Back to Hentaicheg's Profile Hentaicheg's Profile

Let us start with what this Manhua actually is as it is by far most important factor.
You see - the name of the manhua is BY FAR the most misleading title in the history of mankind.

If you were hoping for some serious evil demonic cultivation series - throw your thoughts away, RIGHT NOW, leave this page immediately and never return!
You are still here? Alright, let's continue then.
The demonic cultivation is mostly an afterthought. In fact 'cultivation' is outright not present at all, characters are Mary Sue from get go.
There are elements of Chinese Xianxia but they are so barebones they might as well not exist.

The ... correct title for this manhua would be 'Grandmaster of Anal Cultivation'.
Yeah, boys love aspect is pretty much domineering and the other tags might as well not exist.

All 260 chapters of stories are a romantic buildup with something that one would usually call 'filler episodes' taking up majority of the chapters.
Every single page is nothing but an opportunity to show just how much 2 MCs want each other's ass and how amazing they are. That's literally it.

Story? Forget about that, there is no such thing here. You follow random ministories which only serve to build up a a large but empty world which could have been good... if there was something it was ultimately leading to.
But no, the manhua mostly throws around names of sects, characters and such... but none of them matter, wasting memory on them is an exercise in futility as most of them will be forgotten by the author after a few chapters.

Characters? If you remember someone aside of 2 MC's for longer than 2 days after reading this manhua - I would have to nominate you for a Nobel Prize.
Every character beyond the 2 MC's is mostly an afterthought that has one goal - show off how cool the MCs are in comparison.

If the only tag this had was Boys Love I would probably rate it an.. 8(not too sure, since I would likely not even start it if tags were not so misleading) but as is - 6 is honestly being generous.

The most redeeming factor is the fully colored art, which while not exactly high quality is generally above average with some drops in quality from time to time.

Honestly surprised to see this rated so highly as it's very misleading in explaining what this manhwa actually is.
It is a pretty usual shonen type story with very dull twists, plot armor every 2nd battle and simplistic black/white morale.

The main attraction being breathtaking visuals. And quite a lot of fanservice. Absolute 10/10 on that front.

If you want a mix of good action scenes/fanservice/highly detailed colored art and don't mind a cringe story for children - you will enjoy this.

If you are expecting a serious survival/horror story - you will be disappointed.

There ain't much to tell beyond that - characters are one dimensional and do not ... make you care for them, they are strong/weak solely depending on what plot needs them to be at the current moment.

I would say 6/10 is what I would give it overall BUT it's the type of manhwa where enjoyment factor is supposed to be higher than overall quality.

And in terms of enjoyment - read the pros/cons above and decide if you will be able to enjoy it.
Those who do enjoy it will have a pleasant experience.

I am only writing this review because the only reviews who actually completed the series so far are rating it as high as 9 and 10 which may lead you into a false belief of it actually being a hidden gem as I thought, so I am here to unveil the curtain and mention hidden icebergs you should brace yourself for.

I will start with stating the fact that it's more Josei than Seinen and Psychological... the only seinen element is a few rape scenes.. and psychological... I guess one dimensional characters having trouble with sorting their feelings could be psychology for someone.. but I expected ... something more mature. So be aware, as this wrong 'genre' fact is a very important part, as I actually wanted a seinen personally, but got a Josei which I am not heavily into to say the least, despite reading a few good ones.

Now let's get on with the actually good part and talk about the manga itself:

Story - story is actually good or could have been good... more than the story itself, the concept is interesting... you get an ugly girl who can temporarily 'steal faces' with a certain tool she got as memento from her dead mother. She uses other persons beautiful face to play in theater since she thinks that despite her having talent for it - it's useless without beauty. It's more complicated than that, but it would be spoiling elements of the story telling more. Just trust me that the actual premise is pretty good. It's nothing groundbreaking but it's both unique and decent quality.
Be aware though story has a lot of elements that wouldn't make sense to pragmatic thinking, so don't expect much logic out of it, just embrace it like a touchy story with flawed logic.
Story gets an 8/10 overall.

Now for the second good element:
Art - art is done nicely enough, beautiful characters are brilliantly done, they are depicted in a breathtaking way emphasizing their beauty. What I didn't like were characters who were supposed to be ugly... considering how 'disgusted' every single character is towards those 'ugly' characters they should have either actually got a hideous look or emphasized this less overall. 'Ugly' characters didn't really look all that bad, I mean certainly not worth everyone on the street gazing at them like an alien.
So art gets an 8/10.

Now let's talk about characters:
Kasane - protagonist of the series, the girl with the 'ugly' face who gets bullied(aka your usual tragic heroine)... she could have been an interesting character, the build up for it was well done... but in the end she never changes from being a egoistic girl who thinks she is special in this world just because she is ugly. She remains like that from the start to the very end with only minor feeling outbursts here and there which most of the time don't make much sense to an adult person.
Honestly speaking, the other major characters appear quite late into the series, so it would be spoilerish to describe them, but I will summ them up overall: personality wise, they are all the same... some of them also get interesting premise.. but they all end up one dimensional, fixated on just one goal and never really developing in any meaningful way.
Characters are 6/10

Enjoyment:
Despite a lot of negatives I wrote down, the story itself goes smoothly and is enjoyable enough... If you enjoy josei or are a woman - you will certainly enjoy it, but if you were looking for 'psychology x seinen' then it will be just 'good'.

Overall: 7/10 - I wouldn't hold my hopes up too high, but it's a rather good 'touching' Josei manga, if that's what you are looking for - you will enjoy it.

It's nearly a direct continuation of Imawa no Kuni no Alice.

Overall - if you decide to read this, you should read the former first to better understand what is happening.(the original 'prequel' is MUCH better as well, so trust me, if you won't like the former, don't even touch this one) Unlike the former, which went roundabout on most of the concepts - this one literally throws all the answers you might want at you.

It would be spoiling to tell how this relates to the first manga, but I will just tell that there will be some minor cameos and the overall concept of the ... 'borderlands' is quite similar.

But enough about the first story, let's get on with this one - if you are entering this in hopes of getting the same quality as previous series - abandon this hope.

This manga offers a pretty weak(but colorful and distinguishable) cast of characters, following a semi dull story.
The characters make 180 in their personality way too often.. the plot revolves around asspulls where characters do physically impossible things.
It was a minor issue in the original series, where it could pretty much be ignored, but in this one it's heavily magnified...

The only reason you might want to read this manga is if you need to be spoonfed the explanation of the concept behind the original series. This manga literally leaves no questions hanging. If anyone asked me for a manga series, where I literally did not have a single question left by the time I finished reading it - that would be one of the best examples.
And that's a negative point for me, but I can see that being helpful for some people who just want an 'absolute conclusion', which is what is offered here.

An overall weak 7/10. Art was pretty good, it had more or less good enjoyment value if you enjoyed the former series... despite weak character cast - they were still pretty memorable. Story was nothing much, but I have seen worse, so can't give it less than fair as well.

The manga is now finished, so it's the time to make a review based on full read through and here is what I ended up with:

Story - as far as story and concept goes, I think that's the weakest aspect of this manga..
Concept of the story is pretty much a continued session of 'loops' of the exact same time period happening. Some people who maybe have just started with reading manga may find it innovating, but it really isn't, as such concept was used in numerous manga series already.
Story itself was a bit disappointing too - the story is based on the light novel, ... but the manga misses a few important details, which ruins the overall experience and may make the manga feel a bit rushed.

Story gets something between 7 and 8, I had much higher expectations.

Art - certainly one of the strongest aspects of the manga. I enjoyed both the style and how detailed everything was. Usually we only get detailed MC's, but in this case almost all the side characters are pretty detailed too.

Art is a strong 9.

Characters - characters sure do feel alive, the MC's personality realy changes a lot due to loop and the progress of that is well described. Side characters also get some personality, but they aren't realy developing, mostly because manga is stuck in 1 day probably.
Relations between character felt a bit rushed though and it felt like relations of side characters to the MC were improving with loops even though they don't know about it. We shouldn't forget that MC is supposed to be a green newbie in eyes of the army and higher ups probably wouldn't ever pay attention to him.

Characters get an 8.

Enjoyment - I personally found it very enjoyable and entangling, I loved the concept of looping and enjoyed the development of MC's personality. The plot also isn't complex at all for such concept, as it usually is, so it should be realy enjoyable for a casual reader.

Enjoyment is a 9

Overall I think the manga was very good (8) - it felt a bit rushed at times, but the art and some twists really kept you entangled enough to enjoy this short read.
It is interesting enough to read through, but don't expect anything complex, I judged it based on the fact it's an 17 chapter manga and for such length the plot was realised pretty well, but I originally hoped they would make it a bit longer, skipping less small details.