Guys, gals, non-binary pals, The Taming of the Tyrant is very good and I enjoyed myself a lot. I definitely would recommend if you're looking for a well executed bad girl dominates bottom bad boy trope with badass leads, narrow relationship focus, and a compelling story.
The romance in TotT is well, hot and is probably the main intended selling point of the manhwa. Not to spoil too much, but fl goes through some torture porn prior to isekaism, and ml is raised sick in the head so both leads start off as really cool unfeeling sociopaths. It is wholesome to see their relationship develop over 6 toxic but not really years, and them softening up. In a typical tsun fashion, both will often prefer to speak of big words like empireship, loyalty, coups, control etc etc but we know how cute they actually are.
Moving on to why TotT is special, to begin with I liked how respectful the romance is. Most of the time we see feet related sensei affection at most, there's absolutely no cheap smut, saliva, fanservice. The dialogue and sweettalk then felt all the more meaningful. Secondly, in Taming the side characters (exception of 3 relatives) never overstay their welcome - sure, there are some ego-handjobs and faceslapping (especially with 3 relatives) but stupid characters never get more than 3-4 panels of attention. Finally, while other manhwas may shift or dilute their focus by introducing more arcs and characters, TotT keeps its eyes on the endgoal and steadily moves towards it. The manhwa stays faithful to a fairly monogamous relationship and character development throughout the whole 50ish chapters I read, and that is to me quite commendable.
If you're looking for a typical villainess otome isekai I think the tropes featured in Taming of the Tyrant won't disappoint. From my stance, it is one of the 3 otome isekai manhwas that place a strong focus on the story without too much cheap fanservice (exception of goddamn unappreciative family trope) along with Your Throne and Fantasie of a Stepmother, which automatically makes it top tier for me.
Ps I predict Taming will become really really popular, it will maybe even surpass the likes of Death is the only ending for the Villainess, as the story is also entertaining and the art also is beautiful. Kinda weird this shit review is going to be its first one on MAL lmao, sorry
