Recent-ish webtoons (mostly Manta)

[halfcactus]

Shamelessly just copy/pasting the stuff I wrote on comment sections. I subbed to Manta for a month because you get a discounted price + gems on your first month (Manta's system is now a hybrid model of subscription access and purchase through in-app gems) and I wanted the gems for the orca BL which just started serializing in English and is gem-only.

Killer Whale Protocol (ongoing): Modern-day m/m romance by the creator of my favorite manhwa, Goldiluck the Black Kitten. Spoiler: I don't like it as much as Goldiluck, but I guess that's to be expected.

The vibes are a bit like Shape of the Water but with standard BL tropes (I think! I confess I have never actually seen Shape of the Water). The MC is a new hire in a research facility that deals with aquatic animals that don't seem quite right. He is a lover of killer whales and starts visiting and feeding the neglected killer whale that lives in a deserted tank as part of his destressing ritual. The killer whale likes to hang out with the MC and snack on the MC's bullies when the MC isn't looking. One of the bullies is his rapist from high school, so while this arc was painful to get through, at least we know there is cold-blooded comeuppance.

CW: Rape (past), attempted rape (present)

The Iron Inside: f/f dystopia set in post-apocalyptic Seoul where everyone lives in an underground base. The story beats reminded me of a mix of Wandering Earth, Little Mushroom, and Snowpiercer, but with more eugenics since all the survivors are handpicked "elites". Inexplicably men went extinct so the only way to repopulate was to wake up cryogenically frozen humans as needed. I found the characters and relationships interesting (the FL is rightfully resented by the community since she's sleeping with the director and getting special treatment) but the worldbuilding and timeline confused me and made me curious about the novel. It was really short (> 40 chapters) and the art was great so for all its strangeness I don't regret reading it!

Semantic Error: m/m modern-day campus enemies-to-lovers romance between a computer science major and his visual design major sunbae. Loved the first two (out of three) seasons a lot but I struggle to continue things when I've paused them, however brief. The graphic design parts (exhibit A, exhibit B) had me cackling.

When Fate Finds Us: m/f romantasy where the FL has been marked as the bride of the god and is destined to be sacrificed to him imminently. She has the ability to see fragments of the future when she touches people, so she's regarded as a prized prophet when she's in fact treated as a prisoner in the temple. The ML helps her break out of the temple in exchange for her help in locating a family heirloom. The vibes so far are part Tangled, part fantasy anime, mostly enjoyable, but again, I paused it momentarily so idk when to get back.

风之咒 The Wind Spell: f/f (fish/fucker) dark fantasy set in the 17th century. It appears that the MC is some sort of witch (whose medium is a rope) and the FL is a vicious mermaid? I have only read like 2 pages so I can't really talk about the story but omg I am obsesseeeeeeeeed with this artist's art (their other comic appears to be a baihe about a lady and her maid). Vibes-wise, reminds me of Your Eternal Lies.

Comments

[profiterole_reads]

Exhibit B is so real! XDDD