Rurrie's Reviews

Well folks, this is it. The tropiest of trope stories. An average school girl neglected by her family and bullied by her younger sister becomes the fated mate/"bride" of the most powerful and attractive of all the demon lords who rescues her and takes her to his mansion where she is doted upon, but also he's possessive and makes her quit her job. But don't worry, the unhealthiness goes both ways, because ayakashi are essentially emotional prisoners to their brides and can't refuse anything their bride asks of them.

Is this a power fantasy for young adults going through strife with their families and adolescent pining for bishounen? Of course. If you're in the target demographic, you might love this one.

Personally, I find "fated mate" stories to be an excuse for not explaining why the main characters fall in love to begin with, which is the best part imo. I also dislike the protagonist being rescued by a rich guy who is instantly in love with her, without having any agency of her own. It's a juvenile fairy tale, but a cute one that I did enjoy reading free chapters of. I actually wish there were more free chapters, but it's not good enough to pay to read.

Yes, it has a cute fluffy and dramatic romance. That is a given. But it also has an INTENSE B-Plot involving gangs, class wars, drugs, and addiction. TW for addiction. It gets heavy. A very well-written tale!

They are really dragging this one out with the mutual pining and angst. Sheesh. But hey, a cute herbalist and the broody wolfman? It's cute.

Most of the manga on this site are romances with the same old tropes - a kind-hearted older sister is cruelly abused by her younger sister until a handsome nobleman rescues her. Ok, so this is basically the same story - kind-hearted girl, cruel family, blah blah blah. But so far? There is no guy. She's on her third reincarnation, so she's a wise old granny who sees the drama around her as the acts of cute children in their rebellious phase. It focuses a lot on non-romantic relationships and adventure and survival. It's like a typical mangaplaza title mixed with Delicious in Dungeon. It's absolutely wonderful. I am hoping there's a bit of romance later, but that will just be icing.

Love: a "frail" princess secretly being a powerful mercenary. The wife being the strong one. Redeeming a scorned man through love and melting his heart. Nobody has parents who are cartoonishly cruel to them.

WTF tho: the cranky tsundere's arc being completed with enough velocity to escape Earth's orbit. Instantly melting into a puppy the first moment he experiences affection instead of having any kind of pushback or disbelief about it. The female lead instantly falling in love with him 90% out of pity the day they meet. Both of them being an unhealthy amount of obsessed with each other immediately.

I mean look, though. If what you want is a fantasy about protecting your devoted softboi husband with a praise kink, then this is your manga. This is IT.

Every one of these soap-opera-ey manga has a heroine who is abused by her family to a cartoonish degree and is rescued by a rich guy who falls in love with her pure, kind heart.

In THIS manga, the main character IS the wicked family member! WHAAAAT? Except, no. The abused heroine is forced to pretend to be the cruel family member so her abusive sister can play the victim role to win suitors. The "wicked woman" drops her act in chapter 1 and it never gets explored again except as a cruel thing her family did to her.

So, you could say they subverted the trope. Or you could say it's the exact same trope with 1 extra step.

But honestly? The story and characters have more depth than usual in these cheap romances. Supporting characters have their own arcs and there's a whole little murder mystery. The bar is low on this website, but this is one of the good ones. Love went into making this and it's an enjoyable little read.