halfcactus (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
halfcactus) wrote2024-12-14 10:52 pm
halfcactus) wrote2024-12-14 10:52 pm
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More webtoons
Spent weeks and weeks burying my face in trash like a raccoon, only to circle back to reading decent comics!?
The Tyrant's Only Perfumer by Fairydragon; art by Team Dead Shell
A fantasy romance webtoon where the FL’s skill is magical perfume-making, which is the kind of garbage I live for lmfao.
The first 40% was fun nonsense with over-the-top visualizations of what the scent profiles were like, and then the other 60% devolved into bland nonsense… But the art was pretty, and one has to respect the earnest Attempt to subvert genre tropes… It was just so loving! The writing was a mess but the heart was in the right place. And I feel like they could have made merch of this comic—dolls, real-life versions of the perfumes the FL makes, or maybe charms of the cute perfume bottles (since the FL apparently also has the magical ability to produce custom bottles at will)...
My favorite storyline was when the rival perfumer basically starts selling drugs (to monopolize the market by making everyone so addicted to her perfume!). The FL then concocts a perfume mixed with holy magic that instantly neutralizes the effects of drugs and cures addiction when you spritz it on people… the manhwa was never the same after that…
Saving My Sweetheart (also known as A Way to Protect the Lovable You) by Han Yujeong; webtoon adapted by Hound with art by Kim Jiei
In spite of the triteness of its title, this is actually a pretty solid and fast-paced ensemble-cast shoujo fantasy canon with regression plot + loyalty kink.
Like Wind on a Dry Branch by Dalsaeowl; art by Hwaeum
This is ongoing and free to read on Webtoons.Com and I'm so invested in this I'm taking my time reading it so I don't run out of chapters. It's a pretty hard one to sell, though, since it opens with a very bleak scene: Our FL, Rieta, has lost her husband to plague, her daughter to slave traders, and is presently drugged out of her mind, about to buried alive with the corpse of an evil count. Killian, the exiled prince and archduke of Axias, finds the practice distasteful and pays off the family so that Rieta can retire at his castle. But against expectations, Rieta proves to be a clever, competent, and recklessly loyal mage with layers and layers of grief, trauma, and survivor's guilt that Killian has to learn to navigate on top of the power imbalance in between them. Also there's this whole thing where Rieta's daughter issues remind Killian of his mom issues... they're both so traumatized and I love that for them.
Came here for the hurt/comfort, stayed for the ladies of the bedchamber. This comic has so! Many! Women! And it's definitely one where I find all of the characters interesting and the dialogue riveting, especially from the point where Killian first interacts with the Empress. I'd actually be interested in physicals of this because there are so many parts I want to reread and the art is great.
(Am liveblogging this here.)
CW: Themes of grief and loss (of husband, child, and mother); implied past sexual abuse during Rieta's time with the count, and implied abuse in her time in the convent—but the story and the characters are more focused on the mental and emotional repercussions and healing from them.
The Tyrant's Only Perfumer by Fairydragon; art by Team Dead Shell
A fantasy romance webtoon where the FL’s skill is magical perfume-making, which is the kind of garbage I live for lmfao.
The first 40% was fun nonsense with over-the-top visualizations of what the scent profiles were like, and then the other 60% devolved into bland nonsense… But the art was pretty, and one has to respect the earnest Attempt to subvert genre tropes… It was just so loving! The writing was a mess but the heart was in the right place. And I feel like they could have made merch of this comic—dolls, real-life versions of the perfumes the FL makes, or maybe charms of the cute perfume bottles (since the FL apparently also has the magical ability to produce custom bottles at will)...
My favorite storyline was when the rival perfumer basically starts selling drugs (to monopolize the market by making everyone so addicted to her perfume!). The FL then concocts a perfume mixed with holy magic that instantly neutralizes the effects of drugs and cures addiction when you spritz it on people… the manhwa was never the same after that…
Saving My Sweetheart (also known as A Way to Protect the Lovable You) by Han Yujeong; webtoon adapted by Hound with art by Kim Jiei
In spite of the triteness of its title, this is actually a pretty solid and fast-paced ensemble-cast shoujo fantasy canon with regression plot + loyalty kink.
Plot: Leticia has lived her whole life abused and villainized by her mother, the revered divine ruler St. Josephine. She is put under a curse and married off to a king who hates her, but they end up falling in love before the curse leads to their tragic deaths. The goddess Danyta makes a wager and returns Leticia to the point before her marriage and after she is cursed—she has a six-month deadline to kill her husband or the curse will take her life.
The story takes place in the "fix-it" timeline where Leticia has her Goddess's promise that she will be happy this time round. But first, she has to awaken as the true Saint, gather nine loyal sorcerers who will bind themselves to her, and defeat her mother. She and her husband also have to practice honesty and have a proper relationship instead of being martyrs for each other. MOST IMPORTANTLY, the good guys (including Leticia herself) have no qualms about killing and torturing people, which is really nice... And even though the happy ending is assured, there's still a lot of tension in the plot... And some great knives... And interesting developments where the Wings are completely devoted to Leticia, in good terms with each other, but politically at odds with each other. I enjoyed the side characters and their interactions so much I can't pick a favorite.
The last act doesn't wrap up very neatly (I still don't understand how Julius' death was this big Canon Event when it seemed he just went out of the way to antagonize Josephine; and the awakening of the eighth Wing felt phoned-in), but it's still emotionally satisfying. And while the webtoons have finished adapting the main story, there are still upcoming extras.
CW: Multiple domestic abuse storylines; the comics have warnings at the beginnings of the relevant chapters.
The story takes place in the "fix-it" timeline where Leticia has her Goddess's promise that she will be happy this time round. But first, she has to awaken as the true Saint, gather nine loyal sorcerers who will bind themselves to her, and defeat her mother. She and her husband also have to practice honesty and have a proper relationship instead of being martyrs for each other. MOST IMPORTANTLY, the good guys (including Leticia herself) have no qualms about killing and torturing people, which is really nice... And even though the happy ending is assured, there's still a lot of tension in the plot... And some great knives... And interesting developments where the Wings are completely devoted to Leticia, in good terms with each other, but politically at odds with each other. I enjoyed the side characters and their interactions so much I can't pick a favorite.
The last act doesn't wrap up very neatly (I still don't understand how Julius' death was this big Canon Event when it seemed he just went out of the way to antagonize Josephine; and the awakening of the eighth Wing felt phoned-in), but it's still emotionally satisfying. And while the webtoons have finished adapting the main story, there are still upcoming extras.
CW: Multiple domestic abuse storylines; the comics have warnings at the beginnings of the relevant chapters.
Like Wind on a Dry Branch by Dalsaeowl; art by Hwaeum
This is ongoing and free to read on Webtoons.Com and I'm so invested in this I'm taking my time reading it so I don't run out of chapters. It's a pretty hard one to sell, though, since it opens with a very bleak scene: Our FL, Rieta, has lost her husband to plague, her daughter to slave traders, and is presently drugged out of her mind, about to buried alive with the corpse of an evil count. Killian, the exiled prince and archduke of Axias, finds the practice distasteful and pays off the family so that Rieta can retire at his castle. But against expectations, Rieta proves to be a clever, competent, and recklessly loyal mage with layers and layers of grief, trauma, and survivor's guilt that Killian has to learn to navigate on top of the power imbalance in between them. Also there's this whole thing where Rieta's daughter issues remind Killian of his mom issues... they're both so traumatized and I love that for them.
Came here for the hurt/comfort, stayed for the ladies of the bedchamber. This comic has so! Many! Women! And it's definitely one where I find all of the characters interesting and the dialogue riveting, especially from the point where Killian first interacts with the Empress. I'd actually be interested in physicals of this because there are so many parts I want to reread and the art is great.
(Am liveblogging this here.)
CW: Themes of grief and loss (of husband, child, and mother); implied past sexual abuse during Rieta's time with the count, and implied abuse in her time in the convent—but the story and the characters are more focused on the mental and emotional repercussions and healing from them.
no subject
have you seen Who Stole the Empress? Icy competent empress gets deposed, tortured and left to die by her evil husband, a general from the other country picks her up and basically swears fealty to her. there's also an inexplicable healing powers soulbond and lot of high-concept nonsense, but it's fun (and the empress has a lot of loyal ladies she calls on to intrigue). the first season is all post-traumatic bonding and it's done, the second part is Get the Empire Back arc, in process now.
no subject
Yeah I'd recommend Sweetheart for something that classically feels like anime, and Wind for a slower and more emotionally complex burn with storytelling that's carefully designed for the medium.
no subject
yay, I hope you like it! oh, but I didn't the tw: the heroine has serious suicidal ideation post-rescue and makes several attempts, but they sort it out pretty quickly.
no subject