Ginger and the Cursed Prince

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was honestly looking for an isekai but this had quite a unique premise of knowing her future through a book she picked up.

plot: 6.5/10 unique premise and backgrounds especially of the male lead; wish there was a more gripping climax or plot line that developed but it honestly felt a bit petty that it revolved around just the main character rather than one that was a bit more consequential. it felt a bit childish at times but okay it was quite interesting to see the characters grow and resolve conflicts
characters: 8/10 as mentioned earlier it was quite enjoyable to see the character development (of ... the male lead) developing different emotions as compared to what he had as a child; as well as the development of the second male lead throughout the story - he was quite enjoyable to understand as well. the main character is unchanging for the most part and like i said, quite petty at times alongside the villian; you wonder whether they had better things to do but maybe not..
romance: 8/10 generally quite cute and at times, haughty. the various push and pull elements was enjoyable and the various romantic interactions (although childish) was enjoyable
artwork: 10/10 stunning; every frame looked beautiful and wallpaper worthy; and the clothes were beautiful especially for formal events

8/10 overall a good length romance fantasy with a bit of an isekai vibe that was enjoyable enough to read through; recommend those who are going for something lighthearted and don't like stories that get too political etc

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

▶Summary and recommendation: -----------------------------------------------------------------
[Ginger and the cursed prince] is an Otome isekai story about the most clumsy and airheaded person you can dream up trying to scheme their way through love and politics, to various degrees of success.

Like a trainwreck in slow motion, it is hard to look away. Our protagonist can always find a new way to fall, sometimes in the right direction.

The amount of second hand embarassment this story offers is on a level many will find difficult to manage. You are going to reel back in horror at some of ... the embarrassing moments of this story. It is of course intentionally done by the author, and for those who enjoy that kind of story, this is a goldmine.

Despite its inability to keep up what made it unique throughout the entire story left me feeling a bit disappointed. I still recommend this to those who take pleasure in second hand embarrassment, and those who want a story with likeable characters who are honest to a fault.

▶Story: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rather than being reincarnated, our protagonist instead learns of the future through a book she happens upon. The story follows Ginger as she tries to use her knowledge of the future to her advantage and win the heart of her dream prince.

The story itself is quite straightforward and serves more as a backdrop to the characters and their antics.

What the author has done is to skillfully craft a story specially tailored to invoke the highest degree of second hand embarassment possible. Ginger will tackle every challenge she faces with more enthusiasm than she has skill and common sense. This will result in some of the most embarrassing moments I have ever experienced in a book. Unfortunately it fails to maintain that barrage of embarrassment throughout the entirety of the story, and is sadly quite indistinguishable from most of its peers by the end.

It is however relatively short for a manhwa at only around 70 chapters, and the cast of characters makes it worth finishing. At 72 chapters + epilogue, it is something you can blast through in only a few days (if you do not need to take breaks to recover from the second hand embarrasent).

▶Setting: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The setting is unremarkeable. It is loosely inspired by european medieval fantasy. Geopolitics do not have a big role in the story, and the author didn't put that much thought into making the world seem full and expansive. Just whatever was needed for the self contained plot of the manhwa. This is neither a negative nor positive.

▶Characters: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The characters are the primary focus of this manwha, with everything else taking a back seat, and it has some stand out characters as a result.

If you are looking for a story with a clever and intelligent protagonist, this is not it. The protagonist Ginger is unabashedly honest, and an airheaded clutz with a tendency to choose the worst option possible when given the opportunity, and even when she is not given an opportunity.

Those not bothered by, or enjoying the second hand embarrassment will find a loveable protagonist who couldn't be cruel even if she tried.

All the side characters exist to create interesting interactions between them and the protagonist. The initial roster is somewhat weak and one dimensional, but the story introduces more likeable characters with more depth as the story progresses. The main male lead, and supporting leads (while visually quite standard for the genre) play well with the personality and antics of the protagonist.

▶Romance: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The romance is the premise, main drive and focus of the entire manhwa. With a loveable protagonist, great supporting character, and a good natured male lead, it makes you root for every single one of them.

Our protagonist comes on extremely strong, which makes for great dynamics with the more reserved and (justifiably) distrustful male lead. While the romance plot is fairly straight forward it is still engaging thanks to Ginger's tendency to mess up.

As previously mentioned it is unable to keep Ginger's antics up for the entirety of the story, and possibly the weakest aspect of this manwha is that it loses some of its identity and is quite indistinguishable from any other Romance Otome Isekai by the end.

▶Artwork: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The artwork is a bit inconsistent, with thick background lineart sometimes clashing with thin character outlines. It is fine enough for the story the manwha wants to tell, but it isn't particularly gorgeous to look at, and does not help the already generic character designs stand out.

As a 20-something reader, this was one of the manhwas that was the hardest for me to finish.

Maybe it is me being used to the main character being cool-headed, but I was only able to feel ok about the FL only after the main story finished. On the other hand, I had no problems with the epilogue.

The villain got up to so much unnecessary things, for no good reason except for how she has always stolen the FL's love interests lol. The characters felt very basic, from how I read it, it didn't feel like they had any character development.

The only thing ... that I can give a thumbs up for is the art. And that's pretty much it.

Let's begin on a positive note, the art is good, the ML is great, and Ginger, the protagonist, seems cute. That's it, I can't think of anything else. The premise and the beginning of the story are fine, I became quickly interested because it's honestly a quite unique setting, since Lerazie doesn't seem like a typical, purely evil antagonist from most of the fantasy romance manhwas, and actually has her own thoughts and desires. Unfortunately, this is all ruined by Gigner's blatant, forced idiocy.

If Ginger were a "clumsy, slightly airheaded girl", this would be readable. However, she's instead an irredeemable cretin.
Apart from the fact that ... she often skips the obvious solution and goes to the worst one, she's a prime example of a forcibly stupid protagonist. She can figure something out instantly, and then think "nah, can't be it", and completely forget about it until the conclusion of the whole thing. This practice of exposition by spoon-feeding readers information about the plot using the protagonist's thoughts and then making the protagonist forget about it to make it seem like they're a "clumsy, slightly airheaded girl", is a terrible practice that pretty much became a trend for manhwa authors. I could bear with it if it appeared only occasionally, but it's used literally every time something happens. Ginger always figures everything out instantly, and then instantly dismisses it, forgetting about it completely. What is this supposed to be, is she temporarily turning into a genius and then suffers from a short-term memory loss? Not every protagonist has to be a genius, but even stupid characters have to be written well, which she's quite obviously not.

Story
Ginger finds a novel that describes the past and future events involving Ginger, her rival Lerazie and the cursed prince (curse forces him to listen to another person's thoughts whenever he makes eye contact with them). The novel presents Ginger as the villainess in the love story of prince and Lerazie. Trying to change her fate of villainess, she plans to make the prince fall in love with her and break his curse using the knowledge of future events.

Review
The most significant aspect of this series is that Ginger is dumb. Most of the comedy relies on FL being a dumb and transparent (shows her feelings ... on her face) character. The prince falls in love with her because she's dumb and doesn't put on a false mask. So, both the romance and comedy require the FL's stupidity to work.

If you don't like dumb female leads who keep forgetting important details or making the worst choices, then please don't touch this series. If you are okay with a dumb FL, this might be worth a read for her hilarious expressions.

The series is short (just 72 chapters). And it manages to tell a simple and complete story. I would not say that it is highly creative or unique. But it avoids the trap of extending the story with unnecessary misunderstandings and drama. Whenever FL starts to overthink, the author manages to quickly resolve any issues by simple communication between characters. The fast pacing helps, as we don't have to slog through the generic plot.

The art is good enough. Usually, fantasy romance manhwas are known for their extravagant art with dresses, architecture, interior design, decorations around panels etc.. This series keeps the art simple, but the character designs are pretty hot.


Overall, I think Ginger's charm sort of wears off after a while. For me, I had to power through the final chapters as the joke of Ginger being dumb became tired. I recommend reading a few chapters and judge if its worth continuing based on how much you like/hate Ginger.