나는 마도왕이다

NANEUN MADOWANGIDA

MANGA

STATUS
COMPLETE
VOLUMES
Not Available
RELEASE
June 5, 2021
CHAPTERS
143

DESCRIPTION

Sung-Hoon Lee is nothing but a victim of a changing world, a powerless man in a land infested with beasts and magic. Monsters from another world invaded earth, and they brought with them a sickness that pushes Sung-Hoon’s mother into an endless sleep. To pay off her medical bills, he braved a dangerous job as bait used by powerful superhumans called Awakeners to hunt monsters. But when he found himself at death’s door, the image of his past life flashes through his mind. There, he found his truth: he is the reincarnation of the Sorcerer King!

(Source: Tapas, edited)

CAST

Sung-Hoon Lee
Yeo-Young Min
Aina
Ye-Rim Seong
Donald Trump
Angela Merkel

CHAPTERS

REVIEWS

NanashiTale
80/100
Reverse isekai blending science, sci-fi, and fantasy where mc is an almighty sorcerer that reincarnates on Earth.
Story: B-
Execution: A
Characters: C+
Art: B-
Enjoyment: A
Overall: B-

Recommended? Absolutely. It explores the reverse isekai trope well and has a spot among my favorites.

Manhwa (Korean comics) often have a particular style to them that is quite different from manga. Manga is what a lot of fans of Eastern comics especially in the West grew up on which may influence their tastes in regards to the tropes they expect from comics. Action esque manhwa often feature unreasonably strong main characters, which some will argue cheapens the worldbuilding and dimensions of all the characters and also accelerates the plot too quickly. While this is true in some cases, overpowered characters can also be presented in very clever ways that can build a rich story that utilizes their strengths.

Sung Hoon Lee, the protagonist, lived his early life as a normal kid until one day when his life was on the line had an awakening where he remembered he was the reincarnation of a god like sorcerer. This is a very interesting contrast due to the setting being on Earth. Before the story begins a small percentage of humanity had already been given supernatural powers by a godlike system, but Sung Hoon Lee after awakening did not need to derive his power from this system and thus is the first and only sorcerer Earth has ever had.

He develops his powers and slowly regains his strength throughout the story. One of the storytelling elements I really appreciate in a reverse isekai (where fantasy creatures are reborn on Earth) is how they interact with Earth. Being a great sorcerer Sung Hoon Lee has a bottomless curiosity for practical knowledge. In a fantasy world this presents itself as magic but on Earth Science is the concept humanity has refined to progress civilization to it’s current level. The great Sorcerer King has the intellect and passion to deeply delve into understanding science and merges his understanding of Science and Magic to cover for the limitations of the other and thus reach a whole new level of power.

While the characters and art are simply average the concept and execution is especially profound in my humble opinion. Not only are many fantasy concepts explored by the sorcerer king in a methodical way, but his execution of scientific endeavors are interesting as well. Some of these ideas are presented with robotics(combat machines merged with magic to become hybrid esque golems), conversion of electricity to mana, space bases, satellites, time manipulation, mana storage devices, and genetic engineering to make plant life photosynthesize with mana. There is also a fantasy form of government explored through an antagonist in the form of a necropolis society.

It’s the protagonists interactions with the world and exploration and marriage of science and magic in this manner that really immersed me and keep me really excited in reading more. Come in with an open mind and you’ll realize you’ve stumbled on a hidden gem.
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Rojikku
100/100
Magic done properly, with a good growth arc
Disclaimer: It's been months since I read this, but I have read it twice, and it is one of my favorites. I'm also a bit biased, giving it a perfect score from memory.

The premise is essentially that someone near the peak of sorcery awakes his memories in a modern dungeon-delving type world, and goes about using those powers to grow powerful and defend the world.
What I love about it, honestly, is that it does magic right. It has intricacies, and the main battleforce of someone with power is in their base and preparations. In the beginning, it's more about supporting magics, but there's still a lot that can be done.

Personally, I'd categorize this under overpowered MC, but there's definitely growth. It even goes through a Xianxia-esque growth cycle of ascending to semi-godhood, which is one of my favorite endings.
Also personally, my main focus for any magic series should be on creating interesting magics. Magic devices, magic forces, magic towers. Honestly, why go about creating a bunch of fireballs if you can create an army or a business empire? It portrays magic as having proper complexities and intricacies, and not just being "I want fire to ball so fire balls."

The love interest is great, too, in her own unique way. She's sufficiently strong on her own, from what my poor memory recalls. She continues to grow and invest in herself, and I think that's great. At least, it's better than love interests that constantly get threatened, or create emotional drama, like in other stories.

Hmm, I need to talk more, but my memory is bad.. The art is good, and there's a lot of side characters with their own unique stories as well. The main character doesn't just plow over them, but they're allowed to shine in their own ways, even if only briefly. A lot of times they do serve as foils to show the main character's strength, but other times they deal with differences in morality, and have proper confrontations.

I can't recall any scenes where I thought "Wow, the author really just wanted to have this scene, so he made some unrealistic events happen like the main character not using their abilities."

The side characters pull their weight in fights, which is kinda required in series where there's a threat to the entire world.
Honestly, I feel like my review can't do it justice. Maybe eventually I'll read it a third time just to give it a better one. Looking at it, it's only 143 chapters. It's long enough to have good content and growth, but short enough it doesn't repeat or get drawn out endlessly.
I think that's what a series really should do. Get to the point, show some growth, have some nice fights, and move on. It's definitely worth some love.
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