#this manhwa is totally not the vibe that i first got from it

[imblocking-you]

I'm gonna read Payback manhwa, it seems nice

[hanazono-land]

Review: Blooming Sequence

CW: Mentions of abuse

This review contains minor spoilers for the first season

I had never read any manhwa before I read Blooming Sequence. At the time of writing this review, that was three months ago. Since then, I've read a total of eight more. I think it's safe to say that Blooming Sequence got me hooked. It's just that good.

The series is split up into two 'seasons', and each one has a different vibe to it. The first season focuses mostly on the developing relationship between the protagonists Ahn Hayoung and Hyun Seowoo and feels like a nice, fluffy yuri romance. It's enjoyable to read and does a good job at introducing all the different characters and their relationships. If the series ended after the first season, I would have been perfectly fine with that and thought of it as a nice yuri manhwa. But it doesn't. It has a second season. And that second season is what made Blooming Sequence one of my favorite series of all time.

The first season had a few side characters that felt like they were just there to create conflict between Hayoung and Seowoo, most notably Yi-hwa, Hayoung's ex-girlfriend. The way she was portrayed in the first season made me just want her to GTFO and stop bothering the homosexual actions between Hayoung and Seowoo, but the second season did such a good job developing her as a character that she actually became one of my favorites.

Blooming Sequence is the perfect example of how to do side-character development. It never feels like it's taking away time from the main paring when there's a chapter focuses more on one of the side characters, instead it feels like you're getting a better understanding of the overall story and how everyone's relationships are connected. It doesn't come up with some sort of redemption arc, or some reasoning for hurting others that justifies a character's decision. It just shows you the whole picture over time, and let's you decide how you feel about their actions without spoon feeding you. Except for Seowoo's abusive dad. He can go fuck himself.

Another thing that Blooming Sequence does wonderfully is blending comedy and drama together without making it feel out of place. Ga-eun, one of Hayoung's friends who helps out with her club project, could be considered as a sort of comedic relief to some situations with her being the thirstiest character in the entire series, but in the second season her character is explored more and her personality gets fleshed out beyond simply being 'Hayoung's incredibly lesbian friend'.

Of course, the romance between Hayoung and Seowoo is done beautifully. Their relationship isn't perfect by any means, in fact, it's more awkward than it isn't with how inexperienced Seowoo is when it comes to dating. But that awkwardness is probably my favorite part of their relationship. It makes it feel so much more real. (She writes despite never being in a real relationship before) They also have really gay sex which I think is pretty neat!

Verdict: Highly Recommend

[thesnottedbrat]

The Difference

K-wave became more trending globally these years (thanks BTS), another culture also raise to the surface in reading section (manhwa and novel). Korean manhwa and novel popularity are quite significant these recent years, to the point the author and published take a legal action to protect their babies from ilegal translation. Hence, right know, we’re in the middle of their purgatory.

Back then, i dont really read manhwa diligently, but i know some people already fangirling about it. I was a devoted believer of manga, heck, my reading list was full of it. Fast forward, my hot list mangas been hiatus or the scans team being MIA (due lacking translator/staffs) or simply we waiting for the next chapter coming up which takes weeks/months (you know, some mangas published weekly, monthly or bimonthly, but some of them are publish every 4months! yeah right, talk about forever).

Out of boredom, i give several manhwas a try (its been on roll for months and many people in forum talked about it, so lets give it a try), and im hooked. 

I remember the first manhwa i read was a BL manhwa with silver hair guy with a super power as the ML (forgot its name), and the MC is his childhood friend with black hair. The artysyle totaly catching my eyes fast. Its colorful but i have a slight difficulties with how to read.

You know, manga are black and white page (ofc there’s one with colors as well), and 1 page are contained (normally) with 3-6 panels, and you read it from right to the left. But with manhwa you have to do the opposite. Its a long strip comics with lots of white area, and you read it from left to the right.

Im also check several manhua out there. My first manhuwa is 10 years where i loved you the most. DAMN MAN! i love this manhua so freaking much!! i even read the novel!!! totally a tear jerker!!!

And ever since, i imersing myself to read more manhwa and manhua (but not much) LOL. 

And i give the novels a reading too. But after some time, i found a patterns. 

This writing is based on my personal opinions, so no hard feelings, ok?

My preferences are:

something with heavy-twisted theme (but not too dark nor gorey)

easy fluffy romance is okay too

picky with omegaverse things (cus yk...)

family theme is okay (i loved it actually, as long as its not too childish)

comedy is fine, but too much are down for me

regular shounen/shoujo theme is acceptable

something full with angst/sad kind of thing is my fave!

war and strategy things are okay too

mysteries, detective/police theme is fine

supernatural stuffs is good once a while

Well i guess, my preference is okay, I mean, i dont like things that too complicated or too cheesy. It just blow the entire plot.

Im also fine where the MC is died, i mean, several stories are meant to do so (imo). We cant be perfect all the time, even fictional stories need some real life situation hard. I think this kind of ending is beautiful and more humane.

Korean Novel

Blame me for my limited reading list. But from what i read so far, the only novel i liked was Trash of the Count Family. Most of k-novel i read, were, how do i say this.. they’re just okay? 

Plot wise, i see no difference one from another, and i want more conflict happened. Maybe the author and published targeted the young audience, so i cant really blame them. 

But, from what i know, Shadow Queen had good characters conflict and the characters also develop by their own pace (quite slow, but i guess its the way supposed to be).

But come to think of it, i never found BL novel? Letme check on it again.

Korean Manhwa

Most of the artystle are cute and nice, but thats it. Most of published (popular) manwha in girls sections were novel based (adaptation), its a common things and sometimes they differentiate from the original plot. Meanwhile the BL sections apparently were original (not adaptation). 

I dont know why but instead cultivated more artists to make novel adaptation, why dont asked them to create their own story? I think its more interesting that way and to make more vast genre available out there.

Plus thing : they published it weekly, with hiatus schedule for several months and continue the next chapter (repeat). Needless to say, they can finished a book/projects fast.

Japan Novel

Well, i have a love-hate relationship with this. Most of them able to portray the deep of characters emotions well, and the plot development was. But what i hated is sometimes (or mostly?) they spinning in the wheels and using the same words for god knows many times. 

Japan Manga

Allright, old artifacts, who doesnt read this stuffs? Do i have to write it down?

My first book story, ever. And i still read it till now. The most vast collection out there, and the most easy to obtain book. Not every manga are colorful (they printed the colorfull ver as a limited edition/collection edition), they printed it in bw to reduce the production cost.

Manga is the opposite of manhwa in terms of creating stories. The mangka works as a story teller as well as the artist. Not everyone tho, but most of them. 

What i hate: their published date! URGH. As i stated previously, their published date is sucks! several publisher have different release schedule. Some of them published weekly, monthly or bimonthly. I can wait for it. For some of them publiisedh every 4months! 4 months for 1 chapter!! So it means, you only have 4 chapters A YEAR!! Emerald sucks!

I dont even bother to keep tabs with Super Lovers or Sekaiichi Hatsukoi.

Chinese Novel

imo, the only worth reading is their BL novel. If i were you, dont even bother to read other novels, it was just a long series of  cheap soap drama with evil cycle. Sooooo fed up i cant even say anything. Ok, maybe not everything,  To Be A Virtuous Wife is a good read, or my all time fave 10 Years When I Loved You The Most (BL), or every MXTX works is superb! I recommend this very much!

But i have to admit, i loved how Ch author using a flowery language, thats what hooks me the most.

The common things are mentioned below:

daddy CEO with super smart genius kid and superb beauty wife

imortal heavenly being, mostly reincarnated

harem life turns one devoted lovers

rape and violence

like normal occurrences

genius hacker

unmatched beauty

The thing is, the MC is way too OP (either physically or mentally) which i dont like. So i dropped several stuffs.

Chinese Manhua

Plot wise, i dont really like it. I mean, they’re just okay, but its not drove me to the point where i have to catch up with it. But, i must say, their artstyle is quite charming. The authors have a tendecy to make their artystyle into painting like, idk but i got that vibe.

[supaliaxpress]

Hi Lia, I want to ask you about your thoughts on people saying bride of the water god being the same as goblin. What do you think? some people say goblin is better and that bride of the water god is copying goblin. I'm curious about what you think cause you really liked goblin.

Hey there! Ahhhh… that’s a good question. 

Hmm… tbh, The Bride of Habaek did give me some Goblin vibes at first, but I’d like to think it just got some inspiration from Goblin. After all, I believe there was an article about how the director did say the drama would be similar to Goblin with the supernatural concept. However, after watching 14 episodes with two episodes left of the drama… The Bride of Habaek is totally different from Goblin. The only connection between the two is the supernatural aspect.

It just really sucks how we haven’t really seen Habaek’s powers in action as much as I’d have wished, but I do understand why his powers haven’t been used. >.> But still…. I really hope we get to see his powers in action before the drama ends…. like really… he’s the water god for heaven’s sake. 

On the other hand, we got the total package of how badass and awesome the dokkaebi, Kim Shin, was in Goblin… which I do not mind at all and was glad that he loved to show off his powers. >.

We could say that The Bride of Habaek is similar to Goblin, in a sense that the god fell in love with the human first… or expressed their feelings first. But Kim Shin and Habaek are totally different gods with different personalities and agendas. It’s quite rude to say that The Bride of Habaek copied Goblin, since the original material was from a manhwa… but even then, the drama is a totally different story compared to the original material. 

All I can say is that we’re getting quite the fan-service with all the lip smacking action in The Bride of Habaek… as opposed to Goblin, when the long-time awaited kiss scene literally almost made me break my screen because they FRIGGIN CUT IT SHORT!!! 

The second lead couple in The Bride of Habaek is very appealing just like in Goblin too. But Moo Ra and Bi Ryeom’s relationship is totally different from our second lead couple in Goblin – Reaper and Sunny. Moo Ra and Bi Ryeom have a cutesy-childish love-hate relationship, where Habaek stands in the way due to Moo Ra’s affections. While in Goblin, Reaper and Sunny had a very angsty and heartbreaking relationship where being together and not being together were both painful to them. 

The one thing both second lead couples’ do share is the intense sexual tension, lmao. Moo Ra and Bi Ryeom have this amazing chemistry together just as Reaper and Sunny… why are the second lead couples always so amazing and hot?? 

One thing that The Bride of Habaek differs from Goblin… the one aspect it has that Goblin doesn’t have… is the presence of a second lead male for the main lead female to cause a love-triangle drama. In Goblin, Kim Shin was the #1 contender and the ONLY contender for Eun Tak’s heart, lmao… poor childhood friend had no chance. BUT, all I can say is that CEO Shin (Hoo Ye) is flippin amazing, gorgeous, hot, precious, and he needs to be protected. Damn, he is making it hard for me to be loyal to the main couple… cause I really want him to have a happy ending (and I low-key want him to steal So Ah away from Habaek…. hahaha.) Tbh, how in the world can So Ah NOT fall in love with him??? 

Gif Credit

Now the plot… well… I can’t really say for sure what the ending will be for The Bride of Habaek. I’m still confused as to how they’re going to tie everything up in the last two episodes… but the biggest problem would be how will Habaek and So Ah stay together, with him being the water god and her being a mere human. As for Goblin, we had a very clear cut story built from the beginning with new surprises with each episode… plus their relationship wasn’t necessarily “taboo” compared to So Ah and Habaek’s relationship. So I’m gonna say that the plot aspect is not really comparable between the two because 1) in Goblin, it was kinda of a life and death situation, while 2) in Bride of Habaek, it’s more about responsibility, as well as, what is consider right and wrong. Also, people have mentioned how the cinematography is similar to Goblin, which is true… but, in my opinion, I think Goblin wins this category… especially how symbolic the scenery was for Goblin. However, I must say that the metaphorical usage of the Sakura trees (short lived but beautiful) was well used in both dramas, just with different settings.

Gif Credit

Overall, I’m kinda sorry to say that The Bride of the Water God has, thus far, not lived up to my expectations… and it’s not the actors/actresses fault at all (which I will discuss when I release my overall review of the drama when the drama is complete). So far, I enjoy the drama… but that’s it… I just enjoy it. I’m not emotionally attached to the drama nor am I totally invested in the main couple (though they are very cute)… tbh, I actually also really ship So Ah with CEO (Hoo Ye), lmao. (I totally think if the story line was about the god’s servant and the halfing falling in love, it would have been an awesome love story of perseverance and true love). But I’m not going to give a final verdict until I watch the last episode… so my thoughts on the drama could change… maybe. I definitely have to say that this drama is really good with the couples’ wearing matching outfits… But I don’t think this drama has tried to intentionally copy Goblin in any way… so it’s quite rude for people to say so. All I say is to give this drama a chance and to watch it without comparing it to Goblin… that way you can enjoy the characters, the story, and the many adorable/hilarious scenes.