lamsar503's manga / #Strong Female Lead(8)

My advice: Read at least 10 chapters (preferably the first 20 chapters), and then re-read the first 10 chapters, before deciding to continue it or not. I say this because the first 10 chapters or so can be confusing when you start reading this due to the fact that there is constant "time-reversal and retelling events through the same period of time" occurring in the first few chapters without any explanation; so while the story is still interesting, the first read through can be rather confusing. The confusion arises because time reversal is a main plot point for the story, such that in one chapter someone may already be dead, in the next chapter they're alive, in the next chapter they may be appearing just as a figment of someone's dream, etc. Additionally, there are many similarities across chapters, and nothing specifies that time reversal has occurred or gives specifics about "when" time reversed or why. So the information you get from the first few chapters is a bid hard to interpret until after you finally get into the chapters that are relaying (what appears to be) the "current" run-through of this period of time. --- I feel like just trying to explain it is a bit confusing too, haha. Otherwise, the art is full color and pretty decent. I'd give the art alone 3/5 stars; it's appealing enough to be called "good". (I've seen better/more detailed/more artistic works that I'd give 4 stars ['Beatrice', for example, is somewhere around a high 4 to me], and I'd save 5 stars for something that was clearly gorgeous or somehow just artistically "worked' aesthetically with the story.) Regarding story, it is a bit early to say one way or another whether it is 'good' or 'bad'. For now, I will say that there are no glaring cliches or trite plot developments that are like the flea infestation of comics, manga, manhwa, and manwha. The time reversal and re-living the same time period aspect is interesting. The origin story of a dragon that fell in love with a human, and then reversed time after her death to live again with her may not be a completely new idea, but it doesn't feel like a cheap plot device. The dynamics between the FL (who is "strong" regardless of timeline; Intelligent, capable, ambitious, noble, and courageous - determined to be a great Duchess or a Knight or whatever she must be to face an OP foe, depending on the timeline), her younger brother (who suffers PTSD courtesy of the ML, and must face the ML despite his trauma) and father (who kinda seems like 'Schrödinger's Cat' thanks to the time reversals), the OP ML (the second prince; probably a descendent, remnant, or reincarnation of the time-reversing Dragon), and the minor characters are interesting to see. I look forward to reading more, and to be honest I'm pretty sure I'll end up re-reading the first few chapters for a third time just because there's a lot to take in about how Lamia lived her lives, and how many times Lamia has died causing a time-reversal to trigger.

A loli FL, who looks like she's 7 years old (at best), is actually 18 years old. She has a commoner's background, raised in a poor village, is street-wise and educated in medicine; she goes on to study in a proper imperial school, as well, seeking a job working in the government. Headstrong and independent-type of character. Her grandpa, who adopted her when she was abandoned as an infant, attests that she is 18 years old, despite her very young appearance. She befriends and eventually falls in love with the ML, the newly enthroned emperor. Typical status-difference, age-confuzzled, shoujo manga sorts of developments ensue. Generally, it is cute and enjoyable enough to read, but I never stopped thinking that any scenes with implied or overtly romantic situations involving her was a bit icky since the ML looks like he's in his early 20's (though he is actually 17, and younger than the loli FL) and she looks like an elementary school student. For most of the story, I wrote it off in my head like "ok, I'll just say that she was born with some congenital hormone issue and doesn't grow properly. That's not her fault. She deserves love too!"-- Which would've worked, except that at the end of the story (which is wrapped up quite abruptly) after a time skip Kouran has grown to look like a typical young adult woman. (-_-) --- So now I can't help but feel my original suspicions of her circumstances was correct all along. That Kouran was just a generally clever kid who was told by her grandpa that she was 18 years old and she believed it. And she and the grandpa kept asserting it to others, and though they doubted it initially, they all ultimately accepted it as truth. -- So the romantic developments and story as a whole still leaves me feeling a bit odd about the whole thing. Especially since her lack of growth (if she was really 18 years old) and her sudden growth spurt are not explained at all. It doesn't help that the author only made her look childlike because she felt that the female costumes (which she really wanted to draw/include) looked better on a child's body as opposed to an adult's. Hence, the FL became an 18 y/o ultra-loli. Well, if you just accept it at face value that she is in fact 18 years old with an ultra-loli body that randomly develops into a full grown woman in the span of a 2 year time gap at the END of the story, then its not a bad read to pass the time.

Quick story-thus-far sum up: The first season is about 42-44 chapters long (I forgot which chapter it ended on exactly). And is primarily about the background story of the FL, how the FL meets the ML, and how the FL rises in rank and prestige during their conquest of the entire continent. In the first chapter, we see that the ML realizes he's in love with the FL upon finally completing his 10 year conquest. In the final chapter of season 1, it finally circles back to that same moment. In season 2: Currently ongoing, the story shifts back to the original capital city of the ML's kingdom (which is now part of his continental empire) and follows the transitional period of setting up the infrastructure of the empire. The capital city is moved to Yappa (where the FL, as an act of compassion, had assisted the deposed princess to commit suicide in a quick and "humane" way to maintain her dignity in death during the conquest of her kingdom in Season 1). There is a lot more focus in this season on the ML's romantic struggles with his feelings. More specifically, his ongoing romantic and sexual desire for her while being accustomed to thinking he can have whatever/whoever he wants as an emperor..but, at the same time, not wanting to act on his feelings since it might break the faultless relationship between them as a master and servant. On top of that, he also knows he wishes for her happiness...but anytime it seems like that happiness might be given to her by another man, he can't ignore that he wants her happiness to be "being with him." Meanwhile, he has to repeatedly come to terms with the fact that the FL is 100.00% dedicated, loyal, friendly, trusting, and his steadfast ally...but she is 0.00% romantically interested in him. This leads to some good moments of comedy (such as when his feelings of joy leak out unintentionally when he realizes she has declined a marriage proposal), some good moments of "moe" (such as when the FL kabedons/"wall slams" the ML after he visits her as a surprise and he confesses in a daze that she was "so gallant he wanted to kiss her"), and some good moments of slight angst (such as when the emperor finally marries 3 concubines for political reasons, despite his reluctance, and his ongoing love only for the FL alone. And the concubines, so far, are totally likable and very pitiable characters. So even if you hate the fact that they're in between the FL and ML developing a romance, you know that as aristocratic women they had no choice whatsoever in the matter and you can't even dislike them, dang it.) Through both seasons, lots of sexist/gender-biased BS, and the FL's responses, are superficially and directly addressed. My thoughts: Overall, it is an enjoyable story. Art-wise, its a bit better than the average manwha and it has the typical full-color illustrations. As far as main character design, if you approach this expecting that a lovely/handsome king falls in love with a rough and scruffy (and very masculine in appearance) warrior woman, then you'll be fine. Don't expect any femininity from this FL. Seriously, there were many times that I wondered if the artist didn't know how to draw strong women that still look like women, or just didn't know how to draw androgynous women, or just flat-out didn't know how to draw women at all. --- Which felt weird, since the king is so "pretty." --- But, in the end, I was like "does her lack of any sort of traditionally feminine appearance at all, even for a moment, really matter? Does the presence or absence of it change who she is as human or as a woman, and does it affect the believability of the emperor falling, and remaining, in love with her?" -- I concluded that regardless of whether it was due to artistic ability or artistic choices, its an effective mechanism of the comic to draw the reader's attention to their own gender-biases. Story-wise: It started off fairly weakly, with season 1 being rather superficial and having drastic pacing issues. Season 1 covers about 6-10 years, depending on how you look at it, and the story basically went in a repeating loop of "...(1) battle here, sexist garbage occurs, sexist garbage dealt with like a boss, time leap, move scene, (1) battle here, sexist garbage occurs, etc...". Additionally, the characters were rather 1-dimensional. When I say 1-dimensional, I mean it felt like the story presented characters such that it felt like it was saying: "this is the emperor/conqueror character, this is the grumpy sexist character, this is the "defies the odds, but in a believable way" female warrior character, etc.". And eventually, it got to the point that I just wondered just how long I would be reading until I could see the scene from chapter 1 again. That said, season 2 is really helping this story become much better in various ways. The most important ways are that it is helping: to flesh out the story-world setting, to depict the characters in more well-rounded/multi-faceted ways, and to bring some more depth to the themes of sexism/gender-bias through personal growth of characters' mindset and thoughts (rather than just the FL "muscling" her way through BS gender-based situations). Up to now reading reminders to self: FL is head of second special forces division, which is usually the emperor's personal guards. As a strategic move, the emperor ordered the FL to be the protector of the 3 concubines (which is a lower position and much less respected) under the guise of a punishment for vomiting in front of him (again). FL is aware and happily following orders, as always. The concubines really seem to like (and envy) the FL, and likewise the FL likes the concubines. That said, she can't understand or empathize with the concubines' concerns about pregnancy, marriage, etc., or begin to fathom why they choose to endure silly things like starving themselves before their wedding to be more slender. The emperor seems to be having marital relations with the concubines (based on a pregnancy false-alarm), but it is not clear if that is true yet. Still, the emperor said he'd make whichever concubine bears an heir first the empress, while knowing that the FL, whom he loves, is infertile. The idea that FL is infertile is currently unsubstantiated. We know her period is irregular, but that is to be expected with malnutrition, heavy alcoholism, excessive exercise, and low body fat (FL has 8-pack abs anyone would envy). Being from a conservative and patriarchal (read: ignorant) society, its only natural that an irregular period would be enough for someone to label her infertile. Currently, one concubine had a "phantom pregnancy" scare. A second concubine is sick with a cold and is talking in her feverish state to FL about how envious she is of the FL's strength and independence. The FL is starting to appreciate the struggles of women who didn't find a path like her own. The emperor was super shocked by news of a possible pregnancy, but haven't seen him since it was revealed to be a false alarm. There's a pudgy dude in the palace that is stanning the FL, while also treating her like a lady. FL is starting to like it and become receptive to the rare treatment. -- Possible spring-board for developing a romantic interest for FL? I'm looking forward to more.

The original story about Katarina a.k.a "Bakarina". It's one of the better spins on the "I was reincarnated as the villainess in an otome game" story trope. Bakarina's only focus in life is to strategically prepare for (and avoid completely if possible) her own doom as it was written in the otome game she played in her previous life. Comedy ensues when her air-headed nature, limited common sense, and hyper-focus on her survival goals directly results in an ever-growing mixed gender harem, but she doesn't recognize that for even a single second. Meanwhile, the people in the harem do realize what's happening and vie against each other at just the right amount to still maintain their friendships and create a funny atmosphere without any angst. Overall, it's a really well balanced, light-hearted story considering it is primarily about a girl doing all she can to avoid being executed, murdered, or banished...even if that requires learning how to be a farmer and make fake snake toys.

Seems interesting so far. There's not much to it yet, but maybe after another 100 short chapters it'll get somewhere. But, I gotta say, I do wish that the ML would keep his mask on. I don't know where the ML's face from the cover went, but it'd be nice if he actually looked that way in the comic. -- I mean, he's obviously not a monster, but he has the face of a kid somewhere between the ages of 8-14 years old depending on which chapter you're reading (even though he's 22 by the time you see it). Yeah, the face of a sparkly-eyed 8 year old on a adult man's buff, warrior body kinda ruins it for me. I wish the illustrator could learn from the ML in "Beatrice". That right there is a *fine* example of a hot, beautiful, but still "masculine" man in both face and body.

The daughter of the god of the netherworld falls in love at first sight with the god of war. She pursues him only to discover that he is about to face a heavenly trial to increase his divinity by going through 3 mortal lives. She asks her uncle, the Jade Emperor of the deities to allow her to follow him through his 3 mortal lives and is granted permission to do so. The first life she spends raising the reincarnated god of war in a chinese-style/cultivation-martial arts themed world (which is apparently not Earth, based on later chapters). She retained her memories and superhuman abilities while he had no memories of being a god. For the second life, set in modern times on Earth, she accidentally wound up reincarnating as a male, and the god of war as a female. They meet in high school. She (now a he) has her memories and has to figure out if the god of war (now a she) still has his. As of chapter 53, they have just had the drink of oblivion (which wipes all memories of the immortal realm upon rebirth) and have entered the portals to descend to the last mortal realm setting for their final trial. I really enjoyed this more than I expected to. I'm looking forward to more. the novel: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/6107/three-lifetimes-completed