somnia's manga / #isekai(91)

The fairy tale crossovers give a really nice kick to the story, the plot it's all building up to is also not bad at all. Love the little twists and turns in the story so far. Though I'm dead tired of female mcs who act naive af when it comes to romance and lose everything from their past lives besides these very specific memories about xyz thing they read. Still, really love the story and where it's going. The only thing I'm really muffed about is the lack of explanation when it comes to magic, the origin of witches and that kind of more worldbuildy exposition. I guess just not really touching on that goes hand in hand with the fairy tale theme, but after some time I started to question where the witches come from, how they were yeeted into existence and such. Really excited to see if that's gonna be touched on in later chapters.

Honestly, so far it's very good for a harem type reincarnation story. The translations are mid. If you're shoujo harem trash like me you'll have a lot more fun with the story on another site with better translations (mangadex for example). The lore in the story itself is also not bad. Really like the idea of holy guardian type dragons that basically work for god type of setup. Though I do not understand how the hell this whole descendant thing works for the guys of the church. (I guess this is a spoiler if you haven't read this yet, but honestly this kind of stuff is very on the nose in shoujo isekai, so let's not act like it's a real spoiler) How come the Duke's family and the Imperial bloodline inherit their dragon ancestor's characteristics, but with the church it's like "whoever has the biggest holy magic dick works." Eh? Maybe it's still gonna be brought up or I misunderstood something, but for now that's a plot hole in my book. Adding onto that a few cliches in this type of shoujo, such as the famous: "I met this important character during their childhood days, or before the novel began, and made an important impact in their life, so later we have a base to build a relationship on"- but this time around it's literally all the important characters, aka FL's entire harem. That's just one of the typical tropes I was kinda well-well about. Honestly, I'm just thankful that FL isn't a total Mary Sue. Well, she at least doesn't feel like one because you always see her struggling, injured and anxious about her sister.

I already found the first chapters to be kinda jarring. Idk why but I had a hard time getting into the story and characters. It's difficult to describe- Like, when it was shown how Elze collected all her mercanery companions I was hella confused at first because it cut to one meeting into the next without context. Not to mention that this one meeting with the archer was confusing because it just looked like she jumped up to the guy, they talked a bit and then the archer chose to abandon the country he was fighting for out of the blue lol. I was supposed to get attached to the FL but her backstory was handled as if going through a checklist. Not to mention, her reason for not telling her future husband about her secret identity is nonesense. You'll share title and land in the future, why would he go on to tell everyone his wife's a mercenary when it's oh so damaging to *their* reputation (he also owes her a whole lot)? Anywho, why would her having talent in swordsmanship be that bad to begin with? The story does nothing to explain it, besides talking about basic sexism. Honestly, how could exposing the fact that she can handle swords and own a mercanery group be that fatal anyhow? Everyone already knew that her family lost all their wealth and she became a peddler, aka VERY far from an ideal noble. There was no valid reason for all that drama about her identity until the Crown Prince decided he wants to get rid of her guild and second identity. This story also has a very strong "she's not like other girls" vibe added onto the normal Mary Sue character. Similarly to my issues with her backstory, the plot in general is handled poorly and makes you question everyone's intellegence.

It's a fun read, there's also some genuine plot though it doesn't feel all that deep. I like how some typical shoujo story holes, for example, the recurring backdrawer that keeps on leading the reader to the question of: "so, why do they remember this one story so well but not themselves?", kind of get an explanation here. I first found it jarring to have these kids act like almost-adults, but thanks to the lighthearted tone of it all I grew into it + there's actually an explanation for their behaviour. And I do kinda have to agree with other comments, the queerbaiting is there and all, and a yandere game protag crushing on our MC for little to nothing is also a bit over the top. Thanks to the comedic tone it thankfully doesn't feel all that deep, but it still lowkey makes my eyes roll to see the prince have these genuine scenes, careful thoughts and so on about our MC, while the female love interest is played up as a crazy nut used for entertainment purposes. Smh.

37/ Without spoiling too much: This is about someone who reincarnated into a cruel 19+ novel, where her villain-esque family kidnaps the FL's brother. She has to survive in a psychotic family, and eventually rescue said brother from his circumstances to survive. I could reread this a dozen times, man, and it's not even complete. While we're theoretically in just another "I reincarnated into this one novel and slayed"-story, this one has such a unique, dark vibe to it. This eerie twisted world vibe goes a long way and allows for a captivating atmosphere, which is only complimented by the fitting dialogue- not to mention the dope art. Theoretically, I could get mad that it's another story that forgets about the MC's character pre-reincarnation, but in this case, you understand why she doesn't choose to remind herself of that past, nor retain much of her "original" personality. Roxanne has given me my bisexual awakening, nuff said. The powers and cards she has at hand are well explained and the world overall is set up in a way that wants you to find out more. Roxanne doesn't feel like a Mary Sue either thanks to all of that, you stand on your toes when she's about to mess up or fail- again because you know and witnessed that the world she is in doesn't fuck with the standard moral booklet.

God I NEED more chapters. The first chapter hooked me so good and it just kept getting better. Remilia is the destined OP villainess of an Otome game. Strangely enough a reincarnator possessed her body from childhood on, letting her take a backseat within their shared conscience. She witnisses how Emi, the reincarnator, works hard and with a pure heart to give Remilia a happy ending. Of course, Remilia learned to love and appreciate Emi for her efforts, but when the classic condemnation event still takes place (due to the most hateful otome FL I've ever seen, holy shit I hate her so much) Emi takes control of her body again. The only thing she is out for now is to take revenge while doing her best to preserve Emi's efforts and memories. I can't stop praising the premise, man. This isn't just a fresh breeze in the reincarnation genre, this is like using the inhaler after choking for 5 straight minutes. I can't describe how bitter I felt when that condemnation scene hit, after you were told exactly how Emi tried her damnest to make all these people's lives better. The art is so fitting too, and don't get me started on the pacing of it all. Ok tbh, the beginning with all the exposition can feel a little long, BUT it's totally worth it. Also, sometimes you gotta appreciate an antagonist you can unapologetically hate with all your heart and no take backsies. Join my burn-in-hell-Pina Club. /2.9

Gotta keep looking out for whatever direction this is going to go. Right now it's slightly above average. Yet I can't shake the feeling that the more chapters we get, the more plot and characters are gonna turn to shit. It strikes me as the typical "Let's do things better this time and slay boss-lady style" type of isekai over all.. The type where it's just briefly mentioned how the boss lady in question makes money and what not, but it's never shown how compentent she really is, besides her sitting in front of a desk with lots of paper, and maybe giving her rival an epic burn, while making decisions that make you think she switched her brain putty out for playdoh. But again, too early to say that it's going into that direction.

88/ MC posesses a random side-character in a novel, she is appalled when she witnesses her bias' aka the 2nd ml's suicide after he was abandoned by his friends (og FL and ML). Somehow she's back in time, and now goes out of her way to prevent 2nd ML's self-delete while also punching back at his so-called friends... and to do both well she marries him, ofc. Very character-driven this one. The writing and pacing it pretty good, I don't have all that much to complain about. The dynamic between the "friend group", aka just the og main people (og FL, ML and 2nd ML), is the most interesting so far I feel. FL messing with og FL is also a lot of fun, there's nothing sweeter than slowly chipping away at your enemy. I don't like how the og ML (aka crown prince) just kinda gets away from FL throwing shade. Sure, it was his fiance who pointed the finger at Kal, but he still just stood by and nodded along. He gave her all that power ffs and never helped his friend out. I want MC to actually get in this guy's way instead of delivering all crit hits to the crown princess. MC's personality also gets a bit cringe with time. I understand stan-culture, I know k-pop, but her still talking like that after her and the hubby clearly got chemistry going on... IN BED TOO is like, wake up please. Maybe I'm too old to relate or smth. Either way, I don't like how insecure she is about him sometimes, it just smells like there's gonna be artificial drama, a la "uwu this stan needs to leave so he can marry a lovely lady even though we've been blushing over one another like fools for the last 20 chapters".