Jan 24, 2025
It is fairly common in Korean Webtoons and Manhwas to have the story set in a Victorian-inspired fantasy setting were the characters dress, act, and look very European. But instead of having Manhwas that simply imitate European history through fictitious stories, are there any Manhwas that actually depict European history?
The answer is that there is. "The Queen's Realm" is a somewhat obscure Manhwa that came out in 2022, that I started reading in 2023, that I finished in 2024, and for some reason that I am now writting a review for in 2025. The series depicts a part historical part fictitious account of the relationship
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between Sir Francis Drake and Queen Elizabeht of England during the time of the Spanish armada. I think this series has several strengths and weaknesses, and in this review I will go over two of each so that the reader can determine if this series is for them.
To start off something I appreciated was the historical setting. Although there is a disclaimer at the start of every chapter clarifying that the story is fictitious, it is still very evident that the creators did their research when writing "The Queen's Realm." There is a great deal of care that was put into the character designs and personalities. What's more at the end of every chapter there's a historical fun fact that briefly states what how things actually played out, and how the chapter both follows and deviated from the historical events. The first 40 chapters focus on Sir. Francis and Queen Elizabeth, and the last 10 backtrack slightly and examine Queen Mary whose rule preceded Elizabeth. Despite being a history nerd, I feel that even I learned a couple things reading this series, especially in the last ten chapters.
Another things I appreciated about "The Queen's Realm" was the art style. Although Manhwas are very heterogenous and diverse, they do tend to have artistic similarities, most often in how the character's faces are drawn and using CGI to do the background art. Somethings which I liked in this series is how the whole thing is compiled in the fashion that makes it appear that it is hand-drawn. I'm not sure if this series was actually hand drawn, but in a medium where is becoming more and more computer reliant and digital art is being constantly overused, I enjoyed this more rustic artistic aspect. I also liked the varied color pallet, not just in the colorful drawings but also the themes of colors among certain characters.
Something which bugged me about this series were the characters. Sir Francis Drake in particular was petulant, irresponsible, and annoying. His main characteristics seemed that he enjoyed irritating and annoying people, including his own allies, and that he is hopelessly infatuated with Queen Elizabeth. The queen herself was rather stubborn and mean-spirited, and neither her nor Sir Francis really undergo any character development.
Another issue I had was the inconsistent tone. Several times throughout the art style would shift to this goofy chibi style even when the mood was supposed to be serious. This happens quite a bit in manga and manhwas, but for some reason it felt particularly tone-deaf here. There's this one scene where someone gets executed right in front of Sir Francis and we have reason to believe that Sir Francis may be in danger, only for the characters to randomly become chibi babies and start cracking jokes.
Finally, I know I've harped a lot of how "The Queen's Realm" depicts actual historical events, but if you take that aspect away it's really just another generic Manhwa that deals with royal drama, with all the usual stereotypes and clichés. I still think it's a decent series, more for the subject matter than the actual story, and would tentatively recommend it. At 50 chapters it's comparatively short, and although it took me a year to complete it you could probably read the whole thing in one or two sittings.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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