Sauces: 1-5 Even Monsters Like Fairytales, 6-12 The Pale Horse

Recommendations and Discussion

+ Discussion ramble about my struggles and opinions with isekai tropes at end of post.

I probably don’t even need to say this but Isekai, villainess, reincarnation, time loop tropes are popular right now. There are so many series, often with similar long titles, summaries and cover art. I get lost in sauce and IDK what is what or how to work out what series I might like. So, I’m sharing two amazing series that explore these tropes in interesting and thought-provoking ways. There both a bit dark and spooky so perfect for October. I’d love to hear your recs and discussion too!

I want to be as mindful of spoilers so apologises for being vague and so rambly.

Even Monsters Like Fairytales

Even Monsters Like Fairytales is an exploration of villainess trope.

^{Summary: Sylph is a duchess, engaged to the Prince of Luxborn. She does everything which is expected of her, with the one exception; secretly reading fiction stories in the library. One day Sylph is approached by Lady Kana, an aristocrat girl and they become fast friends. Lady Kana betrays her, taking Sylphs position as Prince’s fiancé and framing Sylph as a villain. She is banished to the dark forest to be eaten by King of the land of monsters. The Monster King doesn’t eat her but instead grants Sylph one wish.}

This series really investigates its premise; who is a villainess and why, how are villainess traditionally treated in stories and what should they do? It’s a tight 29 chapters, with a few bonus chapters (which are integral imo). The writing feels sharp and intentional just like the art. I’ll confess that I nearly dropped this series because King Faber looked like a Pokémon or Yu-Gi-Oh! character to me and it was distracting lol. But I’m so glad I didn’t because the art and the story is really amazing, the compositions are WOW! Its bit more philosophical (?) than a character study. Its handling ideas like retributive vs restorative justice. The characters can feel a little inexpressive but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have emotion. I found the end really moving. It’s tagged as romance, I would say it’s a pinch of romance, if even that, ( honestly giving Doomed Yuri vibes ) just to set your expectations. I’m honestly glad it doesn’t have more romance; I think it would mess the story.  

The Pale Horse

The Pale Horse is a manhwa which centres on reincarnation. I know this a Manhwa not Shoujo manga, hopefully that’s okay in this sub. I’ve seen this tagged as joesi, it’s definitely mature. In some ways, it’s the opposite of Even Monsters Like Fairytales. Its looong, the plot is messy, it’s all emotion, all passion in the writing and art and it’s great. It’s a mystery so I have no idea how to talk about it without doing spoilers. It’s about the horrors of being a woman, immortality, cannibalism/vampirism, grief, revenge, obsessive love and abuse. TW for gore, abuse, SA, implied CSA. It’s pretty fucked up. But its not glorifying those things… I think. Honestly, it’s really hard for me to decide what I think or feel about this series. Every time I thought I could pin it down, something happened in the story which flips things. It can drag in sections and I'm not sure on the ending, it was written over something like ten years, but there are so many compelling arcs. And the art is just jaw dropping, the amount of detail and the expressions are incredible. This series will make you feel a lot of things and sticks in your head. Its one of the most interesting immortality/reincarnation stories I’ve come across.

Isakai Trope Discussiony Ramble

I wanted to share these recommendations because works that deconstruct or explore popular tropes can have uphill battle to get readers. What I mean is that to deconstruct a trope often you have to construct it first. A Condition Called Love is a perfect example. It integrates the Hananoi’s idea of “perfect, doting love” and reveals it to be deeply unhealthy for both ML and MC. But the only way to reveal that “love” as unhealthy is first show it. And that’s where it can lose a lot of readers; before the reader gets to the deconstruction bit, they drop it. Series that are thoughtful deconstructions of popular tropes, often have similar blurbs, covers and beginnings as troupy cliché counter parts. So please, if you have any recs that are interesting deconstructions of tropes, doesn’t have to be the tropes I’ve mentioned, or a series that just does the trope really well, please share. I should mention, that I love a lot of Shoujo tropes! I don’t think tropes are bad at all, I’m just looking for interesting stories.

That being said something I struggle with modern isakai, reincarnation, time loop series, ect is when the MC is largely unaffected by the premise of the story. There isn’t much reflection on how scary, confusing or disorientating reincarnation would be for example. I get that’s not the focus of some series, but I find that it removes a lot of the tension and intrigue of the story. When the MC is like “Oh, this is my 500^th life. I know exactly what I need to do” the stakes go out the window and I get kinda bored. Or sometimes, a series will start with an isaki trope, like classic hit by truck now in video game world, only for that plot point to barely come up in the story again. If you removed that beat the story would be completely the same but at the same time when it is brought up it kind of distracts from what’s happening in the main plot. What is the point?? I don’t get it. I guess it’s a framing device?

(Huge Tangent about framing devises and Princess Bride for some reason )

^{Just like the kind of frame you put an artwork in changes the experience of the artwork, if you remove the artwork from the frame, the artwork is still the same artwork. Like the film the Princess Bride. The framing device is the Grandad reading the story to the little boy who is sick. The main plot is about Buttercup and Westly. If you got rid of Grandad and the little boy, you’d still having the Princess Bride but a little different. I actually read the book of The Princess Bride as a kid, and I was surprised that there was no Grandad or sick boy. The framing is an adult man, remembering a story his dad would read him, finding that story and rewriting it as an adult. Instead of the funny remarks from the kid “Grandad, can we skip the kissy parts” there was like some weird adult man comments about boobs or something.}

Is that what’s going on with the Isaki tropes, it’s a framing device? And then that allows the exploration of character tropes like Tsunderes or Yanderes etc.

But… in these Isaki series MC are canonically in the book but are generally chill about being transported to a different world, not like Princess Bride book within a book thing. But maybe it is still like a book within a book??

Am I dumb? I don’t get it, what am I missing? Is the point that things are easy for MC and that’s the fantasy? I get it that, life is pretty hard and the idea of knowing what to do, I can see the appeal I guess. I am genuinely curious. I don’t know if I just haven’t read good series with these story beats or if these stories just aren’t my cup of tea. Please sound out! Let me know why it’s your cup of tea!

I love these two 😍😍😍

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I don't remember much about this Manga because it only had a few chapters just like 3 when I read it and did so on Mangakakalot.

It starts with a Dark hair and dark skinned girl trying to hide her identity and she has a friend they meet in a Bar or something for a mission her friend is Blonde maybe just based on perspective in black in white or there might have been a colored panel. They be lesbians together no idea.

There is another guy he is a Priest/Crusader or something and is a Combatant and is Descendant from a long line of them basically like Witchers and he might be the only one left. He's strong and the three of them meet up for a mission.

On the mission there is a strong monster and the Priest guy couldn't handle it well and the Blonde girl was injured so the Dark Haired Dark skinned girl gets angry and has to step in she has seals on both her arms because of her immense power then undoes them and beats the monster.

She has a master who is strong and might be dead now don't remember he sealed her power and taught her.

Like I said it was only 3 Chapters at the time I read it so I don't know more details.

I read it 2022-2024 which could be when it released or just the translation.