[⬆️ to 40/69 eps]
Murder✨ - cute accessory to your cozy story!
No srsly, in this webtoon named Murder Girlband murdering their manager and covering his death is actually bonding experience for our group (and not only them ehhhhh). Like it's a factor in this story, but the bulk of the plot concentrates on figuring out your queer identity and coming out, falling in love with girls (it's also a GL romance), having crisis because you don't know what to wear, some toxic bullshit with your family or fake dating. And pretending that you didn't kill your manager and all the freaking ppl that known him not noticing that he disappeared.
It's such a tonal shift, from murder to girl's everyday life problems, that it's hard not to get whiplash. I was thinking that with concept like that the webtoon would go with some thriller or action elements, or maybe we will get some psychological drama with girls trying to come to terms with killing someone and covering his death. Even some wacky comedy mood would work with this, make it a little bit unreal. But nope, it's a feel good drama about girls being cute and showing support for each other. And there's nothing wrong with this, only... Murder. Does. Not. Fit. Here. At. All. Like the girls are mostly fine, nobody really notices that manager is gone for the longest time, police doesn't really get involved up to 40 eps (I'm not reading more of it). It does not make sense realistically, and it does not make sense psychologically for the girls to be behaving like that, unless they are psychopaths.
The story is in shambles and mostly the art elevates it to something that could be enjoyed, since it is amazing. Character designs, visual storytelling, all the cute or cool moments - they carry characters and they do a lot of job lifting this comic from it's poor plot. It's easy to see that during its run Murder Girlband had a pretty stable following, and I think it was mostly artist's and assistant's work.
I mean, the day to day stuff is also alright - I have seen stories like this in other media, but with a cute art it's nice to read. Although I'm also a little bit bitter that their manager was their only obstacle to stardom and we don't really see the process of being in a girlband or being successful in showbiz aside from some cute quick scenes like trying to write a new song. This weboon wants to stress some serious issues here - like sexual harassment in showbiz industry - but also ignores the weight that murdering someone has. In the end I couldn't get past it.
The Murderer Targets Brunettes
Mystery
[I’ve read 36/50 eps.]
If everyone would communicate better, this webtoon would be like 20 eps long. I haven't finished it, and I have to admit in second season (first ends with 25 eps) there are some plot twist and explanations, but not enough to cover first season stupidity and for me to read to the end.
Let's take beginning of The Murderer Targets Brunettes as an example. We have the main heroine, who as a green-eyed brunette fears that she will be killed, cause there is a serial killer (allegedly) on the loose whose victims look just like her - and she knows who is it from the novel she read before getting isekai'd. Great! What is the best thing to do in this situation? Maybe dying her hair? Nope, she doesn't even think about it, and she literally makes potions as her job! Like she stays inside all the time, but she's still fearful enough to warrant that simple precaution. And the fact that the author didn't even think about this simple solution, and maybe how to exclude it from FL's possible courses of action is saying enough about this webtoon.
It's just frustrating read - we have ML obsessed with heroine (who magically enslaves her in like ep2 - or at least he claims to do that), who doesn't really explain anything, and FL who doesn't really know how to observe her surroundings and draw conclusions. It just gets tiring, her cooking up some hairbrained plan and him just - not saying anything important.
And it's a little bit of shame, because first season has actually the atmosphere of gothic romance - FL being imprisoned in gothic magic tower, mysterious ML who maybe kills ppl, staff that behaves creepily, dancing in the middle of the night in nightgown etc. But there are just better stuff out there.
[⬆️ to 65 eps (season 1 finale)]
I’m tempted to say that it's a sweet high school BL, but tbh the constant bickering and lashing out of this two boys don’t really feel that sweet haha. That’s their main dynamic - clashing with each other without a good reason.
Ok this sounds bad, but for the most part it actually is what differentiate this webtoon from others. Even with a high school setting I would say it feels like enemies-to-lovers - not rivals (they don’t really compete with each other in anything) and not slight dislike or misunderstanding, like is the case with most of the stories with this tag.
We have a cute aestethic with well rounded, realistic main guys - grumpy cat/happy-go-lucky dog kinda dynamic, with a lot of verbal fights. They both have their own problems, strengths and insecurities, and they def feel like relatable characters. The only thing that irks me is their designs - I feel like if main characters would be rinsed out of color you could swap their heads and there would be no real difference in that regard.
It’s a slowburn, which in this case means one step closer to each other, two steps backing off. At the beginning I was happy with it, but later on it felt a little bleak what with their love language being constant fighting, and sometimes you don’t even know if they are bickering or lashing out.
Honestly it’s hard for me to judge this webtoon. It hooked me, and I like that main characters have depth to them, but they also feel tiring to read about. Still, I think it’s worth a read.
The Iron Overlord of Sichuan
Action
[⬆️ to 20 eps]
I’m not sure why I don’t like this one. A little bit of art being too sleek or flat (even if it is pretty at the first glance), a little bit of underwhelming adaptation. Like the scenes should have a bigger impact than they have currently. Man, I dunno.
It’s a murim popcorn story and all the elements are there - mc is a blacksmith, so there is something unique about him; some fights have irregular weapons, like threads or wips; his past is heavily weighting on him, and he already has a demonic qi, despite coming back to his orthodox sect; there is something more about Demon Lord that we are not told about. But all of this elements are kinda wasted on this webtoon. The dialogue is mid, the mc personality is boring and the story have no emotional impact.
That’s it. I just don’t care about any of the characters, and the pacing is too quick for me to get interested in all the techniques. I feel like it could be an adaptation failure.
I’m dropping this, it’s boring. Although there is no big flaw in this one, so if you’re looking to pass time with popcorn murim there’s a chance it will be to your liking.
Too Many Heroes for the Demon Lord
Action
[I've read 36 eps]
Comedic fantasy adventure, where mc is a demon king who adhered to a demon king code, which postulated a lot of rules to follow when establishing the towers and dealing with heroes. And well, he died for his diligence (since the heroes kinda took advantage of that), regressed and ended up doing everything outside the box - like making a princess his subordinate. But it is still a case where technically a villain character is an mc.
At the beginning I was thinking that the comedy was strong with this one, and it gave The Greatest Estate Developer vibes (not the storyline direction, there’s no „I transmigrated to this world with my very specific job as a system content”). Mc was determined to make it different this time around, but ppl around him just couldn't comprehend it and hence the comedy. Also the first kidnapped princess is really strong presence, cheerful but nonchalant with her own agenda (and supposedly op), it was fun to watch their interactions.
But later on TMHftDL actually shed a little bit of that comedy and focused more on an adventure side of things. Our mc is pretty smart and cunning from the beginning, but he actually has a lot of troubles and some major f@ckups - he's very strong, but it doesn't feel like he's your typical opmc in a story without a tension. Heroes are actually dangerous, and other ppl are noticing that something is wrong, so it gets a proper plot with fantasy politics and scheming. It's still on the lighter and humorous side though. I’m kinda starting to think that maybe Nebula’s Civilization would be a better comparison.
The artstyle is great, vibrant and consistent and showcasing this fantasy world. It's a very solid webtoon, but I would need to see how it will develop.
A Delinquent’s First Love
Romance
[I’ve read 35 eps]
Amnesia romance. In this case ML got into accident and regressed to his high school years, when he was in love with FL - although as an adult he already has a girlfriend. However don’t worry, there is no cheating in this one.
With this kind of awkward and complicated situation I expected ADFL to be heavier with emotions and drama, but it actually turned out to be a very sweet romance. FL is very shy and timid, but she actually solves most of the misunderstandings pretty quickly, her shyness doesn’t stop her from being straightforward with people… after a time haha. ML is kinda like golden retriever with FL, bold and cheerful. I even like ex-girlfriend of ML - she’s not a b!tch, but she’s also not kind hearted. A lot of readers in comments don’t like her, but I think she’s in very difficult situation and is trying to wrap her head around it.
There is an undercurrent in all this sweetness - hard to say what ML will do when he gets back his memories, since he was probably fond of his (now) ex. But I dunno, I feel like if there will be angst it will be short lived.
In terms of amnesia plot it reminded me of Miyeon, although that webtoon is a heavy-weight in terms of themes. ADFL much more reminds me of Rules for Dating Trash - shy FL and more boisterous kind of ML in college setting.
The Otherworldly Genius Method Actor
Fantasy
[I've read 43 eps]
I was looking for something like ORV or GDGW, ya'll know - a scammer mc cheerfully cheating with the help of his knowledge and sometimes system, with a found family aspect. And TOGMA is somewhat similar, since mc just acquired system which helps him with acting from scripts and even has an indicator which project will be successful. But it's also incredibly light-hearted, mostly comedic edition of this trope, lacking in depth in every department (art, characters, relationships between them, story, acting stuff). It basically is a comedy of misunderstandings, where everyone treats mc as this monstrous actor with cold personality, when in actuality he's an ordinary potato with system that helps him. There's no tension and the story is pretty formulaic.
However, it was a fun read, hooked me for a while. I think my expectations were too high - as a light read it is perfectly acceptable, and the contrast between what mc thinks and how the world perceives him leads to some fun moments. Rather than ORV I would say it reminds me of My S-Class Hunters, although TOGMA does not have antyhing resembling the high of emotions from that series.
The Dang Clan’s Swordmaster Heir Just Wants a Normal Life
Action
[completed - 120 eps]
When I've started reading this I was pleasantly surprised - enjoyable popcorn murim story that is not too long (120 eps is short taking into account other titles from this genre). Opmc was kinda fun to watch, the fights were decently portrayed, the artstyle was simple but conveyed action well and there even were elements from better stories woven through second arc (Dark Coalition) - mc def making mistakes and then regretting them or pretty likeable villains. The backstories still were poorly written, but they added a layer of depth to the popcorn entertainment.
But that ended at ep47, from what I remember. I was pretty hyped for more opmc fights, but what we mostly got was... murim war. With ppl that I didn't really care about and that didn't have a personality aside from being designed to be an ally background characters. Yes, the mc got to eliminating Demon Sect (I don't even consider it a spoiler, it's just how these stories go), but mostly we see some uninteresting war maneuvering and some chatter of background characters making filler, and author trying to hype villains. As much as this webtoon had a really good pacing through the first 50 eps, here it dragged so much. So so much that if I didn't know how short it will be I would prob abandon it.
It gets better when our mc is back (naturally) around ep87 - the fights are epic, we see some changes in mc and it even didn't bore me when other characters were onscreen.
But the second problem... there was a perfect way to end this webtoon - after defeating a big bad (again, not really a spoiler) we could get episode or two about ppl setting into the routine of peaceful life. But I don't know if this webtoon was axed or something, cause after the final fight we see some future enemies making re-entrance and then - the end. Like whaaaaaaat, authors, you could end it at a very clean plot point of eliminating the big bad, why are you hyping future enemies that we will never see in a comic? And it was such an enjoyable action story, even with dips in pacing.
