Having both read and watched her previous work, Lovely Complex, I have to say the sequel's start reminds me of Love Com's later arcs, when the main couple has gotten together. Both series introduce new characters, whose main purposes seem only to be stealing either one of the MCs away. Thankfully, with DameKoi, it stops with the first arc. Having seen what the author is capable of, I have to say I'm extremely disappointed. I must admit I'm personally biased here, as imo, love triangles is a lazy, overused trope, and that there are many more interesting ways to progress the story. Hell, even within this series, we've seen dramas of all sorts, none of which needed to be about homewreckers/love triangles.
Another criticism I have is that the MCs, specially the male MC, are seemingly made more childish in the sequel. Don't get me wrong, their banters have always been there, and they have always shown to be playful, almost juvenile despite their age. That's, like, one of the unique feature of the female MC, even. However, they are dialed to 11 here, which is strange considering all the growth they both have had. It's not the banter, but the actions and reactions that they have throughout the series really made me ask myself if they have always been this immature.
Now, what about after the first arc? Well, it got good again. It's hard to ask you to skip basically half the series, but if you want the magic of the first part and dislike love triangles like me, then do skip to around volume 3. It does a good job ending on a strong note, albeit a bit rush and skipping over some characters we have grown to love previously.
Overall, a decent story. My disappointment comes only because of the high standard the prequel has set.
