Painter of the Night

so much of this was very hard to read. the first 40, maybe 60 chapters was so tense. there is power dynamics between class, rape, non consensual situations - you really feel the fear of the characters.

i read this more of a psychological horror/thriller than i did romance, and through that lens i enjoyed it a lot. the development of feelings of the victim feels kind of stockholm syndrome esqe to me.the "soft confession" scene fit that lens a lot. "i won't scare you anymore, so please don't leave me" like my god the manipulation!! the toxicity!! we know this is not true!! even post them sorting things out, class differences play into every part of their relationship bc they rarely ever talk, just fuck! (which is not necessarily a bad thing bc it doesn't seem as though the author intended for their relationship to be that deep or anything).

i love toxic dynamics in fictional queer stories, makes them a bit more interesting to me but i understand that this is not for everyone. okay to pass the time if ur desiring historical horny gays w lots of tension and assault bc there is no real relational development. it's a real case of "hurt people hurt people". just bc u find out why ur lover was violent does not excuse the violence and murder he has committed. agree with @Jutji review

The art,the emotion and the depiction of trauma and abuse makes this yaoi a hat above many of the rest, but argh! The writing! The cliches! The totally unecessary cheap tricks, like attempted murder, jeloaus spurned lovers, two faced friends ready to do you in... Boring. The lower the otherwise great story. If only the manhwa was focused solely on the uke and the seme, and their development, this would have been, IMHO; a much, much better story.

On a personal note, and I know this is very subjective, I disliked the uke pretty much constantly. I just don't like such meek, passive character thrust into a power struggle with much more sturdy guys. I generally dislike the weak uke trope, and this irked me so much. Na-kyun could have been made a great uke even without being a overtly naive, sweet boy depicted here. While this trope can work, at times, I find it okay only in fluffly manhwa, since a huge personality imbalance beteweek uke and semeis just a receipe for distaster, as far as writing goes. Only a few mangakas managed to deal with this in a mature, gentle and humane way. So the reason I give this a lower score is for certain that the uke was not to my liking, and a weak link generally in the story. I also think his background and his psychological make-up were ill developed. There should have been much more of the story dedicated to how he became a painter, his unhealthy obsession with his teacher, his relationship with his kiaseng sisters, and so on.

The seme was a much better fleshed out and more interesting char by far. A real depiction of a PTSD individual, a man shackled by the past like an octopus layering him bit by bit. He's sexy as hell, handsome and marvellous, but damaged as heck and an apsolute POS in the dark moments of his soul. But his back story is heart wrenching and perhaps the best part of the manhwa. If his relationship with hsi father and brother were better fleshed out, and his struggle to leave the fiery pits of hell behind were front and center instead of the silly political scheming the author generated, this would have been a much more powerful work.

But boy, the art is first class, and the attention to detail was stunning! Enjoyed each and every frame!

Wbhile this is a good work, with some major storyboard changes, and a different uke, I think this could have been a winner. But it's still a very good work, and will bring tears to your eyes, guaranteed!

it had a promising premise that was never delivered, poorly written and character development. Beautiful art and scenery.
Loved the song composed for the second season.

This is a comment I had saved up a while back but I didn't keep up with it chapter by chapter, so I'll just summarize it from where I left on till the end since I finally decided to finish reading this. Yay, congrats me! And congrats to the author for completing it.

It's slow paced, tragical, history based and the mystery element is low. The psychological explanation would be interesting if it shows up in the following chapters about how one got into sodomy (Seungho, a young nobleman) and how the other got into painting these acts (Na-kyum). There are many cruel scenes including rape, gang rape, abuse, psychological manipulation, gaslighting, imprisonment and so much more.

The history aspects in this from the drawings to the story itself were spectacular. Definitely a 10/10 rating on that aspect.

I have mixed feelings about chapter 41. I mean Na-kyum's teacher is an asshat. and that sentence at the end of the previous chapter pulled at my heart strings. Its obvious the young painter picked the wrong way to cope with the sadness fueling his heart by asking for sex in hopes of forgetting everything weighting down on him. Seungho is still the same person like always; cold, absolute and ready to hit him at the first slip up. Though that is the case, he seems intrigued by Na-kyum's behavior and demands through his fierce attitude an explanation.

The learned one isn't as innocent and straightforward as we thought he was. He seems like a snake that wants to use his student to climb up the ladder even if it means his student has to sleep with Seungho. Upon realizing Seungho's interest towards Na-kyum; he uses him.

Chapter 46; wanting to leave but having nowhere else to go. That realizing must have downed on Na-kyum for good now. He really has nowhere else to go and the attitude he will keep receiving won't be good but at least he has a place to sleep and eat, even under these circumstances.

Chapter 47; ''Little Whore'' he was called by the stuff in the residence. There are always a few jealous working people here and there, no biggie, nothing. But, that doesn't mean these words don't sting.

Chapter 48; One of the reasons Seungho is so attracted to Na-kyum -after painting of course- is that Na-kyum hasn't been honest or clear in his honest, thus making Seungho want to learn more about this strange behavior.

Chapter 49; Seems like Na-kyum has surrendered to what he seems to be his fate, being used for sex in order to have a roof over his head and food.

Chapter 52; the way the chapter ended seems to me like Seungho will regret saying that and sharing the lowborn with all others in sexual activities. Its like he is trying to prove something to others and to himself and I believe he will fail doing so. Na-kyum as well; he seemed to have forgotten who his master really was till reality kicked in and he show him kiss one of the others.

Chapter 53; there is one basic element here that has been said to us but only showed once and that was how possessive Seungho is about the paintings. This chapter has been like a revelation from a third party and explained and showed all at once. Such a serious scene for our both leads and it was quick paced. That took a bit away of the progress we could have seen.

Moving on in the next chapters we see the realization of what they feel and how they try to deny parts of it and still while that hasn't cleared up yet, an illness is brought up and the lousy attempt of Jinhwa to get the master to look his way. At this point, things will start getting more interesting and we will see how far Seungho's obsessiveness will take him and the point of madness he will reach. Na-kyum is always afraid, from start till now, he has never been brave. He had only closed his feelings off cause of the Learned one and started feeling again with Seungho who is making him sad again. He should have been his safe haven after what he went through, and instead of that he is his downfall.

The painter's noona; why did she look for him after so long? And who knows what she's been through being a kisaeng for so long that she said these words to him? I'm sure the painter is thinking of her words but nothing will change what he's already feeling. Seungho asking Na-kyum to not push him away, was a nice touch. His feelings are coming through more clear now.

After what felt like an era of abuse etc, we finally see some development romantically wise but it just felt like a torture-porn through and through. And that's Stockholm Syndrome, not love, my sweet Na-kyum. Power dynamics wise, we can say that power doesn’t always corrupt but it reveals what's hidden. This aspect was also clearly shown.

The art is very beautiful.

Ate that one in one day. Actually great plot, great characters and great development, but not gonna lie, with every season starting i was just getting more anxious. REALLY HAPPY WITH THE ENDING! Last chapters were really hinting a new season, to just finalize everything, but the final was perfect! Not too long, not too short, showed me every emotion i needed to feel.

Clear perfection, storytelling, characters profile, artstyle, damn, this artstyle, amazing ❤️ one point down only because of the ending...I think I expected something more than typical 'timeskip' 😅 Still, I'm glad they can be happy together

POTN had the potential, but the fans ruined it in a way that it affected the author. It felt like the author held many things back due to the majority of the fans. Still disappointed Jihwa didn't make a comeback and things were left undone with him simply because the author said most fans didn't like him despite her wanting to add more, this was long ago though. But I remember the drama that happen because of it and how the author didn't even appreciate Jihwa fans later on which led to a fanwar.

Making this review because I heard POTN is ending soon, around this year (2023), so yeah. I just feel like the story lost its focus and everything was made in a way were things become/overcome to easy so it can calm fans down.