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maleyanderecafe · 1 year ago

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Under the Oak Tree (Webcomic)

Created by: Kim Suji / namu / Seomal / P(Art)

Genre: Fantasy/Romance

Under the Oak Tree is cute, like it's really cute, but man is it a slow burn. The yandere is more of the overprotective type, but considering he doesn't show up a whole ton within the story (since he's always out fighting monsters or what not) we don't actually get to see a lot of screen time with the two (at least compared to other webcomics). That being said, the story focuses mostly on Max's character development as she goes from a low self esteem character to one who knows how to use what she has. As of now, there are 66 chapters out currently. There is also a PV out for this webcomic.

The story starts out with Maxi, a noble lady, being married off to Riftan, a honorable knight. Maxi lived a horrible life, abused by his uncle due to her stuttering and her lack of fine education, and as such has developed an extremely low self esteem. She feels that she is not worth to be Riftan's wife, as Riftan is an incredible knight and she wonders why he had chosen her to begin with. Riften on the other hand believes that Maxi properly deserves things that nobles have and that he has to provide them so that he can keep her happy. As Riften goes off to fight monsters and wars, Maxi is stationed at home to take care of the manor. She is initially overwhelmed and very worried, however, slowly is able to become more confident thanks to the staff there and a magic user named Ruth. Ruth helps Maxi by teaching her how to read and write, as well as helping her overcome her stutter, something that she is deeply insecure about. Riften often comes back to take care of Maxi and see her again, but because of his bad communication skills, the two's rifts often grow bigger and bigger. Maxi starts to learn healing magic thanks to Ruth so that she can help his army in a way that she believes matters. Currently, Maxi is touring around Agnes, the princess that Riften was originally married to, around her castle.

The summary is actually quite short compared to what actually happens in the story, but that's mostly because it focuses on Maxi's growth as a character and her relationship with Riften. Maxi as a character is very well written, as you can really feel her anxieties and her fear of not living up to what Riften might have thought she was. As a result she tries very hard to improve herself, from learning magic, tending to the castle itself and trying to fit in. While she doesn't always succeed, we can see that the people around her generally encourage her in her growth. I imagine it's not always easy to try to improve yourself in this way, especially when your childhood has been mostly abusive, so often it feels like you're taking more steps back then you are stepping forward. I think the story does a good job on trying to show her progress and struggles in this new environment and how she generally grows as a better person. That being said though, don't expect the story to really go into any fights or have any huge dramas. I like the relationship between Maxi and Ruth though since it really does feel like Ruth takes on a older sibling type of vibe when teaching her about various things. It's also nice that there is kind of a defined magic system in this story, which is something that I feel like most isekai/fantasy stories tend to skip over. And there's a lot of miscommunication due to the two just being bad at it, but in this case it is at least understandable because it's imbued into their character. It is very slow paced a lot of times though, so if you dislike slow burns and like fight scenes (instead of, essentially watching a stay at home wife) it's probably not something you'd enjoy very much.

Riften as a character... is kind of not really in the story as much as I'd like considering he's always off going on wars while Maxi is taking care of the castle. He is very caring of Maxi and the two love each other very much, as they always think of each other even when the two are separated, but there is genuine miscommunication due to the more blunt ways that Riften speaks and Maxi's general insecurity. While he is actually there, he is often very protective and jealous over her, getting jealous that he hangs out with Ruth so much, or protecting and getting angry when one of his men is annoyed by Maxi or even just being overprotective when Maxi drinks too much. Given his generally serious demeanor, he's afraid that Maxi is scared of him sometimes, and he is very soft when it comes to her. Still though, as I said, it's mostly fairly light as he's either not really there or he's only there to protect her when she can't protect herself. I would say it is enough to warrant him as an overprotective yandere considering his actions, but they are still relatively light as compared to other ones I've read. Perhaps it's possible that we might see another side of him in the new season, but again, considering that he doesn't really show up all that much, I feel like that's pretty doubtful.

I will say though that the artwork for this webcomic is extremely pretty. I did find it interesting that pretty much all of the backgrounds are more muted and brownish colored, but I suppose it's to contrast with Maxi and her more reddish hair. Still, extremely pretty.

Overall, a good slowburn story of Maxi and her husband Riften. Normally I'm not too fond of slowburns since I kind of need to read to see if the yandere exists or not, but I do like the way that the story takes time to flesh out and slowly develop Maxi to be a more confident person, even if sometimes others or even Riften himself causes her to stumble.

#Under the Oak Tree #male yandere #yandere #yandere boy #recommendations #ongoing #webcomic

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