Table of Contents
Disclaimer:
Reaper of the Drifting Moon is a manhwa for people that enjoy the Murim setting and revenge stories. It scratches that “revenge itch” where the mc of the story gets wronged, abused, and thrown away at the beginning of the story, only to get stronger, come back, and exact that sweet, sweet revenge on everyone that wronged him.
As it turns out the ones that wronged him, in this case, are some of the most esteemed clans of Murim, so it’s him against the world kind of vibe.
If that seems like your jam gives this manhwa review a read.
The Good
Premise
Reaper of the Drifting Moon has a very interesting premise. The mc is not a renowned martial artist or someone known in the Murim world, quite the opposite actually, he is just a random kid walking down the street. Kidnapped and meant to be used as a disposable tool by people whom he has never met.
The mystery of the identity of the mysterious kidnappers, their motives combined with the natural hatred that develops in the mc for the people that ruined his life make this a very effective cocktail of concepts that hook the reader and make him want to keep reading.
Plot & Power Fantasy
Well, if you have read Murim Manhwa with power fantasy elements you know what to expect here. Reaper of the Drifting Moon does not do anything too out of the box but it doesn’t do anything bad either. It is like comfort food with an assassin skin on.
For the majority of the story, the Mc is overpowered compared to almost everyone around him. Firstly, due to his talent and then because of “insert generic manhwa plot armor thing here”.
The reason I am categorizing this in the “Good” section is that it is very satisfying seeing him overpower people and do cool assassin shit.
Additionally, there is a high quality of execution for this kind of story, meaning that if you are someone who enjoys power fantasy revenge stories, you will enjoy this one as well.
Art
The average level of art in manhwa is quite high. In that vein, the art of reaper of “Reaper of the Drifting Moon” is good for the most part. It is quite generic, to be honest, but it doesn’t take anything from the story. On the contrary, the artist has done a good job of enriching the source material. It just kind of lacks that “wow” factor that art from top manhwa has.
The Bad
Characters
The characters of Reaper of the Drifting Moon lack layers and development. This is a gripe that I have with most Power Fantasy Manhwa. They tend to not invest time and effort in developing their characters. And this manhwa is no exception. It lives and dies on the concept of badassery. Mc’s purpose is to be a badass assassin that exacts revenge and the supporting characters’ sole function is to showcase how strong and badass the mc is when compared to them. And that’s that. I happen to love turning my brain off and reading stories like this, however, the lack of character development is always a pain point.
Final Verdict
I recommend Reaper of the Drifting Moon but don’t expect a masterpiece on this one. It is a well-executed revenge power fantasy with an assassin theme. If power fantasy Manhwa and good old’ dumb fun is something that you enjoy, give Reaper of the Drifting Moon a read.
Detailed Rating:
ART: 7/10
STORY: 6.5/10
CHARACTERS: 6/10
OVERALL: 6.5
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