Mildly interested, I read the manhua one late night and was a little unsettled by what I read. The first few chapters had a pretty solid mystery/thriller idea. But halfway through the flashbacks it became kind of conventional. More importantly it made me uncomfortable, and not in a way I could enjoy. 

Not sure of my reason. It follows practically the same structure as the author's other work (I'm more dangerous than you) and I like that one just fine. I could look past odd pacing and imperfect translations. And it's not like I have an aversion to toxic or imbalanced depictions of relationships, even the kinds with age gaps under certain circumstances. 

Maybe it's the lack of interesting/likable characters, maybe I wasn't in the mood to see female characters having their bodies invaded, or maybe the artstyle wasn't doing it for me.

I guess I just don't find the main couple's love believable. An attraction, maybe. Rather than depicting a dominant character's obsession with love,  it reads more like an obsession with power. Since the main girl has very little in terms of personality or inherent principals, it seems like the love interest is attracted to her for her weakness, her vulnerability, because like her experiments, she desires total control over a subject in body and mind. 

It makes the love interests actions more unjustifiable and unnerving to me. It isn't a desire for something she lacks, but more of what she already has. And so the narrative doesn't allow the main character to have agency.

Its a story where one wants to make the other more miserable than they already are. And it gives any romantic scenes between them an unsettling feeling.

Those are just my thoughts, though. Would be cool to see other perspectives on this.




Has anyone read Manipulate My Heart?