somnia's manga / #drama(121)

So far it's not a bad read. The world building mentioned so far has been interesting. But honestly, I'm so annoyed by FL's overplayed insecurities. I liked her character, but her personal drama over being a temporary replacement, or what have you, is just so unreasonable (as well as useless) when you take the situation she is in into account. I hate when authors do this kind of shit. It seems out of character for FL too, imo. Also also, there's a bunch of scenes where FL- and even ML- just cook alone while listing the recipe. After some time it felt so random and out of left field, it's as if the author forgot their cooking notes on the story board and ran with it. Yea no nvm, after the first beginning bit it looses me. The story doesn't know what it wants.

First you think the premise is good. Like, FL is the daughter of a villainess hated by a lot of people and has to live with that reputation. Ofc, she has memories of her past life, where she read the novel which tells the story of the main power couple and their kids. With these kind of stories you normally look forward to a lot of salt being given out, but honestly it's just FL being a punching bag for a few chapters and then turning into a sensitive flower that refuses to the least bit of brutality or revenge. By the time I was at chapter 17/18, I was rolling my eyes because it started to reek of basic Mary Sue who refuses to recall any other details (or interesting personality traits) from their past life, besides the plot of this one shitty novel she reincarnated into. There are some cute moments here and there, but honestly it doesn't stand out from any other of the dozen basic I-was-reborn-into-xyz-stories. Characters that exist can be categorized as followed: 1. Bullies who hate FL's mom and therefor FL. 2. good people (mainly her family rn) who support her. And 3. the important people from the novel she read which are on either side of the spectrum.... and the only reason why they get their own category is because they have a backstory unlike everything else. BTW, the unreasonable violence from strangers is just not explained, like why FL's mother was hated by literally everyone and stuff. Magic also just happens, no system, no nothing. It's just chain thing magic circle summon here, hypnosis mind spell there, fuck it, figure it out yourself and goodnight. Maybe these will get explained later, but this is basic stuff that typically requires an explanation or some form of attention right away to give readers a deeper understanding of the world and the story. Honestly, the whole villain mother thing just feels like an excuse to make FL an uwu abused woke baby archetype. You'll be satisfied by this if you just want to project yourself onto an FL who was off bad and then spoiled to death by her loving adoptive family.

Overall this is okay, I think. The art does a good job at keeping you patient, and honestly the premise is interesting. The main issue with this story is that there's this big moral hole concerning FL. Well, she is also kinda boring personality wise, but her situation makes her look so disingenuous and vain -which I'm pretty sure the author didn't intend. She lies constantly to people who seem to really care about her. Kind of spoilers from here on out: Nevermind the Duke, who she thinks may harm her (more on that later), but she - with the mind of a grown up - basically gaslights (or at least manipulates) her underaged husband into doing whatever she wants. And she does so to get away from him and the Duke, while they've done nothing but show her sincere affection. How is she so oblivious to that when she was supposed to be an affection-starved orphan? Not to mention there's NO real evidence that would make the reader, or FL, think the Duke really is a total heartless asshole who'd kill his daughter in law. He's framed in a sympathetic light actually, the father who closed himself off and tried to drown himself in a puddle of greed, in a vain attempt to cover the pain of his wife's passing. FL just looks like a snake who's out to take advantage of her position, and make herself a cozy playhouse, while waiting on her chance to dip out with cash-filled pockets. And the most annoying thing is that she is basically a Mary Sue and every character sings her praises for being nothing special at all. It's not even funny that they think her cheat sheet knowledge makes her a genius, it just adds onto the pile of hypocrisy she's hiding behind her greasy eyeballs. Who the hell put "strong female lead" into the tags??

Yurina is the villainess of a novel who our FL possesses during Yurina's childhood. The og villainess died because the heroine's 2nd fish (which is said obsessive servant and ML here) killed her. It's kinda cliche but it works. There are some nice details, like how FL renames him, and how she can reveal herself to him because he only knows the her now, and not the pre-posession Yurina. But for me it got boring after chapter 25-something-ish. The plot felt like it was stuck, showing off how Ray and FL bond over and over again. May just be my impatience here, anyway-

It's really nice so far. A refreshing perspective from the pov of a court jester. No, after reading so many shoujo webtoons/wanhwa which often star borderline if not full on Mary Sues, this is hella refreshing. Honestly, It's lowkey genius. You get a bit of every perspective and can grasp the characters personalities better because our MC is powerless and compassionate... and he does so without giving the vibe of a dumbass. Overall, there's a tragic undertone to the story- and lord knows I can see this becoming a tragedy in no time- while it has bright moments (mostly thanks to our MC being a literal jester) the overlaying tone is defined very clearly. Props to author for sure. I also like how clear cut the characterization of MC is. He's so dependant on/dedicated to playing the jester that we don't even know his name yet. He's only a jester for now, but he's slowly trying to fulfill a bigger role.

A good shoujo, but one of those that start falling off the longer they're going. There's basically one main villain here as of now, which is a wealthy, jealous hag with no depth or other traits worth mentioning, literally just a log placed specifically there so FL has an obstacle. At first her whole spiel is ok, but for some reason the story's stuck there giving her more spotlight and credit than is worth my time.

It's clear that FL's main appeal is her open heart and the zero fucks she gives about people who look unique/different... but I don't understand why she has to be some reincarnated person, or why the few unique traits that make her stand out literally help with nothing. Honestly, the whole thing about her being from another world leads up to and ends in nothing. I don't mind her being plain and weak without much drive to do big things, but that bites really hard with the whole thing about how she died young, didn't want to die and did so without archieving anything. She keeps reading all these books and they end up helping her with nothing, she doesn't appear to be more knowledgable about magic or anything at all either. The story just doesn't want her to be able to exist outside of being a sheltered housewife for her OP husband. That would be fine and all, but we're constantly stuck with her boring ass perspective, would've been nice to see the hubby's side. Speaking of, I also have my qualms about him. He's so... yikes to her after this 7 year time skip. I'm glad that he actually starts showing her affection after they marry. Also kinda refreshing to see a ML that deosn't just do a complete 180 personality change just because they're facing their crush. He obviously has his flaws, but you can see that in the end of the day, he cares about her deeply. With that said, we only know that because the story was smart enough to change perspectives here and there. Overall I do like the story though, it's a classic in my heart. The tropes are there, but they're not enough to be overwhelming or offending. The characters are consistent despite the flaws of some and at times it was able to make me cry.