Manhwa Review: The Remarried Empress Vol. 2

Lots of Korean web comics and web fiction are successfully making the jump from the Internet to traditional media nowadays. One of these is The Remarried Empress. Read on for the review of Volume 2 of the manhwa. (For other reviews of this series, click here.)

Back Cover Blurb

Navier now knows the identity of her pen pal, and is happy to find herself growing closer to Prince Heinrey (and Queen!). But not everyone is quite so pleased about their friendship…Meanwhile, Rashta’s secret has been exposed, leaving her backed into a corner. How far is she willing to go to save her reputation?

The Review

Volume 1 ended with Rashta getting freaked out at the New Year’s banquet, and now we discover why. Volume 2 begins with Rashta’s master, the Viscount Lotteshu, declaring her to be his runaway slave before the entire party. And Rashta’s situation isn’t as simple as an escaped slave. She was also lover to the Viscount’s son and bore him a child. This is definitely tabloid fodder, and although the Emperor forces the Viscount to retract his accusation, the damage is done.

Alphatart’s characterization of Rashta is a bit confusing in this arc. At first, Rashta’s now-revealed slave background seems like a bid for sympathy. But after the Emperor uses his authority to make the Viscount say he mistook her for someone else, Rashta wonders why the Emperor didn’t kill or imprison the Viscount instead. That’s a fairly extreme expectation. And when Rashta seeks to quell the new gossip about her, she doesn’t care who she drags down in the process.

However, she is extremely clumsy in her efforts to sling mud on others. Her “naïve-girl-who-doesn’t-know-any better” act is getting old, but only her partner in crime, the new character Duke Ergi of the Bluvohan Kingdom, calls her out on it. If poor Navier has to lose her position to this upstart, I’d rather she exhibit more savvy. At any rate, Rashta’s innocent public face and conniving/desperate private face make her thoroughly unpleasant.

All of which makes the Emperor seem the bigger idiot for clinging to her. He apparently knows the truth about Rashta’s slave background yet uses his authority to cover it up and wrongfully accuses Navier of bringing the Viscount to disgrace Rashta. And when Rashta begs to come along for Navier’s private birthday celebration (because she’s afraid of the Emperor and Empress being alone together), her reasons for coming are all ridiculous, yet the Emperor takes them at face value. At the same time, he is quick to assume Navier is on the brink of an affair with any man she has a conversation with.

The shining ray of light in the midst of these terrible characters doing terrible things is Navier, whose conduct remains noble and irreproachable. And while Heinrey’s not nearly so irreproachable, his interactions with Navier are fun, funny, and swoonworthy by turns. However, it appears Duke Ergi and Heinrey share a secret, and I look forward to seeing what it is.

By the way, some dialogue didn’t transition well from Korean to English and resulted in a couple awkwardly worded conversations. However, the illustrations continue to be vibrantly gorgeous.

In Summary

Things are falling apart for Rashta. Her slave past has come to light, and the Emperor looks like he wants to reconcile with his wife. What to do but spread nasty rumors about someone else! However, there’s no finesse to the way Rashta executes her plan, which makes it tiresome to watch. Fortunately, Heinrey’s attempts to endear himself to Navier, as man and bird, keep the story engaging.

First published at the Fandom Post.

 

Manhwa Review: My Gently Raised Beast Vol. 1

Lots of Korean web comics and web fiction are successfully making the jump from the Internet to traditional media nowadays. One of these is My Gently Raised Beast. Read on for the review of Volume 1 of the manhwa. (For reviews of other volumes, click here.)

Back Cover Blurb

The orphaned Blondina lives a tough life on the streets, left only with a memento from her late mother—one that proves she is the child of the emperor of Ates. From the streets, Blondina moves into the royal palace where she lives a lonely existence…that is until she befriends a brash and surly cat named Amon. Not only can Amon talk, but he also turns into a cute boy! The truth is, Amon is no mere cat but rather a member of the Divine Leopard Clan, a group of powerful demi-humans often at odds with humanity. Will the two be able to stay friends despite all the conflicts?

The Review

11-year-old Blondina lives the miserable life of an orphan until a memento of her late mother reveals her to be the daughter of the Emperor! But her new life in the palace is lonely and difficult. Because of her commoner background, everyone views her with contempt, especially her royal half-siblings. Then one day, she happens across an injured black cat in the garden. She’s entranced by the cute animal, but it abruptly speaks to her, then transforms into a handsome boy. Thus begins the friendship between the ostracized princess and the divine black leopard Amon.

This manhwa gets off to a somewhat rough start with Blondina’s tragic backstory. Her blue-blooded father is searching for the legendary individual with golden eyes and hair who can subdue the divine beasts that hold humanity in contempt. Blondina’s mother was a commoner with golden eyes and hair but did not possess that special power. Even so, her father fell in love with the woman, fathered Blondina, and left to pursue the crown so that he could protect his lover and their child. But once he became emperor, he conveniently forgot about them, leaving his lover to suffer and eventually die in poverty. It isn’t until Blondina attempts to pawn the ring he left with her mother that her imperial heritage is revealed, and father and daughter are reunited. But having brought her to the palace, the Emperor treats her with an indifference bordering on cruelty. Blondina doesn’t manifest the golden hair and eyes of her mother; nor does she evoke any affection or nostalgia for him. Honestly, there’s no motivation to acknowledge his paternity at all. So it’s a wonder why the Emperor bothers incorporating her into his family when he could have easily denied their relationship. To add to that mess of a character profile, Blondina’s mom was supposedly so in love with the guy that she waited for him faithfully until her dying day eight years later. That might sound romantic to some; it makes me think she was a terrible judge of character.

As a result of this convoluted backstory, we have as our main character a friendless, commoner-turn-princess who is isolated on all fronts. Interestingly, we hear nothing about how the Emperor’s wife feels about her husband’s bastard kid joining the family. However, her son and daughter more than make up for it, becoming the chief antagonists of the story. Prince Lart is a bully of the proud, loud, and stupid variety. Princess Adellai is also haughty, but more sly. Having been told by the Emperor that he’ll name her as heir should she find the blonde, golden-eyed subduer of divine beasts, she’s secretly vying for the throne. Predictably, the half-siblings insult and mock Blondina any chance they get.

Fortunately, Blondina is not completely friendless. Lucy is a count’s daughter assigned to be her lady-in-waiting. Although other nobles snub the half-blood princess, Lucy harbors no such prejudices and embraces her role as Blondina’s companion. However, she has little to offer in terms of power and influence.

Amon, on the other hand, has power and influence in spades. He has an adorable feline form and the kitty cat tendency to play with yarn, but everyone (except Blondina) recognizes him as the most vicious of divine beasts, the black leopard. Yup, Amon is one of those divine beasts the Emperor seeks to eliminate. Like all divine beasts, Amon despises humans, but Blondina’s loneliness resonates with him. So he deigns to allow her to spoil him like the pet he appears to be. He is definitely a tsundere, with a sharp tongue and overweening attitude. However, when Blondina gets picked on, he immediately acts on her behalf.

His relationship with Blondina is kind of odd. Even though all other humans fall in fear when he appears, Blondina only ever views and treats him as her adorable kitty. On the other hand, when he is in human form, his good looks fluster her. Blondina doesn’t seem to have reconciled the two forms. In one scene, human-form Amon reduces her into a blushing, stammering mess by getting too close, but a second later, he reverts to cat form, and Blondina immediately starts petting his body all over as if nothing had happened. At any rate, Blondina is the one human who regards Amon without fear while Amon is protective towards her. Which means their relationship is bound to turn romantic eventually.

Illustrations are rendered in full color. The setting and clothing styles have a western fantasy flavor. Human and animal character designs are average, with a tendency towards cute, and expressions are often distorted to convey impact and emotion.

In Summary

When an impoverished girl discovers she’s the Emperor’s illegitimate daughter, her life goes from one kind of hard to different kind of hard. It’s a convoluted backstory that leads to stereotypical palace bullying. However, Blondina’s very unusual ally against her blue-blooded tormentors is at once an adorable little kitty and a creature that makes the strongest men tremble. This combination feels a bit odd, but if you’ve ever wanted a prickly male lead who’s tough, strong, and can’t resist playing with yarn, you can find him in My Gently Raised Beast.

First published at the Fandom Post.

Manhwa Review: The Remarried Empress Vol. 1

Lots of Korean web comics and web fiction are successfully making the jump from the Internet to traditional media nowadays. One of these is The Remarried Empress. Read on for the review of Volume 1 of the manhwa. For other reviews of this series, click here.)

Back Cover Blurb

Navier Ellie Trovi was the lifelong companion of Sovieshu, the emperor of the Eastern Empire, with whom she spent her youth discussing the empire they would build together. She was intelligent, compassionate, and courageous. She was the perfect empress of the Eastern Empire, until the day Sovieshu fell for another woman, demanding a divorce. However, it was Navier who shocked Sovieshu, his beloved mistress, and a speechless court as she coldly declared: “I accept this divorce…and request an approval of my remarriage!”

The Review

Empress Navier and Emperor Sovieshu looked like the perfect couple – until a beautiful girl steals the Emperor’s heart. Not content merely to make the girl his mistress, Sovieshu petitions for divorce. To everyone’s astonishment, Navier agrees – on the condition she’s permitted to marry Prince Heinrey of the Western Kingdom. But how did the Prince and Empress get so close? It all began with a bird…

The Remarried Empress began as a Korean web fiction and has since expanded to various media including this full-color manhwa. As you might guess from the title, it is a palace drama. Specifically, it has a European flavor, so if you enjoy your characters with extensive wardrobes featuring ruffles, cravats, flounces, frock coats, cloaks, gold braid, sweeping skirts, puffed sleeves, bows, and epaulets, you’ll have a lot to feast your eyes on. Even if you’re not particularly inclined toward European styles, SUMPUL’s illustrations are a visual treat, whether depicting Queen the bird’s natural beauty or the elegance of a royal tea party. Prince Heinrey’s almost entirely naked body in Episode 8 is nothing short of gorgeous.

The book opens with the Imperial couple on the verge of breakup; then on page 13, it backtracks a few months in time to show how they got there. The story’s told primarily from the perspective of Empress Navier. Betrothed as a child to Sovieshu, Navier’s dedicated herself to becoming the perfect Empress. While the marriage is not based on love, they grew up as friends. So when Rashta, a girl of unknown origins, catches Sovieshu’s eye, Navier’s hurt but resigned to the situation. That is, until Sovieshu and Rashta’s love affair undermines her position. While Navier can do without her husband’s love, she won’t be disrespected.

This is definitely an old theme, and this variation has Navier as the absolutely wronged party. Rashta is portrayed as conniving. She’s quick to act like the victim and manipulates situations to have her breaches of etiquette, no matter how insulting, brushed off as innocent mistakes. While Navier is likable and Rashta lives up to the part of the deceiving rival, Sovieshu, the man at the center of the conflict, is flat. The intro indicates that he and Navier had mutual dreams for their empire. However, in his scenes, he is a brainless pretty face who simply agrees to whatever Rashta wants, regardless of how it impacts his or his nation’s standing.

Fortunately, there’s another man in the cast, the mysterious Prince Heinrey. He has a colorful reputation that includes playboy and associate of pirates. Outwardly, he’s a frivolous charmer, but he’s surprisingly astute and adept in social situations. And like all good romantic leads, he’s highly attuned to his love interest’s situation and emotions. Heinrey’s intercessions on Navier’s behalf as well as his alternate feathered identity keep this palace drama interesting, and I look forward to the next volume.

In Summary

If you like the kind of palace drama where a royal’s wandering eye leads to a clash of love, rank, duty, and reputation, give The Remarried Empress a try. While it includes a touch of magic, the focus is primarily on the relationship the Empress turns to when her husband’s upstart lover tramples on her identity and position. Although the opening shows readers how things end up, the unlikely combination of punctilious Navier and rash Heinrey makes me eager to learn the details of their story.

First published at the Fandom Post.