Picture unbroken curses and spooky-looking princesses. If you like the sound of the two, @iamlambcat’s Cursed Princess Club webtoon is guaranteed to be a must-read for you. If you’re trying to get in the Halloween spirit but don’t know where to begin, this can be a good start. At least for me, it’s never been easy, since I’m a scaredy-cat and have an immense hateful passion for jumpscares. However, I found this webtoon last October, and it has been the perfect addition to my current reading list. It’s a comedy with slightly spooky undertones.
At the beginning of the Cursed Princess Club, we are introduced to three princesses: Maria, Lorena, and our main protagonist, Gwendolyn. She isn’t your regular-looking princessーat least, not compared to the Disneyesque prototype. For the most part, Disney princesses are effortlessly beautiful and have angel-like voices. Gwen, on the other hand, is portrayed as unconventionally pretty, and even somewhat scary.
After a heartbreaking incident, Gwen runs to the forest and encounters some eerie-looking characters. The people in the club or T.C.P.C. are perceived as freaks and outcasts from society because they have all been cursed. For example, there’s a crab princess cursed to be a human, there’s an eyeless princess, and another one that melts stuff with her mouth, just to mention a few.
As we follow Gwen through her journey to self-worth, various dilemmas start to unfold. She believes she has been cursed as well, but because of her loving family, she never thought negatively of her physical appearance before the incident.
This ongoing webtoon can be very heartwarming. It touches on themes like friendship, self-esteem, being different, how we are quick to judge people by their appearances, and protective parents. We are shown how friends can be there for you in our best but also there to pick us up in our worst. Thanks to the club members, Gwen starts to learn that it’s okay to be different. But this odyssey towards self-love isn’t as easy as someone just telling you that you’re enough.
Gwendolyn is a very relatable character because things sometimes don’t go her way; but also, because she has a big heart and is always available to help others. This is one of my favorite parts of this webtoon. We are so used to seeing the princess only be sad for a small portion of the movie. In Gwen’s case, we get to see a more realistic point of view.
Maybe most of you also feel like Gwendolyn, constantly thinking that other people have it better than you. And with social media, we can become jealous of other people and sometimes even be cruel to ourselves. From time to time, it’s hard to believe other people’s words regarding our appearance because we know they can lie. This belief can become even more harrowing if they stem from someone dear to us, like friends and family members.
I truly believe C.P.C is an amazing read, especially for Halloween. This is the season where we can play with our appearances. We have an excuse to dress up however we like and be free to express ourselves through makeup and costumes. It’s the perfect reason to start being yourself if you’re too scared to make the first move. Maybe you’ll be like Gwendolyn and find the group of people you’ll feel comfortable being yourself with. Wholesome would be an understatement for this webtoon, but if you’re in the mood for a cute comfort read, I’m confident you’ll enjoy it. That being said, give it a try and immerse yourself in this twisted fairytale story. You’ll probably end up taking something from it.