somnia's manga / #isekai(91)

So far it's the typical story about a reincarnated little girl who finds out that she is the villainess of a novel she read a few years before her pre-isekai death. BUT the twist is that FL loves to bake and possesses a pretty interesting power. She's kinda OP, but at the same time also not, since her powers are very slow-burn and subtle most of the time. It's a cute read, a pleasant time waster so far for sure.

It gets you in the first few chapters because of the feels and the tension of FL's life or death situation... aaaaand the story begins to be so desperate about her not commiting or trusting ML that it has to literally make her unconscious multiple times just to keep that artificial angst going. What makes it worse is that the ML having a thing for FL is constantly pulling on everyone's noses, but the girl in question is over here pretending to have Voldemort's facial structure. The translation is all over the place too. The first 10ish chapters are good, then it jumps from ok to [brain cells left the chat] and afterwards back to good again. And before I forget, the plot is mid af. FL has no backbone and basically backseats everything while the other important characters do their thing. Well, she does some things but most of the time it's stuff about trying not to die, or protecting someone from dying no matter how sus they are.

I felt the need to reread this so my vague, badly written review could be cleaned up. But man, there isn't anything much you can say about this story besides that it's stale and horribly dry. Whoever did this storyboard did not know how to give emotional scenes depth, nor how to create enjoyable/intruiging banter and drama. Especially MC's trauma in the beginning and the death of 80% of her family. Just glossed over that in a few panels - and goodbye psycho sister, never see you again in the next dozens of chapters... MC's horribly passive, too. Normally the "I just want retirement"-characters should be comic relief (which she is sometimes, but it still falls flat bc of awkward set-ups), or at least have additional motivations, but MC is just a weak twig getting blown along with the wind. And when she does something it's some weird short-term goal, that just feels like it wastes panels. Yea, it brags her along into deeper plot, but the issue is that she and the readers are getting dragged with little to no sense of where we're headed. Homegirl wasted a whole chapter just trying to find info about the demon king. Dumbass persued him for 3 years and knows nothing, panels are wasted on her searching fruitlessly, just to end up asking some dude she knows in the end.. What the f*+#?? The pace of the story and the setup of scenes just keeps being like that. It gets even more frustrating when interesting worldbuilding bits and info gets glossed over constantly to give this sh*t the time of day. The dialogue is a pain to read through. They say so much, but you get so little out of it. None of the conversations have any spice or personality within them. It's a shame. In the first chapter we got some dope looking dudes, but nah scratch that, generic noble and royal anime templates it is. Most characters are so muted down and lowkey, both physically and emotionally. I feel like the art in this reflects the essense of this manhwa well. Theoretically it's pleasant to look at, and there are no mistakes in anatomy or what have you. But the longer you look, the flatter it feels. There is no real sense for detail or atmosphere, it just does the bare minimum.

It's not bad, it's readable if you ignore things here and there. The backstory of FL and her bully from school being reincarnated as the villainess and heroine from a book FL read is interesting. But honestly, it gets kinda boring for me. I thought she wanted revenge, but she seems to forget about that in the latest chapters and just does whatever? She isn't taking advantage of her knowledge about the novel contents, and so far she only used it to brag about it to her hubby. I don't understand why she has to wait for the Emperor and Noel to fall in love either. Dahlia could've stomped on her sister's (aka bully reincarnated) reputation long ago, but she never even tried to do that (or even acknowledged that she could) and just passively accepted Florre's salt while expecting the novel to develop the way she read it, and I guess she's waiting for whatever moment happened in the novel to sabotage, ig? We don't even know where in the novel we are, and Dahlia doesn't want to think about that either. And ngl, the characters have little to no depth- mostly just FL and her reincarnated bully. The first few chapters FL was a bit edgy and insecure bc of her past life trauma, but she just seems to forget about that and slips into being the perfect aristocrat smile wearing confident and smart villainess in no time at all. Her being fragile/sickly is also portrayed badly imo. I don't expect her to go cough up blood every chapter, but I literally didn't even know she was sickly until ML mentioned it. Also, why is Florre so out to beat Dahlia (aka FL) down and get "revenge" before she even knows about the novel and the roles they play? Would be nice to get more of her perspective in general tbh. She just feels like a mean girl, and not even a worthy rival bc her flaws are so obvious and her motives shallow af. The whole focus of Dahlia getting revenge also starts to feel lowkey petty bc of Florre's attitude. The story is set upto portray this grand revenge against the bully mean girl that made FL commit suicide, but feels kind of all over the place to me. Maybe it'll change in later chapters, but rn the novel is just finding excuses to make FL and ML be together while being lazy with story progress.

45// MC reincarnated into a abuse-kink BL story where her now brother is the protag, aka the bottom who's gonna end up being miserably abused. She basically takes his place and does her best to seperate him from his abusers, going as far as sending him to a rural Girls academy. And ofc, all the gay abusive tops start thirsting for MC all of the sudden, because this is a shoujo lmao- Honestly, I'd make this a 5-star if not for MC's inintentional irrationality sometimes. The pace of the story and the objective stuff is all well and good. The art's nice too. But, I can't understand how she can be so okay chilling out with the psycho who killed her entire family and made her bro go through hell. She seems so focused on the novel plot sometimes, about how Franz should avoid meeting that pink haired twat at any cost, this and that, but when she comes face to face with him it's like... a bit of tension and then just "hm, he kinda strange, anyway let's leave quickly". I don't hate trying to unravel a villain, and making him harmless outside the realms of the og plot, but at least make MC be a bit more sus'd out about him if she's already so concerned about the plot. TBH, I'd prefer if they don't end up together, but if it has to happen then it better be done slowly and t h o r o u g h. This one thing is yikes, but as I said, at least the story is told nicely (though somewhere I got thrown off with the inconsistent time skips ngl) and the world building is interesting.

You know the drill, FL gets reincarnated into the young body of the future villainess and tries to avoid death flags. Honestly, it doesn't stand out from any other of the 100 or so shoujo isekai so far (besides the pretty art maybe)... but am I still gonna read the shit out of this? Thank you very much, I will. I like that the storyline doesn't get stuck on chewing through FL's entire childhood like a boring daily sidequest and has a decent flow to it. Like, we are cutting right into the meat, which should tell you that the plot is gonna be at least decent and thought out. The only thing I want to complain about is FL's blindness to having ML crushing all over her for probably most of their childhood together, and home girl being blind af to that, despite clearly retaining the mind of a woman who lived during the 21st century. For the love of god, I hope the author doesn't make the mistake of leaving FL dumb af in that aspect for decades like other similar shoujo manwha that shall not be named now. I swear I didn't mean for this to turn into a call-out post/vent.

79/ MC is reincarnated into a dark dating sim she used to play, as a character which did not exist. A bit too early to judge the plot yet, but it's obvious that there's a bunch of things hidden behind the curtain if you will. The lightheartet atmosphere also kinda has a reason to be there, acting as a contrast between the dark vibe of the game and overall how serious the world actually is. It's like MC presence lightens up the story. Maybe I'm overanalysing? [Spoilers?]: It's kinda obvious how MC's existence is something of a cure for the transcendentals and I hope there's some interesting lore behind that instead of her just being proclaimed a random saint thing that appears in their world every odd years or so. Anywho, most of the story's charm so far is from MC and her relationship with other people, though usually I'm more interested in lore.

/39 MC possessed the villainess, who's fated to be executed by the novel's ML because of crimes and stuff, you know the drill. But in this case, MC went back in time twice. Both her attempts ended with death by execution, all sponsored by the shitty Prince ML. Suffice it to say, she not only hates his guts her third time around but also stops caring about her "role" entirely. It's the classic "now that I'm me, I'm way more lovable and got all the fishes hooked"-type of vibe. I feel that while the first few chapters started strong, the rest of Season 1 got lost in the sauce if you will. The writing on the friend group's bond and dynamics is weak AF, so you have a hard time seeing them as more than some classmates who coincidentally hang out with each other while following MC. They have no spice, and (besides *maybe* Luke) it doesn't feel like they can exist independently of MC. 2 out of 3 clearly develop romantic feelings so that ain't feeling like a secure friendship anywhere. You can still get invested though, and I feel like it pays off in the 2nd season. The stakes got raised as MC has to face the Prince again. And this is where this manhwa is at its best imo, when MC fights against her suppressors/executioners and explores secrets beyond the novel's veil. And since I'm already on it... MC's insecurity about novel business is tiring. It's been done so many times, and it feels like an excuse that keeps her from any substantial character development; I thought she didn't care anymore?? Also, every time MC is holding out for her friends — or nvm just struggling — it's Luke doing all the heavy lifting while og FL and other sub-ML just emote lmao. Why don't you write on his forehead already, in all caps: "I'M GONNA BE HER ML!!". TLDR; Story would benefit from a tighter pace, and the treasured friend group dynamic feels weak.