somnia's manga / #Fantasy(254)

To summerize this bluntly: Imagine the typical shoujo scenario of the villainess condemnation, but with the twist that she actually just an innocent bookworm who is picked up by the demon king after being thrown away (and taken to library heaven). I can't do the storytelling justice here tbh - Just read and understand the vibes on your own. It's like just another shoujo villainess story but with this dark, whimsy, while at the same time realistic and down-to-earth tone.

Def made for quick cliche snack. You stay for the drama and for the serotonin you get from witnissing FL and her boyfriend be lovey-dovey with each other. Typical ordinary-girl-possessed villainess business, the bad guys turn good, the heroine turns into a snake and they get into each others way bc yes. It's fast paced, and while the characters are pretty shallow, all of them still move around each other in interesting enough ways to keep you going. I personally got bored by FL and ML acting all romantic. They speak about whatever and throw in random lovey-dovey dialogue, and I just want them to tackle plot stuff instead of being stuck in a random place talking about their marriage plans, AGAIN.

Basically One Punch Man but shoujo reincarnation version. MC had a short life, always sickly and on death's door. When she gets reincarnated as the supposed final boss, the sheer joy and limitless possibilities of having a healthy body prevent her from having this destined tragic childhood. Like, her first life was already on nightmare-mode and now that she got a good body starting from light to mid difficulty everything's a breeze. All the lil twists are well-explained by the now constantly mentally exhausted cat familiar who watches over MC, but it's less about being worried for her and more about how fucking far the intended storyline is going to drift this time. The whole thing is just taking the piss in the best way, love it.

Reading this up to like the halfway point was ok, but for the love of god this author does not know how to move their characters in a crisis. The writing gets really, really cheap after the Duchess goes rogue and basically becomes a terrorist. There is no suspense anymore, just the dumbassery of the main characters that outshines any challenge they're facing. They're all powerful people but can't manage to spy on their enemies, mobilize soldiers, research these sacred powers or look into the Duchess' past. And when they do find useful information it's disregarded if not ignored anyway. And then they have the balls to add some dumbass exposition priest to be like "we were all led here, this is fate". Stfu? Was a princess going out like a dumbass, when she was explicitly told to stay inside bc of a magic stealing witch, fate? How does that work? Did fate turn everyone into obedient little puppies that just run after the main villainess all of the sudden?

FL transmigrates into a noble lady character, experiencing the classic transmigration into a rofan novel cliche, only she doesn't know which one by virtue of having read too many and is desperately looking forward to making her rofan fantasies happen. Starts of kinda silly, honestly it's very embarrassing with how FL is constantly seeking some kinda role or romance to experience and failing miserably BUT it's only for a bit at the start. This gets really funny and also has some legit plot, this feels lowkey fresh too. Normally I can vaguely tell which direction this type of story will go in, but I have no idea here. Also also, it's really meta in a way. Like, (SPOILERS) she apparently has the power to make her wishes come true by virtue of being the mc, and yes true she literally is the mc.

First Timeline: FL and ML(prince) do love each other, but due to the schemes of the saintess she's pushed out of the fiance position. Basically everyone but her and her bf think he's gonna marry the saintess when he gets back from tHe war, and FL has no rep or rank to counteract that misconception/manipulation. FL is framed for a crime she didn't commit, no doubt in a bit to get rid of her before the prince returns, so she chills in prison. ML comes back from his war, with no arm, and basically everything's gone to shit for them... and then the homie stabs his gf? Turns out there's reasons for that. 2nd timeline: She's back to being a child, in fact so are two other characters but I won't spoil here. ML is being weird this time around and so is this other Gideon guy who used to lick the saintess' boots in the og timeline. He's getting real cozy with FL now, I WONDER WHY. Anyway, I like the story on a surface level but there's a lack of communication on FL and ML's part. They should openly talk about wth to do and what is going on in their head but there's none of that. In a way it feels more like the plot is moving their actions and emotions like chess pieces to whatever drama we're heading towards. MC feels like a doormat at times, and specifically their trouble with jealous girlies feels so useless in the face of more concerning 'troublemakers'.

Mel Sloppy (PFFF) is taken to the Heaven Dukedom because the demented family head mistook her for his long lost daughter. She makes a deal with her "brother" Damian - or more like is threatened - to play the part of Bleria Heaven, the lost daughter, to preserve the Heaven family reputation. And so begins a chain of what you can already imagine is a whole lot of angst for FL over her position. Her new fiance (aka ML) is taking advantage of her insecurities, using the truth of her identity as leverage to make her his obedient "doll". SPOILERS: Just like the title says the "real" Bleria is gonna show up at some point. But turns out she's just another fake who was prepared by an enemy of ML, to mess with his succession plans. Bleria is basically the key to inheriting ML's family's duke title of Allnight (l cannot with these names). And while ML &co are kinda aware and sus of the new fake Bleria (while becoming colder towards Mel - woops I rolled my eyes on accident there), Mel is left in the dark and convinced that she's gonna be exposed/disposed of. She fakes the suicide with, I think, Damian's help? Not sure about the details there, sorry, but she doesn't actually die. ML seems to be very hated by novel readers, he certainly earns it because in the first half of the story he's gonna be exploiting FL. He's gonna be more in love with how useful she is at first and have a more twisted-ish affection for how he made her the "real thing". After she fake-dies he'll realize he really loved her though and it gonna be begging at her feet for foregiveness when he finds her alive and well. He's recycled garbage, basically. There's a lot of tropes here that if you can't write and portray them well it's gonna start feeling cheap. BUT WE SHALL SEE!

A simple cute story, 10/10. Alexei lives with 'Pie' for 3 years during his childhood, a green skinned frog-like young woman with a heart of gold, and came to love her only to see her be killed by the knights who came to rescue him from the supposed cursed forest. He returns to his position as prince and then Emperor, heartbroken by what happened and gets a cruel reputation as "the demon Emperor". 20 years later he meets Pie again as Eleonora, daughter of a Marquis and recognizes her thanks to her affinity for beasts and her destinct accent. The plot is simple and doesn't beat around the bush, which is increasingly rare within the shoujo genre. You're here to see Pie & Ham reunite and be cute together and that's what you get. Every plot point or point of interest gets closure like Pie's reincarnation, her green skin, the forest, and Eleanora's family. I wouldn't mind more chapters with ML and FL being cute together or more lore about the forest, but I appreciate how concise it all is none the less. You can read the whole thing in an hour and walk away with a wholesome, warm feeling your empty heart.