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Apr 27, 2023
Fiction is a lie.
In chapter one, there is an opening disclaimer: "This story is a work of fiction".
Now, I've had suspicions for a while about what the mangakas' intentions with the manga were. I, like other readers, had expected a straight-up revenge narrative from the first few chapters. It certainly seemed that way with how the story is framed. But the more chapters that come out, the more I feel like the mangakas were intentionally using the setup as a bait-and-switch plot device. And don't get me wrong--it still is a revenge story! But there's this... thing that keeps irking me.
It's this strange meta
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commentary that Oshi No Ko offers between the lines of the actual plot. The "irrelevant arcs" that negative reviewers have mentioned are these arcs that really don't serve any purpose in moving the narrative forward except for Aqua just getting immersed in the entertainment industry and the people who inhabit it. The actor who was unaware that his acting was bringing down the quality of the show. The VTuber with 300,000 subscribers who is actually just a middle school dropout shut-in behind the screen. The cosplayer who acts polite and then turns around and publicly tweets out her disappointment without attempting to privately resolve the matter. The mangaka who has no remorse in tearing down the work of those who inaccurately portray her characters.
If there's one thing that these characters have in common, it's their intense passion for what they do. The mangaka who wants to shut down the theater adaptation because she can't bear to see her characters being portrayed "out of character". The cosplayer who is tired of those looking down on her just because she does erotic cosplays. The actor who genuinely wants to deliver a performance that the audience will enjoy. I want to understand why other reviewers have been calling these characters one-dimensional because I genuinely can't see it. They've all provided a different perspective on their role in the entertainment industry, but they’ve shown that they care—and even love what they do—in their own ways, however misguided. I'm not entirely surprised that people who only consume content without thinking about the people who make content would find all this incredibly boring and inane to read about, but it was one of the more fascinating aspects of the story for me.
The entertainment industry, and if you dig deeper, fiction in general is built on the very foundation of lies. The manga likes to play with the blur between reality and fiction, like do the reality tv show contestants realllllly like each other or is it a lie played for the audience? Of course, this is all related to the very conception of Hoshino Ai as a character, who to her very last breath, was worried that her love was just a lie. Love in the form of lies seems to be the reoccurring theme in the manga. And within every lie, there is some truth, because lies are made to be believable, just like how stories are made to be consumed by readers.
The reason I suspect there is some strange meta-commentary at play is the fact that they’ve alluded to the director character making a movie about Hoshino Ai called “fifteen years of lies” in chapter FIVE, and they’ve been building it up in the more recent chapters. So clearly, they planned for this in-manga movie to happen from the very start. In the latest chapter, Akane says “Aqua-san is trying to kill his father with this work” and “Director Gotanda and Aqua-san are making this movie to get their revenge”. Again, it feels like this manga is less about the actual revenge and more about the nature of content creators and their “lies” (which ties it back to Hoshino Ai). The fact that Akane called the script “malicious”, I have no doubt that this “movie” will be a lie itself, but in a way that will bring closure to Hoshino Ai’s story.
Now, of course, the story is clunky at times. It’s not perfect. There are many flaws, but even still, I can tell there is a lot of passion towards the characters and the story from the authors. Passion isn’t enough to carry a manga, and I’m not at the point where I would really recommend this manga to anyone, but I’m still curious to see where it’s going.
And maybe I am looking too deeply into it, but I can’t help it. It would make all this “filler content” make more sense with the themes of the story. And I enjoyed the aforementioned filler content, so I would love it if it was something that the mangakas were going for all along. In the end, only the readers can choose what stories they want to read, and which lies they want to believe in.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Apr 10, 2023
Having a premise like "Online Grocery Shopping in Another World" sounds just as bad as "In Another World With My Smartphone" but I was surprised many times by the actual direction of the show. For one, the main character is a 27 year old salaryman and the moment he gets transported into the world, he pretty much leaves. The rest of the show is just slice of life shenanigans. There's hardly any plot, and the plot that does happen is very basic stuff, but anybody watching gets the feeling that was the goal of the show. To make a fantasy isekai slice-of-life about a guy
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in his late 20's who just really enjoys making food for himself and others. And the main character is basic, don't get me wrong, but he's charming in his own way. For me, what really gets me is how genuinely sympathetic he is towards others, and that does make him seem like a pushover at times, but he's just travelling around the fantasy world doing his own thing minding his own business. It's perfect for a lowkey slice-of-life plot. I ended up liking him a lot more than I thought I would. Some people find "nice MCs" to be boring, but it's not like he has a sacrificial savior complex or whatever. He's just a normal guy who wants to help whenever he can, he doesn't like causing trouble for others, he wants to stay out of the spotlight--and he's fine with taking the backseat and letting his friends do all the work, because at the end of the day, it's his job to bring the crew together for a nice meal at the table. And if you find that wholesome, you'd probably come out of this show with positive feelings
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Jan 3, 2023
What happens when an immovable object meets unstoppable force?
Or, rather, what happens when you get the world's biggest asshole ML meeting the world's most pitiful designed-to-be-pathetic MC? You get Jinx.
This webcomic could be read as some kind of dark comedy, I'm telling you. I did not read BJ Alex so this is a very objective review of Jinx by itself.
The ML is just, like... the definition of toxic masculinity and he's such an unlikable asshole that I'm honestly not sure how the manhwa is gonna bounce back to make the audience root for these two to end up together but as of chapter nine, my
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only guess is that he's gonna be spending like half the story kissing ass to the MC trying to make up for the EXTREMELY rocky start. It's just basically dubcon bordering noncon, you know... the usual.
On the other side of the ring, we have MC who is just... THE LOAN SHARKS ARE CHASING AFTER HIM. HIS GRANDMOTHER IS IN THE HOSPITAL. GUESS WHAT? SHE'S NOT JUST IN THE HOSPITAL, SHE HAS CANCER. AND SHE'S DYING. AND MC NEEDS TO GET MONEY FOR HER TREATMENT OR SHE WILL DIE AND MC LOVES HIS GRANDMA SO MUCH. MC IS CONSTANTLY SUFFERING BLOW AND AFTER BLOW AND HE REALLY NEEDS TO KISS ASS TO THE ML (AND HAVE SEX WITH HIM) TO DIG HIMSELF OUTSIDE THIS HOLE.
This is the reading experience of Jinx. Feeling bad for the MC, hating the ML, wondering how the hell the author is going to make this toxic relationship work, then wondering if author will even go through with real future character development for ML, then further wondering if ML is just too far gone already for any of this to have a happy ending. The nine chapters of Jinx I read, most of them was just me suffering from the ML's unlikable attitude and then me laughing at how the author designed the MC to be the most sympathetic pitiful guy in the world. Like, yeah, MC is constantly on the verge of a mental breakdown. Of course, I'm going to feel bad for this dude.
This review is only half serious because I honestly can't take this manhwa seriously. I don't think it's supposed to be read seriously. Oh, also, the art is pretty good.
You know, as much as I ragged on this series, it's not like it doesn't have ANY redeeming qualities to it. Yes, the MC is likable by force of design. He's an underdog of sorts. You, the reader, get the feeling that ML is completely misunderstanding MC as a person and he'll PROBABLY start treating MC better when he realizes that his life is in the gutters. There's SOMETHING to look forward to, which is good optics for your weekly-releasing manhwa. It's like, so terrible, and yet I keep reading. I keep coming back to it. Even though I experience the same goddamn disappointment every week. Maybe I'm just a masochist.
So, despite the ML being an asshole and people screaming he's irredeemable (I mean, they're not wrong), at least there is some semblance of a story and there's potential for character development. We're just going to have to see.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Jan 3, 2023
(To be honest, there's not much to spoil in this review but whatever.)
Love Is an Illusion came on my radar because one) it's popular and two) it got a physical release by Seven Seas Entertainment.
I have to say that as far as ABO/Omegaverse stories go, Love Is an Illusion is one of the most stereotypical plots I've seen. It's uhhh about uhhhh an alpha who isn't actually an uhhhh alpha and this fake alpha attracts the attention of a real alpha who H-A-T-E-S omegas and they hook up and blah blah, you get the gist.
Negatives:
- The characters. They're so one-dimensional. They have little
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to no consistency in the story. The main character has a backstory that makes me want to root for him, but my god, his personality as a tsundere is extremely grating. It makes me think the author wrote this main character to be "not like the other guys" but he just comes off as unlikable and unpredictable (and not in the fun sense) because of his zany attitude.
The side characters don't get much focus on except the side couples which... I don't think much of the readers really cared about them. Heesoo was pretty fucking hilarious as a pathetic-type of character, and his dynamic with Hyesung is actually somewhat interesting. There's that one Unspeakable scene they have together where afterwards they just feel really bad for each other and they immediately stop fighting. It's not good writing, but it did make me laugh (probably not for the right reasons)
Dojin's bland. It's really not fun when his only conflict is "How Do I Get MC From Running Away From Me" like just give the man some real fucking problems to deal with, it's really not that hard. It's really annoying how his entire character just shifts around MC, because then he just becomes a cardboard cutout of a character instead of someone the audience wants to root for. I really wish the author put more effort into developing him as his own person, but let's be honest: a lot of MLs in romances are just not independent so I can't really rag on this story for being like every other romance I read. Still, I wish there was more development.
- The romance. It's so bad. The two male leads don't have much going for them outside of sexual chemistry. Uhhh why did Dojin (Alpha ML) fall in love with Hyesung (Omega MC)? I have no idea. Dojin is... physically attracted to Hyesung. Yeah, okay. Dojin... loves Hyesung's personality...? He loves his childishness....????? Man, I really cannot tell you why Dojin likes Hyesung.
Yeah, Hyesung can be nice. But Dojin is characterized as an omega-hating bigot at the beginning of the series and I'm not really convinced why he'd fall for Hyesung as opposed to any other "nice" omega. It just makes no sense.
And then yes, we have dubcon (LOTS of borderline or plain noncon) elements in the story. The most aggravating to read was about the whole "bonding" thing. Oh, so the ML basically trapped MC into the relationship. That's cool. I guess. It's just not really all that exciting. There's no story like Killing Stakling but there's no substance to Hyesung and Dojin's relationship either. You don't want to root for them to end up together. You're just kind of riding the wave until the end, hoping these two don't fuck up their lives further than they already have. Not really an enjoyable experience for a manhwa.
- The story. There was an attempt, but there's really nothing to grasp on. There were some potential bits like Hyesung actually being really good at math to the point of being a prodigy, but it doesn't amount to anything interesting. When you think about it, not much really happens in the story.
Positives:
- Wholesome in-laws: They were pretty funny. It took them some time to get used to Hyesung, but they really stood behind him in the end and it was actually enjoyable to watch them interact.
- Surprisingly Mature Ending: Hyesung doesn't forgive either of his parents. He completely shuts his dad out, and he decides to talk with his mom but decides not to forgive her in the end after hearing her out. They don't villainize the mom either, they try to paint her in a more morally grey light. Our parents aren't expected to be perfect role models, but we don't have to forgive them either. I like it.
- Their baby: Byul's cute. I like the detail that Hyesung's name means Comet and Byul's name means Star. Probably not a coincidence that I tolerate the main couple the most when the focus shifts onto Byul.
Final verdict:
This is not a good BL. Probably an average BL. DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU DO NOT LIKE DUBCON/NONCON IT IS DEFINITELY NOT ONE OF THOSE SERIES THAT IS UNPROBLEMATIC. It's not even problematic in like... a fun way. There's nothing fun to read about the main couple which is very dangerous considering the whole manhwa is a romance??? So???? Yeah????????????/
I'm sure there's gonna be a crowd who likes this manhwa and doesn't even care if it's trash, I mean I have my own self-indulgent trash I love. Ultimately, this manhwa is too trashy for me and really I don't like much about it but who knows... It's popular enough to get a physical release so I'm sure there's an audience out there for this.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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May 17, 2022
Story:
There is no story. 1/10
Art:
Very good. Best aspect of the manhwa. 9/10
Character:
...
They are the exact type of characters you'd expect in an all-smut-no-story type webcomic. I honestly don't think there's any more to them. The "romance", if you could call it that, is pretty shallow. I mean. I don't really think there is ANYTHING to really discuss about them. The side couple is just as forgettable as a lot of other manhwa, just seems to be there for filler content and more opportunities to showcase smut. 3/10
Enjoyment:
Depends on if you enjoy the smut.
Overall:
I have to reiterate a million times that this manhwa has no plot. 5/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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May 16, 2022
THEY ADDED NEW RECRUIT YEAHHHH LETS GOOO GAMERS
story:
okay this is just. a typical coworker romance plot. if you're expecting any different, don't. you'll just end up disappointed. it is one of the most CLICHE plots you will experience but remember that experiencing something you've already read a dozen times over doesn't mean you won't enjoy it another time. yes, it's very SOL but it's not so boring where it doesn't keep your attention. the plot is pretty coherent as well, very simple to understand
art:
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definitely one of the best aspects of this manhwa. very easy on the eyes
character:
*sigh*
like if you want me to say that the two main leads are anything different or are genre-breaking, well they are literally like the same cookie-cutter character stereotypes you see a million times in BL.
again, you can't really count this as a negative or positive because it does depend on whether you as a reader like the common character stereotypes but given that the story is SUPER simple, it's not like there's much to dislike nor like about these specific characters in particular.
enjoyment:
PRO: it's a fairly short story (compared to other manhwa) that's only 40 chapters long. it's a complete story, you'll probably get some enjoyment out of it. i mean it's cute and all
CON: it's just cute. there is 0 substance to this manhwa. like it's a typical love story about two coworkers falling in love and supporting each other, nothing more to expect.
so enjoyment will definitely vary. IF ANYTHING, THE ART IS PRETTY NICE TO LOOK AT.
overall: i think a 7 is pretty fair considering it's kinda just... average? in terms of characters AND story? biggest grievance is that its a bit too boring and you might forget it in a couple weeks
for those who care, the main couple is healthy/non-toxic and even though one of them has a better position in the company, it's not really used for any power-dynamic type play. it's just a thing in the story and the main couple fall in love regardless of their positions.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Apr 25, 2022
You get exactly what the title delivers. "Father, I Don't Want This Marriage" may be the stupidest piece of media to ever exist, full of tripe misunderstandings and cliche tropes that may tire out the average reader, but for those of us who are regulars of this Villainess Genre, I gotta say, FIDWTM does it pretty well compared to others.
I mean, it's not a MASTERPIECE, like I don't really think ANY manga/manhwa/manhua that's come out of this genre is a "masterpiece", but damn if it's not entertaining to sit through. This is a very dumb plot, but I enjoyed the experience of reading it
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VERY much. At the end of the day, isn't that what counts?
Characters:
You either hate em or you love em. Actually, let me rephrase this.
Do you like Bakarina? Do you like how stupid Katarina is? Okay, this manhwa is definitely something you should read because the three central characters are ALL stupid, but in like an endearing way.
The main character and her love interest share exactly one braincell, her father isn't far behind although he certainly tries. This manhwa is a comedy so the audience can be much more forgiving of the stupid choices the characters make, DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU CAN'T HANDLE DUMB ROMCOMS. That's all I can say.
If I had to give real criticisms of the manhwa, it would be that the father is, perhaps, a bit too stupid to not understand how unhappy his own daughter has been all these years. The main character, Juvelian, isn't the brightest either. I keep hearing complaints from the community that she has no personality, and I could agree with that to an extent. She's a bit lackluster as far as characters come and go, I'd say the love interest is even more interesting than her which is pretty shocking considering the genre's constant flood of faceless male leads whose personalities are only to simp for the main character.
Not my boy Max, though. He may have a cliche personality of a tsundere but I will defend his character as one of the more enjoyable parts of this manhwa.
Story:
Man, this plot is stupid.
The first time I read this, I was surprised at how dark the first chapter was, but the story never gets as dark as it does in the first chapter. You could not tell this was going to be a light-hearted comedy (with maybe some dark comedy subtle tones) from reading the first chapter. It is a tone shift, trust me.
That being said, the story is somewhat coherent. There is... stuff in the background happening, it's just MAJORLY overshadowed by the, um, main character's perspective and as we established in the Characters Section... yeah, she's not the brightest so a lot of the story just gets LOST because of her perspective.
That's probably why the best story bits that contain a semblance of plot (not filler) are from the father's perspective. I'm not going to spoil anything, not even anything vague, but I think they handled it pretty well. I don't know if it would justify his character but it's there and for those who haven't read the manhwa, you'll just have to read it to experience yourself.
Yeah... not much to say. A lot of filler, not a lot of story. I don't know what else anyone else expected. Expect some dumb identity porn if any of y'all like that trope. It's amusing but will drag out for 30+ chapters. (Someone, somewhere out there, was probably crying because of the slow burn.)
Art:
Ooh, shiny. Yeah, it's pretty good. Uh, some anatomical errors here and there (long necks, inconsistent height), but pretty servicable. The art style's strong points are definitely the expressive faces, which is a blessing considering how much of the comedy depends on the facial expressions. The art works in tandem with the story and the comedy.
Enjoyment:
I enjoyed it. Not everyone will enjoy it. I think I've explained it all in detail in my other sections. Objectively, this is not a very good manhwa, but I ENJOYED IT AND THAT'S WHY I HAVE TO GIVE IT A 7 BECAUSE IT MAY BE TRASH, BUT IT'S MY TRASH. Those dumb characters? I'll root for them anyday, because they're MY dumb characters. Thank you.
Conclusion:
Actually, this ends up being "Father, I DO WANT TO GET MARRIED" so the manhwa doesn't even commit to its own title! That's how stupid this manhwa is!!! Understandable, have a nice day
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jan 26, 2022
Never has anime--no, not just ANIME but all of HISTORY--has there ever been a more competent dog that has existed. No, I'm not kidding. This dog, "Tobimaru", has a KILL COUNT. This dog drives forward the plot of the movie at every turn, is a lovable character, is able to provide a distraction for his owner...
[Spoilers past this point]
Literally, this dog KILLS a man in the first TEN MINUTES protecting his owner. SINGLE-HANDEDLY. CLIMAX OF THE MOVIE? THE DOG IS THE ONE WHO SAVES THE KID AT THE MOMENT THE KID NEEDED IT THE MOST...
...Without Tobimaru, this movie would've surely been a tragedy. This dog
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truly is one of the most competent dog deuratagonists to ever be depicted.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Mar 25, 2021
this manhwa broke so many boundaries that it won the award for best boy's love just because there wasn't a section for girl's love. this is a rare gem in a sea of fetishization, torture porn, and mindless fluff, i mean it has a surprisingly balanced AND coherent story with female characters w/ agency and all the good shit.
anyways, explaining any details about this series will be a spoiler. what i will tell u is that this is a ride or die experience, and if you can't handle it, then P E R I S H.
i have nothing more to say.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Feb 25, 2021
my friend pointed out that there was only one review for this manga and that is a fvcking travesty, let me tell you
this manga is a MASTERPIECE. you think im joking but im not. it honestly features one of the best office romances that doesn't feel at all tedious nor like the boss has whatever freaky weird power dynamic usually associated with boss-employee couples. INSTEAD, these two guys are actually *gasp* normal?!?!??! COULD IT BE?!??!?!
also only true gaymers are allowed to read this. i rest my case. 10/10, would experience again. that means if u arent a gaymer, dont even bother.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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