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I really didn't expect this to be that good and for each character to be fleshed out so much but god DAMN it was downright hilarious and fun and I loved the entire cast by the end of it, even the tertiary side characters. There are some lines that didn't necessarily age well (as expected) but 17 years after it airs this anime is still unironically enjoyable. It's endearingly over-the-top and the art style completely allows for that — it honestly made me nostalgic for the era of 2D animation because every frame was so expressive and flamboyant in the best way.

I didn't read the manga before watching the anime but even I could tell that some of the stories are incomplete — the half-episodes were the worst and I really wish each story was a full 24 minutes because I could tell that the premises were really interesting, they just ended right when I thought it was starting and we didn't have enough time to get to know the characters.

The art style is decent but I saw a few screenshots of the manga afterwards, and the sshow absolutely does not capture the same eeriness and detail. Still, my favorite ones are Hanging Balloon and Layers ... of Terror.

This is overall a pretty fun read; although there's a really interesting premise it doesn't feel like the manhwa completely convinced itself of its own world-building until the later chapters, which were the more interesting ones in my opinion.

There were also some really annoying character moments and the middle dragged out a bit because it was almost all just Mari being wishy-washy. I understand the reasoning for it, but it felt like not much moved forwards and even then there was a lot of questionable decision-making.

I also thought that side characters could have been fleshed out more; it really felt as though they were just ... there, or they had backstories that were introduced out of the blue, for convenience. Mari and Jaemin were really the only characters that had cohesive depth to them.

Overall, however, the artwork is really cute and fun from start to finish!

Started out so intense and mind-blowing, but it gradually felt like the manga lost its way.
A really fleshed-out cast of characters and perspectives between Norman, Emma, and Ray's different levels of empathy was gradually whittled down to Emma's naivete and everyone, for some reason, agreeing with her and just going along with whatever she says.

The plot itself also just got less interesting and I wasn't sure why characters were doing what they were doing. Things happened out of the blue and the rules of the world just changed a lot for convenience.

The first volume is still mind-blowing, with a tense setting, a capable villain, and ... unknown outside world — everything I needed to really root for the underdogs. But past that, this felt like a downhill ride.