tas's manga / #Pain(1)

feb 24 2022 - sept 11 2022 9.99999999/10 stars oh my goodness where do i even begin. this is the most beautiful, most heartbreaking, most well-written, most everything story I have ever read ever. "lady sua" will forever make me blink back a few tears I'm ngl. a beautifully tragic (loose) retelling of the little mermaid. IF YOU ARE ON THE FENCE, READ IT. IT IS SO INCREDIBLY WORTH IT. [SPOILERS] first of all, the art was a 20/10 so freaking gorgeous and melodic I feel like that's the word for it. the character designs were great (seeing uihyeon's eyes go from bright and empathic and constantly kind to empty and dull and lifeless was honestly so clear it was spooky), the backgrounds were fantastic, the art at the end of each arc that went with a scene from the little mermaid was SOOO GOOD the only reason I'm sad that this manhwa was on daily pass on webtoon is bc i couldn't screenshot all of the beautiful scenes second, the characters oh my god. literal perfect character development you would not even believe. the young lady that sua worked for in the beginning (i forget her name) using the hand gestures with sua and the scissors she used to kill herself and then the parallels with uihyeon teaching sua how to read and write and communicate after she lost her voice was so stunning. her story was so sad but also the way that she was about to be forced into a marriage with a jpn man and same with uihyeon there were so many parallels there. the way that so many comments initially thought that the little mermaid retelling part would be the lady and uihyeon falling in love while sua fell for uihyeon sigh i wish that were the case. but then SUA's development ofc as the main character it was so interesting to see how she was such a talkative, lighthearted girl and then after she lost her voice we rarely heard her thoughts that was such a cool writing choice. i cried sm for sua when haesu made her lose her voice like even tho no one died (yet) sua grieving for her loss (both her voice and the lady) were just so ahhhh heartbreaking truly. and her last letter to uihyeon I'm gonna sob. AND her relationship with haesu but speaking of haesu oh my goodness did he have the most INSANE character development I have literally ever witnessed in all the media I have consumed. bc I hated this man's guts with my ENTIRE being when we first met him and i vowed that that would never change no matter what sad little backstory i would never forget nor forgive his awful actions towards sua. and then we learned his backstory and the whole temple arc happened. his whole family being killed and nokju (poor nokju :((( she was in the wrong place at the wrong time and she was only a child) always looking up to haesu and feeling cornered and sua was also at the wrong place at the wrong time but when he saw her as the snow maiden in the Russian fairy tale and fell in love w her, too and his brotherly bond w (and foil to) uihyeon and how that was broken after the incident w sua and his painful death protecting everyone and haesu deserved better. everyone did. ugh and then uihyeon, too, his resolve and dedication to joseon was so admirable but that was also what the little mermaid retelling was for--his love for joseon outweighing his love for sua and it was so so heartbreaking to see him change so much bc of all of the pain and of being one of the last survivors in their little group arrghhhh. then, the STORYTELLING AND WRITING was on a whole nother level bc ofc i cried like a baby during almost every arc but the writing was so so stunning like all the metaphors and symbolism and the rebels' unconditional love and hope for their idea of joseon and how most of the characters were never able to see the end of japan's imperial rule so freaking sad w all that said. this would've been a 10/10 wholeheartedly if it weren't for the epilogue. i just don't think the open ending was done well, tbh. like i was crying sm during the last ep and you can already guess where things go from after sua leaves to do uihyeon's job for him and kill his father and the other jpn officials and that would've been fine. but i immediately stopped crying when the epilogue came bc they talked about the aftermath in such an unemotional way and that just took some of the life out of it for me. i rly personally did not appreciate that. i did like seeing geon and yeongyeon's son grown up but it didn't feel super necessary to me?? i do understand the intention and i do think AN epilogue was necessary bc this is a story about sua but it is mostly a story about Korean resistance under Japanese rule and sua and uihyeon were only a small part of that but i just feel like it could've been done sm better idk. however, i did like the very last scene where uihyeon and sua reunite (most likely in the afterlife) on the very beach that they first met. (omg I just noticed how if uihyeon really did commit suicide, that would've been another parallel to lady yunhwa's end, too omgomgomg) overall, i do not regret reading this and it is def one of my top favs. and I already basically wrote an essay but I could write a whole paper on this I swear