A story about finding how to love yourself.
Title: The Cursed Princess Club
Author & Artist: LambCat
Story: 9.5 out of 10
Art: 8 out of 10
Genre: Comedy and Heartwarming
Status: Ongoing
Overall rating: 9 out of 10
*Overall rating might change in the future depending on the future chapters. Since this webtoon is currently on-going.
Princess, what do you think when you hear that word?
You – like most – would think of a beautiful maiden, golden hair with long lashes and big doe eyes, luscious pink lips.
Or the Disney version, where we see tall pretty ladies -with the above description, adding and removing a few- and an amazing voice. Who is not only beautiful on the outside but the inside as well.
A beautiful princess as pretty as a princess words we use with it time and time. For so long that we started to associate beauty with the word Princess.
And so, it became something like this. A princess is someone who is essentially pretty, beautiful, and nice.
But what if you aren’t pretty by society’s standards.
Will you not be a princess then? Will you think of yourself as not beautiful just because you didn’t fit into that one mold? Will you love yourself less because of it?
This is what the webtoon Cursed Princess Club is about. A story about a princess, who doesn’t fit the mold of beauty by society. A kind, loving girl who is the definition of ‘beautiful on the inside’ but will that be enough for her to love herself when the world looks at her differently just cause of her looks? Or with the help of others- outcasts of the society- she will find the way to be herself?
To find out you have to read Cursed Princess Club.
Lets read the official synopsis of Cursed Princess Club or CPC as we like to call it.
“Meet Gwendolyn – living proof that princesses don’t always have it all. See, although she lives in a castle and her father is the King, Gwendolyn isn’t like a movie princess or even a fairly-tale princess. She’s got a big heart, but isn’t particularly attractive and doesn’t have a Disney-quality singing voice. But one night, she accidentally stumbles upon the twisted world of the Cursed Princess Club, and her life will never be the same. Hexed and cast out, the ladies of the club are just the people Gwendolyn needs to show her that just because she doesn’t “fit the mold” does not mean she’s any less of a princess. “ – Source Line Webtoon.
Author and artist LambCat is the mastermind behind Cursed Princess Club. Previously the story was published on Wentoon Canvas but soon the story was moved to Webtoon Original. The official publication of the Cursed Princess Club began on 24th February 2019. And is the most popular webtoon in the Comedy genre! With over 13.2M hearts and 1.8 million subscribers, it has a whopping 9.80 rating.
It was also picked as Webtoon’s favorite series along with Omniscient Reader.
With the update of the episode “Remain Calm (part 2)” on December, 15th, 2019, Season 1 finished with a total of 29 episodes. Season 2 started on August 18th, 2019 ending with 32 episodes.
It is said that Cursed Princess Club will have a total of four seasons. Currently, the third season is ongoing.
The series offers not just a story with art but LambCat also provides readers with music that she composed herself to listen with the chapters. The creator LambCat is originally a composer. So the music she makes fits perfectly with the emotions of that particular chapter. As the chapter progresses so does the music with them. It creates an ‘Experience’ for the readers as they connect with the story and the characters.
The original soundtrack of CPC is available to download at the author’s Petron. Click here to visit.
The thing that stands out most when talking about Cursed Princess Club is the message. We have a princess who isn’t Disney Version pretty. She is kind and a literal sweetheart. And that is how her family treats her too. They love her unconditionally.
And it is so interesting to see how, Gwen who is from a loving family, still doubted about herself and her worth when she is surrounded by people who loves her. But the reality is, no matter how much we know that our family loves us when we find out other’s thoughts regarding us it does takes a toll.
To accept oneself as it is knowing others might think bad about you though they don’t know you, well that takes courage and time. And it is shown here so flawlessly!
This is where the cursed princess club comes in.
And together we go on a journey to find ourselves and to love ourselves for who we are.
It is not just Gwan accepting her appearance but – will naming him be a spoiler for the story?- also accepting the way he is on the inside as well. So we have two separate MC having two separate journeys to love themselves.
This is where the readers resonated with the characters most. Not just with Gwen or with him-who-shall-not-be-named-to-avoid-spoiler but her siblings and the other princess are trying to find a way to be themselves too.
It is an interesting concept. Gwen who is not pretty is facing the same type of problem her pretty sisters are. So in the end how you look didn’t matter. We all have shit that we need to go through.
It’s this fairytale within the fairytale.
And the author had thought it out really well. As it is something that the author herself correlates. It becomes easier for the readers to relate to.
The creator, LambCat, describes Cursed Princess Club as a chance given to her to take all the things she loved from fairy tales and stories of her childhood, and combine it with all the messages she wished she got to hear back then. – Source Cursed Princess Club Fandom wiki.
This is why we readers also feel the connection.
Plus the insert of comedy throughout the story is just brilliant. It balances itself with the message so well.
For the art, I would say it is really cute. When you read the synopsis or the theme of the Cursed Princess Club you will think of something dark with lots of black and red. But the color palette of the CPC is the total opposite of it. Abandon pastel and light colors with the cute simplistic art. It eases you into the story.
In the end, it is easy to understand that even with the jabs at traditional fairy tale love stories – true loves kiss and all- and llama jokes – this is a laverne stan only household – and with other puns and comedy, Cursed Princess Club truly at heart is a coming of age story for all those who are struggling to love themselves. The light colors and cute art balances the darkness of the message and provides a path for readers to easily understand.
If you want to know more, new episodes come out every Monday. Click here to read Cursed Princess Club.
Have you read Cursed Princess Club? What is your thought about it? Share them in the comments.
Until next time, happy reading!
Ps. You guys can also follow Hana Reads on Instagram and Twitter. Not all of the webtoons that I read make it to the blog. So I share about them there. Hope you guys support Hana Reads there too!
Literary Hana 