Webtoon Review: Kubera Season 1

This was a Webtoon season that took me forever to read. I started it a while back, and couldn't get really engrossed. But that doesn't mean it's bad. Not at all. There's a lot more than meets the eye.

Summary: Kubera lives in a small town. One day, when she came back to home, she found out that high-rank Suras wiped out the town. Therefore, she escapes to the city to get Asha's help who is a great wizard.

Story: 3.5/5: The summary doesn't do a great job at explaining the story. It's more than that. It's about Kubera Leez, a girl named after a god. She lives in a world where humans, gods, and Suras (powerful beings) all exist. One day, she leaves her town to go into the forest for food, but when she returns, it's been wiped out by Suras. She finds a wizard named Asha, one of the most famous and accomplished of the magicians nearby the ruins, and together, they go journey for answers. Kubera creates a pseudonym, calling herself Leez Haias, after her surname and her father's first name. They eventually have two other characters join their group.

Kubera doesn't have the strongest story, in my opinion. It's mainly a journey, and about the strange people Leez and Asha encounter. But what keeps me interested are that some mysterious characters (one being the god Kubera himself, who shares the same name as Leez) seem to know of a future, a dark future, that directly involves Leez…and it doesn't look pretty. There's also a mysterious phrase, "the power of the name", which involves humans being named after gods.

So while the plot may not be the driving force in season 1, there's plenty of mysterious foreshadowing, which I look forward to seeing some answers to in Season 2. However, it took me forever to into this Webtoon. I think it was around chapter 40, in the arc called "Half", that I started to really enjoy this. However, that's just me. Even though this is a really difficult Webtoon to get into, I have the feeling that it will definitely pay off.

Characters: 4/5: The characters are part of what makes me interested in this Webtoon.

First off, we have Kubera Leez, the green haired girl, known as Leez Haias. She doesn't seem to be the brightest girl out there, but she has a genuinely kind heart, always thinking of others. Plus, she has a lot of strength. But despite her happy, cheerful demeanor, it's shown that the loss of her village has broken her in some way, possibly helping to lead up to her bleak future. It's also implied that she has potential to be one of the most powerful magicians. She also hates Suras because of what happened to her village.

Then there's Asha, the blue haired one. And yes, Asha is actually a girl. Say what? Anyway, Asha was nearby Leez's village after it was destroyed, and they now journey together. Asha is incredibly cold, blunt, and rather uncaring. She's also a prodigy, one of the most esteemed and famous magicians of her time. However, she seems to be genuine friends with another character, in a strange way.

Believe it or not, the guy in the black hood is actually a god. He's Agni, the fire god. He may seem silly and kind of stupid, but some of it is an act to reduce the stress on Brilith, the priestess who summoned him when she was young. However, the mask sometimes falls, and you remember that he's still quite old, and very powerful. Brilith is the red haired woman in the picture; she summoned Agni when she was a child, reducing her lifespan by a lot. She's gentle and kind, but incredibly selfless and protective of her home and city.

This is the actual god Kubera, whom Leez is named after. He seems to have his own agenda, and to know the most about the future. He's hard to understand; is he working with the Suras, or using them? All we know is that he follows Leez around a little, giving cryptic advice, and since he knows a little about the future, he always asks Leez if she'd like him to kill her at the present time, while she's still happy. Yikes.

"Yuta" (Leez's name for him) is a bit of a mystery. Leez and Asha find him rescuing a "half" (half Sura, half human) and he eventually joins their group. However, unknown to Leez, but fully known to Asha, he's a Sura half (born from two different clans) in a human guise. He can't speak, and mainly communicates through a notebook. He's a total sweetheart, even if he has a vicious appetite, and since he's a Sura, that includes humans. But he's still got an adorable personality and demeanor.

There are many more characters, including Ran (a magician who joins Leez, Asha, and Yuta), Maruna, one of the Suras, and Gandharva, another Sura.

Writing: 3.5/5: It's likely the translation, but I just didn't care for the writing. According to several commenters, the translation isn't that good. Even I have to admit it feels kind of wonky and unnatural, at least at first. As time goes on, it improves steadily.
Other than that, the writing is good, but I'll have a lot more to say about that in the world building section, as that is the writer's greatest strength. It's very detailed writing, and doesn't have many, if any, plot holes.

Art: 3/5: Okay…I didn't really like the art that much. The character design was not my style of art. I liked the costume design a lot, but the art style when it came to the characters was not my thing. But by the end of the season, the art has improved quite a bit, especially when put into comparison to the first episode. For a while, I really disliked the art style, but by the end of the season, it's actually good, even if it isn't my favorite. But from what I've seen of season 2, it improves even more, and now I really like it!

However, I did enjoy the backgrounds. I think Currygom (the creator) said that they used photos as part of the backgrounds for the cities, and it looked really cool!

World Building: 5/5: By far my favorite part. Kubera has one of the best built worlds I've seen since Harry Potter, and that's saying something. The magic has its own grading system like I've never seen, and the same goes with the magician's rankings. The rules of the magic are also really complex and detailed, including equations, and each spell involves the usage of the name of a god. And the Sura Realm was also very complicated and well written. Basically, if you love fantasy worlds with fantastic world building and rules, Kubera is a masterpiece when it comes to that. It is ridiculously well thought out, and seems like how a world with magicians, gods, and Suras would work.

Pros:

• Characters: These are very colorful characters, each one memorable in their own ways. They all have hidden depths.
• Rich world building: As I said, the world building is the best part of the Webtoon to me. It is so detailed and realistic, it must've taken forever to come up with. It's kind of amazing in that regard.
• Logic: This Webtoon uses logic. Despite being a fantasy, it has order, and the magic has a lot of reasoning behind it, including math and equations!

Cons:

• Hard to get into; Besides Cheese in the Trap, Kubera is probably the hardest Webtoon for me to get into. It just wasn't engrossing to me for the longest time. But like Cheese in the Trap, there was a point that helped me get more into it, and now I'm really enjoying it.
• A little confusing: I feel as though the mystery of Leez's village has sort of been ignored. Instead, we're mainly getting glimpses into the future, and trying to figure out the deal behind the "power of the name".
• Lots of explaining: The downside to the fantastic world building is that there is a lot of text. Sometimes being educated on the world and magic and rules can get tedious, but it's definitely helpful to the story. It just makes it harder to get into.

Final Grade: 3.5/5. Kubera has a lot of potential with the mystery, the characters, and the world. But it took me too much time to get into, and is slow paced, even for me. It's difficult to become addicted to, but I have a feeling that season 2 will become much better, and more engrossing and interesting. Basically, I have hopes for the second season.

If you are interested in Kubera, here's the link: Kubera