Freaking Romance is a romance Webcomic created by Snailords in 2018. It's about a young woman named Zylith who moves into an apartment that is supposedly haunted, where she comes across a mysterious, handsome young man who doesn't seem to see her. But as she observes him as time goes on, she becomes less certain that he is a ghost. But if he isn't a ghost, what is he? And why can he see her cat, but not her?
You can read it here.
Freaking Romance contains examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Zylith’s dad ripped up her art and forced her to give up her books and sketchbooks whenever she got a bad grade. Plus, she gets kicked out at the age of 18 when she plans to become an artist. And even then he doesn't leave her alone: he tracks her down, and financially abuses her into applying to colleges he wants her to go to and to make her dependent on him.
- It gets worse. He finds her again and jerks her around in an incredibly harrowing scene beginning with him returning the money he'd taken from her and then quickly turning threatening, trying to get her to give up her cat. Then trying to take the door down. Brrr.
- Aerith and Bob: We have Zylith, Zelan, Verose...and George.
- Agent Mulder: Zylith moves into her apartment after having a ghostly encounter. She loves the paranormal.
- All Love Is Unrequited: George, the previous tenant, had feelings for his roommate Misty because she was nice to him. Sadly for him, she only seems to have had eyes for Zelan or whoever it was she saw.
- Alternate Universe: Zelan is in another dimension. There's a lot of other dimensions. At least 54 if the numbering is correct.
- Ambiguously Gay: Verose looks very butch, and does blush when Zylith gives her a hug...
- Later confirmed. Not only is she gay, she's in love with Zylith and has been for a while.
- Animal-Eared Headband: Zylith wears a headband with cat ears most of the time.
- Arc Words: Appropriately enough, it seems as though the words freaking romance are this.
- Bad People Abuse Animals: As if being an abusive parent weren't enough, it's shown that Zylith's dad would kick Mr. Purrfect whenever he scratched him. Zylith uses this to her advantage when he threatens to take the cat away; turns out she has recordings…
- Bait-and-Switch: We think Zelan is about to call Zylith, and her phone starts ringing... Except it turns out her call is from a telemarketer, and he accidentally calls a man who thinks he's flirting with his wife.
- Later on, we think that Zelan is happy that his mother died, as he's shown smiling after a call with his brother during which he cries and seemingly makes plans to go to her funeral. Several comments even suggested that he'd just shown his true colors as a psychopath. She's fine and had just woken up from a coma. He was planning to wear black to go see her, per her request.
- When Zylith's father tells her to hand over Mr. Purrfect, she walks over to him, holding the cat…and then proceeds to tell him she documented his animal abuse, so he'll never get the cat.
- When Zelan is alone on a pier and rants his problems to a girl standing there who asked for his number, she writes him something and hands it to him…saying it's her therapist's number.
- Beleaguered Assistant: While Verose is Zylith's best friend, she does play this part somewhat when Zylith wants to look into her apartment's history.
- Betty and Veronica: Zelan is the Veronica, as the mysterious newcomer into Zylith's life. The Betty is none other than Verose, who has been in love with Zylith for quite a while...
- Bland-Name Product: Well, there's Netflic, Eber, and Digitoon...
- Cats Are Magic: Implied with Mr. Purrfect, as Zelan can see him and has even “adopted” him, even though he can't see Zylith. Subverted when it turns out that Zelan has been able to see Zylith since the beginning. Mr. Purrfect's just a normal, albeit nice, cat
- Crossover: Emai and Ylantis make a quick appearance, as does Kreyul. They're all characters from Snailords' previous work, Nightmare Factory.
- Curtains Match the Windows: Zelan has green eyes and hair.
- Deadpan Snarker: Verose."You can't find your dignity in those sheets."
- Disney Villain Death: In the season 2 finale, a drunk man charges off the side of the rooftop, taking Zylith with him. The man dies, but Zylith gets transported into a dangerous world instead.
- Fake Relationship: After the Time Skip, Zylith is engaged to Zelan's brother, Aushi. Their relationship is meant to ward off their admirers.
- Foreshadowing: There's a surprising amount of foreshadowing leading up to the reveal that Zelan has been able to see Zylith as long as she's seen him.
- For one, there's the obvious clue of him having been able to see Mr. Purrfect the whole time. Why would he see only the cat and not her?
- While cuddling with Mr. Purrfect in episode 8, he comments how lucky Mr. Purrfect is to have a cute owner. While most readers automatically assumed he was talking about himself, it makes more sense if he was talking about Zylith.
- Verose is afraid that Zylith will end up like Misty, who vanished from the building after looking around for what they think is Zelan. she does. But it's not Zelan's fault.
- Funny Background Event: If Mr. Purrfect is in the background of any scene, he'll be doing something humorously cat-like.
- Genre Shift: The supernatural elements, while always present in the story, really get kicked into high gear after Zylith falls from the roof and doesn't appear on the ground.
- Haunted House: What Zylith's apartment supposedly is. It isn't exactly haunted, just a hotspot for dimension crossing.
- Hidden Depths: Zelan is far smarter than he appears. He's incredibly observant, as shown during his and Zylith's first conversation, and he's shown to have a manipulative streak and is also a very good liar.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: When Zylith finally has the chance to cross over and see Zelan again, Aushi tells her not to hesitate, even though he might have feelings for her.
- Kind Hearted Cat Lover: Zylith and Zelan both love cats, although Zelan is just a bit nicer...
- Lady Looks Like a Dude: Verose has been mistaken for a guy by readers.
- This also happens in-universe, much to Verose's chagrin.
- Lampshade Hanging: One of Snailords’ drawing references for Zelan is a K-pop star. Upon first seeing him, Zylith says he looks like a K-pop star. And then he ends up being a popular singer too…
- Also, the line, “his mind changes faster than a girl caught in a love triangle on Webtoon.”
- When Zylith sees Verose kissing someone else, she remembers that in romance works, this would be where she runs off dramatically, leading to a great misunderstanding. She chooses not to. It pays off, and the misunderstanding is resolved about ten minutes later.
- Late-Arrival Spoiler: It's very difficult to talk about the guy in Zylith's apartment without revealing his name to be Zelan.
- Like Brother and Sister: Zylith and Aushi develop a sibling bond in the five years they spent together. However, Aushi may have developed feelings for her, subverting this trope.
- Mr. Fanservice: Zelan, even before he got a name. He spends more time without a shirt than he does with one.
- Naked on Arrival: At the end of the rescue mission in season 3, Zelan and Zylith emerge from the dangerous world completely naked, having removed their clothes to protect themselves from the monsters.
- Nice Guy: When some fans take Zelan's photo at a flower shop, he walks up to them, deletes the photo, and then takes a selfie for them.
- Please Put Some Clothes On: Zylith flashes Zelan when he won't react to her even though she knows he can see her. After he gives in for a different reason, he closes his eyes and asks her to put her clothes back on. She has no problem because she was wearing a bikini underneath.
- Punny Name: The woman who rents the apartment to Zylith is named Mrs. Howser.
- George's roommate who vanished was named Misty. It's lampshaded by Verose.
- The Reveal: In episode 14, it's revealed that Zelan has been able to also see Zylith the entire time.
- Romantic Fake–Real Turn: An unrequited example occurs with Aushi, who agreed to fake an engagement with Zylith on the grounds that he's aromantic, only to cry and say that he's not after she's gone.
- Scenery Porn: As expected for a Snailords Webtoon.
- Shoutout: The drawing Zylith's dad ripped up is of Ranma ½.
- There's also a shoutout to Webtoon with the name of Digitoon, and several Webtoons pop up, such as Rebirth, Sweet Home (2017), and Winter Moon.
- Settle for Sibling: Implied but then subverted. After the timeskip, Zylith gets engaged to Zelan's brother, Aushi. However, it's a fake relationship to keep their admirers away. Zylith is still in love with Zelan, while Aushi is assumed to be aromantic.
- Sibling Triangle: Zylith and Zelan clearly love each other, but Aushi likely developed real feelings during his fake relationship with Zylith.
- Spoiler: When Zelan is ignoring Zylith, she gets him to stop by threatening to spoil the ending of Nightmare Factory.
- Take Off Your Clothes: Played with. Zylith tells this to Zelan in a teasing manner after they agree that they should remove their clothes for the purely pragmatic reason of protecting themselves from the monsters in the dangerous world. Beings from different dimensions cannot touch each other, after all.
- Tears of Joy: Zelan's tears when he's on the phone with his younger brother turn out to be this. His mother's okay.
- Technicolor Eyes: The eyes are beautifully colored. Verose has blue and pink eyes, while Zelan's are vivid shades of green.
- Time Skip: Season 3 has a 3-year timeskip from Zylith's point of view and a 5-year timeskip from Zelan's after they cross into each other's worlds.
- Wedding Ring Defense: To ward off their admirers, Zylith and Aushi pretend to be engaged.
- Wedding Ring Removal: After Zylith crosses over back to her world to be with Zylith, Aushi takes off their ring and drops it into the water.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Misty's story never is solved. Presumably she's lost in some other dimension somewhere.
- Window Love: Ironically, how Zylith and Zelan meet: she notices a mirror has fogged up, and when she goes to wipe it, she sees him for the first time.
- You Are Worth Hell: Zelan willingly goes into a hellish dimension that Zylith fell into to save her.
- Your Universe or Mine?: By season 3, external forces have realized that two dimensions are colliding when they shouldn’t be. They give Zelan and Zylith a chance to be together, but with a catch; one of them must abandon their home dimension.
