Image: Freaking Romance cover art by SnailLords.
Note: this is a mostly spoiler-free review.
Freaking Romance, a recommended Webtoons comic, is one I have to admit I avoided reading for a while. The cover looked so cheesy (beautiful art, though), the premise sounded like some ridiculous romance between a ghost haunting a place and some chick, blah blah, some bittersweet or tragic ending because impossible situation. And it being in the romance genre made that all obvious and predictable, right? Eventually, I broke when it was promoted during Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month, considering it was among other creators whose works I love, and it was complete, so whatever. Worst case, I would drop it and move on. Welp, thankfully, I was completely wrong about everything there.
The storyline
This was not a romance with ghosties, but Sci-Fi (no ghosts). In fact, I wouldn’t even call this a romance, but more a very well-told story to understand what love is and isn’t, what it looks like, and in different forms, with some romantic elements. The story takes the reader on a rollercoaster, especially emotionally, and it is anything but predictable. When you think you have some basic sense of the purpose or premise and are lulled into a false sense of security, it gets twisty. Once you adapt to that, nope! Wrong again and way more to it from completely different angles.
I’m not a huge fan of dark stories, but I could handle it OK during the parts here. The cliffhangers were somehow more illegal than any other series I’ve read, but thankfully, because it is completed and before the Daily Pass period, I could just binge on it til the end. This is especially important in the second season til the end!
This was also pretty exciting because it included some LGBTQ+ representation with all the ships ever! Pronouns are a thing, as is aromantic representation. Choosing a ship, however, was a challenge, and I could see other readers had a similar issue based on the comments. The creator identifies as part of the Asian/Pacific American and LGBTQ+ and that adds a unique perspective. It examines trauma and its effects on different people when it comes to the various relationships and interactions in their lives during and after, because it is always a part of you.
The bottom line
In short, I would call Freaking Romance both insane and beautiful, and completely worth the read.
Fun, quirky, and deep. Thank you so much to the series creator: SnailLords.
I look forward to more of your work. 10/10!
