Her name is Dawn and I created her a few years ago but i never posted her or talked about her except once, i think. She's very dear to me because I created her during the time i was deeply struggling with health anxiety, and she helped me process my fears and explore them and put them somewhere outside of me instead of running away from them all the time or letting them consume me. I kinda didn't realize how much she helped me heal.
With the new year, I feel the need to make some kind of year-in-review list. So even though I've largely stopped reading comics (the desire to read ebbs and flows every six month), here are the otoisekai that stuck out to me the most in 2024
Crimson Lady/Resetting Lady
What can I even say about the GOAT? As we crawl towards a conclusion, the despair only grows. Death is the only answer, death must be avoided at all costs.
The Villainess Who is No Better than an Extra Cross-dresses to Be a Love Interest
I never talked about this one, namely because I'm not sure how to describe it without focusing on its wokeness. But it is woke. It's bizarrely, strangely woke, as well as genuinely enjoyable, but I keep getting fixated on all the genre-unusual progressiveness, like
BELIEVABLE female crossdressing in a shojo manga
her older brother is fat, a good person, and nobody ever comments on his weight (this point is the most shocking to me honestly)
Older brother is loudly supportive of his gnc sister and male cousin
Unclear if MC is gay, transmasc, or just doing this out of survival, but it says something that becoming a love interest was her *first* response
Boy the MC bewitched in girl form as a child is thrown off by her handsome appearance as an adult, yet awkwardly asks if she wants help breaking her engagement with a man
I forgot, originally he was the stock "sexist love interest who dials it back for his one true love" type, but this one shatters the mold not by making her the one girl he isn't mean to, but instead having him step back from his feelings and step UP as a genuine, actual, fr ally and continuing their friendship. Insane upgrade.
And it all feels pretty organic! They'll hint at complicated feelings from the people around her without grandstanding or molding medieval-y types into 21st century values
Like I can't emphasize enough how weird it is to see a child drawn like this and they're not evil
Behind Her Highness's Smile
I never talked about this one for the opposite reasons of the above. Um. Extremely horny ethicsplay* thriller about a mentally-challenged princess forced to marry a duke (who, in turn, was forced to marry a mentally-challenged princess). What if you were the abused sexy sensual prisoner princess forcibly married to a smoldering tall dark-haired duke AND you had brain damage.
Let me say that I enjoy this story sincerely and that her issues are not played lightly, but it is absolutely going for eroticism. Like oh nooo, you're not mentally competent enough to consent 😉😉 the duke could do whatever he wants and you're too dumb and doll-like to do anything about it😉😉😉 also your maids roofied you😉did I mention your sick bastard brother-king made you like this? And that he takes immense pleasure in that fact?🤫
But I know what you're thinking. Because I was thinking it. For chapters and chapters. "Surely this is a ruse. They didn't actually write a mentally handicapped female lead, not when it's already so horny. This is just to add to the fucked up atmosphere that feeds into everything because there's no fucking way anyone would keep to this premise. Wow she's really committing to the bit lol, not giving an inch. If I were gullible, I would believe they're actually going to fuck. Wait. Was that guy supposed to represent the writer talking to the reader? Hey?"
Did they? Read to find out :)
*I've always hated describing stories as problematic (positive). Ethicsplay, like the story is fucked up. They know it's fucked up, YOU know it's fucked up, and that's why you're here reading it.
A Splendid Revenge Story of a Super-Dreadnought Cheat Villainess
I don't have a lot to say about this one other than it's a refreshing revenge-centric OI. It's not treading new ground, but it executes the genre's tropes well. The villains are exaggerated caricatures of hubris, brazen leeches who've forgotten whose blood they've been surviving on, each with their own distinctive brand of arrogance introduced at a measured pace to keep the true hero's OPness from getting boring, all with a unique stylistic flair.
Princess revenge stories are frequently derailed by dull romance or the desire to reinvent capitalism, so the fact that Super-Dreadnought commits itself to smiting Lunaria's enemies without straying from the path makes it a high recommend.
Turning the Mad Dog into a Genteel Lord
I realized I don't have enough screenshots to prove my controversial opinion (that this is less puppy dog bf fantasy and more crypto-age reggressor/caretaker right up until they knew it would mess with the overall light and goofy tone), and I can't say those kinds of things without proof. so. I'll save that for another day.
Anyway. Plot: Priestess Diarin, who is so hot I have more screenshots of her than any of the men, has to tame an abused beast-like 6'8 shredded ex-child soldier into a noble. She's the only one who can change him, she's the only one he can be vulnerable with. Middling plot, heavy slapstick/reaction face-based humor, but everyone is sexy and there are mild to moderate sadist-on-the-art-team impies, so. Recommend.
On an unrelated note can tappytoons please stop picking up manwha with good art? Their translation choices make me unreasonably mad.
If they draw shoes like this, please let Lezhin handle it? I can't take the comma stutters and obvious tone neutering.
I'm so obsessed with whatever the fuck is happening in her brain.
"Emi's Remilia is kind and pure, so I will accept the name of Saintess only because it fits that fantasy. My kindness is a charity, and me giving you so much is only because I'm in a good mood." Girl's jumping through hoops to rationalize/justify showing and receiving kindness I love her so much. Someone give me the Remilia psyche dissection like yesterday, please
turnnoffyourmind
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
stormborns
germansingergirl
blakekathryn
