Mean Sad Bottom, Mean Cheating Top, and Mean Rapist Side Top
Sections:
About
Tags
Warnings
Synopsis
Review
Results
About:
Author(s)
Artist(s)
Platform(s)/Publisher(s)
Media Type(s) Available:
Length:
Color(s) of Comic:
Work Type:
Tags:
Tropes
Genres
Relationships
Jobs/Professions
Settings
Unique Character Types
Specific Acts
Explicitness
Warning:
There will be spoilers for the manhwa series The Second Dawn.
Content Warning: There may be references to memory loss, manipulation, cheating, mentions of bullying, death, blood, car accidents, blackmail, violence, sextortion, dubcon, noncon, mentions of DUI, PTSD, mentions of military service, excessive drinking, self-deprecation, stalking, disability, arranged marriage (not between the main couple), strained familial relationships, adoption, food tampering, nepotism, near-death experiences, peer pressure, classism, child abuse, theft, obsession, suicide, breakups, harrassment, invasion of privacy, recording without consent, breaking and entering, BDSM (including forced), homomisia, slut-shaming, near-death experiences, body commentary, religious elements, and self-sacrifice, as they do appear in the manhwa.
Synopsis:
Hayeon exists only to be used. Because of immense guilt, he not only has tied himself to a man who’s getting married, but he is also sleeping with that man’s cousin to prevent their secret relationship from being exposed. It would all be so much easier if Hayeon dropped them both and moved on with his life. However, in their college years, Hayeon was nearly hit by a car driven by his stalker. The only reason he was left unscathed was that his boyfriend, Yihan, the man getting married, stepped in the way.
Add on that his mother, a shaman, confirmed that he is destined to drag those he loves into despair, and Hayeon sees no way out.
It’s not until he’s walking on the street and gets hit by a car that he feels ultimate freedom. But then he wakes up, and he finds himself back in college. Somehow, he’s been brought back to the time when all of this chaos began, back when he accepted Yihan’s offer to date, and when he met Jinwoon, Yihan’s cousin. This was before everything went wrong, and now Hayeon has the chance to prevent it all. But some things are destined to happen, and no matter how hard Hayeon tries, he just can’t seem to escape these two persistent men.
Review:
When I first read RISA LISA‘s work, In My Closet, I was taken by their art style. It is very unique, with huge, vibrant eyes, an old-school, early 2000s yaoi feel. It wasn’t my preference, but I couldn’t appreciate how unique it was. However, while that first thing I read is older, I actually feel like the style has gotten worse in this story. It’s very inconsistent. Maybe I just have nostalgia goggles, but I don’t feel like the tops were as consistently inconsistent as they are here (my review mentions the inconsistencies, but my memory doesn’t recall it being as bad). Regardless, the super-narrow chins and the inconsistent style are just not good, and I’m not sure this was a good representation of RISA LISA‘s work.
Then we get into the story, and it’s not much better. Unlike in the previous work, which was very light and airy, this nosedive into some of the most painful and cruel content I’ve read when it comes to drama and love triangles. And what’s wild is that no one is innocent in all of this. This, for me, is a story where no one wins. If this were a reddit story on r/AITAH, this story would undoubtedly get a resounding ESH (everyone sucks here). Admittedly, this makes the narrative a bit of a slog because no one is all that likable. Sure, I feel sorry for Hayeon because he attracts assholes. Still, he makes some dumb and cruel decisions, including cheating on Yihan and carrying on with traumatizing Jinwoon even though he already knew the outcome of that decision from the past.
I’ve read stories where all of the characters are bad in one way or another, such as Killing Stalking, The Warehouse, and Blind Play, and are abhorrent and unlikable. Yet I did end up liking one or all of them in one way or another. That is not the case here. I think part of the problem is that the story drags on for too long. There is a point in the story where Hayeon gives us the ETA, the day Yihan was hit by the car. As long as he can make it to that day and prevent the accident from happening, everything will be okay. Well, we reach that day, pass it, and then the story continues. It’s even worse because the day passes, and we don’t even know about it until another character brings it up days later. The plot feels endless, and the characters continue to act like a bunch of assholes with no way to really fix anything, so it all feels needless. It’s very disappointing.
I have to say, though, I love that the side stories at the end are set in the omegaverse. These characters work really well in this universe. Granted, I’m a sucker for omegaverse, so take that with a grain of salt. However, I do think that they work better in the omegaverse side stories because Hayeon is given agency immediately. He is much more open and spunky as an omega, and in return, more likable. We’re not given very much background as to how alpha Jinwoon and omega Hayeon got together, so I’m sure a lot of the positive parts of this are because we don’t have all of the heavy slog slowing everything down, but who knows? I’m biased.
Results:
This was super disappointing. RISA LISA has had a couple of titles licensed and translated, so I was super excited to dive in and see how they’ve grown and changed across titles. Unfortunately, this was a massive miss for me. That’s not to say I won’t keep giving them a chance, because I’m never one to give up on someone; however, this was certainly not a good showing, with an overly bogged-down plot, anticlimactic payoffs, and unlikable characters all around. Add in an iffy art style, and there’s just not much for me to enjoy here. I would skip this one.
Have you read The Second Dawn? If so, what do you think? Do you agree with my assessment? Do you not? Let me know, and comment below!
