Being interested in idol transmigration stories, I naturally wanted to give Feeding the Lives of Failing Idols a try. Whereas I’ve mostly come across manhwa where the groups are being formed, Feeding the Lives of Failing Idols gives us an established idol group and a main character transmigrated into the body of a guy who had given up.
It would be remiss of me not to gush over the art. The manhwa is absolutely gorgeous. The artist implements a few different styles depending on the scene. The usual style is quite cute and simple with pretty proportions and figures that don’t look too busy no matter how detailed the outfits are. Different moods of characters also come with a slightly different style. It is much pointier and sharper when Cheon Yise is planning something dastardly and smart.
When it comes to food there is a very shiny style that comes into play and makes the food that accompanies the recipes look so mouthwatering.
And then the photographs and broadcasted videos. My goodness these panels are gorgeous. There is always an extra ingredient included in these panels and it is always a treat for the eyes! Reading this manhwa is worth it just to see that.
Regarding the other aspects… the start of the manhwa was very promising. Someone died, they want to get revenge, they’re transmigrated into someone else’s body and must grant their wish of success in order to get what they want etc., etc.. It isn’t remaking the wheel and it doesn’t have to.
The problem is, the story itself turns out to be half-baked. There is a very strong atmosphere around Kang Yugeon, member of a rival(?) group at the same agency as Climax, the main character’s group. All his mystery and darkness is revealed but leaves something to be desired.
There is naturally a competition/survival show as a staple of the drama. We have evil editing and the usual fare of survival shows and then, by way of a real life deus ex machina, the story peters out. The pacing seemed very off and every time I checked the episode number, I was suddenly getting flashbacks to the time I was dedicatedly following Half of Me.
At some point, Half of Me got stuck in the weeds. The episodes seemed like very unclear summaries and then it ended without even resolving the story. I really thought that was what was happening to Feeding the Lives of Failing Idols. All of a sudden it felt as if large swathes if the story were being wrapped up and skipped so the manhwa could just end.
To be honest, I don’t doubt that is the case. Even with editors supervising manhwa production, it seems pretty common for the beginning to to be packed with filler, the concept of a story at the back of mind whilst meandering around some nonsense that barely establishes character in any meaningful way.
Except people in the Tapas comments claimed the stoey of the novel went the same way but was more drawn out. Is that really possible? Could the novel really have hit those same story beats without elaboration and then just drawn out such an unsatisfactory ending? I’ll never find out! I can’t read korean.
I can forgive a lot of things, especially understanding how difficult the musculoskeletal destroying work of drawing for a weekly schedule is for manhwa artists, and the trouble of successfully adapting a story between mediums. But for the ending to be so rushed and to flush away any potential is really so frustrating. Worse still, there was a pseudo epilogue in the last episode that had me baffled! How could I not want to see the aftermath of the very ending to be explored?
Overall, Feeding the Lives of Failing Idols was clearly a struggle for those involved in creating it. I enjoyed reading it, and it is incredible to look at. Just be aware that the last fifth of the story leaves something to be desired.
Hush Nili 
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