Happy if You Died

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** this contains vague spoilers**

This is probably one of the most refreshing manga/webcomic I've read.

Something I had repeatedly struggled with when searching for romance is finding one that does not fall into the problematic tropes and scenarios which are tiresomely overplayed with toxic behaviors brushed under the rug or normalized. Having exhausted my list of romance to read, I didn't have much interest when I started this series. What I did not expect was for this comic to be such a roller coaster ride of enjoyment.

The boss is always degrading his subordinates and just a super misogynistic, narcissistic, and overall, an unpleasant person who ... spews a ton of bull that unfortunately are still the kinds of outdated views you will see in social media comments. For instance, he had honed on one coworker's insecurity calling her an inferior for getting plastic surgery, degraded another for being a working mother, ridicule one for having gone to a community college, and got in a drunk rant about how women always think themselves the victim and are too privileged in their rights.
The story involves these time loops to prevent his death by people cursing him to die because of his terrible attitude which could stop if he becomes a good person.

What I love most about this comic is how social issues regarding women are seen and addressed when almost all that I have read fails to. The main character calls out her date on his unintentionally sexist view that women would not enjoy math or science related topics. She gets frustrated at the tired belief that a woman should just absorb the man's out lashes and try to heal him and her friends in turn get concerned when they misunderstood and thought she was in that sort of relationship. Although their appearances are infrequent, they are shown to be really supportive of each other. There are no absurd love triangles or jealousy from them.

The second best thing is just how damn funny this comic is. Although many may not enjoy it, I love metafiction with references to the author and self-awareness as a story. It is full of real-life pop culture and event references with one chapter very directly basing on Back to the Future. There are times when the humor does get too far fetched and starts to hinder the story and its progression but is overall very enjoyable. The story itself is full of twists and turns that made me binge the whole thing in one night, trading sleep for closure.

I was worried how this manga would progress hoping all its feminist beliefs arent suddenly tossed out the window for the sake of romance and plot (as one awful manga I've read had done) and was relieved to find that they remain intact. One slight issue I have with the comic is how unrealistic it can come off, which of course, should be expected from a time loop series but there is still a sense of realism with the boss's character and belief systems that is not something that can easily be changed. The webtoon makes a great point on who is a good person and how subjective that is yet even if he becomes more considerate, it is hard to believe all his deep-seated misogyny and looking down on others is gone as well, though it is unclear whether or not he changed in those departments in the end.

My final score is more like an 8.5 but I'm rounding up because I am just so happy to read a comic that gets it right and acknowledges certain issues. This is a great comic that I can recommend to anyone who is also tired of problematic behaviors that are normalized in media.

If you knew me in real life, you'd know I'm intensely picky about romance. It doesn't really seem like I should have to be picky - I suppose it doesn't make sense to me that I should have to be picky - but lord, there is so much romance that is contrived or problematic or misogynist or all of the above. Nowhere have I encountered these issues more (well, nowhere except for the shonen-ai genre, in which a healthy, natural romance is a needle in a haystack) than in shoujo and in josei. Yet, I believe I encountered this as one of the most highly-rated ... complete josei comics on a manga website, and was encouraged by a review that said it gave the genre a unique and feminist twist into reading it. Thus, here I am.

I read the first couple chapters and nearly dropped it, thinking to myself, "oh god, this is just gonna be like all the other josei-style stuff I can't stand, with characters who do stupid things and make stupid sacrifices for a relationship that's problematic and overwrought and that I'll hate." On another website I found out about the comic's fantasy twist, and since I do always love a time loop storyline (and this comic will absolutely reference just about every well-crafted time loop storyline - never seen an Edge of Tomorrow reference in fiction before and I appreciated the love for that criminally underrated movie), I came back a second time with hope in my heart that I was sure would be quickly crushed.

Except, to my great surprise, it wasn't. It was amazing. It was hilarious. (I lost count of how many panels I screenshotted and sent to my unsuspecting friends.) It averted so many terrible tropes, and you felt for each and every character by the end of this funny, often poignant, and sometimes painful journey. And best of all, it ended the way I feared it wouldn't but desperately wanted it to (the author even said many of their readers wanted it to end the way I didn't want it to, so I am eternally glad they persevered). The love story is not quite what you'd expect from the story's description, and it's as much about love as it is about character development and the changing nature of the heart and soul. (Oof, that sounded pretentious, my apologies, but it's true.)

All in all, I didn't expect to even like this webcomic, and instead I fell in love with it. If you love charming characters with a side of humor and a handful of tears, or if you want to watch awful josei tropes be parodied and blessedly avoided, I cannot recommend Happy If You Died enough. Now, to watch the K-drama adaptation and hope it's as good!

When i started reading this one i didnt have much of an expectations for it, just thought there is gonna be a simple office romance portraying the protagonists insecurities and problem they face, and i was totally wrong. It has much more to offer than romance or drama, the romance element is not used for entertainment purposes but is used as a tool for character development, which has worked out well.

There is a Time loop Sci-Fi concept which sets the underlying plot for a Rom Com Josie comic. Like many romance Webcomics this too has a great comedy tone to it, the same old exaggerated ... and cartoonised reactions makes it more enjoyable to watch, the author has also used some pop culture and anime references for fun, which seems to be trending these days. In addition to comedy there is also some good character development which addresses some social issues or misconceptions.

The Plot
There is a boss who is good at doing his work but acts as a complete jerk towards others, especially his subordinates. He is always unsatisfied with his subordinates and criticises them unreasonably to the point of his subordinates cursing/swearing him to death. the female protagonist is a subordinate of this boss and is also being abused by him(verbally). One day he abuses a subordinate and she curses him to die in agony while being consoled by others, and the boss actually ends up dying, whenever someone curses the boss, he ends up dying and whenever he dies a time loop starts for the female protagonist, therefore in order to stop living in the same day forever she stops the subordinate to not curse him to die, which stops him from dying and the loop stops and the next day starts for the female protagonist, the same thing happens again and someone curses him to die and he dies and the female lead is stuck in the same day, repeating again and again, the female lead is sick of the time loop occurring again and again which is also ruining her love life. She is interested in a co-worker and he also shows some interest in her. To lead a normal life she must avoid time loops for which she needs to make sure her boss doesn't gain others curse and ends up dying.

---Spoilers---
She struggles a lot to do this and understands that to be free of the time loop she must transform her boss from being a jerk into a nice person who treats others well, the story continues from there on and shows the events that occur after that