Lowly Incubus Beds the Demon King
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Warning:
There will be spoilers for the manhwa series Crimson Moon.
Content Warning: There may be references to mentions of war, murder, death, prejudice, classism, blood, theft, violence, hunting, dubious consent, power imbalance, enslavement, somnophilia, extortion, invasion of privacy, spying, tentacles, excessive drinking, treason, suicide, PTSD, genocide, fat-shaming, torture, mentions of starvation, human experimentation, BDSM, confinement, mentions of capital punishment, animal death (monsters that look like animals), disordered eating, self harm, bestiality (transformed werewolves), gang rape, manipulation, and imprisonment, as they do appear in the manhwa.
Synopsis:
In the underworld, there is a strict hierarchy based on demon types. Power is everything, and at the very bottom of the power food chain are the lowly incubi and succubi. They rely heavily on humans, something all other demons perceive as weak to begin with, but beyond that, they have no other abilities to speak of. All they know how to do is lull humans into sleep so they can feed on the pleasure of their dreams. As a result, the incubi and succubi are frequently hunted for fun by other, stronger demons, and so they are forced to live outside of the cities in dilapidated villages. The only time they ever venture closer is when they need to feed, which forces them to seek out the only gate to the human realm, hidden away within the main demon city.
Riru, unfortunately, is an incubus.
He does what he can to survive and avoids the city as much as he can, but with the new demon king rising to power, he finds himself drawn into the dangerous underworld proper, desperate to catch sight of his beloved king. Though Riru’s attraction can only go so far when the king decides he’s going to lock up the gate into the human world, which means all the incubi and succubi will end up starving to death. Desperate, Riru rushes down to the gate, determined to break it back open, though he hardly has the power to do so. While doing so, he is captured by the very demon that has put him in this predicament: Vaal, the new demon king.
Things are looking grim. On the precipice of death, Riru makes a final attempt to save his life. It is in this moment that he finds that incubi and succubi might have more powerful abilities than anyone ever realized, and Vaal, the demon king himself, is his first victim.
Review:
The art in this series is as mid as mid can get. I was hoping for more based on the cover art, but don’t let that fool you, as it fooled me. I wouldn’t call this style ugly or anything, but everything is very stiff and flat. The way the eyes are colored in, too, looks very smudgy and weird to me, almost like they’re unfinished. Proportions can also go a bit wonky from time to time, which just makes this all feel very cheap. I hate to say that because, let’s be real, this is 1,000x better than anything I could ever draw, but when you put this next to something like 4 Week Lovers, which has stunning, detailed, and dynamic art, it is hard to call this good. Ultimately, this just doesn’t feel like the most detailed or high-quality art, so if you are looking for that, it’s not here.
Unfortunately, the story isn’t much better. I presume this is adapted from a novel, since there are both a writer credit and an original credit, and I’m not sure how long the novel is, but I imagine it has to be pretty long. The reason I say that is the pacing of this manhwa is breakneck. Emotional development of any kind? No time. Too much smut to get through. Too many halfhearted political plots and the like. This whole thing feels very superficial. It definitely hints at deeper things. For example, Vaal’s right-hand man is constantly hinted at having some sad, secret past, but do we ever get any clarity on it? Nope. It is mentioned in passing numerous times, and then we just move on. It is clear there were side plots and background that probably played an important role in the original narrative, but with only 60 manhwa episodes, they had to cut them down, and as a result, left the entire story feeling hollow.
I will say, though I have to give credit where credit is due, I truly was surprised by the dynamic between Vaal and Riru. I fully thought this was going to be another incubus who ends up being a bottom, which I was going to complain about, but to my surprise, the incubus is the top, which means we not only have a pretty, fem top but also a beefy, muscle bottom. I am a sucker for a muscle bottom being topped by someone beautiful and feminine, and honestly, that made this all the more disappointing because I wish this dynamic were in a better manhwa. Still, if you don’t care about the story and are just looking for lots of smut with this dynamic, that is certainly the case here. I’m not sure this is worth it for the art quality, but if you’re not an art snob like me, it is probably perfectly serviceable.
Before I close out this review, I do think it is pertinent to mention a particular scene in this one that may be particularly disturbing to some potential readers (or maybe something to look forward to). Toward the end, there is a sudden betrayal by a scientist/doctor, and for no reasonable reason, the scientist captures Vaal and sends a bunch of werewolves (fully transformed) after him to rape him. It feels entirely random and ultimately needless. I personally don’t mind noncon, but I very much dislike most variations of full beastmen, including these werewolves. If noncon or fully transformed werewolves in smut scenes bother you, just know there is a scene toward the end where both are present. It was pretty jarring, even for me, so I felt it was worth mentioning.
Results:
This was very disappointing. When I saw this get released on Lezhin, I was very excited about it. I am not entirely sure why I was so interested, but I was, and then I was ultimately disappointed by what I found within. Sub-par art combined with an even worse story, and not even a delicious dynamic can save it for me. Of course, if you don’t care about plot or decent art, and you’re just looking for this specific dynamic in your smut, this might work for you. For me, though, it was a miss.
Have you read Crimson Moon? If so, what do you think? Do you agree with my assessment? Do you not? Let me know, and comment below!
