Surviving Romance

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As of writing, Surviving Romance has 5 reviews on MAL and God am I glad I listened to them.
I went in mostly blind, having only read the MAL plot, expecting perhaps a fun horror with a slice of romance and I came out having experienced what I would genuinely describe as a 'masterpiece'.

Surviving Romance follows Chaerin-Eun, a woman who has been reincarnated into the main character of her favourite high-school romance novel. Things don't go so swimmingly, however, as instead of making the romantic confession from the novel, the male lead Jeha turns into a zombie and bites Chaerin! Chaerin does not die and is ... forced to relive the same day, for reasons unknown - and it seems the only way to progress the story and solve the mystery of the zombie outbreak is to 'unlock' the background characters.

The plot of Surviving Romance is exceptional. It may sound a little bizarre and like an amusing isekai but it is unbelievably intricate and I genuinely had no idea where it was going as I've never encountered a story at all like this. I am always a big fan of stories that feel like they're not made up as they go - ones in which you can tell the author knew exactly what would happen from the very start - and Surviving Romance is definitely one of them. The level of detail in the narrative is astounding.
I would also like to comment on the nature in which the story progresses - without accidentally veering into spoiler territory, I will say that the narrative mechanic of 'unlocking' the background characters is incredible and really unique. It also kept me on the edge of my seat wondering "who is XXXXX?" "what do they look like?" "how will Chaerin work out how to unlock them?".

The characters are also a great strength of this Manhwa. As aforementioned, they enter in a way that advances the plot and the 'unlocking' mechanic makes getting to know the characters feel incredibly rewarding. The cast is varied - some characters made me laugh, some stirred my heart, some made me YEARN for their misfortune. Every character the series includes has development and is multi-faceted, something which many other series fail at.

As I'm sure you can tell from the cover, the art is absolutely gorgeous and the character design is amazing. One really interesting aspect of the art is that the characters Chaerin cannot see are all depicted as grey, blank beings. This makes it all the more exciting when a character is unlocked and also adds to our empathy with Chaerin, as we literally see what she sees.

For once, I'm actually struggling to think of any negatives at all. The plot was INSANE, the characters so varied and loveable, the art exceptionally gorgeous and the ending was absolutely top-tier. Surviving Romance actually left me with a similar feeling to when I first watched Evangelion, which is a rare feat to accomplish indeed. If you have this Manhwa on your list or are browsing through and have the slightest interest - READ IT. You will not regret a second. My deepest respects to Lee Yeon for writing such a masterpiece.

This is one of the most unique webtoons I have ever read! The tonal shifts, the plot twists, and the way the story ends are unmatched. The art style is very pretty and it fits the story as well as makes you feel things during the emotional parts, it’s also hilarious during the funny parts. The best thing about this webtoon is also the characters and how much character development there is as well as the way their characters unfold, each character has a meaning as well as their own story without weighing the main story down, the friendships will have you crying! It’s definitely ... worth going in blind and not knowing anything about the webtoon. I had no idea it was going the route it did until I read it!

My first ever zombie isekai story. I like this so much, I felt bored the first time I read this, but I trusted the process and was able to read it after picking it up years later now that it's completed. The plot was interesting and I like the characters-- however I found the villain(?) being lackluster when I found who it was. I know there would be betrayal but it didn't slap as much as I wanted it to. The ML is alright but there were a few times where I hoped he would've done more. I like the other MC (iykyk) and her ... ML and I like their dynamics tbfr. In the end, I understand why the art style became realistic as they went back to their real world but at the same time I hoped that they kept the manhwa style up bc it felt like I was reading a novel instead of a manhwa (in a way that I was basically reading the text with a few graphics instead of reading that whole as a manhwa with the characters). But overall it is good, I expected more but it's good how it ended.

Would recommend these to my other friends as it is interesting but I guess it's not for me. May change my score to 8 if I get the chance to do another reading.