Spotlight #74: Athena Complex

Have you ever wanted to feel godly? If so then sit back and relax as I shine a lightning bolt's worth of spotlight on Athena Complex by Kaisar!

Summary

After being betrayed by her most beloved guardian, Poseidon, the greatest warrior in all of Olympus Athena has decided that after thousands of years she will finally have her revenge. But to do this the iconic goddess of wisdom must pose as a male highschooler as she seeks to completely crush the legendary Poseidon in the cursed body of an average teenage boy. All without knowing that this interaction may cause the beginning of a prophecy that will leave every Olympian shaking.

Characters

Athena: Our titular protagonist, this version of Athena is portrayed in a much more immature and young light. Effectively her complex is that due to her unique upbringing Athena seeks love,admiration and acceptance to the point where it makes the wise deity completely irrational. This complex effectively leads to Athena being petty, easily flustered, temperamental and mischievous. However even she has limits to her own revenge as she is still a kind person to her allies and bystanders.

Nike: Athena's loyal servant and the goddess of victory, Nike is willing to do just about anything to please her mistress. However this often leads to a stubborn, quick-tempered, prideful and intrusive servant that can be made a fool of. Either way for better or worse Nike is always on Athena's side.

Iolo: The spirit of wisdom himself Iolo is often an uptight advisor to Athena. Because of his owl-like nature, Iolo is usually nocturnal, uptight, pragmatic and cunning. He is the only one of the trio that seeks to cease Athena's revenge outright. However that doesn't mean he does not care about Athena, even if he does praise her enemies and allies alike.

Adrian/Poseidon: The iconic god of the sea himself, Poseidon in ancient times was the man who guarded over Athena since she was a child. Due to her connection with Athena's mother, Posideon has adopted a more familial relation with Athena, from kind mentor to pervy manchild. Despite his harsh betrayal of both her and Olympus it seems that it may be more complex than we think. Adrian on the flipside is a rather kind, but ditzy young man who is a bit of a wimp. Due to his childhood of bad luck his continued harassment has made him very close to what few friends he has.

Sibyl: Adrain's polar opposite and only friend, Sibyl is the daughter of a Korean Shaman. Because of this outside status Sibyl has often been distrustful, blunt and brutally honest to her often vengeful peers. This means that she has often been the most dominant out of the 2 and Athena's greatest opponent. Because Sibyl truly takes no shit from both humans and gods.

Overview

Athena Complex was one of my first webtoons I've read and I'm glad that it's return has made this spotlight more relevant. Kaisar's art style still hits even after all this years. Every characters feels very anime-like but also somewhat sculpted and angular. The design for most of the Greek gods are also frankly exquisite, each one being fully on-brand while still heavily borrowing from different cultures (I.e., Ares more medieval clothing clashing with Apollo's more modern doctor aesthetic). This all combines to make the presentation of the series with the very few fight scenes extra spicy.

This depiction of the Greek Gods is also incredibly interesting and accurate as their various interactions have often served as the series main external threat. Their constant conspiring is honestly as fun as the main plot itself. To balance everything out, Athena Complex seems to heavily rely on every school trope you can think of when it comes to the continuing misery of Adrian. Which honestly can make the WEBTOON hilarious or somber depending on what the narrative is for. The relationship between Athena and Adrian is easily the main draw of the series as the dramatic irony makes them as complex as the series itself. Some days it's fun to root for Athena's plight, but other times you just end up feeling angry at the rather petty goddesses. Either way the potential of this WEBTOON isn't at its peak yet so only time will tell what happened next.

Epilogue

Overall Athena complex is a WEBTOON I'm so happy has returned and expect a lot more from. It's dramatic, romantic, funny, and whatever else you need it to be. But with this godly spotlight done, it's high time to shine the light on my 75th spotlight!