21st Century Knights
Review
Writer: Plastic Bottru
Artist: Plastic Bottru
Publisher: Webtoon
Plastic Bottru creates an action-packed fantasy webtoon with a nice balance of story elements for an enjoyable read. With its cool cast of characters and an exciting plot, “21st Century Knights” easily captures your attention from the get-go and continues to build on its greatness with each episode.
21st Century Knights
ReviewWriter: Plastic Bottru
Artist: Plastic Bottru
Publisher: Webtoon
Plastic Bottru creates an action-packed fantasy webtoon with a nice balance of story elements for an enjoyable read. With its cool cast of characters and an exciting plot, “21st Century Knights” easily captures your attention from the get-go and continues to build on its greatness with each episode.
Webtoon’s Canvas platform is one of the most exciting places to explore and discover new webtoons to read. The platform is where webtoons like My Deepest Secret, Lore Olympus, and Castle Swimmer all started before signing on as Originals. Today, I want to talk about a webtoon that’s gone through a similar path and has the makings of being another great series. “21st Century Knights,” created by Plastic Bottru, has caught plenty of readers’ attention since becoming a Webtoon Original in 2022, garnering over 220K subscribers. Because of the webtoon’s unique premise and pleasant art style, I was eager to dive into this series as well. Continue below for my review of this webtoon!
Overview
In the 21st century, there were once knights, people born with extraordinary abilities called “Animas” or physical prowess that surpassed normal human beings. A knight’s bound duty was to serve and protect the public people. However, Theresa, a mysterious knight with vague origins, appears one day with her own will. She creates a stir among the order of traditions when she joins the Knight’s Order under false pretenses. From deception to murder, Theresa does whatever it takes to find a mysterious white-haired knight from her past. But in the pursuit of her goal, she makes unexpected connections and uncovers dark secrets that cause more disorder than she originally intended.
Image: WebtoonReview
To start things off, I must say that the cast of characters in “21st Century Knights” is very strong and is easily one of my favorite parts of the webtoon. Creator Plastic Bottru has a knack for fleshing out character backgrounds and personality traits through dedicated panels and sometimes entire episodes to make even side characters feel well-rounded and compelling. Take Theresa, the story’s protagonist, as an example. She has a mysterious yet striking introduction that instantly leaves a deep impression. With the way the art presents her in interchanging panels of ominous auras and innocent expressions, it’s at first hard to tell if she’s good or evil. But after reading more, you realize the greyness of her morality is what makes her such an interesting character to follow. Then there’s goody-two-shoes Jackson. By episode 13, it seemed like Jackson’s role was over. But, contrary to what I believed, his character slowly becomes one of the most vital in moving the plot. While I wouldn’t say he is my favorite character, his development throughout the 60 episodes is among the most fascinating. Meanwhile, minor characters like Edward Gawain and Christian Pervical also bring unique personalities to the story despite their limited screen time. The character development throughout the webtoon is simply top-notch, and I can’t remember the last time I read a series with such a great cast from top to bottom.
Plastic Bottru does an excellent job weaving a mysterious and compelling narrative around her characters. Although knights are usually found in historical fictional settings, this webtoon takes on that idea by placing them in a modern setting combined with the use of superpowers to create a unique premise that is unpredictable and exciting. It doesn’t take long for the webtoon’s intricacies to draw you in the deeper you get into its story. In fact, “21st Century Knights” reminds me of another great webtoon: The God of High School. Perhaps the diverse character designs, use of superpowers, and intense fighting sequences make me think of the popular action webtoon. But although “21st Century Knights” only has 60 episodes compared to GOHS’s completed 572, I can see it becoming just as good when it's all said and done. Considering the twists and turns the webtoon has taken, I would love to see “21st Century Knights” be a long-running series from here. With its fascinating world and characters, the webtoon has the potential to explore so many interesting directions the longer the story goes on.
Image: WebtoonPlastic Bottru’s manhwa-like art style plays a big role in making the webtoon and its characters so visually appealing. There is a nice touch of characters (especially Theresa) having slight variations in their clothes and hairstyles based on the plot’s progression. Those design details were some of the first things I noticed while reading, as they helped make even side characters stand out and look eye-catching. All of the characters always look cool with sleek appearances, brightly colored physical features, and clothing that are unusual but not silly. The fairly clean line art and carefully positioned fighting scenes also help in drawing the eyes to the illustrations.
Final Thoughts
This webtoon has been an exciting read so far. Plastic Bottru created a riveting fantasy world brimming with characters you will enjoy following. Then, once you get into the meat of the webtoon’s story, you’ll love how 21st Century Knights keeps delivering exciting moments. So, if you haven’t started this series yet, what are you waiting for? It’s time to jump into a webtoon with everything you need for a fun read.
Image: WebtoonWhy You Should Read 21st Century Knights
- PlasticBottru excels in creating characters that are fun to read.
- The unpredictable plot, action-packed sequences, and thrilling narrative keep you curious for more.
- The creative character designs and manhwa art style are eye-catching.