Webtoon Spotlight

Spotlight#74: Athena Complex

Have you ever wanted to feel godly? If so, sit back and relax as I shine a lightning bolt's worth of spotlight on Athena Complex by Kaisar!

Summary

After being betrayed by her most beloved guardian, Poseidon, the greatest warrior in all of Olympus, Athena has decided that after thousands of years, she will finally have her revenge. But to do this, the iconic goddess of wisdom must pose as a male high schooler as she seeks to completely crush the legendary Poseidon in the cursed body of an average teenage boy. All without knowing that this interaction may cause the beginning of a prophecy that will leave every Olympian shaking.

Characters

Athena: Our titular protagonist, this version of Athena gets portrayed in a much more immature and young light. Effectively her complex is that due to her unique upbringing Athena seeks love, admiration, and acceptance to the point where it makes the wise deity completely irrational. 

This complex effectively leads to Athena being petty, easily flustered, temperamental, and mischievous. However, even she limits her revenge as she is still a kind person to her allies and bystanders.

Nike: Athena's loyal servant and the goddess of victory, Nike is willing to do just about anything to please her mistress. However, this often leads to a stubborn, quick-tempered, prideful, and intrusive servant that can be made a fool of. Either way, for better or worse, Nike is always on Athena's side.

Iolo: The spirit of wisdom himself. Iolo is often an uptight advisor to Athena. Because of his owl-like nature, Iolo is usually nocturnal, uptight, pragmatic, and cunning. He is the only one of the trio that seeks to cease Athena's revenge outright. However, that doesn't mean he does not care about Athena, even if he does praise her enemies and allies alike.

Adrian/Poseidon: The iconic god of the sea himself, Poseidon in ancient times, guarded over Athena since she was a child. Due to her connection with Athena's mother, Posideon has adopted a more familial relation with Athena, from a kind mentor to a pervy manchild. 

Despite his harsh betrayal of both her and Olympus, it seems that it may be more complex than we think. On the flip side, Adrian is a rather kind but ditzy young man who is a bit of a wimp. Due to his childhood of bad luck, his continued harassment has made him very close to his few friends.

Sibyl: Adrain's polar opposite and only friend, Sibyl, is the daughter of a Korean Shaman. Because of this outside status, Sibyl has often been distrustful, blunt, and brutally honest to her often vengeful peers. This means that she has often been the most dominant out of the two and Athena's greatest opponent. Because Sibyl truly takes no shit from both humans and gods.

Overview

Athena Complex was one of the first webtoons I've read, and I'm glad its return has made this spotlight more relevant. Kaisar's art style still hits even after all these years. Every character feels very anime-like but also somewhat sculpted and angular. 

The design for most Greek gods is also frankly exquisite, each fully on-brand while still heavily borrowing from different cultures (I.e., Ares more medieval clothing clashing with Apollo's more modern doctor aesthetic). This all combines to make the presentation of the series with the very few fight scenes extra spicy.

This depiction of the Greek Gods is also fascinating and accurate as their various interactions have often served as the series main external threat. Their constant conspiring is honestly as fun as the main plot itself. To balance everything out, Athena Complex seems to rely on every school trope you can think of when it comes to the continuing misery of Adrian heavily. 

Which honestly can make the WEBTOON hilarious or sad depending on what the narrative is for. The relationship between Athena and Adrian is easily the main draw of the series, as the dramatic irony makes them as complex as the series itself. 

Some days it's fun to root for Athena's plight, but other times you end up feeling angry at the rather petty goddesses. Either way, the potential of this WEBTOON isn't at its peak yet, so only time will tell what happened next.

Epilogue

Overall, Athena complex is a WEBTOON. I'm so happy it has returned and I expect a lot more from it. It's dramatic, romantic, funny, and whatever else you need it to be. But with this godly spotlight done, it's high time to shine the light on my 75th spotlight!