Manhwas Ranked

I've read too many manhwas and these are my unsolicited reviews

[caterpillarbarry]

Welcome!

Order and categories of my tier list rankings

Literary masterpiece - my curated list of the best of the best

Make it a bestseller - still great, just short of reaching the top spot

Scratches an itch - average but overall still positive, could re-read if I wanted to

Once is enough - at least I finished it? Would not read it again and probably would not recommend

Absolute shambles - should not have wasted my time reading, wouldn't wish it on my enemies

My two cents

These are just my dumb opinions and you are completely entitled to think they're wrong and have opposing views - it's fine for people to have different tastes. And feel free to share your comments and thoughts, I'm always happy to receive them.

While I may mention certain triggering themes/tropes in my reviews, I am not explicitly stating the trigger warnings of these manhwas so please research that on your own before you choose to read a manhwa, especially if that's something that you're sensitive to. I also try to avoid spoilers as much as I can but sometimes it's difficult to give an honest review without revealing some aspects of the story so proceed with caution.

All manhwas here have at least a completed main story because that's the only proper way to judge them. And I'm re-reading 99% of them to give a fair review instead of just based on my shoddy memory.

BONUS: Here I write my additional musings and thoughts on anything and everything manhwa-related

List of Reviews

Literary masterpiece

Lost in the Cloud

BJ Alex

Painter of the Night

XXX Buddy

Someone Else's BL Comic

Punch Drunk Love

The Beast Must Die

Under the Greenlight

Make it a bestseller

Driver's High

Heesu in Class 2

In Cold Love

Mad Dog [Celebrating Author Haribo-nim!]

Fools

Scratches an itch

Sweet Spot

Unromantic Romance

Third Ending

Cherry Blossom After Winter

Secondo Piatto

Park Hanhoo's Manager

4 Week Lovers

Love History caused by Wilful Negligence

My Calypso

The Spooky Love Tale of Gongchan Seol

At the End of the Road [Celebrating Author Hairbo-nim!]

Once is enough

Summertime

Dear Benjamin

Mayday Mayday Mayday!

Written in the Stars

The Big Apple

Beware the Ides of March

Wouldn't it be Nice

Absolute Shambles

The Keystone Romantic Combination

[caterpillarbarry]

Wouldn't it be Nice

Once is Enough

Tropes: friends to lovers, golden retriever type, college romance, comedy

In essence, this manhwa is really just dead average. It's characters are likeable enough. there is some semblance of a plot, the art is actually pretty good. It could be argued to be ranked one category above, but one thing I could not get over is that it is really smut over substance. And I think it just crosses the point where I would not want to read this again.

There really is not much else to say about this manhwa. It is a nice friends to lovers story. It is mostly fluff and comedy with parts of angst and misunderstandings sprinkled in. The characters are one-note and superficial - Hyobin is your popular spunky outgoing golden-retriever type who was completely clueless about his best friend's feelings and Gichan is the soft spoken gentle giant best friend who has harboured those unrequited feelings all these years (and tbh does get quite pushy at parts if you know what I mean). The plot is as basic as it gets for a friends to lovers story, but the pacing really derailed my overall reading experience. The very sudden jump to physical intimacy and smut was so fast and unrealistic that I really couldn't take anything else in the story seriously. Every NSFW interaction after that just didn't really make sense to me. It didn't feel like a coherent story and at some point it really just became a vehicle for smut. There are worse out there for sure but I probably would not want to read this again.

[caterpillarbarry]

Fools

Make it a Bestseller

Tropes: college, coming-of-age, slice of life, kuudere

My first honest thought reading this was - this is kinda Heesu from Heesu in Class 2 but in college. And my next thought reading this was - how is this not more popular! I’ve been reading a lot of action-packed manhwas (as you can tell) that I kinda needed a break, and picking this up again was so worth it. I wouldn’t describe it as fluffy in the way that Heesu in Class 2 is because it has its fair share of angst, but its just so raw that it really stirs all the feels and emotions in you. 

Starting with the characters, they were very realistic. They are flawed but in a very human way that made them extremely relatable. Jeongwoo first comes off as quite immature and insecure, almost unlikeable at parts. But alot of these were shown through his own thoughts and internal dialogue which actually makes him very instrospective and self-aware of his own shortcomings. He is young (like 20!), and alot of these thoughts and actions are exactly what I would expect from someone of that age, who had gone through what he went through. It was a very believable depiction of a young person going through the turmoils of young love, and he feels like a real guy so you're really rooting for his growth. Eungi is also characterised very well. He is more mature than Jeongwoo but still has his fair share of insecurities, being overly cautious and constantly second-guessing things. But again, given what he went through in the past, all these would be quite expected. He kinda just feels like a very real guy navigating a new relationship while trying to move on from his traumatic past. The characters were definitely the best part of this story for me. The way they're written makes them feel like they could be someone you know in your life (or you could even see abit of yourself in them) and I absolutely love that. The chemistry between the two also completely carried the entire story - it was just tense and gripping in the all the right ways.

The plot was quite standard for the college/school-life genre of manhwas, nothing too complicated. There was enough exciting conflicts (mainly pertaining to the main characters’ pasts) to keep the story moving forward and keep the readers engaged. There’s a fair bit of the misunderstanding trope which I think is generally unavoidable in these genres, but it was never over-the-top and it never dragged on for too long to the point that it became annoying, so I really appreciated that. This is still, at the end of the day, a very character-driven story where the point of it was to see these characters grow and develop, to see them move on from their past and fall in love. It’s a simple plot but one that works. 

Something that I did feel was lacking though, was the focus on Eungi’s acceptance of a same-sex relationship and I sort of wished that the story would touch a little bit more on the ‘coming out’ for both characters. I think it would have been fine if it was completely excluded from the story, but the problem for me was that they actually did bring up these themes and issues throughout the story and it was sometimes even central to the characters (e.g. Jeongwoo at multiple points in the story would mention the differences and frustrations in dating for a same-sex couple vs a heterosexual one, or his sister constantly assuring him not to care about what others think and to just be himself, or his conversations with Eungi about how he first reacted to the idea of being in a same-sex relationship for the first time). So because it was brought up, it then felt like something was all the more lacking when these issues were not delved into properly. Having said that, I did think that the overall plot lines and character arcs tied together very nicely at the end and I didn't feel like this particular issue took away much from the story. 

My favourite thing about Fools is the art style which just might be my favourite one out there. I’m a huge sucker for black-white with hints of colour, and an even bigger sucker for colour theory done well. The art is just absolutely beautiful and likely the main reason why this story is ranked so highly on my list. It really positively contributed to my reading experience, there were times when I found myself re-reading chapters over again just to appreciate the art. Bakdam is a talented genius and I’m just really on edge waiting for their next work!

Overall, this was a good read, I enjoyed it and by the end, it left me wanting more with side stories which I think is an indicator of how invested I was in the characters and their story. It is very much of its genre, but having said that, I would strongly recommend it.

P.S. Yes I have read Love or Hate. Yes the art is stunning. Yes I will re-read it and review it properly another time (this one’s definitely going to be a tougher read though heh)

[caterpillarbarry]

Under the Greenlight

Literary Masterpiece

Tropes: badass uke, action, gangster, underworld, tsundere, yandere (sort of), childhood backstory, age gap

Under the Greenlight is one of the best manhwas I have ever read. It is the perfect example of an intricately produced piece of art where every aspect of it that is just so cohesive and balanced. It was so overwhelmingly good that I literally needed a whole day after I finished reading it to allow myself to recover and let the emotional whirlwind in my mind to settle. I’m not even sure if any words I use can really do it justice but I guess I will try (sorry in advance, this review will be long but I promise it’s worth it). 

Jin is one of my favourite characters to ever exist. He is a complete badass power bottom who is fierce, ruthless and sassy but also has a soft side buried deep inside him. He has been completely put through the wringer and suffered so so much but still remains ever so strong. Matthew on the other hand, is the sweet, unassuming, golden-retriever top who also has a creepy and obsessive side to him, and would do literally anything to protect Jin. They’re both amazing characters and a part of why they’re great is because they are layered and flawed in a way that’s coherent and consistent to who they are. There were many instances where these characters made bad and hurtful decisions, or let their irrational emotions completely take over — but these happened in a way that made sense given everything they had gone through in the past and everything they were going through now. And that’s really where the plot comes in. 

These characters were developed and shaped through the plot of the story - their growth and arcs occurred as a result of all their past and current experiences. And the way the author delivers this - by intertwining the backstories with the current plot line, whilst showing how everything affected and moulded these characters, was so amazingly well-done. Other parts of the writing that I liked included the more subtle and nuanced style of storytelling. For example, on top of the usual expository flashback scenes, the author would tell pieces of the backstories through conversations between the characters. Or another example was how Jin and Brandon’s relationship was never explicitly fleshed out until the very end, but there were enough subtle cues earlier on to piece everything together. I also loved how the present-day plot line was actually vital in the overarching arcs of the characters. The story starts off with a new project that initially felt like just a random new development in Jin’s life but quickly pans out to be the culmination of unresolved conflict, feelings and attachments that had been brewing beneath the surface, and now places Jin at the crossroads. I also loved the concept of the dream pills, and how this parallels what the characters were going through. The art was also absolutely beautiful and fully sets the tone of the story, enhances the emotions of the scenes and just ties everything together. Basically, this was like a full circle story with everything coming together at the end, and all round genius storytelling.

Additionally, Under the Greenlight is a masterclass in excellent pacing. Sure it already has all the makings to be a great manhwa, but what makes it truly stand out is its immaculate pacing that completely elevates the entire story. I’m not going to pretend like I know anything about what goes into pacing a story, but all I know is that reading it just feels extremely smooth and the sequence of events feels natural. The overall dark and gritty tone of the manhwa was consistent throughout even until the very end. The soft, fluffy and lighthearted parts came in at just the right time to break the heaviness of certain plotlines and allows the readers a glimpse into what we hoped will be the light at the end of the tunnel, but it never drags on for too long such that it feels out of place. The angsty climaxes again came in at the right time after a good build-up and linger for just the perfect duration for us to feel the palpable pain and anguish (which I will definitely talk more about later). Even the unintended long hiatus after the cliff-hanger ending on season 1 ended up being a good thing for the story because the payoff when season 2 finally came out was just unimaginably good.  The main thing about having good pacing, is that it adds weight not just to these characters’ decisions and actions, but also to their words and the overall plot. Good pacing makes you feel the right emotions for the right amount of time and that keeps you, as a reader, wholly engaged and invested.

And so let me segue here to talk about the angsty parts of this story as I had promised. I don’t know if it was truly just the pacing or the art style or a combination of everything, but the angst in this story was so viscerally painful. During the angsty scenes, I could literally feel the anguish behind every word and every emotion of these characters. It was so palpable that at parts, my heart physically ached just from reading. There was an episode that I read one morning before work which turned out to be potentially the most angsty climax of the story, and it completely took over my entire day, the scene just kept replaying on my mind. There were many moments like that and if that’s not a hallmark of good writing, I don’t know what is. 

Under the Greenlight is beautiful and painful and beautiful in all of its pain. I don’t think there’s any other way to describe it apart from a complete masterpiece.

[caterpillarbarry]

Beware the Ides of March

Once is Enough

Tropes: gangster, cop/police, trauma, crime, action, yandere (sort-of)

When an ex-gangster convict, who wants nothing more than to move on and lead a quiet life as a florist, meets a corrupt hedonistic cop.

I’ve read this recently enough to not have to re-read it a second time just for this review because, what the heck did I just read right now? I truly only have one criticism for this manhwa and that’s the random whiplash 180 degrees change in genre at the end of season 1 that left me completely confused for next 3 seasons. This story started off as some gritty action story about a corrupt crooked cop (Nakwon) with an ex-gang leader (Mokhwa) whom he took advantage of and now has taken a liking to. It really committed to setting the scene for this - we’re talking about violence, sexual assault, kidnapping, tragic backstory and even more violence. There’s a mystery element with the looming threat of Mokhwa’s ex crime boss returning, and lots of action scenes in between. But then from season 2 onwards, it suddenly switched into some fluffy romance story with a 3-season chasing arc. We’re talking about cute interactions, swoon-worthy moments, celebrating holidays, romantic getaways, grand love gestures and just 3 seasons of Nakwon’s insane internal monologuing of how he has fallen in love and must now get Mokhwa to love him back. And I probably could have forgiven all of that if they had just circled back to the crime/gangster/action-mystery plot line, but they just never did. Mind you, I read this while it was still ongoing, and at every new chapter and every new season I was just anxiously waiting for the other shoe to drop. I honestly felt like I was going crazy being strung along for 100+ chapters being like: “ok, the ex crime boss is gonna come back the next season and ruin things” or “ok the angst is coming soon I can feel it”. But nothing happened, it truly just turned into some fluffy romance story.

And while some people could get on board with the sudden fluffy romance (I mean we all naturally want to, no one is really out here trying to actively seek out angst and pain), I simply couldn’t. It’s just a huge disservice to the world-building and the characters that have already been set up. There was a lot poured into the characterisation of Mokhwa and Nakwon at the start, and into the world they live in — their personalities, their backstories, their trauma and how everything got them to where they are. To then choose to ignore all that, and spend the next 3 seasons trying to write a chasing arc and character development arcs without addressing these aspects of their stories just didn’t make sense. To expect these characters to move on to a ‘honeymoon’ stage of their lives without having a proper conclusion to all the unsettled parts of their lives didn’t make sense, and it showed. It culminated in Nakwon’s redemption arc feeling completely undeserved, or at least requiring 3 whole seasons for it to be even remotely passable to the general reader. His redemption arc was just him incessantly pestering Mokhwa with cringe romantic gestures while non-stop internal monologuing about his tortured unrequited love until Mokhwa just kinda finally gave in? It felt drawn out yet jarring and out of place at the same time. And it was such a huge waste of potential because they could have done so much more with the material that they set up in the first season to get a much more fulfilling storyline. Nakwon could have thought he lost Mokhwa to the ex crime boss to make him realise that he was actually no different from the latter in the first place, or he could have been ruined by the ex crime boss (maybe get his job taken away) so that he could truly reach rock bottom and grow for his redemption. Mokhwa obviously should have had to face his ex crime boss head on in order to properly leave that world in his past and learn to put his self-worth in something new. Literally anything to conclude their stories before they moved on would have been better than what we got, and it would probably have only taken 1 season or less.

(this was literally on the last chapter i.e. still not resolved)

There are really great parts to this story which is what makes this one blemish so frustrating - except it’s not one blemish, it’s a whole ass freaking bucket. The art is really beautiful. Mokhwa and Nakwon’s characters are actually quite layered and I found Nakwon’s narcissism characterisation quite interesting. The dialogue (well, mainly internal monologues) were actually very well-written and well-translated - it really conveyed the emotions of the characters clearly. But honestly, none of that matters because it could not overcome the travesty of the overall story. Me being constantly on edge waiting for a climax-conclusion to what was promised at the start (which never came btw) was basically my entire experience reading this and that was not enjoyable in the slightest. This may be a tad too scathing of a review but it’s because the wounds are still fresh and I would definitely not be revisiting this one again.

[caterpillarbarry]

Mad Dog

Make it a Bestseller

Celebrating Author Haribo-nim!

Welcome to my newest series, Celebrating Author Haribo-nim! Haribo-nim writes a very specific story genre with very distinct style and they’re one of my favourites. In light of their new series that’s coming out right now: ‘My Refuge’, I decided to do a Haribo-nim readathon - to read and review their past works. This is a 2-part series featuring: At the End of the Road and Mad Dog. Enjoy!

Tropes: mobster, mafia, psychological, trauma, action, yandere, tsundere

Just like in my earlier review, I just wanted to set the context of Haribo-nim's very distinct style. On top of a very unique art style, Haribo-nim's stories are distinguished by their hallmark character and plot topes. For their characters, there's the fiesty, tsundere power bottom MC and the unhinged, crazy, yandere ML. While this seems like quite a typical manhwa trope, there is an added layer to Haribo-nim's characters. The MC often has a very soft and kind, almost weak side to them, and the ML, while insinuated to be a black flag, is often actually more yellow in reality. It's a subtle layer to the characters that's pulled off very well. In terms of hallmark plot tropes, there are quite a few, including: the traumatic and abusive childhood backstories, the action-packed main story with lots of fighting and plot twists, and that psychological tag that is well-deserved but doesn't try to do too much and doesn't glorify problematic issues. Again, common tropes that are layered and balanced and just everything I love.

Mad Dog has all the classic hallmarks of a Haribo-nim story which goes to show just how consistent the author is. There’s Hamin, the son of a mafia mob boss who wants nothing to do with the criminal world. He is kind and righteous, seeking out an ordinary life, but also tough and feisty, not afraid to fight and stand up for himself. I do like Hamin's character more than Taemin from At the End of the Road because he feels more coherent overall, and his actions were more consistent. He is also painted out as this simple guy just trying to live his best ordinary life and that felt very relatable - you're really rooting for him to succeed. And then there’s Sehyuk, the psychopathic black flag yandere who is everything you would expect of the character. He is obsessive in his lifelong mission to obtain Hamin, and completely unhinged and violent in his role as the right hand man of Hamin’s father. Again, classic of Haribo-nim’s characters, as much as he flaunts his black flag behaviour through his words, he never actually does anything that drastic - maybe just some light manipulation at most that really comes across more as an orange flag than anything. The characters are well-written, charismatic and absolutely likeable. They have great chemistry, a sort of playful nature between them that is fun and makes for some good comedic scenes. (Kinda like a black cat x golden retriever type, except instead of a golden retriever, it’s a pit bull terrier who would kill everyone else around him). There’s no smut in the main story but the romantic and sexual tension between the two is just pure *chef's kiss*. And the side stories do not disappoint.

The plot also has all the hallmarks of a Haribo-nim story. This time, delving into the organised crime underworld, which means all the typical traumatic/TW stuff. It also means that Sehyuk gets to actually be way more of an unhinged violent psychopath and I kinda like that. Apart from that, it’s an exciting ride with nothing too overly complicated in the plot which allowed the characters and their chemistry to really shine through and carry the story. The mystery and action aspects of the story were well-developed. The childhood traumatic backstory is expected of a Haribo-nim piece of work but I liked that the relationship between the characters developed somewhat independently of their past history. The conclusion also wrapped up really well and the ending was satisfying enough.

Unlike At the End of the Road, I truly have no gripes with anything in this story at all. There’s nothing in this story that I didn’t enjoy and I really can’t find much fault with it. I have seen some comments criticising the ending after the side stories, saying that it was abrupt and that they expected to see more of the domestic aspects of the characters' lives but I didn’t really feel that was very essential. In fact, I thought that drawn out side stories would have felt out of place with the overall vibe of the story. Some people also commented that the author went for a more produced, basic story compared to At the End of the Road which was a little more edgy (the body swap plot line is definitely a lot more unique compared to this mafia gang-war plot in Mad Dog). I do agree with this at parts, but again I don’t necessarily think this is a bad thing. I felt that it helped to make the story less overly-complicated, more character-driven and thus, able to have a satisfying ending which I really appreciated compared to its counterpart. It does lack that little extra flair to for me to consider it in my top ranking though, but it is definitely still an amazing read nonetheless and I would strongly recommend.

P.S. I cannot get over the gorgeous art style.

[caterpillarbarry]

At the End of the Road

Scratches an Itch

Celebrating Author Haribo-nim!

Welcome to my newest series, Celebrating Author Haribo-nim! Haribo-nim writes a very specific story genre with very distinct style and they’re one of my favourites. In light of their new series that’s coming out right now: ‘My Refuge’, I decided to do a Haribo-nim readathon - to read and review their past works. This is a 2-part series featuring: At the End of the Road and Mad Dog. Enjoy!

Tropes: supernatural, body-swap, psychological, trauma, action, revenge, yandere, tsundere

Now before I start this review proper, I just wanted to set the context of Haribo-nim's very distinct style. On top of a very unique art style, Haribo-nim's stories are distinguished by their hallmark character and plot topes. For their characters, there's the fiesty, tsundere power bottom MC and the unhinged, crazy, yandere ML. While this seems like quite a typical manhwa trope, there is an added layer to Haribo-nim's characters. The MC often has a very soft and kind, almost weak side to them, and the ML, while insinuated to be a black flag, is often actually more yellow in reality. It's a subtle layer to the characters that's pulled off very well. In terms of hallmark plot tropes, there are quite a few, including: the traumatic and abusive childhood backstories, the action-packed main story with lots of fighting and plot twists, and that psychological tag that is well-deserved but doesn't try to do too much and doesn't glorify problematic issues. Again, common tropes that are layered and balanced and just everything I love.

At the End of the Road has all the makings of a typical Haribo-nim piece of work. Taemin is your typical MC - feisty and fierce but sometimes reckless and almost debilitatingly kind and noble (yet also not annoying which can sometimes happen with such characters). Woojin is the typical ML - crazy sociopathic yandere who spouts unhinged toxic stuff all the time but is also a pretty huge romantic who is rather affectionate towards Taemin and actually kinda respects his boundaries. He can be completely unhinged one moment and then goes on to say the most romantic lines ever at the next (see below), you'd almost think the story suddenly switched genres. Their yandere characters are always so convincing because they do show their possessiveness and toxicity but it never gets taken too far. And I think this is what I like most about Haribo-nim's characters, you can rely on them being likeable.

The plot is also very riveting. Again, it checks all the plot tropes of a Haribo-nim story. The mystery element is great to keep you engage and you’re rooting for the characters till the very end. The TW/traumatic themes are intense but are treated appropriately as 'crimes' and not glorified. The chemistry between the characters was also off the charts. The art and writing really brought out the romantic and sexual tension between the characters and that was a major compelling part of the story. The art itself may be an acquired taste for some but I think it's gorgeous, it feels authentic and not over-produced or basic.

However, the biggest issue I had with this story, and what led me to struggle so hard with its ranking, is the ending - more specifically, the conclusion of the antagonists. Unlike some stories, this one has real antagonists and without giving any spoilers away, they are truly messed up and evil and have done some heinous crimes, which were actually treated as such for 99% of the story. These actions were regarded as crimes and the accurate terms were used to describe them throughout, unlike some other stories that may not call things out for what they actually are to play down the seriousness of the situation (not using specific examples cause trying not to spoil). Even almost at the very end, Taemin is literally berating the antagonist for not learning his lesson, for acting like a victim and not owning up to his crimes to receive the proper consequence of his actions. And yet, that was the extent of it. None of the antagonists receive any proper consequence or punishment and what happens to them was never really explored either. It really felt like there was no conclusion to a story that you've been on edge for the entire time.

This was really one of the most difficult rankings I've ever had to do so far. The story and characters feel a level above the rest of the manhwas I've listed in 'Scratches an Itch' and I truly love it for the most parts, but the ending and conclusion was so unsatisfying that it's impossible to overlook. Hence, it's spot on this ranking.

P.S. Maybe I'll have to create some sub-ranks within 'Scratches an Itch' to give this the proper appreciation it deserves but we'll see.

P.P.S. Also low key, I really really couldn't get over the fact that we were robbed of Taemin's original body design - the parts where we were shown what we could have gotten if Taemin remained in his original body was truly a slap in the face

[caterpillarbarry]

The Spooky Love Tale of Gongchan Seol

Scratches an Itch

Tropes: Neighbours to lovers, Supernatural, Horror, Ghosts, Psychological (sort of), Yandere (sort of), Grumpy (sort of)-Sunshine

A romance between scaredy-cat horror novelist Gongchan and his neighbour - as they both start seeing ghosts together! This story, to me, felt like another wasted potential. Season 1 was extremely intriguing and unique. The set-up was done really well and the overarching supernatural/horror theme fit perfectly with the story. They build up the relationship between the characters well and laid out how their lives were starting to intertwine, all while also developing the mystery horror plot of trying to understand what exactly was happening to these characters. The characters were really lovable and the tension and chemistry between them was good. I liked that the male lead, Youngmin had a dark, creepy vibe to him because it suit the story's theme well, and his mild yandere-ness was a fitting touch. His personality contrasted really well with the main character, Gongchan, who definitely was a huge ball of sunshine. The overall premise was good and I was fully invested. Season 2 however was a huge let-down. The story kind of derailed from the interesting horror plot set-up to the usual basic manhwa tropes? There's the very sus 2nd male lead, miscommunication, jealousy and random annoying drama that shifted the focus of the story. I also really hated the plot twist at the end and felt that it was unnecessary and didn't really contribute to the story at all so the ending was weird. The lack of side stories also meant no full closure after a rather drab second season. It was fun for the most part, but overall, an okay read.

[caterpillarbarry]

In Cold Love

Make it a Bestseller

Tropes: Reincarnation and past life, fantasy, creatures, historical, office romance

When Chaewool's boss and the person he has been completely in love with suddenly dies, he must journey to discover the truth behind their relationship and what the future will hold. In Cold Love was a really strange but surprisingly good read. Here’s how I would describe my journey reading the story: confused and kinda weirded out > more confusion > sweetness overload > tears overload > abit more confusion > back to sweetness overload and tears of joy. I think that the strength of this story really is not so much in the characters themselves but in their chemistry, and not so much in the actual plot but in the storytelling and themes - which is something so unique. Not a lot of manhwas do this and I’m so much more used to liking manhwas with deep characters and emotionally/psychologically complex plots so this was abit of a curveball, but my conclusion is that I liked it! 

The characters are not very deep or complex. Chaewool, the MC, has a very clear characterisation and it’s not all that layered - he is soft, gentle and kind yet brave, strong and firm in what everything he does and everything he believes in.  Chaeheon, the ML, is abit more layered in that he is struggling with some emotionally complex themes but I felt that’s more representative of the themes explored by the story than of the character himself. He is fiercely passionate, devoted and a complete embodiment of being overwhelmingly in love. But what makes the characters really stand out is their chemistry with each other and the yearning. I think it’s a combination of the art, dialogue and narrative but it’s done so well. The deep romance and yearning is really so palpable that my heart literally aches at parts reading this, there were moments where I want the characters to be real because I want their love to be real. I think this is the most compelling part of the story and I think it’s probably the best depiction of this out there. 

The plot is a little complicated and requires repeated readings at parts, as well as trawling through comments to try to understand it better. But because everything else was so good, it’s an acceptable flaw that didnt really take me out of my reading experience. I think the best part about the plot is the strong use of ‘traditional’ literary themes which isn’t done very often in manhwas (instead usually exchanged for popular ‘cheap’ tropes - which, don’t get me wrong, I also love). I feel that exploring the themes of this manhwa deserves a separate post on its own but very briefly -  they delve deeply into exploring the pursuit of happiness, the meaning of love, the meaning of life and reality, and immortality. While this is a mostly serious manhwa with clearly serious content, it still somehow remains lighthearted and even funny at parts. Some of the side characters are funny and lovable, but Chaheon himself has an innocently adorable side to him and some of his internal conflict is shown with comedic undertones. My favourite part is when he rejoined back Chaewool’s office and him trying so hard to (but failing) to convince himself that he is not trying to win Chaewool over, that Chaewool does not like him back, and that making contact with Chaewool was the best way to properly distance himself and leave (lol). He was truly acting like a complete mess and I love it.

One of the more puzzling things for me reading this is that I took a little break from reading at the end of season 1 as I was busy, but then it was so difficult to get back into it. I procrastinated it a lot, and every time I try to start reading it again, I would find myself getting distracted by other things - it took a while before I really got back into it. I started to wonder if this was an indication that this manhwa was bad or boring but that’s really not the case. I think it’s just really different. This story doesn’t have a true antagonist or a journey or even really an arc per se. They’re just 2 beings in love, fighting the omniscient circumstances that they’re in to be together, and that’s really the entire story. It’s different but in a fresh, novel kind of way. I really enjoyed this and would highly recommend.

P.S. Just an additional point that  I feel is worth mentioning but HEAVY spoilers ahead. 

I feel like the immortal beings-reincarnation trope can sometimes be abit dicey. Often these immortal beings encounter their human counterparts as children as part of the reincarnation process and if this isn’t done well, it’s extremely unsettling and uncomfortable, if not just completely wrong. In this story however, I felt that it was done quite respectfully. They fell in love and developed their relationship first very clearly as adults and their paths as soulmates started after. The time that Chaeheon spent with young Chaewool was quite brief and minimal and they made his motivation and role very clear — Chaeheon was essentially seeing the man that he’s eternally in love with getting badly abused as a child and so he rescued him, protected him and took care of him enough for him to survive, which I feel is a completely rational and valid thing for anyone to do. Additionally, Chaeheon knew from the start that it was best for young Chaewool to lead a ‘normal’ life and so Chaeheon sent him off the minute he had recovered and once he figured out the best way to give Chaewool that life. There was no point at all that it felt like he was raising young Chaewool which I thought was a really important distinction that the story made. Their relationship felt very soulmates / guardian angel -ish vibes and the transition back to romance between the two felt seamless, natural and (given Chaeheon’s endless pining) very earned. For a tutorial on how NOT to write a reincarnation story, you can check out Dawn of the Dragon - which I will separately review another time.

[caterpillarbarry]

The Big Apple

Once is Enough

Tropes: fantasy, action, secret agents, yandere, toxic

This manhwa really wasn’t for me. I can’t remember anything from my first time reading it and I almost couldn’t finish it the second time round. I think the biggest problem this manhwa had was a complete lack of direction in both the characters and the plot.

The characters had zero depth. After reading the entire manhwa, I still don’t feel like I know who Juergen or Joachim are as people at all. They don’t even have a personality or any motivations so their actions and reactions just didn’t make sense to me. Let’s look at an example - their entire relationship conflict that lasted pretty much the whole manhwa. Firstly there was no reason why Juergen suddenly became a semi psycho yandere out of no where. I love a good yandere character even if it includes a lot of toxic and questionable behaviour but the art of a good yandere is in their portrayal - there has to be some build up of their underlying personality/backstory or just something to convince that yes, this person would act this way. Juergen didn’t have that. Then, there was no reason why Joachim became so hostile towards Juergen and so hell-bent on distancing himself from Juergen and leaving him. Sure, Joachim found out that Juergen was hiding secrets but so was he so that didn't make sense. And then also no reason why Joachim would suddenly change his mind about leaving Juergen and come to the realisation of wanting to be open about his feelings and wanting to now stay - it just suddenly happened after some angry rough sex? Nothing is explained, not even subtly, so nothing makes sense. The characters had no proper backstory, no personality and so no growth. They're also both frustrating and toxic and I had no interest in seeing them together.

This pattern of left field randomness is continued on in this fantasy plot except it’s now 10x worse because it’s not only difficult to follow what’s happening, but also so boring and under-developed that I’m really not invested to care. Things were happening for no reason at all, just for the sake of it. It felt like plot devices were randomly being sprinkled in whenever it was needed - here’s a dragon who’s trying to leave just because, here’s some random rules about awakening the new dragon that’s so random and arbitrary, here’s an enemy character who tried to kill Joachim and then now is cryptically helping him but god knows why, here’s the mobster gang that seems central to the entire conflict at the start but that you never hear about again after. This is just the non-spoiler version, and trust me: you’ll be left with way more questions than answers. There’s an art to building complex fantasy worlds and ingraining a riveting action plot line with a romance story while still making it reader-friendly - just look at Dear Door. This manhwa on the other hand, just completely fumbled the bag.

Now, I saw some comments comparing this with Red Candy (my all-time favourite manhwa) and I truly almost gouged my eyes out. Forget this sorry mess of a plot, forget these unlikeable characters and their complete lack of chemistry, forget all the plot holes and how nothing is explained properly. Forget all of that. But to compare Shihyeon (my all-time favourite character - see pfp), to Joachim (one of my all time least favourite character) is CRIMINAL. Shihyeon who (although socially and sexually kinda awkward) is always absolutely confident and badass whenever it comes to fighting or his physical abilities. He went alone and single-handedly took out an entire ballroom of bad guys. He’s the skilled agent fighter between him and Hajun so he’s the one protecting and rescuing him. When Shihyeon felt that he was putting Hajun’s life in danger, he made the very difficult but firm decision to properly leave him - he wiped his existence from Hajun’s life completely and fully disappeared without much of a trace. Even after Hajun (with a significant amount of effort) eventually found him, Shihyeon seduced him and literally tied him to a boat while he was asleep to send him away again. He’s extremely likeable - funny, cute and awkward at times but such a freaking badass who will protect those whom he loves. 

Joachim on the other hand is timid, has low self esteem and suffers from serious imposter syndrome. Him being made out to be some badass agent is not convincing at all and it shows since he has pretty much failed all his missions in the story. It would have been fine if he had more backstory or more of a personality or a character arc to show his growth, but he didn’t, this was just him the entire story Joachim also believes that he is a burden to Juergen and wants to leave him (just like Shihyeon), but apart from a lame attempt of him sneaking out from the apartment, he pretty much just whines internally about it the entire time and doesn’t actually do anything about it. Even the climax of the story was the biggest disservice to Joachim’s character - he fights a random crocodile monster and I guess kinda won but then passes out and then just woke up to everything being resolved; he barely did anything and yes the resolution of the entire story’s main plot happened ‘off screen’. 

I know Red Candy isn’t perfect (that’s for a separate review for another day), but one thing’s for sure, is that it’s leaps and bounds better than this and I just really needed to say my piece. Honestly, this was close to giving me a meltdown and I was self-reflecting to see if I was being too harsh in my review of The Big Apple just because of this (very wrong) comparison with Red Candy. But even barring all of that, in all honesty, I really would never want to read this again so once is enough.

[caterpillarbarry]

My Calypso

Scratches an Itch 

Tropes: Greek mythology, enemies to lovers (sort of), adventure, tsundere (sort of)

In a diving trip gone wrong, Hyung-Min is kidnapped and finds himself on a mythical Greek island with Calypso - is this a repeat of The Odyssey or something more?

To have a relatively accurate depiction of Greek mythology in a manhwa be THIS boring has to be some sort of a crime. The Greek mythology theme was probably my favourite part of this story and probably what saved it from getting a lower ranking. I liked the world building and the use of all the Greek mythology side characters, it was fun and unique and it definitely added to the story. The reference to The Odyssey was very enjoyable and I felt that really elevated the story - it wasn’t overdone that it took itself too seriously but it still respected the source material enough. But these are really the only good things that I have to say about this manhwa. The main characters were dull and written very superficially. They had had no character arcs or any personal growth. There was a semblance of a backstory for Calypso but it was more about The Odyssey than it was about his character. There was also completely no chemistry between him and the MC and I was extremely unconvinced of how they came to develop feelings for each other. The plot was even more boring. Nothing really felt high stakes and it’s such a waste because so much more could be done given its source material (which was a literal adventure journey). I feel like with such manhwas, smut can kinda come in to save things and maybe give the illusion of chemistry but there wasn’t even that. I didn’t really like this one but there was nothing violently wrong about it and I must say it’ll make me keep a keen lookout for other Greek-mythology themed works.

[caterpillarbarry]

The Beast Must Die

Literary Masterpiece

Tropes: psychological, psychopath, trauma, mystery, action, yandere, tsundere, revenge

A story about a boy seeking revenge for his sister and being willing to do just about anything to attain it, as his path crosses with a psychopath who (for the first time) has taken an interest in him.

The Beast Must Die accomplished what ‘Love History caused by Wilful Negligence’ wanted to but couldn’t.  It’s tells a revenge story with a clinically psychopathic character and it does it so well. 

The first best thing about this story are the characters. They are complex, deep, and insanely interesting. The main character is Kirin. He is out for revenge and he truly is willing to do anything to get it. He is a very layered character - he will go to the most extreme lengths, to even lose himself and his humanity, in order to attain his goal for revenge, but he still constantly struggles with his inner morality and guilt. The second part of his arc is him coming to terms with what it means to fall in love with a psychopath and how to navigate that very complicated relationship. He is so boldly willing to give up even his own life to be with Kang Moo but then sets boundaries and limitations to control his psychopathy, and again struggles with his own humanity and morality. Kirin is just an extremely complex character and the depiction of his thoughts and inner psyche was just done so well. Kang Moo on the other hand is a clinically-diagnosed psychopath and it’s almost scary how accurately he is portrayed. His character also goes through two arcs - him learning about the limits of his own self-control and trying to manage the beast inside him, and him figuring out his feelings and relationship towards Kirin. I absolutely love that even up until the end, he could never really truly love Kirin back in the traditional sense because of course he can’t, he's a psychopath. But you can still tell that he loves him in a way that makes sense for him. Him being a psychopath makes him a very troubled and unstable person but at no point in the story was he ever reduced to a simple manhwa trope and I love that. Yes he is still a yandere and a manipulative black flag but these traits were more of a manifestation of his characterisation than it being his entire personality/character trope as we see in most other manhwas. It’s subtle, it's nuanced and it’s just so good. 

The next best thing about this story is the plot which was amazing. It’s an action, dark, mystery. It’s thrilling till the very end and not predictable for even a minute. Even the side stories will keep you on edge. This is my second time reading and I’m still fully invested in the plot. There are trigger-warning scenes but I felt that these were treated with respect and again, never reduced to just another trope/plot device. I also absolutely appreciated how complete the character arcs were especially after the side stories. They really told these characters’ stories until the very end and it left me feeling very satisfied with how full circle everything came to be. 

My only issue with it is the art and writing style at parts because it really wasn’t my preference and to be honest it was almost enough to make me rank this 1 spot lower. But at the end of the day, I can’t deny that this was just top tier storytelling and writing. It is a character-driven, plot-driven, respectable piece of literature and that really isn’t that common in manhwas. So I had to give it the ranking it deserves.

[caterpillarbarry]

Punch Drunk Love

Literary Masterpiece

Tropes: Comedy, golden-retriever type, grumpy-sunshine, tsundere, office romance, office politics, friends with benefits to lovers

Seon-Woo is just your regular guy, with (seemingly less than regular) looks and a regular job. He has a deep secret that he may no longer be able to keep now that he meets his ever-so-handsome colleague Tae-moon. Watch as he Seon-Woo tries to win him over with all his batshit crazy shenanigans.

This manhwa is pure comedy gold! Even compared with other forms of more traditional media, it’s absolutely hilarious and I honestly cannot name another manhwa that comes close, which is why I really had no choice but to rank it in the highest tier. Comedy and humour is really difficult to pull off but this was truly a masterclass. The characters are really lovable. They’re funny but still very layered at the same time. Since this is a lighthearted manhwa, you wouldn’t expect it to get too serious or deep but the characters and their arcs weren’t completely superficial either. I felt liked that it really hit the sweet spot of keeping the characters light to match the overall tone of the story, while still giving them enough depth to keep you invested in them. I felt that they did explore certain themes quite well, such as sex positivity and sexual identity, personhood and maintaining your core identity, retaining your values vs being adaptable to be more accepted by those around you. Again, nothing too deep or serious to maintain the lighthearted tone, but enough to give the story some heart to it. The art and plot really complemented the comedy perfectly. The art is beautiful and really portrays the characters’ expressions so vividly which was central to a lot of the humour. The plot was also written really well - the office and family politics were detailed and specific enough that you are invested to see how everything plays out until the end but again nothing too dark that it takes you out of the mood, and I love the unconventional use of misunderstandings to further drive the humour. Misunderstanding and miscommunication tropes have gotten a terrible rep in manhwas because of how unrealistic and frustrating they are and how most of the time it can be resolved very easily which point towards lazy writing. But to use misunderstanding and miscommunication over things that were so absurd, for the sake of comedy, was just pure gold. The story is not without its flaws though. I was slightly out of it during the last part of the last season when I felt that the plot got a little too unnecessarily complicated and there were some more ‘traditionally annoying’ misunderstanding tropes - but these were easy to look past. 

This manhwa is absurd, unhinged, and completely out of pocket - but in just the best way possible. It is the biggest barrel of laughs, and I honestly have never read anything like this, which is why: literary masterpiece.

[caterpillarbarry]

Witten in the Stars

Once is Enough

Tropes: alpha-omega, dominant-recessive, first love, forbidden love, dysfunctional family, friends with benefit to lovers

A recessive alpha at the bottom of the food chain spends years longing for his first love who's a dominant omega at the top. Can he save the love of his life and get his dream happily ever after?

This manhwa really wasn’t great and what truly got me through to finishing it was the side stories and the cutest baby that we were promised (not a spoiler, it’s literally in the cover art). The characters were alright - there’s abit of a switch up with the omega MC and alpha ML’s personalities which I guess was slightly more interesting than usual. The MC is a dominant omega so he’s rich, confident, popular, fiesty and someone who sleeps around. The ML is a recessive alpha, so he is poor, timid and has a huge inferiority complex. But apart from the switch up, I felt that they didn’t really do much with it. The MC had more depth to him and a very extensive backstory surrounding his physically and emotionally abusive family. He was a complex and layered character that struggled with upholding his family and society’s expectations of him while choosing what his heart wants - but nothing that we haven’t commonly seen before with these types of characters. The ML’s entire deal on the other hand was his inferiority complex which had glimpses of a backstory but it was never developed nor did it have an arc. We don’t know much about him at all - his family, his upbringing, the backstory of his relationship with the MC was sparse and unconvincing, even him trying to get into college was just like a cursory thing mentioned on the side. We just know that he has an inferiority complex from being a recessive and that’s his entire one-note personality. And if that’s going  to be the only thing his character has, at least give him a justifiable arc in which he can overcame this properly - cause he didn’t even get that. The side couple was cute but super random. The plot was as basic as it gets - crazy old chairman on the brink of death dead-set on getting a dominant alpha heir and will do unthinkable things to his own grandson in order to achieve that, and his grandson aka MC who just wants to love the only person who lets him escape his crazy life aka ML. Again, nothing special. There’s also a lot of unexplained plot holes especially with the second antagonist that I really just gave up trying to figure out.

There is a trigger-warning scene, which a lot of people in the comments cite as the reason why this manhwa is bad. It’s not. The manhwa is bad even excluding the scene, but the scene (particularly the reaction/actions after) definitely made it worse. TW scenes can be written and treated with sensitivity that could contribute well to the plot of the story (I.e. in POTN), or at the very least, not affect the overall quality of the story but this wasn’t the case here. 

I honestly started writing this review ranking the story under ‘Scratches an Itch’, but by the end, I’m pretty sure I would never want to read this again. The side stories are cute but sadly not enough to save this manhwa.

[caterpillarbarry]

Heesu in Class 2

Make it a Bestseller

Tropes: High School, coming-of-age, unrequited love, slice of life 

A story about Heesu, your average typical high school kid, trying to survive school, friendships, unrequited love, first love and everything in between. Heesu in Class 2 is everything you would expect a warm blanket to feel like on a chilly day. The characters are lovable and Heesu is my favourite. He is cute, funny and just written with so much love. He’s a character in a manhwa yet his laughter and smiles are infectious. Given the lightness and fluffiness of the story, you really wouldn’t expect much complexity to the characters but they weren’t completely superficial or one-note either, they’re written with a subtle maturity that was pulled off so well by the author. You’re really journeying along with Heesu as he reflects on his years of unrequited love and friendship, as he discovers new exciting feelings and as he starts to accept changes in his life — as a reader, it’s an immersive experience. I think a lot of people can relate to that uncertain, nervous yet overwhelmingly exciting romantic feeling of first love and this manhwa captures that sensation so vividly. The other characters, including the side characters, have similar arcs as well where you are fully let in to their thoughts, feelings and experiences which makes this feel so authentic. The plot is very fluffy slice-of-life, so again nothing too complex, but the story of innocent first love in itself and all that comes with it is not one to be underestimated. And the soft art really complements everything so well. I think that Heesu in Class 2 is a testament of how seemingly simple stories and characters, when written with a perfect grasp of the human condition, can really become a masterpiece. Now my only criticism of the story and why it falls short of the top tier, is mainly because of season 2. I felt that it wasn’t as strong as the first, the pacing became abit draggy and it didn't live up to the initial specialness that it had. The story and characters started to become more generic and it couldn’t really recover back to the same level as season 1. But, its still an amazing manhwa in its own right.

[caterpillarbarry]

Love History caused by Wilful Negligence

Scratches an Itch

Tropes: Black flag, yandere, psychological, mental health, trauma, asshole-character development arc, chasing arc

This manhwa was truly a hit and a miss for me. There were parts of it that I liked a lot and I thought was really well done, and then parts that really missed the mark. 

Let’s start with the characters.

I really liked how Woo-Yeon, the male lead, was written. He is very complex but I thought the author really pulled him off. I thought that his clinical sociopathy was portrayed well and I like that we were privy to his inner thoughts so you can fully grasp his true mental state. The art also complements his portrayal so well. The way his eyes and facial expressions are drawn whenever you see him lose some control of his masking - it’s somehow subtle yet obvious at the same time. And then we move on to In-Seob, the main character, who is one of my least favourite characters ever written. He suffers from ‘Kim Dan Syndrome’, the typical timid, meek, spineless doormat bottom. This is already my least favourite character trope but there is a way to write them well (e.g. Nakyum from POTN) with depth and subtlety to show that they aren’t all that clueless. But In-Seob doesn’t have any depth to him. He isn’t layered, he doesn’t go through a character arch, he’s really just boring and at parts annoying. I feel like they had an opportunity to develop him as a character given how much he went through in his backstory and the trauma he had to endure but he really just kinda exists throughout the entire story and everything is just happening around him. Any trauma that they tried to write in were just eventually forgotten and written off. I tried to give him some credit at the start since he masterminded this revenge plot but even then his motivations and actions were flimsy and he ended up not doing much.

Now moving on to the plot. I liked the rather accurate depiction of mental health issues in the characters. I found it refreshing that there was an explanation for Woo-Yeon’s clearly black flag behaviour instead of just leaving it as it is as a ‘psychological manhwa trope’. I also liked how Jenny’s storyline was written because it showed BPD quite accurately including how destructive it can be to the individual and those around them. But if you’re going to go all in on this mental health angle, it has to be carried on through the entire story, which just didn’t happen. And this culminated in the one of the worst story climax scenes that I’ve read (sorry not sorry). Woo-Yeon completely losing his mind leading him to do something truly horrible in the climax was perfect because it was in-keeping of his arc. I even kind of like that they went that extreme because someone with Woo-Yeon’s level of sociopathy could be that violent and uncontrollable. But everything being resolved and forgiven within 1-2 chapters, and within that exact same night in the span of presumably minutes of it happening was the biggest travesty to the story. It didn’t make sense for him to suddenly be able to recover from such a big meltdown, nor did it make sense that he would thereafter be able to control his sociopathic tendencies and even show empathy in the subsequent chapters until the ending. It was like suddenly everything, including all his mental health issues, self-resolved out of no where. Nothing about treatment or therapy or anything in between, everything just magically got better. The pacing of the story was also way off. They spent a lot of time at the start (and I mean a lotttt of time) showing Woo-Yeon’s sociopathy and also his affection towards In-Seob (e.g. the inclination to keep him around, him freaking out when In-Seob gets hurt) with so many arcs and subplots to the point that it’s no longer subtle to the readers. They also spent a lot of time building a very detailed exposition-type back story. And while it’s more of a personal preference thing that I generally like more nuance and subtlety, it just made it more jarring for the climax of the entire story to be only 2 chapters long.

In summary, it really was a hit and a miss with more misses overall than hits. But I can’t deny that the hits were still pretty good.

[caterpillarbarry]

Plum Candy Love

Scratches an Itch

Tropes: high school romance, coming of age, mild yandere, grumpy-sunshine 

High school first love between the supposed big school bully/delinquent and a quiet average kid - all starting with a single confession. This was a really fluffy and cute read. The characters were lovable - I liked that that ML was actually kind of a delinquent bad boy (and not just mistaken to be one because of his looks) and I liked that MC was sweet but not completely a pushover. The dynamic and chemistry between them was well-written and it’s so so sweet that you would really find yourself smiling as you read each chapter. The plot is very slice-of-life so conflicts were never that major and misunderstandings were always quickly cleared up. It’s good for what it is - a fluffy sweet read that you can always return to whenever you need a mental break. But overall, there’s rly nothing special and it does lack the it-factor to push it up to a higher tier.