Reviews

Oct 26, 2022
Preliminary (87/? chp)
Spoiler
I Shall Master this Family focuses on the more political side of an Otome Isekai dealing with family conflicts, royal succession disuptes and the war on the open market. All of this is told from the perspective of Firentia Lombardi. A korean woman who was reincarnated as the daughter of the famously powerful Lombardi family. The ones who control the market and stand with the same power as the royal family. She watches firsthand as the family falls into ruin due to the incompetence of the successor and she gets kicked out and killed in a carriage accident. Now back in the past as a seven-year-old Firentia will save this family from ruin and bend it to her will so her and her father come out on top.

This manwha successfully tells the interesting story of a seven-year-old child manipulating events from the shadows to prevent future catastrophe. She leads her dad to success to make sure that he isn't looked down upon in the family like he was in her past life. He even died from a disease in her past life so she makes sure that the person who developed the cure to that disease years later is able to go to medical school a few years early so they could possibly make the cure earlier in this life then they did in the past life.

That's what I love about this manhwa, it takes all the standard Otome Isekai troupes and settings and focuses on the scheming behind them. A lot of this manhwa is focused on expanding business and how different families will fight over the market. It's done in a really interesting way. Frientia needs to have these products developed and businesses started but at the same time needs to find allies to do it for her that won't reveal that a seven-year-old is having ideas like these. It's able to put aside the majority of the problems I have with grown people in child body stories and uses it to its full advantage.

Beyond the "saving the family" stuff the manhwa also focus on the royal family and Frientia getting acquainted with the second prince who is mistreated (and obviously the ML of the story). Once again this is a common troupe but by focusing on the family dispute of bring the second prince back into succession it makes it unique. The story also ties this story to the main story really well by having the incompetent successor of the Lombardi family being manipulated by the Empress who wants the first prince to become the successor and wants to limit the power of the Lombardi family as they are the only family who can rival the royals. Also, just to briefly mention the emperor. He is an asshole, but unlike other asshole emperors in other stories he is an asshole to everyone and enjoys watching the chaos and I like him because of that. He's a wildcard in the political struggle.

Another thing I like is that all of the Lombardis have their moment to shine. All of the extended Lombardi family have plot relevance in one way or another and they all feel like interesting and unique people. This story at its core is one about family and having a strongly developed family is a massive plus in its favor. I especially like the relationship between Frientia, her father and her grandfather (the current head of the family). It's developed and feels very natural with the plot using the growing relationship between them to further the narrative.

This is an Otome Isekai that perfects the kind of story it wants to tell and I for one really enjoy it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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