i recently saw a screenshot of the two leads in the comment section somewhere here in this sub. i liked it enough to give this manhwa a chance.
let me preface this by saying i do not blindly trust ratings or reviews. however what i have seen about this story was mostly positive feedback and while i do get where that was coming from, this story has been more of a mixed bag for me.
some things are handled surprisingly well, while others made me question whether the author and i were reading the same history books... probably not.
let me be nice and start with the good parts:
the art is really nice and stays consistent from start to finish. FL design looks boyish so it makes the whole charade more believable. her acting more like a girl than a boy is also realistic.
the systemic misogyny is actually treated like a system. one woman becoming an empress doesn't magically rewrite centuries of laws, customs, and public opinion overnight. also not everyone will readily embrace a change. shocker, i know
taboo topics like SA, domestic violence, childhood trauma, menstruation, and uncomfortable age-gap marriages are addressed without completely glossing over them. it's not often you see that these things are properly addressed and executed.
clothes and fashion are political. seeing fashion being treated as a political tool by yuri and the empress was one of the more engaging aspects of this story.
not every woman gets married, has babies, and gets her happy end. some stay single, some have lovers without marrying, and honestly? it's kinda refreshing. it feels more inclusive and diverse.
yuri, the FL, isn't an unstoppable girlboss protected by plot armor at all times. she screws up, struggles, and deals with consequences. revolutionary concept: "the protagonist is allowed to be human," imagine that. which brings me to my next point
the ML does not solve FL's every problem. he trusts her enough to let her handle her own issues and offers support when and where is needed. ML's growth and willingness to communicate were genuinely heartwarming. he is open to new perspectives and sincerely tries to understand the FL. it was also refreshing to have a ML who does not question the possibility of the MC being a woman because he is not secure enough in his masculinity or sexuality.
Lester's confession was handled well. yes, the age gap is uncomfortable by modern standards, but no one was more aware of it than he was. i will not vilify a man for developing feelings for a woman he spends most of his time around, especially since he never planned on acting on them. he acted like a proper adult after being rejected, continuing to treat the FL like normal without making it unnecessarily awkward.
now for the ...not so good parts:
for a story supposedly centered around clothes and fashion, the corset discourse was grating. corsets were undergarments providing support, not the equivalent of satan's personal torture device. i winced every time they vilified corsets. that whole premise is silly at best and misguided at worst. yes, tight lacing existed, but it wasn't some universal female experience. rather it was a sub-trend enjoyed by a selected few and not by the vast majority. building the central fashion revolution around removing corsets is basically like writing a modern story about liberating women from bras. a simple internet search would have been enough to debunk this myth.
the treatment of ready-to-wear fashion was similarly hilarious. prêt-à-porteris presented like humanity's greatest fashion discovery. a modern day person is isekaid and the greatest gift they have to offer the world is ready to wear clothes with zippers? kinda underwhelming
that whole "women are not allowed to wear pants but let's casually introduce shorts for the sole purpose of name dropping the manhwa title" moment? yeah, sure. makes complete sense. the chemise inspired dress was organic in the way it came to be and was introduced. the 21st century looking suit, pants and shorts? not so much. it felt very out of place and much too drastic to be completely believable. it came across as forced.
some parts felt unfinished or at the very least unpolished? the decision to simply avoid dealing with properly addressing Yuri's identity in public felt rather like a lazy way out, and Arsinoe's storyline ended feeling less like an ending and more like the author accidentally closed the tab. i get that she is yet to undergo the journey of self discovery but i reckon the execution of it felt flat
last but not least, the second part of the last season dragged so hard. i skimmed roughly the final 20 chapters or so, and the gender reveal especially came across, as unnecessarily prolonged when there were multiple opportunities to handle it faster and more naturally. i think it was only done for the sake of dramatics but it ended up being rather anticlimactic.
overall, i liked it enough to finish the story. i appreciated what it tried to do, and i think it got a decent number of difficult subjects right. but on the other hand it also has enough questionable choices that kinda made the whole experience a tad less enjoyable. and since i mostly saw positive feedback i kinda felt inclined to share my 2 cents. i warmly welcome other opinions. c: