Have you ever wanted to take a trip down memory lane? Well, if so, get out the Crystal Pepsi and bust out the Boys 2 Men because I'm taking you back to the magical year of 2017 to spotlight WhereTangents Meet by instant miso, the first webtoon I took seriously.
Summary
People are often shallow creatures; despite how insignificant we are in the universe, we still pry into people's lives like an essential thing in the world. Appearance, wealth, status judgment comes in all the same. That's the mentality that slowly changed Landon into the flirtatious, irritable, and too cool for school" "prince"' of his school. He probably would've had this mentality forever if he hadn't met the sharp curve that would bend his straight-line permanently.
Characters
Landon: Due to being the son of an affluent modeling agency Landon was always in the center of the public eye, thus developing a crippling fear about how others think of him. Therefore "Dindin" is a highly sensitive, irritable, antisocial loner with a reputation for short-lived relationships in his parent's agency model. However, upon meeting Rachelle, a student council member, his disposition becomes a lot brighter as he confronts his issues head-on.
Rachelle: Ladoon'ss polar opposite, Rachelle is cute, happy, ditzy, naive, kind, and intensely forgiving. She's able to see past Landon a lot and loves to tease him endlessly. She used to be a ballerina, but Rachelle sees herself as a burden to her fellow student council member after a tragic head injury, which tears her up inside.
Overview
I am not going to lie; properly rereading Where Tangent Meets after all these years was an exciting experience. I thought that nostalgia or a simple change of taste would skew my taste. But honestly, after reading all of this, I still say that this series is one of the strongest romances I've read.
I haven't seen Instantmiso'ss more popular work: Siren's Lament, but after seeing that, it's almost charming to go back to her first work. The art has a very basic, sketchy, and painted look to everything. However, the many promotional images and more metaphorical images expressed through the art are where I think the art manages to shine the most.
Adding to the presentation, WTM also has a complete soundtrack provided by "Kenn" a friend of instant miso. Said soundtrack features a lot of sweeping piano keys and soothing melodies that are sure to be fun for simply sitting back to relax. This is lowkey a little amazing since this would probably make this one of the first webtoons that take advantage of the experience.
But on to the bread and butter, I think Rachelle and Ladon are still one of the best couples I've seen on webtoon. Rachelle almost immediately challenges a lot of Landon'ss worst traits, and I genuinely can't get enough of how cute their interactions are. Their bond is just tighter than covalent bonds, and we don't have to wait at all for them to have sparks fly.
However, when the conflicts or setup for them come, I feel like WTM manages to hop over the pitfall most romances fall into. I think I've said it before in my girl's of the wild's spotlight to me that the best romances are interpersonal. More so in that when the arguments and rash decisions come, you understand where the characters are coming from while not making them come off as complete assholes.
Our two protagonists are ripe with self-doubt and negativity about themselves, which naturally creates a bunch of roadblocks. However, before it becomes unbearable, the two are self-aware and communicative enough to recover gracefully. Much like the namesake Landon path was a straight line of shallow relationships, Rachelle is the curvy oddball that manages to change both of their courses.
Outside of the two, I think the rest of the cast is weak next to its contemporaries. They aren't bad, and they do have a lot of incredible moments, but since they mostly revolve around our main couple. That pretty much means that while they have their moments, they are mostly centered around supporting the two in different ways. Other than all that, WTM is also pretty well-paced for its short (40 chapters, give or take a couple of author's notes). This series will not take you long to complete on sites like manga buddy or even just webtoon itself.
Epilogue
All in all, WTM is a solid entry into the romance webtoon, and I'm so glad it was one of the first to greet me. But, of course, the fact that it's still standing out after dozens of webtoons says a lot about either the series or me. Nonetheless, this has inspired me to look at other completed webtoons that I haven't covered. But of course, that would be for another time.
For now, with shining the rusty spotlight, I'm going to bring it to something new—particularly my biggest and baddest top 5 I've ever done one this series. So until then, let's dread where the spotlight takes you next.