The Male Lead's Little Lion Daughter

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i originally had first read the webnovel before finding out they had came out with a webtoon, looking at the pages of the webtoon made me smile as i would think back to the first time i had read the webnovel. i was always a fan of reading anything with familial love in it and rereading it had always brought a smile to my face, whilst the genre of this manhwa is very much like any other typical reincarnation stories... the humor and our cute little rascal Leonia/Lionia (however you may see her name) was always a fine character in the story. if you ever ... want a story with a funny MC, this one will do just fine.

[More info about my review style can be found on my profile]

▶Summary and recommendation: -----------------------------------------------------------------

⚠️Contains severe signs of child abuse.

[The Male Lead's Little Lion Daughter] is a very typical otome isekai power fantasy. A powerless child protagonist is adopted by a wealthy, powerful and ruthless tyrant, and she uses her newfound authority to enact her revenge and fulfill her every wishes.
It is not a unique premise, but this is my absolute favourite execution of it.

The father / daughter relationship is the highlight. With the characters' personalities creating both amusing situations with their snark, and wholesome scenes of bonding as the daughter opens up about ... her trauma to a most supportive father.

I wholeheartedly recommend this manhwa, even if you aren't usually into the child raising genre (which I am not either). It is one of my all time favourites.

There are a few caveats worth knowing before going into this though, which I will mention in the characters part of the review.


▶Story: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As mentioned in the summary, this is a form of power fantasy that has been done a dozen times before and it is very formulaic at the start. The northern duke is super powerful and awesome, etc. The protagonist is a powerless child, and then she is saved by the duke who grants her anything she can wish for.

But the premise is executed flawlessly. The author created an adorable gremlin of a protagonist who I could not help but cheer on as she exercises her newfound authority. Her adoptive father, like most "Dukes of the north" is the typical silent and expressionless tyrant, who only opens up to those he care about. He is witty and always has a comeback to the daughter's antics, and it creates for the most charming father / daughter dynamic I have seen in a manhwa.

The manhwa does however have some weaknesses in its storytelling. Whenever traumatic topics come up, it is told in a somewhat awkward past tense perspective, that makes it feel a bit detatched from the story, and most conflicts are solved a bit too quickly and easily for my liking, not allowing any tension to build.


▶Setting: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It is an isekai, and it is set in a medieval inspired fantasy setting. It has a few quirks but it doesn't develop the setting much more than that.


▶Characters: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The most contentious part of the manhwa is the protagonist Lionia. This is an isekai and I honestly do not think it benefits a lot from that. Lionia has an extremely fun personality. She is fearless, mischevious and constantly harassing her father (in a fun father and daughter kind of way) who is equally snarky in return...

But she is also supposed to be an adult in a 7 year old's body, and she acts like neither. The manhwa never explains why she does not act her age, but if I were to make up a defence on behalf of the manhwa, I would say that when her adult mind got put in a child's body, the mental state ended up somewhere in the middle. That of a teenager and with the filter of a child. It makes for a very fun and brash character, but it did break my immersion at times.

Lionia is also perverted. If she was in an adult's body, I do not think anyone would tolerate her ogling at the pectoral muscles of the knights of the manor. Some of the things might even cross into territory of harassment, but she gets away with it since she is a child, and it is played for laughs. You as the reader might not be able to overlook this behaviour however.

The male lead (Lionia's adoptive father) is the typical "Cold Duke of the North" common to this subgenre. He is presented as absolutely gorgeous, but cold and callous to anyone who approaches him. Like many cold dukes of the north, his personality does a 180 when interacting with the protagonist. When he is with Lionia there is nothing but paternal love (and snark). He is a good parent, and his love for his adoptive daughter was enough to melt my heart, while his attitude towards anyone else is enough to freeze their's.

There are also some nice side characters, but they do not play an extremely big role in the story, nor does the puddle deep villain take the central stage very often.

Lastly, Lionia is as of chapter 124 still a child, albeit a bit older than when the manhwa started. This might be a issue for some people, but at the very least...


▶Romance: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
...there is no romance. No adult in a child's body falling in love with an actual child. Nor any adults falling in love with someone with the body of a 7 year old.


▶Artwork: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The artstyle is very expressive and uses bolder lines than most Manhwa. Something I found complimented the vibes of the story. It fits the more serious story arcs of the manhwa, but even more so the more numerous humorous scenes with Lionia's brashness expressed well with bolder lines and overexaggerated facial expressions.

The characters, both male and female are gorgeously drawn. The protagonist is constantly wearing new adorable dresses, and some more tomboy-esque outfits that compliment her gremlin energy perfectly.

The male lead is also very well drawn, with special attention put on his chest muscles. Which are often on display through intentional "boob windows" on his clothes, or by not having him wear any upper garments at all. The artist might be just as obsessed with muscles as the protagonist is.

The manhwa uses a lot of 3D assets for its background art, but the artist does a good job for the most part at making it blend well with the hand drawn art. But there are certain scenes where it stands out a bit (Another pair of 3D model horses for my collection). Monsters and other creatures while hand drawn are also a bit crude and does not look that good.
Overall I found the art to be gorgeous, and any minor faults didn't detract from how pretty the manhwa is.


▶In conclusion: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

While it is a very typical power fantasy, it hits all the right spots for me. Seeing her wield the authority of the duke to punish her enemies felt so cathartic, and when her enemies doesn't need punishing, their bickering and wholesome relationship kept me reading.

I 100% recommend this manhwa. While it has a few problems, it is one of my all time favourites.

Story
Girl (MC) gets Isekai-ed into a novel as a random orphan living in an abusive orphanage. The duke of the north (ML of the novel) is visiting the orphanages to adopt, but all children start crying immediately when he looks at them. Finally, he meets our girl who can look into his eyes without crying and decides to adopt her as his daughter. The rest of the story is a slice of life comedy between a father and daughter with some aristocratic politics here and there.

Review
Good:
1. The primary characters (MC and ML) are both decent. MC is a cute bundle of chaotic energy and fun ... to watch.
2. There's a lot of comedy throughout the series. The banter between MC and ML are full of hilarious dialogues.
3. The art is beautiful. In scenes where we see the mysterious power of beast fangs, the art has such a oppressive vibe, that you can feel the suffering of the characters.

Bad:
1. There's a shift in pacing after the first season (50 chapters). The chapters are short (around 1/3 of the usual length) and the plot moves at a very slow pace.
2. There are quality side characters (eg: stalker Biena or White leopard lady ) who rarely get any focus. They only appear in a few panels and fade into the background after that. MC + ML take up lots of screen-time (even after 100 chapters), which makes the world feel small and monotonous.

Overall
If you are looking for comedy and fuzzy warm vibes, this series is for you. While there's a background plot, the main focus is on father/daughter relationship. First three chapters are just setting up, and chapter 4 is where things start settling down. That should be a good point to decide if you like or hate this series.