Zihvuda's manga / #Manhua/Manhwa(9)

The art is great. The plot is scattered and has bits missing. Also the presence of the second couple could have been saved for another story, or just scrapped entirely. Really wasn't needed, and the conflict it brought was illogical and kind of didn't work for the main characters. Could have been a good story, but ended up being inconsistent and bad, shame.

Good story so far, no annoying love interests, no harems, none of that shit. Intriguing plot and fun interesting characters. The pacing is pretty great too, and so far nothing has out stayed it's welcome. Now the art... it's good for the most part, beautiful even, however there is one failure, and that's older or old people. They look like crap, the wrinkles don't look like they organically belong on their faces, it just looks bad. Which is a shame cause the rest of the art is really good, but every time an old person is drawn their face just looks hilariously shit. (☞ ͡ಥuಥ)☞ EDIT: 08/2024 These latest chapters feel like they're skipping big chunks of story? It just feels choppy and I have no idea if it's actually like that or not since I never read the novel this was based on. I'm starting to feel like I would enjoy this more by dropping the webtoon and reading the novel instead. The art has apparently also changed. I only noticed cause people seemed to have noses suddenly and the old people were drawn much better. Some don't seem to like the new art style, I think it's fine. An improvement even.

This was pretty good. Actually accurate to some of the comments even. It bothers me when we never find out the reincarnated person's name from their previous life (because it's never implied or directly said that they don't remember it), and this story unfortunately doesn't address this, but the grief or being ripped out of her own world and brought to this one is real, and pretty well explored. I also absolutely LOVE that throughout the chapters so far, she is so. utterly. done. with everyone's bullshit and for the most part shows it with no remorse. It's really great. Also her behavior is scaring the shit out of some people, which is also pretty fun to witness. Another thing I really like is that the person who will eventually become her love interest is actually a pretty normal looking guy, and not some ridiculously hot guy she meets/saves randomly one day. I mean she still does meet him randomly and does him a kindness, but it's not like I have a problem with any tropes as long as they are done well.

For an alphaXalpha story, the mc doesn't feel like an alpha at all. He's a super successful business man from a very strict family, yet he seems to be incredibly timid and unable to set any boundaries in this new sexual relationship he embarks on. He's incredibly meek, and in pretty much every panel is clutching at his chest wondering what is happening with hi emotions. This sort of thing is fine when the characters are young teenagers, but when it starts to be grown ass adults, it gets very grating. It's fine to be a little confused or wanting to do be in denial, but being that clueless is just.. ugh. The other guy is acting way too affectionate for a strictly contractual sexual relationship, and mc just doesn't call him out on any of it. That scene where they come across mc's acquaintance exiting the elevator at the hotel where Ash starts saying "maybe we should take this to yours or my place after this" was really frustrating because mc didn't call him out on it immediately. Like what is he being shy for when he was perfectly happy kissing mc in public or groping him in front of another dude at a bar. MC says nothing, doesn't call him out, just meekly says "ok, we'll just do that". Also the fact that Ash got in the way of Carlyle getting with that omega at the bar. Carlyle didn't call him out on that weirdness either. Even though Ash later says he doesn't care about how many sex partners he has, like??? Obviously, Ash, you do if you need to get all territorial like that. *sigh* I wish Carlyle wasn't so goddamn stupid. I get that he's extremely sheltered, but it's not like he has no social skills what so ever since he's such a successful businessman. He should be able to pick up on this shit, and call it out. (╬ಠ益ಠ)

This wasn't bad, but it is kind of harem-ish. All the girls (including children) introduced in the story fall for MC, though notably only after he actually gets into martial arts. It's nowhere near as overt as some harem stories, but i have started to get tired of every introduced female character falling for MC. It started taking away focus from the political intrigue, but that has finally come back, so it isn't that bad. If you're not a fan of harems, this can still be readable as it's more of a background kind of thing, but if you *really* can't stand harem stories, I'd give this a miss. The way MC gets stronger is also weird. You do see him training a bunch, so this is probably more of a me problem then an actual problem with the story, but he "gets gud" a bit too unbelievably for my taste. We see him train with the sword a lot, but no strength training or stamina training, so it feels like he went from 0 to 100 by simply moving in ways he really shouldn't have stamina or even flexibility to do so. I dunno, it just feels like there isn't enough effort there, but yeah, this could just be a me problem. Some other things I didn't like: for a scribe writing the martial arts master's story he was told surprisingly little of what was going on and because the manhwa is from the scribe's perspective it became a little difficult to care about the battles happening. There's so much drama, but because we as the reader are barely given any context, you end up not really caring about any of it. There isn't much tension, the person you want to win the fights, does, and often with no effort. Or should I say, all the effort was expended at the beginning of the story, and all the fights after that are just... easy. This isn't necessarily bad, i mean One Punch man is a thing after all, but it's not executed as well in this story, in my opinion. The premise was pretty cool, and i do love the big beefy master who just drags a poor random scribe along on his journey, but unfortunately the journey itself isn't executed quite so well.

There's some definite weaknesses in this one. One being that most of the plot, frustratingly, focuses on misunderstandings between... well everyone. There's so much miscommunication in this that it made me anxious and frustrated. Just not for me I'd say, except that some of these miscommunications could be solved quite easily. There also seems to be some flip flopping with the MC. She's reincarnated into this life, but at the same time it's like she isn't? It's not explained well, and it wouldn't matter too much, but because there's so much in the story that already bothers me, this rather inconsequential- Actually scratch that, it *isn't* inconsequential, the father is a main character in the story and so it's the difference between "protect my daughter" and "my daughter's dead and there's another person living in her stead". That second option has some delicious angst to be had, but sadly I didn't like the story enough to see if the author ever did anything with that. (´︿`) The romance between the leads is adorable! And completely free from the context of the story I would say it's some of the best I've read. However *with* context of the story it becomes rather contrived ("because the plot says so") and at times idiotic. The father has been emotionally abusive to the daughter her whole life, and then once the reincarnation happens he changes, but neither character addresses this abuse, so it just becomes a giant elephant in the room that everyone ignores with increasing awkwardness. Because it's never talked about it robs the story of any catharsis of her confronting her abuser. And make no mistake, no matter how good intentioned, what the father did was indeed abusive, even though he is otherwise characterized as a good man trying his best. His best, in the case of his daughter, was shit. (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻ He does get better, but that's not the point. They don't talk, which just builds on the frustration already being piled on by ALL the F***ing misunderstandings. Also as customary in these stories the male lead kind of passively deceives the mc. Like, he probably didn't mean to at the beginning, but as the story progresses it's more than apparent and he MUST have noticed his non-intentional deception by now, so the fact that he never uh- "comes clean" to her goes from "oops" to *actively lying*. Which would be fine, except the story fails to establish a valid reason for this. At least at the point to which I read, which was till ch32. The story really isn't that bad for what it is, but it's clearly not my cup of tea, so I'm dropping it here. If you like misunderstandings and comedy, don't mind certain more serious things being played for laughs, than this is for you! Enjoy this mostly light hearted tale!

Read up to ch 35... really couldn't get into it, ended up skimming a lot of the chapters. More than once it just felt like the plot was spinning it's wheels in non-stop action. By the time the flash back came rolling around I was too checked out to even care about learning about manager Kim's past. The notes kept saying "he's so-and-so's dad" or a character from this other manhua by the author, so I suppose that was one way to keep some of the audience engaged, unfortunately it didn't do anything for me. Real shame, the art is good, but I didn't like the art too much when it came to all the veins sprouting all over people's faces, neck and hands. It lost it's effect after a while, because it was ubiquitous throughout the entirety of the rescue the motivation- sorry, daughter, -arc. Unfortunate for me, but yeah... found this real boring and as such can't really recommend it.

I haven't been so pissed reading a story like this in a while. **WARNING: RAPE, story contains RAPE.** Lawyer gets entangled with a mafia boss and said mafia boss gets infatuated with him and contrives reasons for them to spend time together. Hidden secrets from the lawyer's past are revealed eventually, it's dramatic though the beginning is almost kind of fluffy. Art is really good, and the translation is good as well. The beginning was really good. Like absolutely stellar I'd say with how believably the romance is developed. I was expecting rape or dub con, but ml backs off on multiple occasions despite being a big bad mafia boss. MC falling for ml is very organic at the beginning and their chemistry is off the charts. And then? The author ruins it. Completely and utterly. I am rarely so disappointed because I see that sort of shit coming, and it can suck, but usually it's just that kind of story, so the disappointment is pretty small. This time? This time I didn't see it coming. The story made it seem like it wasn't that kind of story with how much and well they executed on the build up. However, the RAPE took me completely by surprise and I am SO PISSED. The story had a chance to still be good, it could have turned this into a sad ending, but it could have explored the aftermath of such violence on our protagonist and ml. But of course it didn't. Hell no, that would be way too heavy now wouldn't it? Nope! Author chose to make their bed and then lie somewhere else and completely ruined any chance of the story being in any way good after that point. MC still fell for ML and pretty much forgave him for everything. Ml shot mc multiple times, kidnapped him, drugged him and then raped him for a week straight. There is no going back after that no matter how sad and broken the mafia boss is (which he wasn't really). But no MC thinks ml died, is sad about it, and when it's revealed mafia boss was actually alive he hits him a couple of times before immediately going for sex telling ml "I better enjoy it this time". This sucks. This SUCKS so bad. I am so incredibly pissed by the wasted potential! This could have been AMAZING and instead it lets you down in the worst way. Before the rape scene and the utterly botched fall out I was going to rate this 5/5 stars. Now it's 1 despite it not sucking right from the beginning. I cannot tell you how incredibly disappointed I am. For fuck sake you didn't need to do this, they could have resolved their issues without the rape ever entering into the equation. Or ml shooting mc. Because he did! Multiple times! Over a miscommunication! It's the worst. Why oh why, in a story with this much build up and care towards growing their relationship, did the couple's first time having sex have to be rape? Why when they are both in love and not just having a casual relationship, did the author insist on rape to get them to finally fuck?! It was such a sudden turn too! After the shit ml pulled mc should have recoiled at his touch, trembled in his presence, been utterly scared. Instead author just makes him angry and then immediately crave intimacy with ml. Why ruin all that good work just to tear it all down and then smash the lawyer and mafia boss together anyway?! What the ever loving fuck author?! What the actual fuck? Do not give this the time of day. There's much better stories out there. "Shutline" has great art and has fun dubcon. Hell "Plaything" for you rape enthusiasts has all the rape you could want and it makes sense within the plot! It's *that* type of story. Also you don't have to wait 50 chapters for it either! *And* the art is great in that too! This story just wastes your time.