YMMV / Nightmare Factory

• Arc Fatigue: The chapters are very short, and so some readers feel that certain arcs drag on too long and don't contribute much to the overall story.
• Angst Aversion: The characters can be seen to have a tendency for this. Kreyul and Emai may not have endured the Nightmare Exchange for 24 hours, but during that time they were attacked by monsters and were almost forced to kill Seppi's dog. Kreyul also had to see a young rape victim killed in front of him though said victim turned out to not be real anyway, and Emai ripped Phirre's heart out of his chest, yet they don't seem terribly affected by these events.
• Awesome Art: The art has always looked good, but as the series went on...well, see for yourself.
  • Emai transported to Phirre◊
  • Kidus in the field.
  • Emai’s dimension.◊
  • Some scenery.◊
• Awesome Music: Some episodes have music. Especially notable is episode 42, which plays "Doomed to Death" by Dyathon.
• Epileptic Trees: The mysteriousness of the Webtoon means a lot of theories arise.
  • A popular one for Emai's family vanishing is that when she lost the Nightmare Exchange and had to lose 42 years of her life, she didn't lose them from her lifespan. She was sent 42 years in the future instead.
  • Another popular theory for Emai and Phirre's Psychic Link is that since Emai tore out Phirre's physical heart, she gets physically affected by his surroundings and experiences, and since she kept it, Phirre feels her emotions and is affected by them.
  • Yet another theory mainly supported by Emai X Phirre shippers is that Emai ripping out Phirre's heart not only created the Psychic Link, it's also foreshadowing: it's a twisted play on the phrase she stole my heart.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Many of the story elements get harder to read when you remember that some of them are based off of events in Snailords’ life.
  • Emai’s hand problems after ripping out Phirre’s heart is harsher when you remember Snailords was having hand problems that made drawing difficult at the time.
  • Ylantis ranting about her latest breakup with an abusive ex to Phirre is a pivotal character moment, showing off a softer side to him...but it gets sad when you realize that too, was based off a real life event.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: The first two chapters become much funnier due to them turning out to be parts of Emai’s stories, and seeing how the characters act now. They at once act in character and out of character.
• I Knew It!: Several readers were able to pick out the similarities between Emai and Ylantis in her first episode, and some of them predicted that they would end up being the same person.
• Mind Game Ship: Due to Phirre's chessmaster status, any ship involving him is this.
  • With Emai X Phirre, she has to survive and outsmart the traps he's set throughout the Exchange, which could be seen equally as mind games and not just as traps. When they do meet in person, the games continue, resulting in Emai tricking him by making him think she could turn off his automatic protection before she kills him by ripping out his heart. Phirre gets one last trick in however: he tricked Emai into killing him, so he could meet a Hell Messenger and escape Nightmare Factory.
  • Phirre X Kissae also has this dynamic at times, mostly through Phirre's riddles.
• Nightmare Fuel: It isn’t called Nightmare Factory for nothing.
  • Plenty of the monsters that appear are very creepy, such as a gigantic spider nurse.
  • Kreyul wittnessing a young rape victim’s murder is disturbing.
  • Emai tearing Phirre’s heart out of his chest and the ensuing burn wounds.
  • The woman killing a cute rabbit by crushing it...twice.
  • Some of Kreyul’s backstory, like him accidentally summoning monsters.
• Tearjerker: For a more comedic series, it actually has quite a few of these.
  • The young boy being murdered definitely made the fanbase freak out.
  • Emai, usually The Stoic, crying by herself after being unable to find any trace of her family.
  • The flashback scene showing Phirre attempt to escape via suicide by cutting open his throat is as disturbing as it is sad.
  • Emai reflecting on her friendless background as she bakes cupcakes on her birthday while alone. Her accidentally setting up two glasses of kombucha, realizing it, and then mentally trying to "contact" her soulmate makes things even worse.

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