Honestly, I got bored of the relationship angst around volume five and almost dropped it. The plot only grabbed me again when it shifted focus to the world-building. There's this whole hidden economy and politics around 'emotional residue'—who creates it, who profits from cleaning it, who regulates it. The main plot, to me, became about Leo and Sloane realizing they were pawns in that system. Their personal history was manipulated by factions that benefit from high concentrations of this magical ash. So the plot is their investigation into that corruption, using their unique skills as ex-partners who can literally see the traces of manipulation. The romance is secondary to the noir-ish unraveling of a conspiracy. The art in the later chapters does this amazing thing with dark, inky shadows representing the lies they're uncovering.
It's a vibe. Gorgeous art, moody panels, two hot people with tragic pasts doing magic. The plot's there, sure, but I'm mostly in it for the aesthetic and the tension. They fight, they brood, they save each other. Something about a forgotten promise and a locket that doesn't open anymore. Works for me.
Just finished binge-reading the whole thing and my head is still spinning a bit. So, on the surface, 'Ex and Ash' is about two ex-lovers, Leo and Sloane, forced to work together as magical cleanup specialists after their messy breakup. They neutralize remnants of toxic supernatural energy left by shattered relationships, which is a cool metaphor. But honestly, the main plot is a slow-burn mystery about what actually ended them. The series drip-feeds flashbacks of their past, showing their once intense partnership, while the present-day jobs they take on keep mirroring the flaws in their own history.
It's less about the monster-of-the-week and more about emotional archaeology. Every assignment is a clue. You start piecing together that their split wasn't just a fight, but tied to some bigger, darker secret in their magical world. The ash they clean up isn't just random; it's connected to a conspiracy that goes way higher than they thought. The real hook is whether they'll fix their working relationship, actually get back together, or uncover something that makes reconciliation impossible. The last arc I read had them staring down a council elder who might have engineered their breakup, which is a wild twist.
I think the main plot is a bit simpler than some make it out. It's a second-chance romance wrapped in a supernatural procedural. Two people who were brilliant together, broke up badly, and now have to navigate professional proximity and unresolved feelings. The magical cleanup jobs provide external conflict and symbolism—literally dealing with the emotional debris of others—but the core drive is 'will they or won't they?' The overarching conspiracy feels like a later addition to raise the stakes, but the heart of it is in the small moments: the shared glances over a containment spell, the way one always knows what the other needs mid-battle. That's what keeps me coming back.
2026-07-14 21:38:07
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Now, her mission is clear: revenge.
In her path appears Simon, the only man Warren could never defeat. Rich, dangerous, and irresistibly charming, he agrees to Amy’s shocking proposal: marriage. With Simon by her side, Amy is ready to strike back.
But between betrayal, forbidden attraction, and a dangerous love triangle, Amy must decide if her rebirth will be ruled by hatred—or by the unexpected fire Simon awakens in her.
When Claire and Christian's lives collide on a cruise ship, their worlds are turned upside down.
After a steamy night between them which leads to a misunderstanding, mistaken identities, and a leaked sextape, they're forced to pretend to be engaged to save their reputations.
When the ship docked, they both go their separate ways, puting an end to the charade, until Claire turns up pregnant a month later with Christian's child.
What starts as a fake engagement becomes a twisted, complicated reality as Claire and Christian find themselves trapped in a contract marriage, fighting against their past, the danger lurking in the present, and their growing forbidden feelings for each other.
I’m about to enter a blood bond with another vampire lord.
But my partner of a century, Kaelan, has no idea.
He’s too busy getting cozy with his new human assistant, Sylvia.
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He even turned our centennial anniversary into her birthday party.
In front of everyone, Kaelan presented her with a Black Forest cake decorated with Silver Bells.
They laughed, smearing frosting on each other. They forgot the flowers are a deadly poison to me.
My power shattered. Agony ripped through me as shadows lashed out, uncontrollable. My family’s guards had to drag my convulsing body away. And while I recovered alone in the cold, dark vault, Kaelan was still at the party, bathing in the cheers for him and Sylvia.
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Asha has had a rough go of life, seemingly always ending up in situations that are the opposite of her namesake. She breaks up with her ex a few months prior to halloween and the day of the dead and takes a vow of celibacy that, little does she know, a dead ex has used to bargain his way out of hell. He didn’t come back to become her angel, just emerged from the shadows to drink her light and hopefully turn out her halo. She prays for a guardian angel to hold her through these difficult times but her gift is a territorial demon.
the character dynamics are what really hooked me. The obvious key character is Ash, the guy who gets reincarnated into a fantasy world and has this whole 'Ex' thing going on—it's right there in the title. But I think his former partner, who we mostly see in flashbacks, is just as crucial. That relationship shapes everything he does in the new world.
Then there's Lina, the fire mage he teams up with early on. She's not just a sidekick; her stubbornness and hidden past keep pushing the plot forward. I'm also weirdly invested in the mentor figure, Gregor. He's got that gruff exterior but clearly knows way more about the world's magic system than he lets on. The chapters focusing on him have some of the best world-building.
Honestly, sometimes I feel like the main villain, the 'Corrupted King,' is a bit underdeveloped so far, but his cultists are everywhere causing trouble. It's less about a huge cast and more about how these few people keep intersecting in messy, interesting ways. I'm always waiting to see how another piece of Ash's old life will crash into his new one.
Even the quiet chapters where Ash is just talking to the innkeeper about his past hit harder because you know all these characters are orbiting the same core mystery.
I was wondering the same thing recently! I've been keeping up with 'Ex and Ash' for a while now, and from what I've gathered on the scanlation sites and the official Kodansha Manga Plus page, it's still being serialized. New chapters seem to come out pretty regularly, so it's definitely ongoing.
I know some people get frustrated with waiting, but I kinda like the weekly check-in. The main conflict with Ex trying to move on from his past while Ash keeps pulling him back feels like it has a lot of runway left. The art's been evolving nicely too, which you don't always see in a series that wrapped up ages ago. So yeah, still alive and kicking for now.
So yeah, I finally got around to checking this out after seeing so much fan art online. 'Ex and Ash' is definitely still ongoing. I'm reading it on MangaDex, and the last update was chapter 32 a few weeks ago. The story feels like it's just getting into the real thick of things—you've got Ash trying to process everything post-breakup and Ex's whole... deal with the whole 'I'm back from the dead' situation. I wouldn't expect it to wrap up anytime soon, the pacing is pretty slow-burn on the emotional front and there are so many side characters they haven't explored yet. The artist, from what I've seen on their socials, seems pretty committed to it as a long-term project too.
Honestly, the not-knowing-when-it'll-end is part of the fun and also the torture. I'm way too invested in whether these two emotionally constipated disasters will ever actually talk, you know? I'm just hoping the scanlation group sticks with it, because waiting for new chapters is brutal. At least the art stays gorgeous every time.