A Stepmother's Märchen

Alternative Titles

Synonyms: A Stepmother's Fairy Tale, The Fantasie of a Stepmother, Eotteon Gyemo-nim-ui Märchen, Which Stepmother's Märchen

Japanese: 어떤 계모님의 메르헨

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Information

Type: Manhwa

Volumes: Unknown

Chapters: Unknown

Status: Publishing

Published: Jul 4, 2019 to ?

Genres: Drama, Fantasy, Romance

Theme: Time Travel

Serialization: KakaoPage

Authors: Nyangi-wa Hyangsinnyo (Story), ORKA (Art)

Statistics

Score: 8.14¹ (scored by 4,868 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #563²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #1354

Members: 14,537

Favorites: 429

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Jun 9, 2021

Episode_12

Recommended

Preliminary (65/? chp)

Have you ever felt 'suffocated' while reading a manhwa?

That's exactly how my experience reading this particular manhwa was. The feelings of isolation from all the restrictions, always surrounded by very high expectations, always needing to give it your all even though it's not particularly rewarding, and most importantly, constantly feeling lonely in a hard, unwanted journey. Such were the things that I have felt as I began following Shuli's, the main character of this story, journey.

Shuli led a tiring life. Being married off to a Marquis at a young age by her very own family for financial advantages, her once commoner life turned ... into a noble one wherein she finds herself taking on the responsibility of becoming the head of a noble family while being a mother, a stepmother to kids that were very close to her age. The burden became heavier when the Marquis she married to died from a disease, making her shoulder the responsibility the Marquis had.

As I already mentioned, her life is a very restricted one. She did not have the freedom to do what she wants and instead, live a life that someone else decided for her. It was very suffocating to see how much she struggled in order to bear the responsibility that she vowed to carry. Reading this manhwa was like managing an endless maze, it's dark, uncertain, and scary. But perhaps that's the reason why it always felt so fulfilling and warm whenever she accomplished her goals, big or small. Being acknowledged not just by the nobles that expect much from her, but by her own (step) children that she felt had once shunned her (from her previous life), are the greatest and happiest feelings I felt reading this manga.

Seeing Shuli get rewarded for her efforts was the sole reason why I was able to keep reading this manhwa. Despite the seemingly endless suffocation I had to feel, every happy moment she was able to gain due to her persistence was enough to make me continue to follow her hard, yet incredibly fulfilling and warm journey.

The Fantasie of a Stepmother, or A Stepmother's Märchen as it is my preferred title, is a highly melancholic and somewhat realistic story. It's not the typical royalty manhwa where the main character is highly talented and unique that she was able to fight obstacles that came in her way on the new world she finds herself in. No. Shuli may be brilliant but it was made apparent that she can't handle the issues concerning nobility alone. She had to rely on others in order to get over whatever obstacle that came in her and her family's way. And that is what I think that makes this story "somewhat realistic". There are so much we could do on our own, but there's even more that we could do surrounded by the people we trust and love. Her hardships don't feel foreign and at times, feel oddly familiar. It's melancholic at the same time as you can really feel the sadness and disorder every character feels whenever something goes wrong.

A Stepmother's Märchen is a great story. It's like being trapped in an endless, dark maze, where every small leeway gave you enough motivation to keep going and watch over Shuli's journey. I make it sound really depressing but it's also really wholesome to see her family, despite a 'fake' one, develop full of love and affection. It's definitely not for everyone, but if you're in for some nobility social warfare and some kinda heavy drama, then you're in for a great ride.

Pretty messy and long review but I hope I was able to convey my intent.

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Dec 25, 2020

Fwlo

Recommended

Preliminary (55/? chp)

Girl/Woman fixing her past mistakes which led to a broken and disconnected family. I'm sure anyone with a dysfunctional family can relate to the plot and find something in there for them. The moments when the family would come together would warm my cold heart to its core and make me smile form ear to ear. When this happens, it's a real feel good moment.

The conflicts in the story weren't the most like deep, complex, or moving, but they kept me entertained and helped further develop the main cast, as a conflict should. For example, the girl's family are greedy and continually ask for money. ...

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Jun 10, 2021

Resident_Green

Recommended

Preliminary (65/? chp)

TL; DR This is a historical drama with hints of future romance, bound to b(l)oom in the later seasons. There is a lot of comedy and sweet moments, with a dash of serious political intrigue and dark moments later on. Pacing-wise, this is a slow burn experience with a lot of healing, meme-like humor, and pleasant character exploration. The author wisely decided to take their sweet time to work on emotional relationships, so when gut-punching comes you bet it's gonna hurt. Plus, I adore the female MC, which is a rare occurrence for a romance genre. She is written with a notable understanding of how ... women can have many sides to their personalities. Also, her more romantic side doesn’t rule her life or the logic behind her decisions (rare, right?). To conclude, this manhwa managed to surprise me and make me excited again for the romance genre. Enjoyment - 10

Summary. The setting is vaguely mid 19th century Germany. Shuli, the matriarch of the Neuwanstein family, a stepmother of four, and a favorite subject of gossiping nobles finally makes good on her husband’s dying wish. Her oldest stepson is getting married, thus making him the new head of the powerful family. However, due to estrangement from her stepchildren, she is rudely asked not to attend the ceremony. Full of regrets and pain, Shuli leaves everything in pursuit of freedom and happiness. At the next moment, she miraculously wakes up on the morning of her husband's death, seven years prior. With no way back, she embraces the opportunity to live this new timeline differently. Since she is now a more mature person (23) in a young girl's body (16), her new goal is to be a more emotionally present mother and to live to attend her son's wedding day.

Shuli is a character I have a lot of feelings and respect for. Essentially, she is a child robbed of her childhood. As a young girl, Shuli was forcibly married to a wealthy widower who entrusted her with the protection of his children, treasures, and political power until his oldest son reaches adulthood. Out of duty, she does it all while surviving in the world of adults and being barely older than kids she swore to protect. In the new timeline, we follow her transformation from a withdrawn and always on defense girl to a more emotionally open and confident young woman.

Not to spoil anything, but stepchildren are also written very well. Aside from the understandable cold greeting, their slight rudeness towards her in the past is acceptably explained very early. Keep in mind that they are motherless and fatherless kids, jet unable to properly express their feelings, just as Shuli was. That makes some ending parts of the season emotionally devastating when you see how misunderstandings can keep people apart and in the end estrange them forever. (No, I am not going to cry).

If I had to say something bad about the whole experience, that would probably be that the first few chapters have too much humor in them and thus spend too little time on more important things like the current state of the family and the country. Letter chapters do get better in balancing serious and funny while showing us POVs of other characters, so these things tend to go away. The main villain also feels underdeveloped, but I think that is because the main obstacle of this season was the characters themselves, not something external.

Context and design-wise, don’t expect historical accuracy. Everything seems like it’s pulled from different periods to make for an aesthetically pleasant and dramatic read. Likewise, manhwa isn't too focused on the complex of political intrigue, but we do get some good scheming and ok broad strokes of global politics. Art is gorgeous, with some occasional jaw-dropping panels.

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Dec 12, 2020

AgIdIgAd

Recommended

Preliminary (54/? chp)

When I first started reading I though it'd be a lot more generic than what I got. I thought there'd be some handsome shining knights, some back stabby revenge plan and a lot of befriending everyone. In a sense, I got some of that, but it deviates a good enough amount to make it truly enjoyable.
The central focus point is actually completely non related to the otome game manga's. It's mostly about family, growing up and the hardships of high society (this one is actually often used). The villains aren't particularly well written, the opening chapters were quite boring, the characters were being cliche sometimes ...

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Jul 6, 2022

kapu02

Recommended

Preliminary (90/? chp)

Pre-timeskip story: acceptance, adolescence, motherly love and a newfound family. Heartwarming, cute, very precious, best oi I ever read. 10/10

Post-timeskip story: romance, drama that does not matter, the most lovable character fl is content and gets less screen time, very very generic. 5/10

WARNING: I've avoided spoiling plot points, only commenting on the overall story structure but you might want to stop here if you want to go in knowing nothing.

Fantasy of a Stepmother is not the first manhwa that shifts its focus and becomes average as a result, but damn I was surprised. Given how strong it started, I was almost certain the author ... would stick with the unique and original themes it excelled at instead of trying to be like everyone else which it did.

The beginning chapters are incredible, we see a broken girl trying to mend a broken relationship with her adopted children. The FL is strong, selfless, cute, the side characters feel like they exist not only for her sake, overall the manhwa was a breath of fresh air from the cheap romantic otome isekai trash I've been reading recently. The story picks up around chapter 30 when one of her adopted family members is put on trial, and culminated for me during 57-65 with Shuri's heartbreaking backstory of misunderstandings which I won't spoil. It was unfathomable to me how the author could write such a creative, sympathetic and relatively plot-hole-free-ish (don't think too much) concept and then drop the ball...

Welp, chapters 65-90 featured a timeskip, and the manhwa became the romantic otome isekai I've been reading recently. Granted it was not cheap, I was still invested but nothing happens in 25 chapters, there's some insinuations of an incestous development, which god I hope won't happen, overall the female lead is pretty happy and thus stakes are zero. I felt the post-timeskip arc was pointless, because the time that was skipped was the initial goal itself. After that, there's romantic rivalries, pointless family drama, some sword/hunting competition but even if war breaks out everyone dies I don't care since the family has already struggled and prevailed. Beyond that we have A Before Midnight 2013 moment, a hollow attempt at fabricating a family ordeal, and reliving past romance.

In conclusion, do read Fantasy of a Stepmother for chapters 1-65, I gave them a 10/10 (understand I'm quite stingy, and elitist). I think the author should have not done non-familial romance altogether, extended the struggle prior to the time skip, adding 3-4 political/family arcs before the trial, and ended with an epilogue after the time skip but eh, I'm still very grateful for getting to experience the story as it is. I stand behind what I said in the intro, chapters 1-65 are the best of manhwa I have read. Going forward, I don't think the story has and will reach such heights again, but I shall be waiting and hoping to be proven wrong.

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