(AfroGamers.com) In the world of East Asian comics, from manga all the way to manhwa, there is a running trope you can find when you browse through historical romance and modern villainous plots and genres. This is the evil sister – be it full-, half- or step-sister – trope. Although generic sounding, which for some readers it has gotten to that point, because of the large volume of comics that use this trope out there, it is no less satisfying to read them when you can anxiously expect an impending comeuppance for these wicked, troublemaking sisters. Because of this very reason, manhwa and manga authors have found it upon themselves to not only continue using the evil sister trope in some of their work but to also ensure that there is just something unique enough about their versions to set them apart from the rest.

Following this train of thought, we are going to discuss the recurring types of evil sisters who keep sweeping across multiple manhwa and manga today, as well as identifying whether there are any that exploit the trope interestingly.

The ‘steal your fiancé’ Evil Sister

This type of evil sister is quite self-explanatory from the title alone, as her main objective for part of or throughout the story is to steal her own sibling’s fiancé – or in the words of historical romances, her betrothed. There can be different reasons for why the antagonistic sister finds the need to do this, except her expressed feelings on the matter always have to do with hating her sister. One reason for the hate can be the evil sister feeling inferior to her ‘good’ sister. For example, in My Sister Covets My Fiancé, Katherine feels threatened by her little sister, Neris, simply because she is another daughter to be loved and cared for by the family – instead of it just being her alone. By taking advantage of their parents favouring her more over the sister she hates, Katherine feels more confident causing trouble and making life more difficult and miserable for Neris – just like seducing the man she loved would do.

The ‘steal your fiancé’ scheme has typically been portrayed as part of establishing one sister as the story’s antagonist whilst being used for the other sister as a learning opportunity to become a better version of herself without seeking the male validation she had previously sort out.

Even with this idea being overused over and over again, some stories slip through in their unique employment of the trope. Such as the manga, Proud to be the Villainess, where the trope is completely subverted by having the ‘evil’, fiancé-stealing sister turn out to be good and not as malicious as she had previously portrayed herself to be – in other words, the evil sister was written to be an unreliable narrator.

The “I’m the real daughter” Evil Sister

“I’m the real daughter” is a phrase that goes hand-in-hand with the fake daughter trope often seen in Asian media like Chinese dramas and Korean dramas. There are comics that follow the same template as these dramas whereby the rich, real daughter and poor, fake daughter are switched at birth and years later into the plot conflict arises because of that switch. However, what manhwa and manga do differently is that they deliberately have the so-called ‘real daughter’ be unkind in her intentions towards the ‘fake daughter’ whilst she tries to get her biological family to cast the fake one out.

As a narrative strategy, the “I’m the real daughter” situation can be seen as a way to evoke sympathy from the readers for the fake daughter who may or not have to experience rejection from the family she once knew and loved. Though, as a plot device, it can be used to reveal how critical an introduced character can be beyond what is directly stated at the beginning of the story. Looking at I Am the Real One, the identity crisis of who the biological daughter of the Grand Duke is-is a significant part of the story yet acts to present dramatic irony (where the readers know information the characters don’t) regarding the conspiracies revolving Cosette (the ‘real’ daughter) which have to do with the actual reason she decided to reunite with her biological father.

The ‘power is mine’ Evil Sister

This is quite the interesting variation of the evil sister because of how it can easily turn the manga/manhwa from a slice of life or romance story to a drama or even a horror. A key element involving this type of sister is usually the inclusion of fantasy and how it can go from being mesmerising to horrifying as quickly as the first panels of the first chapter. Just as we see in Into the Light, Once Again, with the antagonist Marianne (the evil sister) manipulating her entire family into hating and inevitably executing her sister Alisa; only after torturing her.

An interesting note to also make on the ‘power is mine’ evil sister type is how they can include the first two types of evil sisters discussed above. That is because in seeking ultimate power, the evil sister may aim to establish herself as the only ‘necessary’ or ‘real’ daughter of the family and doing so by having everything that is her ‘good’ sister’s (like her inheritance and her lover) be attained and made solely her own – just like we see with Katherine from My Sister Covets My Fiancé and Lorena from A World Without You. In which case, this type of evil sister can easily be described as power-hungry, attention-seeking, and covetous. And because of that, they never fail to receive the utmost frustration, infuriation and disdain from most readers of their respective manhwa.

Staff Writer; Fadzai Nyamande

A South African who brings her love for fiction, manga, and storytelling into every piece she creates. Her writing is shaped by imagination, curiosity, and a true appreciation for the worlds stories can build.