Vet Picks Up Lizard Who Turns Out to Be a Dragon Prince
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Warning:
There will be spoilers for the manhwa series Love of Cloud and Rain.
Content Warning: There may be references to overwork, sex work (sex in exchange for labor), OCD and mysophobia (referred to as germaphobia), tentacles (water in the form of tentacles), dubcon/noncon, extortion, classism, animal abuse, animal death, blood, implications of self-harm, violence, death, religion, superstitions, mentions of torture, theft, mentions of confinement, mentions of exorcism, possession, hostage situation, self-harm, attempted suicide, self sacrifice, murder, death, and male pregnancy (eggpreg), as they do appear in the manhwa.
Synopsis:
Jung has done it. He has finally made it through school and training and is ready to open up his very own veterinary practice. Jung has really struggled to get here. Working overtime was hard enough, but he also has always had an issue dealing with people. As someone who self-professed to struggle with OCD and mysophobia, he has always had an aversion to getting close to people. In a society that heavily judges those who don’t fall in line, most people have never really cared for Jung, either. But now he owns his own practice. He can dress how he wants, clean to his standard, and focus on those he does care about: animals.
He is on his way to his first day at his practice when he comes upon an odd-looking lizard. The creature doesn’t appear to be like any reptile Jung has seen before, but it clearly needs his help. So he scoops up the creature and takes it to his clinic. What he doesn’t anticipate is that when he gets there, the creature transforms into a man. A naked man, specifically. And it is a naked man who proclaims to be a dragon prince in search of his inverted scale – his weakness – so he may ascend to be a true dragon, and he needs to mate with Jung to get his essence.
This is not the first day at work Jung had expected.
Review:
After reading and reviewing Punch Drunk Love, I was compelled to go back and read older titles written by Moscareto and illustrated by Okdong. I love Moscareto’s writing, but Okdong‘s art has always scared me away. But I loved Punch Drunk Love, even if the art wasn’t my thing, so I wanted to give this duo’s other work a chance. As expected, the art is still not my thing, and because this is an older title, it is even worse. It’s not surprising, but I still don’t like it. While Punch Drunk Love is clean, albeit antiquated-looking, this is messy, inconsistent, and antiquated-looking. If you are going backward, like me, prepare for worse art. If you are going in order of release date, then prepare yourself, it gets so much better from here.
As for the story, as much as I adore Moscareto and almost always adore everything they write, this was an unfortunate showing. It isn’t all bad, which we will get into, but the overall story is a pretty big mess. The foundation is perfectly sound. Vet finds sick lizard. Vet takes the lizard to the clinic. Lizard turns out to be a dragon prince that needs to find his weakness to finally ascend, but to do so, he needs a human’s essence, which he gets through sex. This is a perfect setup for a fun, smutty romp. Now, this very well may be due to my own ignorance of Eastern folklore and religion, but many of the rules mentioned here come up in random spurts that feel nonsensical to me. During a particularly intense part, when Woonwoo is fighting the spirit that has possessed Jung, they go back and forth discussing what is or isn’t possible, and none of it makes sense to me. That happens a lot whenever the rules of ascension or divine beasts come up. It messes up the flow of the story this tries to tell, which is just unfortunate, but Moscareto also doesn’t write fantasy all that often (that I have read), and maybe that is part of the issue. Either way, this one is rough.
But while the story isn’t the best, I gotta give credit where credit is due. I love a dumb character, and Woonwoo as the dumb dragon prince is everything. He’s silly and goofy, but wholly himself, and that is what I love about him. I will say there are hints and mentions of him being cruel and violent, even right up to the moment he travels to the human world to find his inverted scale, but there is no evidence of that in the Woonwoo we get to know through the story. They feel like two entirely different characters, and with the short time between when one ends and the other begins, it doesn’t make much sense. Still, I love our silly, puppy-like Woonwoo. If you are looking for a goofy top, you will love the one in this series.
I also have to say how much I love that Jung was not the inverted scale himself. It definitely sets us up for some grand reveal of that being the case, but Woonwoo’s description about how a partner manifesting as an inverted scale usually results in confinement and suffering for the partner is very powerful. It makes sense. If your lover was your one weakness, would it not make sense to form such an intense obsession that you would want to confine and protect them from everything? It isn’t a form of love but something much darker and crueler, and I really like that interpretation. And the reveal that his actual inverted scale is his feelings? Beautiful. His weakness is that he loves Jung, not that Jung is his weakness, and that distinction is quite powerful. I love it.
Results:
This had elements of things I love, but it’s overall just not that great. Admittedly, it was a tough read. I read a lot, and something this length (51 episodes, including the prologue and side stories) would usually take a day, maybe two if I’m busy. But this ended up extending out to a week because I just couldn’t bring myself to read more than an episode or two at a time. The art isn’t my favorite, the story isn’t great, and no amount of eggpreg and child-rearing will change that. I love seeing how far this creative pair has come, though, and it might be worth reading just to see that.
Have you read Love of Cloud and Rain? If so, what do you think? Do you agree with my assessment? Do you not? Let me know, and comment below!
