Last time on this blog, we talked about False Confession, a webtoon that spends 45 chapters circling around back to chapter 1. Ginger and the Cursed Prince is another in the same vein of long drawn-out romance series that you spend months reading only to realize that almost nothing has happened.
Summary (from Tappytoon): For hopeless romantic Ginger Torte, getting engaged to the man of her dreams is a fairy tale come true. It isn’t long before she realizes the gut-wrenching truth — her fiancé has been seduced by her rival! The heartbroken Ginger finds solace in a new book that recounts the tale of a young woman and a cursed prince… But to her horror, the protagonist turns out to be none other than her beautiful nemesis, Lerazie!
As reality unfolds according to the book, both ladies fall in love with the handsome prince at first sight. Ginger vows to steal both the spotlight and the prince’s heart! But, does this story harbor a sinister secret?
So far, what is listed in the summary is what is happening in the book… but nothing beyond that! In other words, you could read the summary and stop there, and you wouldn’t have missed anything by not reading Ginger and the Cursed Prince (known in fan translation as “Virtues of the Villainess”).
The handsome prince is cursed to be able to read the minds of anyone whose eyes he looks into. The story revolves around Ginger discovering that Lerazie has a special necklace that can block the prince’s abilities. Then it’s all about Ginger scheming to get the necklace, trying to get close to the prince, amusing him with her silly/perverted thoughts when she thinks he can’t read her mind, and round and round they go.
In 44 chapters, Ginger has failed to get the necklace twice, had way too many “he can’t read my mind” scenes and bantering skits with the prince and strongly considered date raping him with very strong wine. She is not a bright character – in fact, she is extremely stupid. Her ineptness at hiding her feelings, scheming effectively or doing anything correctly might endear her to readers… or make her the stupidest, most annoying heroine you have ever read about. To me, she’s meh. An idiot, but not a lovable one.
The other characters are not as bad, but they’re not very charming or worth following either. The Prince/King has far too much leisure time to be believable. He’s also too quick to fall for a drooling fool like Ginger when there have to be better choices available. Let’s face it, Ginger would make a horrible queen. It’s hard to root for the romance between an idle prince and an IQ-challenged love interest, so it’s hard to root for the whole series.
If we had to summarize whatever progress had occurred since the start of Ginger and the Cursed Prince, it would be that first the prince barely knew Ginger existed, now he’s somewhat fond of her. Lerazie didn’t know her necklace had a special effect, then thanks to Ginger’s bungling she does and she’s actively aiming for the prince too.
And the second male lead Hamel claims to love Lerazie, but seemingly confessed to Ginger just now. But it doesn’t matter because the second male lead never ever wins in Korean webtoons. I’ve seen it happen very rarely in one or two long-running Japanese shoujo manga (Peach Girl comes to mind) but in Korean romance? Forget it! So the whole Hamel Bray side plot is a massive waste of time.
Actually I’ll cut it short here and say that the whole of Ginger and the Cursed Prince is a waste of time. Especially in a day and age where Tappytoon and other companies are churning out romance webtoons that are funnier and more focused with more likeable characters. I’m going to put this particular series on the shelf until I hear that it’s complete, then give it one big binge. Hopefully the eventual pay off will be worth the wait, but I’m not holding my breath.