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This show is painfully generic, to the point where it feels like a project designed purely for an animation house to flex its muscles, without any thought given to substance. The characters are boring, the plot is boring, it's just Mashle mixed with Black Clover, played 100% straight. There are occasional moments where the plot shows a few signs of life, but it's almost instantly buried under a mountain of insipid dialogue. I really cannot imagine why more thought was not given to how to make this show interesting, given how much love and care clearly went into the animation, which brings ... me to the basis of my tacit recommendation-

The animation is truly gorgeous, to the point where I would recommend anyone watch the first 3 or so episodes purely for the animation if they care even a little bit about that kind of thing. The animation quality dips very hard at episode 4 anyway, with a modest return to form in 5.

The cat is also very cute. I will probably finish this show based on the animation alone, which is impressive given that I'm usually a story and character first kind of guy. I'm mostly just sad that so much love and care didn't get poured into better material.

There are three aspects of this show that I want highlight as what I feel makes it somewhat special-

1.) The visual presentation. The animation looks pretty good, and while not entirely consistent across the board, there are some breathtaking sequences with some excellent key frame work. What's more, the visual style of this show is gorgeous, with bold line work, and a vibrant, unique color palette, employing bright greens, yellows, reds and blues, mixed with more muted tones you might see in a 90s anime. This is particularly noticeable in the intro, which I love. The cinematography and scene framing ... also have standout moments. The show has both a great sense of style as well as a great sense of humor, and this comes across in its visuals. Speaking of-

2.) the sense of humor is pretty decent. It does take some getting used to at first, particularly from the fourth wall breaking priest who can see into the future. There is a freneticism to it that harkens back to shonen anime from the 80s and 90s, but the visual gags are often elevated just enough to put a smile on your face, even if you're not outright belly laughing. This also achieves an interesting effect when sharply contrasted against a more tragic or violent moment, which brings me to final and probably most controversial point

3.) the tone. The tone is a dual one, on one hand you have a typical shonen adventure with a wacky cast of youngster, the capricious yet sincere prince, the serene shrine maidens daughter, the mischevious ninja, the quirky mentor, the silly villains etc. Typical themes of togetherness, finding oneself, they're all here. Yet the show also can be brutal in a very matter of fact way, which is apt for the setting of a historical drama, with its more fanciful and playful aspects lending itself well to the clearly embelished and magical elements of the story. If the show was edgy or exploitative about it, I would not be praising this qualtiy. In execution the contrast feels very appropriate, and it is in this contrast that some of the shows themes diverge from the typcial shonen trappings. The prince embracing the natural perversions which allows him to thrive in his plight, the use of asymetrical stratagems and the honor of subterfuge, and how to reconcile the natural shame of suvivors guilt using the virtue of surviving for the sake of those around you. It creates a unique viewing experience where you feel extremely invested in what's happening. It is somewhat evocative of Demon Slayer, but as it sometimes vaciliates rapidly between playful and cruel, I'd say the watching experiences differ quite a bit. I would almost describe watching this as what I imagine children's stories were like generations ago, with the parents regailing children with semi-historical tales full of geunine tragedgy but also mirth and fantasy.

I could see some people being put off by this show's somewhat jarring tone, and also have some questioning who this show is even for. I think I respect it for that, and appreciate and enjoy what feels like a director's vision.

***contains spoilers***

This series is straight-up offensively bad. Normally I wouldn't care and just move on with my life, but from the high ratings, the comparisons to much better series (such as To Your Eternity), and the constant front-page status on various manga sites, I just want to say: shame on the manga/manhwa/webtoon reading community.

As others have mentioned, this goes beyond basic wish fulfillment. It manages to be a masturbatory, fetishistic parody of something that was already indulgent to begin with.


Characters 1/10: There is only one character that 'matters', that being Sung Jin Woo. Every single other character is window-dressing meant to ... frame SJW in the best light possible, either by being in awe of him or being comically evil/arrogant in order to justify his psychopathic behavior.

Manhwa, I have noticed, seems to struggle with restraint. They are not content with merely having the main character stand out, that character must dominate every single aspect of life, and effortlessly rub it in the faces of every other male character. From women to money, to strength, to appearance, to fame, to rare valuables, to potential, and even regarding more intangible ideas like being the most mysterious, or being the most aloof and cool-headed. They are at once designed to be the superficially indulgent male suitor in a harlequin romance novel and OP protagonist of a Wuxia novel.

What's more, the edgy nature of these MCs goes beyond simple brooding to appeal to the typical hoodie weeb, it is also *heavily* sexualized. Dangerous yet loyal, charming yet curt, socially domineering yet understated, casually psychopathic yet protective, sly yet straightforward, and somewhere between arrogant and confident. These traits have heavily psychosexual implications and are nauseating to read when played straight because they are clearly not designed to create consistent characterization or an interesting person, they are meant to walk the razor-thin edge of "f*ckably dangerous". This is all very directly reflected in how unobtainable women submit to the overwhelming raw sexual energy of the MC despite *minimal* interactions, with this series even going so far as to bring smell into it. Idk if this is meant to appeal to readers who are potentially attracted to the MC or simply be another layer for readers to project themselves onto, but either way it's insufferable even by power fantasy standards when the main character is OP Christian Grey.

As a result of the above, there is absolutely nothing to humanize Sung Jin Woo. There is no room to create depth when any flaws or complexities must be spent building a carefully crafted dark-triad fantasy archetype. The superficial struggles the story presents (emotional or literal) only serves to highlight how poorly fleshed out our MC actually is. Any inner turmoil or kind act depicted is lip-service meant to pull SJW's character back from literal monster to Sigma Chad. Any mistake he makes or reckless action he takes is merely designed to build tension, as he never loses anything or faces real consequences. You can't even root for him from the perspective of zero to hero because after his reawakening he becomes literally and figuratively unrecognizable as the same character. The plot will also bend over backward to justify SJW's irresponsible actions via information he couldn't have possibly known, leaving people to die simply because of some convoluted logic he came up with at the moment. This is often done in service of preserving SJW's mystery and the "big reveal" where SJW whips out his huuuuge powers to the shock and awe of all the characters. Plot contrivances are also worked in to justify SJW's edgier moments

Speaking of kind acts, with the notable exception of saving a wealthy D ranker, most heroics result in SJW garnering the affection of women, with men in the story being treated like cannon fodder. The only people treated worse than men are non-Koreans. This story manages to surpass even Baki in its xenophobia, which is a bit funny considering SK is rarely even mentioned in other types of comics. One-sided media rivalries like this reek of an inferiority complex, which is perfect for the target demo of this series, I guess.

The foulest example I can think of to summarize many of these complaints is during the Jeju island arc, where the MC decides to hold off from helping to wipe out the poorly ripped-off chimera ants thanks to weak plot contrivances, only to have a bunch of Japanese people die horribly. It's okay though, because their boss was *evil* anyway, so SJW only shows up at the last second to save all the Koreans and unnecessarily proceeds to make sure he proves himself stronger than his opponent in every single aspect of combat before obliterating it (instead of doing the safer thing and bringing out his shadows from the beginning). Then, another male character who he previously snubbed makes a request of him, which he only acquiesces to after a bit of posturing because the other male character was respectful to SJW this time.

I will give a nod to SJW's shadows, which will often have genuinely cute moments that are elevated by the art.

Finally, our MC's motivations are not clear, which brings me to the plot.

Plot 2/10: There is obviously a broader plot being alluded to. with the gates obviously being manipulated by some interdimensional godlike figure who is forcing all of these battles to happen (gives off some Gantz vibes), but SJW seems cooly detached from it, only vaguely pursuing the goal of obtaining strength or overcoming some obstacle that is directly in front of him, from saving his mom, to saving his friend, to avoiding detection, to making some money, to starting a guild, to overcoming whatever task the system gives him. Each arc usually culminates in some tensionless boss fight.

The first chapters are boring, the first dungeon is moderately engaging, the rest of the story is terrible and feels like a mindless hack and slash video game with occasional creative flourishes. MC's shadow powers are kinda neat but are largely meaningless when it's obvious he will prevail every time regardless of his power set. There are occasionally developments, characters, and plot threads that seem interesting but go nowhere. The fact that SJW is the only character who can "grow" and has unlimited potential deflates any sense of tension or rivalry. The story has massive, gaping plot-holes all over the place, but will spend exorbitant amounts of time on trivial details or explaining an item/world/system mechanic, which all lack any sense of weight because they feel arbitrarily manufactured and poorly integrated into any other aspect of the story or the world in which these characters exist. Everything feels hollow, partially because of how flimsy the world-building is, and partially because it feels like the story exists inside a Korean fashion magazine with a coat of fantasy paint on top of it (sometimes the paint is even invisible since SJW can make his armor disappear so as not to diminish from his cool-guy persona). There is zero subtlety in the foreshadowing, and most of it revolves around random system mechanics that are used for plot convenience.

You can tell pretty early on that every organization, character, etc. introduced largely exists just to JO the main character, his own special powers being the only thing that really matters (something CONSTANTLY reinforced by the author)

Most of all, I'm just insulted by how much this series wastes your time. It will spend many chapters building up and introducing characters and plot elements, just to drop them or burn through them in one chapter for a single badass moment for SJW.

Art: 9/10

The art is good. In the beginning, the anatomy is rough, but it cleans up over time and goes from feeling like a talented amateur to Korean Joe Madureira. Where it shines is the use of color and many graphic elements. Some panels are truly beautiful to look at, with flame effects, shadow effects, laser eyes, etc. They're all very well done and extremely polished. The panoramic shots in general tend to be exceptionally done.

It even manages to utilize the single panel format better than a lot of others, with some creativity in panel placement.
Enjoyment 2/10

Art is the one major redeeming quality. The shadows can be cute.

Overall 2/10

If you want to read a Manhwa that is very similar to this, but I would say is worth reading through, Skeleton Soldier Couldn't Protect the Dungeon manages to work in a lot of the same elements, but in a much more satisfying and carefully crafted way, with characters that have genuine depth. It absolutely has some weirdly dissonant moments that seem to be common in Manhwa, but it improves on this general "edgy OP MC" formula in every way possible.

Otherwise, if you're just looking for a power fantasy fix, read something written by a competent author like Overlord or Mushoku Tensei.