a new sudden plot-progression and let’s move on!”
Given Maru’s (supposed) ADHD and panic disorder, I had thought that maybe that’s why his personality feels so awkward, including the characters and storyline. This is probably a nit-pick, but I’d love it if the author would purposefully-or-not stop mentioning every time Maru’s having a panic attack. Yeah, I clearly see what’s happening in front of the screen. Not to mention the “Omg, MC is such a buffoon but he’s OP!” I can see what they’re trying to do here but it comes off as too overdone and bland. I love you Maru, but if more care and attention had been given into fleshing you out more with the rest of the characters, perhaps I’d forgive these awful cliches running around. :(
Anyway, the main team’s designs are awesome and while the story’s vision looks undoubtedly great, the execution is mediocre.
Also, Eden is hot. LOL

Sir Ashler, sincerely, please, just one chance is all I humbly request.

Cute and simple. I don’t have much to say because I didn’t enjoy it a lot judging by how I left this BL on the back burner for some time. Honestly, I consider this to be pretty boring—conflict and characters-wise it’s nothing new, but I can definitely see this story as one where you take a break to read something more laidback :)