Lady Baby
Controversy Alert!
Girl oh my fucking god AGE. PLEASE. I got pregnant, miscarried, got pregnant again, gave birth, and got divorced in the time between this manhwa starting and her ageing up. Jesus CHRIST. On top of that, there was a random ass pivot from childcare/period piece/political into... uh... idol? Like singing and dancing and being a public figure idol????
All Reviews Contain Spoilers
Review: So this regression story is about Calliope, who wants to save her family from being decimated by conspiracy and war. In her pursuit of this she does a lot of singing. And apparently singing anything that isnt hymns and religious songs is DEEPLY blasphemous for some reason. So okay this is a world that places extreme importance on the state religion, alright.
Except no one ever goes to church, no religion is ever mentioned outside of when Calli is singing, and no one ever prays or invokes the religion. The only times Calli ever even mentions the temple is when she's singing, or when she's trying to out-capitalism the Temple regarding a section of the commerce district that the Temple doesn't know is full of mana. Because somehow there's a "Temple" and there's "Mana" but no one except Calli ever talks about any of it.
Until she starts going full Hannah Montana and goes in disguise to Harlemine, the birthplace of a culture where 'lower class' people express their life and grief through music that the 'upper class' regard as frivolous and even dangerous. It's also a very dangerous place, especially for someone of the 'upper class' like Calli. In disguise, she sings for an audience and they all revere and adore her.
This is functionally indistinguishable from rich white girl tourism into black 'slums' for the purpose of becoming a snowbunny goddess. I know the writer is a Korean in Korea who likely has no idea what the issue is here but good fucking god. Good fucking god.
After this foray into illicit song dealing, she begins performing for her upper class peers. The Temple gets wind of it and forces a riff-off competition between Calliope and the temple choir. Why?? Literally why? this is genuinely a baffling turn of events that makes no sense and just serves to flip the genre from rofan to idol. It's so odd and off-putting.
I can't even recommend the first X number of chapters because even in the infant arc it's frustrating to watch.
Where I'm Reading: gourmet supremacy
