Hero Killer (Beolkkul)

Let's get one thing straight: this is an action comic.

Sadly, the author doesn't put too much effort into telling the story, opting to instead pan-fry our wits with an over-load of battles, literally one after another.

At some point, the characters got less bland, but the action never improved, as the MC strolls through more ridiculous power-creep than a mobile brain-rot gacha game, her dull, never-threatened attitude boring the crap out of anyone who's actually seen a real woman, so isn't drooling over her curves in the comments section.

There is some world-building, some different arcs, but it's all tucked away inside the rocket pacing of the action, until the ludicrous plot armour that doubtlessly gives the MC her edge - I mean: not even death can stop her - just gets way too much and this really feels like a chore to read.

I'd have dropped this title much earlier than after the 136 chapters I read (it's a lot less interesting early on, when all characters are cardboard cut-outs of people), but I had to reinstall my browser and finding where I was up to on my usual titles is a colossal pain!

And so, I started this, and sighed as the action that this title seems to pride itself on, was massively unimpressive: some of the physical battles are so stupidly difficult to follow, while those fought between the more powerful just look like kids throwing colourful Yugioh cards at each other! Factor in the above mentioned lack of threat to the MC and a 2.5/5 feels like a very generous rating.

this manhwa has a very interesting plot and i like it very much. i reccomend u read it (if u like badass fl and hot characters)

I'm writing this after reading the translated English chapters up to chapter 118 (and checking the Raws up to chapter 125).

1. It's a very compelling "modern" dark fantasy. It's a world of heroes and villains where the Hero Clan is corrupt and rotten. The villains aren't saints either, and it's largely evil vs evil.

But most characters are well fleshed out, with complex and relatable human motivations. There are very few caricatures who are evil for the lulz or one dimensional.

And even among the Hero Clan, there are heroes who are genuinely morally upright and are trying to save people. The side characters (both heroes and villains) really grow on you as you progress.

2. The protagonist isn't overpowered either. She starts the story as like an E tier power wise (on a rating from F to S), and gradually grows over the course of the story. As at the latest chapters, she's maybe a B+. Overpowered protagonists are hard to do well while preserving tension/a sense of serious stakes, and I've come to dislike most exemplars of that genre.

3. The series isn't a one (wo)man show. There are a large and vibrant cast of characters who all get their time in the spotlight, and there are several characters that are likely to speak/appeal to you.

The protagonist isn't my favourite character and probably not even among my top 10 (in this universe). I love this series anyway, because it's supporting cast is so great. I don't hate the protagonist, but this is the kind of series you could enjoy even if you hated the protagonist because of its strong supporting cast.

4. The protagonist and other significant characters don't stay static throughout the series but develop and grow as people. The protagonist in particular becomes much more nuanced than the generic badass female MC she comes across in the first couple of chapters.

5. It's a female MC in an action manhwa and we have very few of those (Unholy Blood, Empress Hunt, Ashen Oreum, etc.). Of those, the combat choreography and fight scenes here are a step above Unholy Blood and leagues beyond the rest. It's truly a rare gem in this regard.

If you love great action scenes, then you're in for a treat here.

6. 125 chapters in, and the story hasn't lost its seinen aspects and become a generic shounen.
   People still die. Characters we care about still die. There isn't plot bullshit for the protagonist and her allies to prevail against impossible odds.

The villains are the victims and the heroes are psychopaths, not recommended. Story goes nowhere.

One of the only action fantasies I've seen with a cool female mc, but she gets like 5-10% of the chapter, average. Things seem a little fast paced and over-dramatic somehow because of that. Seems like the main focus is the action.

I will be fair and admit that I dropped this one after only a handful of chapters - so it is possible that the story eventually got better.
I just cringed too much at the edge lord-nature of pretty much all the characters.

The set-up is very much like "The Boys" and similar stories: some superheroes are evil but no one is there to stop them so the underdog protagonist steps in.
Except in this case, the MC isn't an underdog but instead completely overpowered from the start - removing the suspense right away. And then they threw the cliche "oh, your [enter random loved one here] was killed by one of the heroes" exposition on her in the first chapter. From the start, this manhwa wants to make it clear, that MC is the tropey-est trope Mary Sue imaginable.

And the superheroes are evil just for the sake of being evil.
The first villain we meet is introduced by killing all the hostages in a hostage situation he was supposed to handle, but let's think about this for a second. Would the police let vigilantes do their job if the result is worse? Maybe a "hero" would get away with killing hostages once, but after multiple botched hostages situation, the police would probably eventually just go: "You know what, I think we preferred it when at least some of the hostages made it out alive, we should probably go back to handling this ourselves"

The art was really nice though. But it wasn't enough to settle my internal cringe.
If you haven't had your will of the Anti-Superheroes genre then this is probably for you.