I'm going to leave here everything I felt while reading the manhwa Ennead, trying to stay as factual and calm as possible.
Content warning: spoilers everywhere, as well as discussions of violence and SA (represented by 🍇).
I started reading Ennead because I love Egyptian mythology, especially Anubis. I genuinely enjoyed the beginning (up to around chapter 30). The artwork, the facial expressions, the political conflicts, the psychology... all of it was fascinating.
It was extremely graphic and almost animalistic. I kept reading because I thought it would have meaningful consequences for Seth and Horus's conflict. Horus felt guilty afterward, Seth became even fiercer... I could at least understand the narrative purpose.
Then came the flashback chapters (40–44).
They made me cry and feel physically sick.
A second 🍇, this time Osiris assaulting Seth.
An assault that, to me, came completely out of nowhere.
Since when had Osiris been obsessed with Seth?
Osiris has this completely twisted idea of love. He genuinely believes he's doing what's best for Seth, while Seth struggles against him before finally giving in only because Osiris threatens the life of the son Seth loves as his own.
When Seth finally kills Osiris, I actually felt relieved.
I tried to accept that scene by telling myself:
"I understand. That's why he mutilated Osiris."
But I couldn't understand why Mojito had chosen this justification among countless other possibilities.
The story continues and ends its first season with Seth being banished to Earth as a demigod so he can experience the suffering of humanity—the people he abandoned.
I'll come back to the special chapters later.
Seth ends up in a caravan, basically a camp full of violent men.
Through another plot twist that felt completely random to me, Seth is 🍇 by the group in an extremely violent scene where he nearly loses his mind.
Horus, now king and in love with Seth, comes to rescue him.
Skipping ahead, Seth later travels with a foreign god.
I actually liked this character.
He was playful with Seth, helped him, gave him advice... almost felt kind.
But then Seth (once again through a questionable plot twist) becomes a slave and is 🍇 by another group.
The foreign god saves him.
Because the foreign god—like so many male characters in this manhwa—ends up seeing Seth as nothing more than a body and 🍇 him as well.
The foreign god isn't to.
And this is never truly questioned afterward.
They simply remain on good terms.
Later we learn that Horus has loved Seth (his own uncle, by the way) ever since he was a child because he admired him and desperately wanted to be loved by this "great god."
He even drugged and intoxicated Seth so he'd mistake him for Anubis—the son Seth loves deeply—and show him that same affection.
(It's clearly portrayed as paternal affection, so that's not the issue.)
After that comes an interesting temple expedition.
Horus and Seth get lost, confess their feelings, and what should have been their first intimate moment together finally happens.
Because when Seth tells Horus that he's hurting him, Horus doesn't stop.
(Does this sound repetitive? I think so too.)
He keeps going until he reaches his own pleasure.
Then—miraculously—Seth eventually enjoys it too.
So everything's fine, right?
That's exactly where I think there's a huge problem.
Later on, they become intimate again.
Horus, who had supposedly become much more attentive, is rough once more.
Even though Seth asks him to slow down, Horus ignores him. Again.. Another 🍇
Seth remembers someone telling him that Horus is no different from Osiris, and he headbutts Horus to force him away.
Skipping ahead once more, Seth argues with Horus after discovering he'd hidden many things from him—including an arranged marriage and the fact that Seth's wife Nephthys is trapped inside a mirror and may still love him.
Horus, acting just as possessive as his giant green psychopath of a father, destroys the mirror despite the risk of hurting Nephthys.
Enraged, Seth gouges out Horus's eyes before leaving to find his wife.
Osiris, possessing Anubis, drives his thorned vines into Seth, who offers himself in exchange for Anubis's safety.
I have many problems with this manhwa.
First of all, I think many of the 🍇 scenes are unnecessary.
If Seth's redemption is supposed to come through suffering this way, then I find that message deeply troubling because it almost suggests that being 🍇 somehow benefits a person.
I think that's dangerous.
My second major issue is Horus.
People often say he's immature, impulsive, inexperienced...
But if the story wants us to believe Seth truly finds happiness with Horus, then that should also be reflected in their intimate relationship.
Instead, Horus repeatedly ignores Seth's pain and what he's telling him during intimacy
To me, that makes him no different from everyone else.
So for me, this part of the story completely fails.
The bonus chapters (74–75) are basically an entire festival of 🍇.
They're set in an alternate universe where a darker version of Horus treats Seth like a living sex doll.
He's tied up, gagged, abused...
What's the purpose of these chapters if they aren't even canon?
Why include even more 🍇 when they don't move the story forward?
Using 🍇 as a storytelling device is already questionable enough.
Back in Season 1, I could at least understand—barely—why Mojito chose to include one.
It horrified me, but I understood why Seth's hatred and desire for revenge became so overwhelming.
After chapter 44, though...
I honestly started feeling like the story existed to create more 🍇 scenes.
It increasingly felt like the plot was bending over backwards just to put Seth in those situations.
Even the visual language never changes.
Seth is always the one receiving, suffering, being objectified, dominated in the harshest possible way...
His expressions are drawn with obvious sensual undertones.
Making a 🍇 look erotic is, in my opinion, dangerous.
(I've even seen comments saying people didn't care about the story itself—they only came for the "erotic" scenes.)
Of course, people can always argue:
"It's exploring a theme."
I don't see what these scenes add anymore.
If you removed most of the 🍇 scenes from Season 2, the story would still exist.
It would simply be less shocking.
Interestingly, the censored version portrays Horus as much gentler and more attentive toward Seth.
So why create a version where the 🍇 content becomes even more prominent?
What exactly is the story trying to say?
That Seth was cruel, so he has to suffer to redeem himself?
But according to the story itself...
Who made Seth this way in the first place?
Were there really no other ways for Mojito to tell this story?
Because I genuinely saw enormous potential in its writing, character development, political intrigue and mythology.
Yet all of that ends up overshadowed by repeated 🍇 situations where Seth is almost never listened to—not even by the person who supposedly loves him most.
I honestly don't know whether I would've preferred never reading Ennead at all, or discovering the censored version first.
If, like me, these subjects are difficult for you, it's okay to find them disturbing, disgusting, or even dangerous.
Please stay respectful, of course.
I wrote this because I know how comforting it was for me to find other readers willing to openly discuss the aspects of this story that deeply troubled them.
My main criticism is this:
I find it deeply problematic when a work portrays 🍇 using visual and narrative codes designed to make it look seductive or erotic.
That's ultimately my biggest issue with Ennead.
This is simply my personal opinion, and I needed to write it down.
I'm not trying to convince anyone to stop enjoying this story. I genuinely appreciate its mythology, political conflicts, action scenes, and mysteries.
But I can't ignore certain choices the story makes.
And I can't create enough emotional distance from them to enjoy the work as a whole.
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