Back To Rule Again
Actually, I didn't like this webtoon in the beginning, because the male lead was so unlikeable, as typical of OP heroes. Even worse, he gathers a small harem of beautiful girls in the first five chapters (it only gets bigger from there). But it does improve slightly with recent chapters, although not by much~ Well, at least he's become slightly more likeable, because he cares about upgrading everyone mostly equally. Also, he hasn't shown any signs of favoritism or romance towards the girls, which is a plus for me, since it's so, so easy to devolve into mushy lovey dovey crap that doesn't make the story any better, and leads to pointless arguments or something. It's still somewhat interesting to see how the story will unfold from here, but I'm guessing he will not really encounter much way of obstacles besides his own teammates dragging him down. He gets lots of beautiful girls in his harem but they're all basically useless in the end since he always ends up having to save them.... Sigh. The art is decent, not the best, but it's serviceable for this genre of webtoon. His ring is OP and it can store infinite amount of items. I'm not sure why he's so good at fighting since his skill is actually forging. His girl companions are all idiots who are incapable of defending themselves, even against fodder enemies. He also picks up two trash guys as team members, and they're also extremely weak. I think this webtoon has potential, but it's definitely hard to see through the pile of plot armor crap the author has surrounded the male lead with. I'm hoping that he will have to actually face some strong difficulties instead of wiping the floor effortlessly every time, but I won't hold my breath about this actually happening. The translation gets worse with the newer chapters, and there's lots of grammar and spelling mistakes. Don't read if you don't want a headache.
Aire
Hmmmmm, I'm a little mad about this webtoon because I feel like I was tricked in the first chapter. It focuses so much of the panels in the chapter on the red haired mage, only to have him killed at the end of it. And as the readers, we got to listen to his thoughts and see mostly his side of the battle, as if he were going to be one of the protagonists, but nope, gotcha! The sidekick is likely going to be the blue haired dude who killed him instead, and we know nothing about him, except that he's super strong (and he barely speaks in this chapter). It feels like we got traded an interesting character for a less interesting one...My feelings are mixed about this. It's like the author purposely tried to mislead the readers with the very first chapter, which is usually the chapter you want to make a good first impression on, so that people want to continue reading. Seriously, it spends so much time analyzing the mage, and he even has a backstory and some random girl who wants to save him, but it was all for a cheap shot at the readers to twist up their expectations. I don't feel that is a good move for a first chapter. As a writer, you should also want to make the readers trust you with what you're presenting them with, and instead, you've basically lied to them in the very beginning about who will be important, to make a shocking turn of events for the sake of novelty. It's not a good move to me, but maybe some other people like being hoodwinked like this because it's cool and different. I just feel it's dishonest and a waste of panels if you're just trying to shock for shock's sake like that. It would have been more acceptable later on, once the readers are more familiar with the characters, but as the first chapter, it shakes up the foundation of the story way too much. It makes me doubt what the author is presenting as a whole, if we can't even trust what is happening as we think is happening because the presentation is actually a big lie. Anyway, the art is also not my preference either. It's too bold with solid color palettes and looks extremely European in style, which I guess is what the author is going for, but I'm not a fan of this style myself. Hopefully, the author doesn't pull any more cheap tricks like this again soon. Otherwise, the overall idea and set up for a quest-type adventure is promising, but I think the explanation was a little clunky, and they could have spent more time establishing the more important characters like the princess and her family better, instead of wasting it on this unwelcome twist. Okay, after reading the second chapter, my rating has gone down even further, because the female lead is not likeable and abusive. She doesn't come off as a strong female protagonist who I would like to read about, because she is cold and uses people like pawns. Maybe it will be expanded on, but I'm not quite warming up to her at the moment. It doesn't help that no one likes her at all. The boring male protagonist we got switched up with is the basic male character you find in everyday adventure reading material, a kind-hearted boy who was forced to fight for survival, wants to have a better life, and is fighting in the memory of a loved one, etc. I really preferred the other guy in the first chapter before he was killed off, he seemed like he wouldn't be so complacent and obedient towards the princess, which would be a far more interesting dynamic. In fact, the introduction of that character was so much more compelling than the character we actually end up getting. I'm still salty about it.
The Revenge of the Soul Eater
This weakling male lead was abandoned by everyone, his family, his teammates, his guild, etc. He ends up being used as a scapegoat so his former team members can escape a giant monster, and he's carried back to the monster's lair so he can be eaten by the larvae. It's very gross to watch. As he's turned into worm food, he hears a voice talking to him, which tells him to eat the larvae, and when he does, he's attained a different form which is clearly stronger than he was before. I don't really feel much for this character, and I can't sympathize with him, probably due to the rapid pacing of the story. It hasn't gone into what he's going to do with his newfound powers yet, so I guess we'll see where this goes. The art was detailed, but for some reason, I dislike the character designs. The gross detail of being eaten alive by worms was brilliant.
The Unfavorable Job [Appraiser] is Actually the Strongest
A boy with the useless job class of Appraisal is abandoned by his party members, and he nearly died, but is saved by a tree spirit and her guardian. He lost his eye, so they replaced it with an even more powerful version of his appraisal eyes, and he's learning to fight using his new ability. It seems ok so far, but nothing special. The tree spirit is completely in love with the male lead already, which is lame. The art is a bit too rough for my taste, but it's serviceable for shounen manga.
Aewol's Dream
This webtoon is so confusing, with Korean terms being thrown left and right without stop. It's already really difficult to follow the story, with the non-linear flow of events, since it goes from past to present to past without warning, and the lore is complicated and not explained clearly. It's a huge mess of a story, and very difficult to grasp what is happening. The art is so-so. I can tell it's stylized, but it's not my cup of tea. Maybe it will get better with more chapters.
Chand Ra Has
The daughter of one of the great seven heroes was abandoned by her father, but she survives with her ability to control dragons with her flute. She meets a vengeful warrior named Arjuna who wants to kill all of the seven heroes, including their offspring. They enter an uneasy alliance to team up and get revenge on the people who betrayed them. It's pretty interesting so far, and I have high expectations of this manga. I hope it doesn't go into romance quickly, if at all. The tense relationship the two main characters have is quite unique, and it'd be a shame to dive into standard tropes. The art is nice and flows well in the action sequences.
BAKUEN
I so, so, so wanted to like this manga. In fact, I was in love with it from the first chapter, but it went downhill pretty quickly after that. But, wow, that first chapter was beautifully done, with some of the best art and panelling I've seen recently. There were a series of panels without any words, just action and wide shots, so amazing. It really captured the beauty and dangers of the new world the protagonists find themselves in very effectively. The only problem is that the pacing is too goddamned fast. Like we were introduced to 4-5 main characters in a short span of three chapters. Slow down! How do you expect readers to keep up? Not to mention, this is based on the Water Margin, where there are 108 main characters or heroes, who will all probably appear in this manga too. I think this could have been good, but maybe it will find the right pace later on. By the way, I love how the girl character doesn't fight, instead, she commands the guys around her like a general, but I wish it was more believable, since there wasn't too much explanation to why they'd stoop to serve her if they're more powerful than she is. And her being the supposed savior isn't enough for me, since she doesn't have the kind of charisma to pull that off.
Sperman
This webtoon is like Boku no Hero Academia on crack, except without the school setting. Every hero here has a ridiculous, completely nonsensical superpower, but they also keep such a straight face about their abnormal situation. It's super funny. I'm just sad that it seems to have been dropped by the translators.
Wan Gu Shen Wang