Rooftop Sword Master is Terrible…
Article at a glance:
- Revenge stories can be incredibly satisfying when done right, but Rooftop Sword Master shows how badly the genre can fail when it forgets why revenge works.
- After a strong opening, the story collapses into a hollow power fantasy with zero tension, zero growth, and the same scene repeated over and over.
- What makes it worse isn’t just bad writing, it’s the manhwa’s obsession with framing extreme, unjustifiable violence as “justice,” without ever questioning it.
Look, I do love myself a good revenge story. Very few things can match the satisfaction of a well-executed revenge plot. There’s a reason why people still remember stories like The Count of Monte Cristo are famous AGES after they were first written. But, Rooftop Sword Master is not it. Other than the consistently good art and the strong 4-5 opening chapters, I really cannot find a single good thing about this Manhwa. There are very few things that annoy me as much as this manhwa annoyed me.
What hurts all this even more is that the story does have potential. But it never even tries to deviate from its single-minded “message,” and the message itself is not good. So let’s talk about Rooftop Sword Master today.
Why did I hate Rooftop Sword Master so much?
You know, when I started this manhwa, I was caught off guard by how good the opening chapters were. But then, once Se-Young gets the sword, all that intensity the opening built up is gone. The story becomes a repeating pattern of the bullies sending their men or setting some other trap for Se-Young. And then Se-Young just kills everyone without any effort and finds his way to the bullies. Where they pathetically grovel and apologize. That’s all there is to this manhwa.
The series never once even tries to give any sort of dimension to Se-Young or any of the bullies. There are 8 bullies. Go ahead, change their positions, the story won’t change AT ALL, that’s how little character they have. Yeah, sure, Se-Young is justified in taking revenge on them; they are horrible people. But never once does he or even the family of the bullies stop to question if the things they are doing are okay or not. Heck, Se-Young even kills off innocents without a second thought, and we are supposed to treat it as “cool.”
There really isn’t even a single thing to like about this manhwa. The plot and characters are non-existent. There isn’t even any good action here because the fights pretty much end instantly. Se-Young is NEVER pushed back or even struggles at any point in the story, physically or morally. The creator sees Se-Young as justice incarnate. How could he possibly be wrong? Yeah, hot take: bullying is bad, but does it justify setting someone on fire in front of their mother??? Or killing off their entire families just because???
That is all for now
I don’t say this lightly, but I do think that the message Rooftop Sword Master sends is twisted and even dangerous to an extent. I don’t have an issue with violence in my fictional media, but the story twisting itself at every point to portray Se-Young as justice incarnate, even when he is doing unjustifiably horrible things, is a bit concerning. With that said, I will take my leave here. See ya.
Also, check out my thoughts on the Netflix Mappa deal here!
