Last time, I reviewed All You Can Eat and A Good Day to be a Dog for this Webtoons article series. This time, I cover Kind of Confidential, Love Me Knot, and Devil Number 4.
Kind of Confidential
Kind of Confidential cover art, by Vivian Darlin
Kind of Confidential tells of a fallen (literally) superhero who loses his powers and gets rescued by a former supervillain when he lands on her balcony. Rena, the female lead, tries to live an ordinary life but gets into situations where she’s compelled to intervene. However, there’s a spin campaign against her. Meanwhile, the hero is aloof and lacks a concept of reality down on earth, as he has been flying around saving humanity. The fourth wall is broken often here, and it makes fun of itself. The art style is a bit more muted and more pastel-y or watercolor-y, but still beautiful and unique. This comic is near completion and I expect withdrawal when it ends. I love everything about this—plot, art, pacing, characters, humor, and occasional music. It is extremely fun and unique, as well as highly engrossing. Definitely binge worthy and recommended!
Love Me Knot
Love Me Knot cover art, by Sophia
What if a red string tied to their hand connected soulmates to one another? And what if only those with a severed string could see these red strings, including their own, from the moment theirs becomes severed? This is the premise of Love Me Knot, with a college setting and the socially awkward dating interactions involved. Of course, there is a love triangle between Avery, Hayden (coincidentally Avery’s favorite author), and Noah (Avery’s classmate and Hayden’s roommate), all of whom have severed strings. As the plot develops, Noah and Avery notice there are more people with severed strings than they originally thought, though Hayden already knows this.
This series is endearing and overall lighthearted and sweet. I enjoy the concept and approach, as it provides food for thought about destiny, happiness, dilemmas about responsibilities of those who see strings with people in their lives. The character development and dynamics between them as each learns more about themselves while learning about one another is interesting. Each has their struggles and historical baggage, and this is portrayed well. The art style is fun even down to details like Hayden’s lavender hair.
Devil Number 4
Devil Number 4 cover art, by woombeee
Devil Number 4 tells of an accomplished Devil and his journey to get soul contracts signed. At least, that’s how it started off and was a comedy— very lighthearted considering the subject. Devil Number Four seeks a contract with Hannah Yoon, a college student who is extremely down on her luck, so a seemingly easy target. He is used to enticing prospective clients, as everyone wants something—money, fame, luxury. However, Hannah doesn’t really want anything, and has little ambition or love for life, as she is just trying to get by. She is happy to sign a contract, because her life doesn’t really mean anything to her anyway. So the devil makes it his mission to add actual substance to her life so she can experience joy for the first time. Meanwhile, all she wants is for him to be by her side.
Themes
Once this fun plot and pacing is established, along with a love triangle, there is a sudden shift in the tone and it takes a dark turn. Apparently, there are opposing forces and last lives, along with a lot of confusion about what is right, wrong, good, or evil. The storyline includes angels, devils, assistants (devils in training), humans, and God, but keeps it generally secular. In fact, there was an openly atheist character who had flashbacks of a past life. I especially appreciated that character’s perspective and representation, as it distinguished between religious and spiritual beliefs. Many consider religious and spiritual beliefs to be mutually inclusive, thereby excluding atheism and painting it with a monochrome brush instead of seeing it as a spectrum.
Devils were required to be gender-conforming in the present world. Angels, in contrast, could switch sex depending on the situation and were not meant to have a preference for male versus female. Along with their ability to change their sex presentation, angels were not governed by gender expression rules, so some seemed gender neutral. In terms of the storyline, perhaps the other theme is fighting the system and powers that be, and not always accepting the status quo at face value.
While I enjoyed this overall, I felt like there was more continued/repeated drama than necessary, with too many emotional rollercoasters and fake outs/undoings. Also, the backstory jumps in the plotline were sometimes confusing, as were the time gaps in characters’ lives. The art was beautiful and the approach extremely novel. This completed comic is available with Daily Pass.
Join me next time for even more Webtoons to read.
