somnia's manga / #Another world(51)

Good stuff. The plot's interesting, though it does take a while for MC to actually start doing something bigger than just searching for a fake boyfriend for like 10+ chapters. The speech bubbles get loaded up with a lot of text sometimes, so I caught myself not really reading through that and more so just glancing over it a lot of the time. Especially when the conversation itself wasn't that moving to begin with. Over than that I see a lot of potential in the story, love the whole god messing with the world perspective.

Meldenique is the villainess of a romance fantasy novel. She is the evil, cursed fiance of the ML who gets in the way of the FL's romance and success in life. Our MC is very uninterested in living that out, so she throws away her shitty family and title, and opens up her own small business... It's not really a stationary shop? More of a candy store lol. On the way she also picks up an OP hero spirit, named Dominic, who basically is her side kick and main crutch for now. Anywho, turns out these supposed good guy protags are total scum and get in her way in any way possible. Included in that pool is her fiance, who doesn't love her one bit, but is at the same time strangely obsessed with her. So, I really like this one despite heavily playing into the whole "I possessed the villainess, but changed to avoid fatality and oops they all love me now"-trope. It plays into it with taste, but also gives it a tiny twist. She doesn't have upper hand at all at the start, and is constantly being stepped on by various chunks of faeces who you'll hate more the longer you read (ofc not to the point of totally ruining her). The pacing so far is nice, it's mostly held up by said faeces constantly being bad guys. Good and bad is defined VERY clearly with this one, but for now their crimes don't feel too cartoony. It's cute how involved children are in the plot, though sometimes you really wonder why they have so much say as the little kids that they are. Ah, and ngl, Domenic's SSR class magic go brr abilities are a bit too much here and there. His abilities are a bit TOO convinient sometimes. You can overlook that though, since he's supposed to be this kind of powerful hero. I couldn't help but spoil myself to see where it's all headed, and man, it's gonna get good. Can't wait to see the stand-offs between Mel and the og FL. Not to mention our ML. Over all, a worthwhile read so far.

If you think too much about it, you get tired of the plot fast. Honestly, the writer(s?) could've left out the whole thing about her possessing the villainess of a novel and it would still be the same. At first you assume this is about more than just FL, but this story is pretty much just a power fantasy where you're meant to put yourself in her shoes to slay and enjoy the vibes. It's not for everyone, and certainly not for me. The whole thing about the ex being the ML also turns me off. It's refreshing to a FL who doesn't blush or think about her main love interest asap, but their whole dynamic is so predictable, and their chemistry is the equivalant of filtered still water. Ah, another reason why story may get boring for you is how shallow the "business lore" is explained/portrayed. One thing happens and she loses her ENTIRE customer base only to go on a mini mission to gain them all back (and repeat that formula every few chapters)? This is why I said that thinking too much ruins the fun. Later chapters only get worse.

You know the drill. A reincarnated girl possesses the body of the villainess in a BL novel, who is also said male lead's sister, as mentioned in the title lol. Instead of bullying him and making him an even edgier boy bound for heartbreak, she decides to be nice and change him so he can be happy with his future lover. Eh, yea. Starts off okay. And as you read more it's becoming very apparant how little the plot points actually matter. Only FL does. She doesn't do shit besides act cute with the Duke and ML in her childhood, nothing concerning their abuse and then it's just forgotten about after FL has her trauma moment. And from what I recall ML never got this acknowledged much unless it's from FL's commentary. Turns out she's a saint, color me impressed. I don't want to write another essay on this but let me just say this: what was author's reason for making the og story a BL? To fish for starved fujoshis? Sure, gay people exist and don't have to be tied to the yaoi genre but the implications of healing a broken gay character and making them fall in love with a straight woman is kinda questionable, you get what I mean? Nitpicking but still. I think that just shows what I meant when I say that only FL and her fish matter.

MC is reincarnated into a romance novel with the typical "blessed maiden from another world falls for the Emporer, kicks off the evil fiance, and fights evil"-plot. SHE is born as the 2nd ML, who turns out to actually be a woman in disguise. First of all. I like that MC isn't all over the novel plot. She worries reasonably and has yet to fall into that annoying pattern of overthinking and jumping to useless conclusions. Her body morphing through artifacts also makes it more believable for her to pass as male, not to mention the other interesting magic stuff she got going on. It's refreshing to not be stuck in the child POV for like 30+ chapters for once. The story gets done with what it needs to convey and moves on. With that said, the pacing is tight, but a bit too tight. Some things just went and left without enough explanation. For example, I was left with confusion when they clearly show the Prince not liking his fiance, but after one sentence and whatever many years later they're bickering like true friends, without really showing their relationship progress. The story's weak when it comes to character development in general. Anyway, there is also this potential of the whole "omg no homo, thank god" narrative. But I personally hope that they'll play up the "idc about your gender, I love YOU" perspective, that'd be better than tasteless homophobic messaging. And even though Enok is lowkey nuts, I hope he's the ML, at least he admires her while knowing she's a woman. That'd be more comfy for sure. As for the saintess, an originally good main character who turns sus bc the story pov changed is always welcome. I hope the pace slows down now that she's there to basically signal the start of the og novel.

Plot in a nutshell: FL was abused by her family both in her first life and now in her 2nd life as a minor side villain of a fantasy "biography"/novel. She was killed by her own husband for poisoning his sister. But now she is set on gaining everyone's favor, or at least her hubby's, to hopefully not be framed for anything and get away from her abusive family for good. Kind of spoiler, literally just me ranting: I love this so much, but I lowkey hurt from the angst that we got going on sometimes. At first it felt random for Ruby to be yeeted away by monsters so randomly, but in hindsight it was needed stress-relief for the readers. It wasn't that out of no-where too, since Ruby seems to have some kinda connection to monsters. Gotta praise the author too, it would've been very easy to find Ruby's insecurities annoying were it not for the amazing writing. I never doubted Ruby and never will, I feel.

109/ MC is yeeted back in time after having been betrayed by her fiance and half-sister. She sacrificed herself for her lover and family and, of course, all of them end up being huge, clout-hungry losers who stab her in the back. And this time around she is dead set on never getting engaged to that particular loser, while making sure to get a sweet, sweet taste of revenge. Let me say this. The drama here is should be spelled out in bold letters because god damn it, there's so much of it and most of it is frustrating af. Anyway, the characters have some spicy developments, but I feel like sometimes everyone's feelings are just a bit too dramatic and given too much pov. Why do I need to read about Isabella thinking she's the shit 24/7 when I already know she's just shit and no one asked? Also hate how the author made her some vain little hoe but Ariadne's literal murderer, the man who exploited her and threw her away, gets to have twilight with his boo-hoo-trauma-please-sympathize background AND is the 2nd male lead. Like eh? Can we not for once? Either way, I grew tired of the drama tbh. Ari been working at it, and I like the tension between her and the prince, but otherwise all these crazy people are turning me off. TLDR; Too much delulu yapping and too little screen time for people I actually want to know about.

I think story-wise this gets worse and worse as time goes on. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy MC's character and how tropes (as well as more unique aspects) are tackled, but the way everything's structured gets boring after you get used to it. One issue is tackled, then the next, then the next, with some more important plot nuggets in between. A checklist of things to do and overcome. It was nice when it was applied to MC's family issues (bc it felt like MC was intentionally tackling one thing after the other to help her family), but then you get to broader, more public events outside of MC's control and this rigid structure is still there. Also, I feel like the whole thing about her falling in love and getting engaged was way too rushed. Nvm, literally everything after her "soul unification" felt so meh to me. I was ready to indulge the OP trope for the sake of having a furry-loving MC who has 2 souls, but not like this. I still hope things will heat up when the game protag enters center stage but for now, the plot do be mid.

Too early to judge this too much, but I like it. It pretty much falls into this shoujo manhwa niche where the MC is from a romance novel that takes place in a fantasy empire. Our MC is the typical villainess of "superior blood", who turns into a jealous witch after the FL of the novel starts outshining her. Through a sort of prothetic/magic dream, she gets access to this story and gains new insights and knowledge, which she uses to her advantage. The pace so far has been good, and it's entertaining imo. Our MC's character is consistent, and even though she is an OP magician, she still has weaknesses. It also helps that in most situations, using her head/heart is the go-to route, while magic is more of a convenient tool. Other than that, idk. I'm ready for more.