Review of Transcension Academy
This is definitely one of my favorite manhwas in a long time, not because the art or the story are incredible or anything like that — they aren't, and I have to be honest about that — but because it has certain aspects that captivated me and certain moments that make the read well worth your time. I'll talk about some of those points here.
The Art#
As I said above, the art isn't perfect, especially in the beginning, where it was very basic and even quite generic, but it improved over time. In the latest chapters, I can see that the art has improved significantly, though I still have to admit that it definitely could be better. One of the things that bothers me most about the art itself is the characters' faces. I'll leave an image below to illustrate it, but it's kind of like a seesaw: sometimes the face looks normal and even well drawn, while at other times it looks like someone set the character on fire and then put it out by beating them with a stick. Then there are times when the artist gets lazy and just makes everything square-shaped. In short, the art isn't a 10/10, but you can definitely ignore that if you're already used to the disasters that have been coming out recently.
I don't know if you can understand my point, it's not like the face is horrible, the problem is the lack of consistency in the art style.The Story#
Well, the story has a lot of similarities to another manhwa that I reviewed here (Subscribing to The Transcendent's Channel), which I'll leave as a card below. I honestly don't know which one came first, so I can't say one copied the other or vice versa, but there was definitely some level of inspiration from somewhere. Anyway, getting straight to the point, it's actually a fairly original story, a nice break from the generic and identical manhwas we see so often nowadays. The only thing that bothers me is that the protagonist is a complete money maniac (which is understandable given the plot, but the guy is a literal money sink). Besides that, the plot becomes pretty obvious after a certain point in the story, but it's still worth reading until the end since there are some secondary plots and very memorable situations throughout the series.
Why I Like This Series So Much#
If the art and the story are so generic, why do I place it on the same level as other incredible works? Simply for one reason: philosophy. Very early in the story, he enrolls in a course taught by Siddhartha Gautama, our good old Buddha, and throughout the series the author leads us to confront philosophy, using passages from his life and reflections on the meaning of life and the weight of our choices. And although the series isn't focused on that, some parts carry a huge emotional and moral impact (or at least they did for me — I believe it will hit differently depending on the person). I first read this manhwa a few years ago when it was still in its early chapters. When more chapters came out, I ended up rereading it from the beginning, and I still remember crying at a specific part the first time I read it. But the second time? The second time I completely broke down. Different moments in life, different impacts. In some way, it connected with things I was going through and made me rethink a lot of things. On top of that, the entire journey of the final arc, the responsibility that comes with choice and its consequences, and how sometimes we have to make the difficult choice, are genuinely meaningful reflections that, for me, place this work alongside others that receive much more attention.
"Living is like walking backward through a field of flowers; only when you reach the end do you realize how beautiful that path truly was. Don't forget that the path only became filled with flowers because you walked through it." - Transcension Academy (rough translation made by myself)
Date: 06/12/2026
