VividBld's manga / #MLM(20)

This sounds weirdly interesting. Also fluff?

Doesn't seem terrible but has smut. We'll see...

Warning - This review contains heavy spoilers of the manhua and novel series, with mentions of misogyny: A 2 star rating feels fitting for this story based on multiple observations. The manhua for Mo Dao Zu Shi follows the same story as the novel series, only leaving out a few arcs. I actually didn’t expect it to be so on the nose with the novel series. I think they did a fairly decent job tackling most of the story and putting it into a comic format, given how long the novels are. However, the pacing was very fast; without having read the novels, I would have been completely lost. A lot of the dialogue was confusing to follow for this reason as well. Regarding the characters, one thing I liked was the subtle change in the main character’s personality, Wei Wuxian. In the novels, he was very chaotic and emanated “gremlin energy” (as one person put it) which was funny sometimes, but it could also get annoying. The manhua toned down his “gremlin energy” significantly, and I thought that made him a much more tolerable protagonist. One of my main issues with this manhua – and the novels for that matter – is that the story’s romance felt far too tropey. Most of the time when the main characters were in romantic scenarios, Wei Wuxian made Lan Wangji (the main love interest) drunk. Wei Wuxian behaved more flirtatious during these moments (which was certainly a choice). Then, using his drunken state to his advantage, would kiss and later have sex with him without his consent. (Note: He did semi-reflect on his behaviour later on, but he would always go back to it anyways.) I’m pretty sure the reason Wei Wuxian acted so weird and flirty during Lan Wangji’s drunken states was because it made him feel less worried about the consequences of his actions. He was “safer” and in control of the situation, which is not great! I really don’t get why he had to follow through with that almost every single time Lan Wangji was drunk. It inevitably led to both of them confessing to each other by the end of the novels, after the dreadful sex scene. There was another issue I had, and it was that there were far too many characters getting introduced within a short period of time. It made it very difficult to remember who was who, apart from the main cast. Even a character like Madame Yu (who was an important character in the novels) was hard to remember in the manhua. One nitpick I have with this story (which feels a little unfair to use against just this manhua as it’s an issue in a lot of MLM stories, but I’ll still point it out) is the blatant misogyny towards the women in the story. They were only shown as fragile; needing to be protected by men. Or they were antagonists (like Madame Yu). Mian Mian, for example, constantly needed saving, and was even referred to as a “damsel in distress”. If it was just her who followed the damsel in distress trope, that would’ve been fine, but pretty much every woman in the series followed that trope. To summarize, while this manhua had some strengths, its issues with pacing, story, characters, and misogyny made it difficult to read.

Doomed gays.

Weirdly kinda here for this??? I don't know. I feel conflicted because "gender-bender" comics can be very questionable. There's a tag for rape too so sigh... Will I read this? Probably not. Why is it here? I don't know anymore.

This looks very goofy based on the synopsis. I don't know how to feel...

This honestly looks very cute. A

This looks alright. Apparently this has multiple stories, yay. Also apparently there's grooming but I don't know if that's true or not.

Horror. This sounds kinda interesting.

Warning - contains spoilers: This story was adorable. (I enjoyed Ilya and Jerry’s interactions together a little too much.) The romance was slow, but it felt natural knowing Jerry’s distrust for the love interests. Ilya – the true love interest – was regarded as an evil prince, so it made sense for Jerry to not want to go on his route and achieve a bad ending. I really like the way the story handled Ilya's character. Ilya had abandonment issues, but that didn't ruin his relationship with Jerry. Instead, Jerry was supportive and helped Ilya work through his issues. The author could've made Ilya an obsessive lover or something worse, but they didn't. I liked that. The consent was something I was wary of going into this story. Given the harem tag, I was worried the main character was going to be sexualised by the other love interests, but the story handled it perfectly: avoiding awkward tropes and addressing it in the narrative. Ilya also could've been weird around Jerry given his obsessive nature, but he wasn't. He actually respected Jerry's boundaries. That made it very satisfying to read as most MLM stories have issues with consent. Of course, the story wasn't perfect. We never learned about Jerry's past or the creator of the world. I didn’t mind that aspect too much – since Jerry was canonically dead in his past life, and he was satisfied with his new life – but I can see why other people may be upset with it. For example, the multiple flashbacks to his past during his dreams didn’t go anywhere, which could be frustrating for some readers. I think it would have given the story more depth as well. Apart from the slightly rushed ending, I found this to be a fun, cute read. 4 stars.