somnia's manga / #Shoujo(204)

/26 FL regressed to her youth, thanks to her daughter's magic. Having been in a kind but loveless marriage, her daughter's wish was to have FL be in a loving relationship this time around. That's pretty much it, the story's simple. Well, maybe besides FL's moral dilemma of whether or not to marry her previous husband again. Otherwise, it's just about her and ML, future Duke... Schd-something? Schderl?? getting cozy with each other. Just your average slow romance, with magic spice as a side dish and typical obstacles to fulfilling one's love. Anywho, shitting on the previous husband for being subpar is a turn-off for me. I get the whole spiel about not letting go of your standards and all, it's a message you can also take away from this, but honestly, it just feels like the author and characters are shitting on small men lmao. There are better ways to portray loveless marriages. That and FL's constant back and forth between 2 men, one of which she loves and the other she just wants to get her daughter out of, is making her look very vain and unlikeable. The author didn't consider that flip-flopping like that is a bad look as well, and no matter what she ends up doing there'll be ground to criticize her.

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.

Tatiana the youngest of 5 sisters, was raised preciously by her strict, moral bending mother for the sake of getting married to a 5 star michelin husband - just like her sisters before her, for the sake of their wealth/family. Turns out the supposed perfect fiance of hers cheated, so obviously Titiana is mad and wants to gtfo, especially when her mother tells her to pull through with him regardless. And because the only way for her to avoid that is to get another guy, she eventually proposes to the commoner war hero she had an encounter with in the past. Arguably their first meeting was love at first sight? Ok so, you think another contract marriage situation - kinda yes - but it's also a bit more than that. The story goes pretty in-depth into FL's family situation, the contract is barely brought up. A lot of thought went into FL's and ML's families respectively imo. I like how everyone's got a good head on their shoulders, besides FL's ex-fiance and his fling maybe. It's refreshing especially with Tatiana. She's almost set up to be this ignorant and arrogant caricature, but you see how much she values honesty, and is in that and other aspects very naive. At the same time she's smart enough to keep up with her mother and to get her new hubby cleaned up - some might scream Mary Sue but I feel the way she is makes for the best read. The ML mellows her proactiveness out kinda. They have this cute love at first sight moment, a lil crush, and while I don't see all that much instant chemistry, I like that their bond is based on mutual trust and sincerity. There's obviously also the common political shananigans, though it's tame atm, and I doubt it'll get all that heavy. Update: What did get heavy is the constant communication issues later down the line. I hate it when characters can't get their shit together and act like talking it out calmly in detail isn't an option.

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'.