Shoujo Manga+Webtoon Reviews

Disclaimer & Index

I do not own any of the mangas/webtoons/manhuas I will be reviewing & all of this work is non-profitable and comes under the category of fair usage.

A Note To Readers:

Firstly I want to start off by saying that I'm doing these reviews partly for fun and partly for people who are looking for something to read but aren't sure where to start looking for recommendations.

I'll mostly be doing reviews for shoujo manga, Korean webtoons, or Chinese webtoons and I will assign them points out of 50,
if they get 20+ that would mean they're safe to read but not that great of an experience
if they get 30+ that would mean they're a good experience
and 40+ would mean they're a great experience for whoever likes shoujo manga.

One more thing,
Before we begin, I want to clarify that manga and webtoons are two completely different things, and I will be judging them both differently.

___________

Manga

When to read: On a boring weekend/ when you're feeling lonely/ you just broke up and want to distract yourself/ or if you're totally jobless like me.

What to expect: A good doki-doki experience, engaging and complex plots, a little bit of cliches (yes, every shoujo manga has some cliche scenes and if you find them cringey then this genre is not for you!), some weird characters, a happy and satisfying ending. (Note: If smut is included then you can expect some hot scenes as well.)

What not to expect: A slow and steady character development, a plot free of cliches, an ideal relationship and a close-to-reality plot- no; my good people, these, are the traits of webtoons, not of shoujo mangas.
I am clarifying because I have seen many people complaining about many of the most famous and even award winning shoujo mangas to be weak in character development and to have cliche plots, but I just want to say that, pick what you want to read carefully. If you don't like these stuffs then shoujo is not the best genre for you!

Korean Webtoon

When to read: On a vacation, on some days off work, when you have a lot of time to engage in a heart warming plot and characters and really want to be taken off in the fantasy world for a while.

What to expect: Two or more independent characters that come through (or not) over the course of whole story and grow as a person. (character development is a really beautiful trait in webtoons. You would feel like you already know the character by the time you'd finish reading.)
A close to reality (it can still have supernatural elements, but the turns of events will just seem reasonable and right) plot conditioned with reasons or situations, a cliche free story that flows smoothly along with the characters and a slow progress.
A cliffhanger/ tragic / satisfying ending, to be honest, sometimes Korean webtoons would end in a way that would leave you hungry for more.
A wonderful journey!

What not to expect: Unreasonable characters, cliche situations or smut scenes and whole lot of doki doki experience, aren't exactly the domain of Korean webtoons.

Overall, I think it's safe to say that Korean webtoons would make you think a lot and relate to the characters on a really personal level while on the other hand Japanese Manga would take your worries away and let your heart beat fast and leave you kinda wet~

it's totally upto you to decide which experience is your kind of journey,

Or why not both! ;)

POINTS

Manga:

10 points for characters

Not character development exactly but instead how the main characters treat each other? does it make the readers drool, or dream?

10 points for narrative, and flow of story

I think it is one of the most important things. How the story starts, how it ends, and what binds it, is really important to the readers. And oh! how annoying a bad ending is to the readers, I can not even explain.

10 points for personality

This includes the personality of all the main and side characters. We aren't looking for ideal personalities but we are looking for something that is catchy.

10 points for relationships

Most important criteria to decide if a shoujo manga is worth reading or not, is their relationship. It must have something that would affect our hearts, make it throb or ache, and let us lose sleep to binge read it.

4 points for art

Now, I know, the art doesn't have to be ideal for a story to be amazing but it matters enough for us to judge out of 4 points at least.

6 points for miscellaneous

All the extra stuffs that might be different for every story, but basically, it will include how does this particular story makes the reader feel?

50 points in Total.

Webtoon:

10 points for plot

Does the story start conveniently or does it start off from the climax and walks backward to the beginning, either way, is it catchy?

10 point for narrations & characters

Do the characters make sense when they narrate something, and does it contain the reflection of their personality? Can the reader feel like they are beginning to know these characters?

10 point for flow of story

Does the incidents which keep the story going seem reasonable or too complex, is it a really fast paced story or does it progress gradually and grips the reader by his throat?

10 points relationship between characters

Are the characters compatible or in the middle of figuring out why they matter to each other? Or do certain characters have bad relationships which reflects human behavior of not being able to understand the other person, either way, good or bad, are those relationships making the readers wonder & feel something?

6 point for Art

Art as in, the effects and backgrounds, the expressions and tones, do they match with the mood of the story?

4 point for miscellaneous

And lastly, how does this story make us feel? does it leave a deep impression or is it forgettable?

50 points in total.