• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Comment Policy
    • Disclosures & Disclaimers
  • Resources
    • Links, Essays & Articles
    • Fandomology!
    • CLAMP Directory
    • BlogRoll
  • Features & Columns
    • 3 Things Thursday
    • Adventures in the Key of Shoujo
    • Bit & Blips (game reviews)
    • BL BOOKRACK
    • Bookshelf Briefs
    • Bringing the Drama
    • Comic Conversion
    • Fanservice Friday
    • Going Digital
    • It Came From the Sinosphere
    • License This!
    • Magazine no Mori
    • My Week in Manga
    • OFF THE SHELF
    • Not By Manga Alone
    • PICK OF THE WEEK
    • Subtitles & Sensibility
    • Weekly Shonen Jump Recaps
  • Manga Moveable Feast
    • MMF Full Archive
    • Yun Kouga
    • CLAMP
    • Shojo Beat
    • Osamu Tezuka
    • Sailor Moon
    • Fruits Basket
    • Takehiko Inoue
    • Wild Adapter
    • One Piece
    • After School Nightmare
    • Karakuri Odette
    • Paradise Kiss
    • The Color Trilogy
    • To Terra…
    • Sexy Voice & Robo
  • Browse by Author
    • Melinda Beasi
    • Brigid Alverson
    • Sean Gaffney
    • Anna Neatrour
    • Michelle Smith
    • Travis Anderson
    • Phillip Anthony
    • Paul Beasi
    • Derek Bown
    • Katherine Dacey
    • Jaci Dahlvang
    • Angela Eastman
    • Erica Friedman
    • Sara K.
    • Megan Purdy
    • Emily Snodgrass
    • Nancy Thistlethwaite
    • Eva Volin
    • David Welsh
  • MB Blogs
    • A Case Suitable For Treatment
    • Experiments in Manga
    • MangaBlog
    • The Manga Critic
    • Manga Report
    • Soliloquy in Blue
    • Manga Curmudgeon (archive)

Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

totally captivated

My Week in Manga: September 16-September 22, 2013

September 23, 2013 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Well, I somehow managed to post three reviews last week. This is a little unusual for me as normally I only have one or two ready to go. The first review was for Hinoki Kino’s No. 6, Volume 2. The pacing, characterization, and world-building improves on the first volume, which I was very glad to see. (I’m really hoping that the manga will have a better ending than the anime.) The second review was for Yoshiyuki Tomino’s Mobile Suit Gundam: Awakening, Escalation, Confrontation, an omnibus of a trilogy of early Gundam novels–the first part of the Gundam franchise to be officially released in English. (To be honest, though, I much prefer Yoshikazu Yasuhiko’s manga series Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin.) I also reviewed Sherlock Bones, Volume 1 by Yuma Ando and Yuki Sato. I was very skeptical going into the series, but found the first volume of the manga to be surprisingly entertaining.

As for a few interesting things found online: Comic Natalie has announced the winners of its first annual manga awards. If you don’t read Japanese and can’t identify manga by their covers, Vertical compiled a list of the winners currently avilable in English (in addition to posting a hint for an as of yet unannounced Vertical license.) As reported by the Business Standard, Viz Media is apparently entering the market in India–Top Manga publisher set to make India entry. And if the relationship between Kodansha Comics, Del Rey/Del Rey Manga, and Random House has you confused, Kodansha posted a brief explanation/clarification of the situation on its Tumblr account.

Quick Takes

Attack on Titan, Volume 7Attack on Titan, Volume 7 by Hajime Isayama. The terror in Attack on Titan has started to shift. At the beginning of the series the fear was much more about the unknown–the titans were these terrifying creatures beyond comprehension. But now the fear is coming from the knowledge that other humans may very well have a hand in what is happening. There have been plenty of deaths in Attack on Titan, but when those deaths involve characters who you’ve gotten a chance to know instead of just being nameless faces, suddenly the casualties carry even more weight. It makes the terror, frustration, and utter despair experienced by the characters even more palpable. Attack on Titan is dark, and it has been from the start, but the developments in the seventh volume pack quite a punch. I’ve had my doubts about the series in the past, and the artwork is still terribly inconsistent and occasionally difficult to follow, but I am hooked on it.

BoxersBoxers & Saints written and illustrated by Gene Luen Yang, colors by Lark Pien. Boxers & Saints is easily one of the best comics that I’ve read this year. The two graphic novels that make up the duology can be read separately, but together they are even more powerful. The work is a retelling of the Boxer Rebellion–a violent uprising against foreign and Christian influence in northern China that took place at the turn of the 20th century. Boxers follows the life of a young man who becomes one of the leaders of the rebellion while Saints shows the conflict from the perspective of a young Chinese woman who converted to Christianity. Although very different in their details and narrative style, the two volumes follow a similar story arc as the characters come of age and find something to believe in, but are then challenged by those beliefs and conflicted over their decisions and actions. The Boxer Rebellion was a complicated and tragic event for both sides of the dispute. Boxers & Saints is a fictional account, but Yang put in a tremendous amount of research into the work. Highly, highly recommended.

Genshiken: Second Season, Volume 1Genshiken: Second Season, Volumes 1-3 by Shimoku Kio. The Genshiken has turned into a fujoshi club. This doesn’t really bother me (I also enjoy BL and yaoi), but to an extent I do miss the greater variety of otaku that were represented in the original series. Still, even the fujoshi have their quirks and differences–the Genshiken has always attracted weirdos. And then there’s the cross-dressing Hato-kun, who for me is really stealing the show in the second season of Genshiken. The only male first-year to join the club, he’s created a very complete and convincing female persona. I find him to be the most interesting new character in the new series and he seems to be the focal point for much of the drama. I’m also particularly enjoying Yajima’s character development. She is uncomfortable with Hato’s cross-dressing but becomes very protective of him. As for the older characters, I was very happy to see Madarame return as he remains one of my favorites. Put him and Hato together in a scene and it’s just perfect.

Library Wars, Volume 9Library Wars: Love & War, Volumes 9-10 by Kiiro Yumi. Perhaps it’s because I’m a librarian, but I can’t help but be fond of Library Wars even when it’s not always the strongest series. Sometimes the characters and their interactions are fantastic, and sometimes it seems as if they’re all acting like a bunch of high school students when they’re supposed to be mature, capable adults. Granted, there are some delightfully awkward scenes now that Iku has come to the realization that Dojo is her “prince.” He’s known for quite a while, but he doesn’t know that she knows, yet. It’s all rather amusing. I am very glad that Iku seems to be more competent now than she was at the beginning of the series. I don’t care how enthusiastic a person is, if they don’t have the needed skills for the job there’s not much hope for them. Library Wars is a fantasy, but it actually does address some real issues encountered in the library world. Censorship is the biggest one and at the core of the series, but things like sexual harassment and dealing with inappropriate patron behavior come up, too.

Totally Peeking Under the Sheets, Volume 1Totally Peeking Under the Sheets, Volumes 1-2 by Hajin Yoo. Totally Peeking Under the Sheets is a collection of side stories relating to Yoo’s boys’ love manwha Totally Captivated. It’s definitely intended for those who have read and enjoyed the original series. The first volume contains quite a few short manhwa, some of them only a few pages long. Many of these stories emphasize the more humorous aspects of Totally Captivated and its characters. And as might be expected from the title Totally Peeking Under the Sheets, several stories are also rather racy–what little plot there is is used to get Ewon and Mookyul into bed with each other. (Not that that’s very difficult.) The focus of the second volume is a much longer sequel manhwa called “The Final Chapter.” Although there were some great character moments, the story felt forced to me. Ewon suddenly has to deal with his family, particularly the mother who abandoned him. I’m not sure the situation would have really played out in the way that Yoo presents it. Overall, I much preferred the first volume.

Fist of the North Star, Collection 2Fist of the North Star: The TV Series, Volume 2 (Episodes 37-72) directed by Toyoo Ashida. While the first collection of the Fist of the North Star anime series had quite a bit of filler, the second collection starts to really dig into the plot and characters. The series is much better for it. Plus, the anime has now reached a point in the story beyond the manga that was released in English. Some of the fights do still get to be a little repetitive, especially when the protagonists face off against large groups of unnamed bad guys and minions, but there’s always something about each battle that makes it stand out from the rest. The best fights, though, are those that occur between two martial arts masters. But Fist of the North Star isn’t just about power, skill, and strength (although that’s certainly an important part of it). The series is also about destiny, loyalty, friendship, and love. Kenshiro is a tragic hero who continues to lose those who are close to him. Fist of the North Star is a post-apocalyptic martial arts epic, and I’m loving it.

Filed Under: FEATURES, My Week in Manga Tagged With: anime, attack on titan, Boxers and Saints, comics, Fist of the North Star, Gene Luen Yang, Genshiken, Hajime Isayama, Kiiro Yumi, Lark Pien, library wars, manga, manhwa, Shimoku Kio, totally captivated

My Week in Manga: September 2-September 8, 2013

September 9, 2013 by Ash Brown

My News and Reviews

Last week I announced the Blood Lad Giveaway Winner. The post also includes a list of manga licensed in English that feature vampires, too, if you’re looking for something to sink your teeth into. I posted two reviews last week in addition to the giveaway announcement. The honor of the first in-depth manga review for September goes to Shigeru Mizuki’s Kitaro. The manga collects stories from the first three volumes of Mizuki’s yokai classic GeGeGe no Kitaro. I absolutely loved it. I also reviewed Manga: Introduction, Challenges, and Best Practices, edited by Manga Bookshelf’s own Melinda Beasi and presented by the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. It’s a great resource and recommended for anyone wanting to learn a bit more about manga. The book’s general release is in December, but it is possible to purchase an early copy directly from CBLDF.

Elsewhere online, Vertical’s licensing and reader survey is now open and will close on September 25. It’s a great way to let Vertical know what you’re reading. If you want you can even suggest manga you’d like to see Vertical publish in English. Related to Vertical manga, Matt Cycyk at Matt Talks About Manga has a nice post about Knights of Sidonia and why fans of Attack on Titan might want to check the series out–Attack on Sidonia: Selling Knights of Sidonia to Attack on Titan Fans. And speaking of manga, I was amused to come across the article Attack on Titan’s author causes a stir with his less-than-stellar sketches at RocketNews24. (Amused since I’m used to hearing complaints about the artwork in Attack on Titan and didn’t realize it was something so shocking.)

Quick Takes

Battle Angel Alita: Last Order, Omnibus 1Battle Angel Alita: Last Order, Omnibus 1-2 (equivalent to Volumes 1-6) by Yukito Kishiro. Although I have been aware of Battle Angel Alita for quite some time I haven’t read any of the manga until now. Last Order is the original series’ immediate successor, serving as a sort of alternate ending. It’s still ongoing in Japan. The manga is a little difficult to jump into without already having some familiarity with the franchise; I frequently found myself confused why certain characters were important to the story and what their motivations were. But by the time I reached the second omnibus I had started to settle into the series and even began to enjoy myself. I like Last Order best when Kishiro isn’t trying to be too serious with the story and focuses more on the action–cyborg battles, ancient Martian martial arts, space karate, and so on. Alita is an appealing lead, but at the moment I think I like the more erratic and unruly supporting character Sechs even better.

Chi's Sweet Home, Volume 10Chi’s Sweet Home, Volume 10 by Konami Kanata. I can always count on Chi’s Sweet Home to bring a smile to my face. Kanata’s color work is lovely and Chi is adorable. I grew up around a lot of cats and continue to be surrounded by them, so I can particularly appreciate Chi’s antics. And with the tenth volume of Chi’s Sweet Home, there are even more kittens romping around–Cocchi and Chi have befriended a pair of sibling kittens. Kanata captures the attitudes and behavior of cats perfectly. Chi has finally come to the realization that she’s a not a human, but she still has a far way to go before mastering all the skills expected of a feline. In many ways Chi’s Sweet Home is very episodic, but there’s also the underlying story of Chi being separated from her original family. By the end of the tenth volume it looks as though she may be getting closer to finding her mother. (She’s easily distracted, though.) Generally the series is funny and sweet, but there’s a bit of sadness and drama, too.

Diary of SangchulDiary of Sangchul by Hajin Yoo. Two side stories from Yoo’s Totally Captivated boys’ love manhwa were released in English. One of those is Diary of Sangchul, which is a prequel to the main series. It’s not absolutely necessary to have read Totally Captivated in order to enjoy Diary of Sangchul, but the manhwa will probably appeal most to those who have. The majority of the volume is devoted Sangchul’s story through which is shown Mookyul’s rise to power and how he earns the respect of the men who work under him. Dairy of Sangchul also reveals more about Mookyul’s relationship with the Chairman (who looks a lot younger here than he does in the original series.) Diary of Sangchul dovetails quite nicely with Totally Captivated. There is also a short manhwa about Mookyul and the Chairman’s first meeting included in the volume. In the epilogue Yoo goes on to outline the rest of their story. I’m not sure if she ever drew it, but I’m okay if she didn’t–it’s extraordinarily melodramatic.

Helter Skelter: Fashion UnfriendlyHelter Skelter: Fashion Unfriendly by Kyoko Okazaki. I’m always happy to see more josei released in English, but I was especially excited for Okazaki’s debut. Okazaki is a particularly influential josei artist. (The marvelous Moyoco Anno even once worked as her assistant.) The award-winning Helter Skelter is a harsh and brutal tale about the darker side of the entertainment industry. Thanks to drastic and repeated plastic surgery, Liliko is enjoying the height of her career as a celebrity but the operations can only take her so far. As her body begins to deteriorate her life begins to spin out of control. Her obsessions and society’s unrealistic expectations drive her to extremes; in the end she isn’t the only one ruined. Helter Skelther is an startling work. Even though the characters are often unlikeable, the manga is extremely engaging; it’s hard to look away from their unraveling. Helter Skelter works simply as fiction, but it can also be read as a deeper criticism of celebrity culture.

Filed Under: FEATURES, My Week in Manga Tagged With: Battle Angel Alita, chi's sweet home, Hajin Yoo, Konami Kanata, Kyoko Okazaki, manga, manhwa, totally captivated, Yukito Kishiro

BL Bookrack: Totally Captivated, MMF Edition

August 10, 2013 by Melinda Beasi and Michelle Smith 1 Comment

TC1 TC2 TC3 TC4 TC5 TC6

MELINDA: Back in the spring of 2010, I undertook a digital marathon read of Totally Captivated, a Korean boys’ love series by Hajin Yoo, in preparation for a review of its final volume, which was soon to be released in print by its North American publisher, NETCOMICS. It was an intense 48 hours, to be sure, and at the time, I enjoyed the series so much that this quote from my review turned up on the back of that print volume: “In its early volumes, Totally Captivated was smart, sexy, and fabulously dramatic. Now at the end of its final volume, it has also grown into an unexpectedly satisfying love story, rivaling the best of its genre.”

Since we love Korean manhwa in general (and BL manhwa in particular), for our contribution to the BL Manga Moveable Feast, Michelle suggested that we devote a column to Totally Captivated. I was excited by the idea, but a little worried that I might not love the series as much after so much time (and so much BL), and in some ways my worry was justified. Having been a relative newcomer to both manga and manhwa back then, it’s only natural that my tastes would have evolved, even over the course of just three years. Fortunately, the things I loved most about Totally Captivated have endured, and I can ultimately stand by the quote above.

So what is Totally Captivated? Since I’ve always found summarizing a story’s premise to be the most difficult part of a review (no, seriously), I’ll let my 2010 self do the heavy lifting:

Ewon Jung is a 23-year-old scholarship student in Seoul, whose curiosity over whether or not it is possible to have great sex without love (“It was possible.”) leads him to cheat on his boyfriend, Jiho.

TC-itwaspossible1

TC-itwaspossible2

Devastated and yearning for revenge, Jiho persuades his new boyfriend, a small-time loan shark named Mookyul Eun, to force Ewon into service at his office where he is expected to run errands, clean, and balance the books, all without payment. Unfortunately for Jiho, Mookyul soon develops an interest in Ewon, and it isn’t long before Jiho ends up shunted aside once again. Mookyul is controlling and occasionally violent, and Ewon is far from a pushover, but they eventually reach a mutually beneficial arrangement and begin living together. Things do not continue peacefully for long, however, as Ewon becomes aware that he is falling harder for Mookyul than he intended and experiences his first real taste of jealousy. Though the story’s premise initially seems contrived, its real function is to provide a stylish, humorous background to what is essentially a very moving story about two deeply damaged men learning how to love.

Care to add to that summary, Michelle?

MICHELLE: Man, am I ever glad to see you say that your worry was justified, because up to volume four I was a bit fretful that I wasn’t enjoying the series as much as I had hoped to. Happily, that did change.

I don’t think I have anything in particular to add to the summary other than the fact that it takes these guys a long time to figure out where they’re coming from, and there are a lot of scenes (especially in volumes three and four) where you wonder, “Why on earth does Ewon stay with Mookyul?!” It’s like the stereotypical sadistic seme turned up to eleven. It’s only later that you start to gain some insight into why Mookyul is behaving like he is, so it’s definitely worth it to persevere even when you’re disgusted by him.

MELINDA: I was re-reading my full review of volume six, and I see that I’d mentioned there how hard it was to continue to root for the relationship during a few of the middle volumes, and that’s definitely what I found even harder to deal with this time around. Yet I had a similar reaction by the end as I’d had originally—that once we knew enough about both of them to understand why they were who they were, it was actually a really romantic story. I don’t know that any other story with such a controlling love interest has managed to redeem itself with me to that extent, which makes Totally Captivated special, indeed.

The thing that makes this really work, in my opinion, is Ewon, because he’s such a consistent character all the way through, and even if we don’t understand everything about his past from the beginning, everything we learn as we go slots right into Ewon as we know him. From the beginning, he avoids commitment and real emotional connection, he’s absolutely clear with himself about what he’s willing to put up with and what he’s not, and he’ll find a way to extract himself from a situation he can’t tolerate, one way or another (I think this is why I was able to stomach him staying with Mookyul during their worst times—because when he’s done with something, he actually does leave).

But most of all, something that I think is made very clear is that (and I think this answers your question), with all that emotional avoidance in mind, the reason Ewon gets together with Mookyul, and even the reason he stays with him for a long time, is that he finds him incredibly attractive. Mookyul is exactly Ewon’s kind of hot, and he’s pretty honest with himself about the fact that this is a highly motivating factor for him, even to the end.

MICHELLE: Yeah, I know Ewon has essentially regarded Mookyul as his dream guy since middle school, but still… No matter how attractive a guy, I wouldn’t endure what Ewon endures! That said, he does also mention at one point that, because of what happened between them in the past—young Ewon pledged to wait for delinquent Mookyul to return to school, and though he did wait, his adult self forgot all about it, when to Mookyul it became a sustaining memory—he feels somewhat responsible for how messed up Mookyul has turned out. So that’s part of it, as well.

(click images to enlarge — read left-to-right)

TC-chocolate1

TC-chocolate2

The big turning point for me came in volume four, when Ewon’s friends pressure him to invite Mookyul out to drink with them, and it all goes horribly wrong. I loved seeing how concerned Ewon’s friends are with how controlling his new lover is, and I love the argument that results when Ewon and Mookyul get back home. “All I wanted was to introduce you to my friends. Just like other normal people get to do!”

I feel like this was the point where we realize that this isn’t going to just be some standard BL romance, but an in-depth character study. From here on out, we start to realize that Mookyul may actually be pretty clueless, despite how suave he seems to be. He has no idea how to be in a real relationship, and he’s going about it the wrong way because he can tell that Ewon is just looking for that thing that’s going to give him an excuse to bolt.

MELINDA: I love that volume four argument as well (and I actually adore pretty much all of Ewon’s school friends whom we meet during the series, but I expect we’ll talk about a few of them in-depth later), and the fact that Ewon never just takes any of Mookyul’s crap—there’s always a fight.

As I was reading your response, though, it also occurred to me that I think Mookyul’s bad behavior is maybe even part of why Ewon is willing to be involved with him, because he is always looking for an excuse to bolt. And since Mookyul is providing those excuses on a pretty much daily basis, it keeps that escape route always open for Ewon. Unlike with Jiho, a genuinely sweet, devoted guy whom Ewon couldn’t help but feel guilty for betraying, Mookyul is someone he could betray almost out of a sense of righteousness. Who could ever blame him for stepping out on Mookyul? He’s practically asking for it, right? And Ewon actually does this at one point early on in their relationship (more than once, if you consider his behavior with Dohoon). In a twisted way, a jerk like Mookyul is the perfect match for someone who always has one foot out the door, and that’s Ewon all over.

TC-warning1

TC-warning2

(click images to enlarge — read left-to-right)

TC-warning3

MICHELLE: I can see that. I want to be clear, though, that I’m not putting responsibility for Mookyul’s horribly controlling ways on Ewon’s inability to commit. Because Mookyul really does and says some horrible things, from threatening to kill Ewon a couple of times to forcing himself on Ewon in volume four just after that argument in which it seems like he’s beginning to see the light, to concealing the fact that he’s in a sexual relationship with “Chairman Lee,” the father figure in his life, when his declarations of love had persuaded Ewon that it was safe to give his heart—that one, precious possession that he clung to when he had nothing else—to Mookyul.

TC-self

MELINDA: I should be clear that I’m not, either. Mookyul is 100% responsible for every shitty thing he says and does to Ewon. Ewon’s only responsible for his decision to stay with him (which, even then, I’d probably still lay on Mookyul, given all the threats he makes, if Ewon hadn’t made it perfectly clear time and again that he’s totally capable of leaving when he wants to—and does at least twice over the course of the series), and that’s where I see his inability to commit coming into play. I’m saying that Mookyul’s abusive behavior is is attractive in some way to Ewon because it makes it easier for him to avoid dealing with his real feelings. But that doesn’t erase the fact that Mookyul’s behavior is abusive.

In fact, I’d say Mookyul is unbelievably lucky—much more than he deserves to be—in that he’s managed to find someone (Ewon) who, over time, is willing to wade through all his abuse and teach him how to be a person. I think it might make me angry that he gets to have that, actually, if Ewon didn’t ultimately get something he really needs out of the relationship. The fact that Yoo is able to write all this in a way I can stomach at all is pretty incredible.

MICHELLE: Yes, I agree with that completely.

It’s only in the second half of the series that we start to see that Mookyul is actually pretty desparate to keep the people he cares about from leaving him. He’s jealous of any other guy Ewon talks to, and attempts to restrict his behavior, and yet also continues to sleep with Chairman Lee because he can’t just toss aside his own “father,” to whom he owes so much. Because he’s compartmentalized those two parts of his life, it’s almost like he can’t even see that sleeping with Lee qualifies as cheating on Ewon, which is something guaranteed to drive him away.

MELINDA: And, you know, I have so little sympathy for cheaters (it’s a thing), you think I’d have at least a moment of satisfaction when Ewon gets a taste of his own medicine (after all, the first thing we see Ewon do in the series is cheat on Jiho), but Ewon’s so genuinely distraught when he realizes that his pain over the discovery of Mookyul and Chairman Lee’s relationship is the same pain he’s inflicted on Jiho… I couldn’t even get there. And oh, Ewon’s pain. Yoo writes this perfectly, because it isn’t just pain Ewon feels, but also the humiliation of discovering that he’d been essentially made a fool—that he’d stood by, smiling, while Mookyul was cheating on him in the next room. Ewon’s sickening reaction and his remorse towards Jiho… it’s all written with such emotional truth.

(click images to enlarge — read left-to-right)

TC-ewon-sorry1

TC-ewon-sorry2

MICHELLE: Exactly! What I really loved about all of this is that it honestly, genuinely shocked me. We’re so conditioned by romantic fiction of all kinds to believe the behaviorally challenged (seriously, I tried out and rejected ten adjectives here) hero when he claims that his beloved is the only one for him that I totally did believe it when Mookyul said so. It never even occurred to me that Yoo would let him be lying. But, of course, in reality people lie all the time, and they hurt each other like this all the time. It’s a complication to Ewon and Mookyul’s relationship that I can love deeply because it is realistic and not just some genre trope.

MELINDA: Yes! And actually, there is a ton of lying in this series, perpetrated by characters we care about—in fact, Ewon does more of it than anyone. He lies frequently, sometimes to save himself from grief (or serious harm), sometimes to save someone else, and sometimes just because it’s easy to do and it makes a potentially complicated situation less complicated for him. And because he’s our POV character, we know about all of it.

MICHELLE: I love that, even though he’s our POV character, Yoo still lets him do some pretty shitty things. Like when he leaves Mookyul’s place and goes straight to Dohoon, the friend he knows has a thing for him, and proceeds to sleep with him. Poor Dohoon thinks that Ewon has chosen him at last, but it turns out not to be the case. Ewon’s just distracting himself from his
pain.

(click images to enlarge — read left-to-right)

TC-rent1

TC-rent2

MELINDA: Help! I’m torn between two emphatic responses!

First, yes, I so agree with what you’ve said here. I love the fact that Ewon is not always a good guy, at least when it comes to the way he treats his romantic and/or sexual partners (and in Dohoon’s case, his romantically-interested friends). Which isn’t to say that he’s an anti-hero by any means. He’s a protagonist you can’t help but love. It’s just that he’s a mess in a lot of ways, and one of the ways in which that manifests himself is in the way he takes advantage of his attractiveness to other men.

TC-dohoon-sad1

TC-dohoon-sad2

But what I maybe love even more is the way his circle of friends feels like the real thing, in all the best and worst ways. Dohoon is a fantastic character (one of my favorites in the series, actually), but more than that, I know that guy. Not necessarily in the most obvious sense—I don’t have many close friends from wealthy, connected families—but that friend, that long-time friend with whom one has weird sexual tension that is maybe mostly one-sided, but you’d do anything for each other no matter what shit is going down… I know that guy. And Ewon’s whole circle feels like that. They drink together, they date, they break up, they sometimes hate each other, but mostly love each other to bits. They can hurt and use each other and ultimately be forgiven. Those are friends I know and love. And though Ewon’s friends are sort of in the periphery of this story, they are fully realized all the same.

MICHELLE: I find I’m partial to a guy whose name I don’t know, so I’ll just call him the Peacemaker. He’s the one in the scene with Mookyul and Ewon’s friends who is trying to smooth things out, reinterpreting what other people are saying in order to foster understanding and avoid unpleasantness. I mean, he’s just a bit character, really, and we already can tell so much about him by how he acts in that situation.

MELINDA: I know that guy, too! I think I used to be that guy!

MICHELLE: I pretty much am that guy!

TC-peacemaker1

TC-peacemaker2

MELINDA: I think you’ve articulated something here, too, that is key to the success of this series. The fact that Yoo creates a character like the Peacemaker, whose name we don’t even know, but who is so immediately familiar and fully fleshed-out for us in his tiny role—that’s exactly what she does throughout the series, and she kind of does it on the sly. Particularly early on, before we start getting into the meat of Ewon and Mookyul’s histories (which takes a while, partly because Ewon avoids thinking about his past and because he lies so often), Totally Captivated is a deceptively light read. It’s over-the-top and genuinely funny (I’d forgotten, really, how funny it is), and on the surface it appears to be pretty much just a stylish romp. But Yoo is so skillful with things like characterization, that before you know it, you’re hooked into something much deeper, and you’re not even sure how you go there.

MICHELLE: And the story is just well constructed in general. The most significant action takes the form of conversations (or arguments), which I liked, but there’s also the storyline about the power struggle within Chairman Lee’s organization, and I thought that was handled quite well. There’s not too much of the gangster stuff to make it boring, but it ties together reasonably well and impacts our leads in significant ways.

MELINDA: Yeah, gangster stuff is not usually something I’m extremely interested in, but not only does it support the main romantic story in various ways, especially in terms of dealing with Mookyul’s relationship with Chairman Lee (which did not play out as I expected!), but the day-to-day stuff in the office of a loan shark actually provided some of my favorite moments in the series! Obviously the main relationship is developing in that office, but I also really love the way Ewon makes a place for himself with Mookyul’s underlings, and the way they all support him. There’s a scene somewhat early on in which Ewon is studying in the office and though he’s already asked everyone if they needed coffee, Mookyul fails to ask for any until later on. When he then does ask for coffee, his guys basically reprimand him, “You should have raised your hand when he asked.” It’s such a heartwarming little moment.

(click images to enlarge — read left-to-right)

TC-studying1

TC-studying2

Then, of course, there’s all the stuff with Byungsoo Yoo, which is so interesting. He’s an underling working for Mookyul, who gets kicked out early on for embezzling from the organization—a feat he clumsily accomplishes by convincing Ewon to let him temporarily take over the office bookkeeping (it had originally been his job before it was Ewon’s) while Ewon is busy with schoolwork. There are a whole slew of things I love about Byungsoo’s story, though not for his sake, but rather for what his story reveals about both Ewon and Mookyul over the course of the series.

First, during the scene in which he asks to take over the bookkeeping, Byungsoo makes a homophobic remark to Ewon, and Ewon’s reaction is so much exactly who he is. He doesn’t try to defend himself (why should he have to defend his existance to anyone, especially a guy like that?) or engage him on the subject at all, he just quietly writes him off as a person.

TC-homophobe1

TC-homophobe2

Then later, as the increasingly clueless Byungsoo walks away, spouting promises to buy him a drink, Ewon just gives him the finger. “I don’t want some stinking homophobe to buy me a drink.” It’s just Ewon all over. He’s totally comfortable with himself and his sexuality, and anyone who’s not simply isn’t worth his concern. And yet, still, when the shit inevitably hits the fan, Ewon throws himself to the lions (Mookyul) in order to save Byungsoo from a grisly death. Which, incidentally, ends up being a surprisingly hilarious moment, in the way that Yoo creates hilarious moments.

TC-homophobe3MICHELLE: I think that was our first inkling, too, that Ewon isn’t going to necessarily be completely honest about everything. Because he didn’t ever really confess that he pretty much knew that the guy was going to embezzle, only that he wanted to take over the accounting and Ewon let him.

MELINDA: Yes, you’re right. This is our first really clear glimpse of Ewon’s lying for self-preservation, something that happens a lot, and which I don’t even totally disapprove of, I find, which is interesting for me as a reader.

Then, later, when Byungsoo re-enters the story, it’s Mookyul we end up learning things about—namely that he’s smarter and more forgiving than I had realized, though it all seems so obvious once it’s out there.

MICHELLE: We start to see new facets of Mookyul once he’s given up everything for Ewon. It’s like he can relax at last because Ewon has come back to him. There’s a great scene early in volume six just after they’ve been reunited when he is still clearly himself and yet exudes a completely different vibe, saying, “It’s strange… I have nothing left now. But I’m happy.”

MELINDA: This brings up something that’s a point of discomfort for me in the series, and that definitely bothered me more on my second read than it had originally. Both Ewon and Mookyul have epic abandonment issues that make them each who they are, and it all feels very real. It rings true, even during the most super-dramatic portions of the series. Mookyul needs to control and Ewon needs to detach—this is how they’ve each learned to cope. Obviously each character’s behavior is destructive to himself and his relationships, and we watch that happening, over and over. Nobody, including Mookyul, Ewon, and the author thinks this behavior is healthy. It just is what it is.

TC-breakup1

Where I feel uncomfortable is where they ultimately end up, but I wonder if that’s just because it pings my own issues. By the end, they’ve each finally accepted that the other *isn’t going to leave* and that’s a huge relief for them both. They can worry about losing each other to outside forces, but they’re also there to keep each other safe from those things. And I really appreciate that this intense universe of two, which is so often just written as a super-romantic vision of controlling, over-protective behavior, is instead here a mutual coping mechanism that can help these two seriously damaged men build a happy life together—one happier than either of them ever hoped to find. It’s brilliant, actually. Yoo has taken an overused, unhealthy romantic cliche and turned it into something understandable and actually not creepy.

But a little bit? I’m still creeped.

MICHELLE: I’d say I’m more concerned than creeped. It’s just not healthy to be so dependent on another person that you declare “I won’t be able to breathe without you.” But, as you said, it’s understandable given what they’ve gone through. I hope that, with time and maturity, they’ll be able to achieve the ability to function separately as need be while retaining a feeling of certainty about their relationship.

MELINDA: The other thing that bothers me is that I worry that Ewon doesn’t get his way often enough in the bedroom, and this also was a bigger issue for me on my second read. Now, I’m not even talking about the non-con early on. The power dynamic is seriously screwed up in the beginning, and even though Ewon proves he can get out of situations he doesn’t want to be in, it’s still clear that he sometimes goes through with things he doesn’t want just because it’s easier, which isn’t the same as actual consent. This is a problem, and though it’s handled in a more complex manner here than in a lot of BL, it’s still yucky.

But what I’m talking about here is just their general bedroom dynamic. Ewon finds Mookyul to be pretty impossibly sexy, and clearly wants to sleep with him, so that’s not the issue. The issue is that they always have sex the way Mookyul wants to have it, and I never get the feeling that this is really okay with Ewon.

Yoo tackles the whole seme/uke (if we’re talking Japanese BL tropes), top/bottom business in a way that feels more authentic than what we usually see (I’m not saying it is authentic—how would I know?—just that it reads like it is, so I’m able to buy in), but where it works well in her scenes with Ewon and Dohoon (both exclusively “pitchers” who aren’t particularly interested in experimentation, which leads to verbal sparring), the arrangement between Ewon and Mookyul (also two “pitchers”) just reads as perpetually unsatisfying for Ewon. I’m unhappy with this state of affairs, and Ewon should be, too.

(click images to enlarge — read left-to-right)

TC-pitcher1

TC-pitcher2

MICHELLE: I wondered a bit about that myself. I think Ewon only makes one complaint about that aspect of their relationship, and it’s not followed up on. But after he leaves Mookyul and goes on his sex-as-distraction spree, he starts off by being “catcher” for Dohoon. I’m not sure what he does with those other guys, but I kind of thought maybe he realized he liked it after all. I do note here that this title is rated 16+, so we don’t get any kind of intimate details of bedroom relations, for which I’m grateful.

And I wonder how flexible Mookyul is in that department. When Ewon discovers that Mookyul and Lee are sleeping together, he implies that Mookyul is the catcher in that scenario and Mookyul doesn’t deny it, but doesn’t confirm it, either.

MELINDA: Hmmmmm, perhaps you’re right. I suppose my overall reaction is based on a sense that we mostly see Ewon just exhausted from sex with Mookyul, rather than basking in the afterglow. So I kind of felt that he never really liked it as much as he could. And when he goes to Dohoon, it’s out of a pretty destructive kind of need, so I’m not convinced he actually wants the sex then either, but rather just to be wanted, which is something Dohoon can easily deliver (unfortunately for Dohoon). I mean, Ewon’s a guy who clearly likes sex, but I’m not sure that particular spree is representative of his healthiest impulses.

Speaking of Chairman Lee… wow. There are very few characters I hate more than Chairman Lee, between the semi-incestuous (and definitely abusive) relationship with his “son,” to his downright *mean* behavior with Ewon, he enraged me more often than anyone else in the series, with a healthy side of SKEEVE. Though, true to form, Yoo managed to surprise me with him in the end.

MICHELLE: While majorly, majorly icky, I still found Chairman Lee pretty fascinating. Yoo could’ve easily turned him into a mustache-twirling villain, but he never feels like that at all.

(click images to enlarge — read left-to-right)

TC-lee1

TC-lee2

MELINDA: Yeah, he’s significantly less that kind of villain than, say, Papa Dino in Banana Fish. Fortunately, he’s also never portrayed as actually sympathetic, which I don’t think I could stomach. But he is a more fully-formed character than your average sexual abuser might be, and that at least makes it easier to understand Mookyul’s extreme loyalty. And this makes it feel that much more profound when he actually does cut Lee out of his life in order to be with Ewon, too. As twisted as Mookyul’s relationship is with Lee, I think they actually love each other. It’s just that this love is constantly compromised by Lee having established a deeply inappropriate sexual relationship with Mookyul.

And speaking of twisted relationships… oh, Jiho. Poor Jiho. Want to talk about him a bit?

MICHELLE: Sure! I actually grew to like him quite a lot. I like that he was still able to care about Ewon, despite everything that happened, and felt close enough to challenge him on some of his bad behavior. I think this may be another case of someone finding love and security—Jiho eventually acquires a sweet and adoring boyfriend—and then being able to move past some of their past hangups.

MELINDA: I was surprised to end up liking Jiho as much as I did, even though he was initially wronged by Ewon. I thought his revenge (or what I interpreted as simple revenge at the time) was disproportionate to the crime. But he absolutely won me over, and actually his friendship with Ewon is one of my favorites in the series. It’s one of those times where I think maybe they just got it wrong the first time around, and they were always meant to be friends. I love watching the two of them care for each other, which they do over and over. And Jiho’s little declaration of independence is possibly the cutest thing ever.

TC-prowl

And here’s another area where Yoo just really gets it right. When Ewon is going through his self-destructive sex spree, Jiho can’t help but care, and he kind of scolds himself for worrying about who Ewon is sleeping with when he’s got his own awesome boyfriend to care about now. And that’s exactly what would happen. It’s not like we stop caring about people who wrong us… if we did, they wouldn’t have been able to hurt us in the first place. So Jiho can’t help but care.

MICHELLE: And, of course, there’s that great moment above when Ewon is able to apologize to Jiho for the pain he caused, finally knowing what it feels like to be betrayed by the one to whom you’ve given your heart. I think we’re back to the “Ewon has great friends” point again. :) But actually, Mookyul has some loyal friends, too. Especially Sangchul, who’s his right-hand man in many ways.

MELINDA: You’re right, of course! I mean, technically Mookyul’s friends are kinda paid to be on his side, but it’s obvious that their loyalty to him is real. And later, when Mookyul really needs them, they come through, particularly Sangchul and, surprisingly, Byungsoo.

MICHELLE: I guess we are Friend Fangirls for this series. They provide a good deal of the humor, too.

MELINDA: It’s true, they do. Like the entire section where the the boys in the office are trying to cover up the fact that Ewon’s in hiding after having accidentally broken an important vase? That whole thing is hilarious, from start to finish.

Heh, I was going through the books to pick out some of my favorite bits of humor, and there are just so many! Humor is so much a part of the fabric of Yoo’s storytelling, I get the feeling that she’s barely trying; humor just happens. Sure, sometimes she takes the time to go all chibi-like to punctuate the humor (and her chibis are freaking adorable, I have to say). But so often it’s just part of the drama. I mean, there are are, in the middle of a life-or-death scene, and somehow there’s nothing funnier than Ewon suddenly exclaiming, “The crazy fucker that tried to grab your sac in elementary school was me!”

TC-crazyfucker

MICHELLE: I thought it was a good sign when I snickered on, like, page three. That “It was possible.” line is just so well-timed.

MELINDA: Heh, yes, it really is. I suppose this is what you get when an author is just plain funny herself, rather than trying to make jokes. She can’t help but endow her protagonist with the same natural comic timing she has. And the same self-deprectating humor, too.

TC-doujinshiWe get to see that directly aimed at Yoo, even, from time to time, during occasional breaks in the fourth wall. One of my favorite instances of this is in volume two, before Ewon is sexually or romantically involved with Mookyul, and he’s gossiping about Mookyul’s relationship to Chairman Lee with Sangchul. “Hajin Yoo says she’s gonna elaborate on the relationship between Mookyul and the big boss in a doujinshi,” says Sangchul. Ewon responds, “How can you trust what that lazy-ass says?” at which point he is punched in the eye by the text bubble.

MICHELLE: Hee. I’d forgotten that bit.

So, are we basically saying that Totally Captivated has it all (save for gratuitous sex scenes)? Good points, bad points, humor, romance, well-developed characters, and loads of profanity?

MELINDA: And eyes! I love the heavily-lined, detailed eyes we see in so much female-aimed manhwa. Yoo totally delivers on the eyes.

But yes, I guess that’s what we’re saying. Now that you’ve laid it all out there like that, it makes me want more.

MICHELLE: Alas, this appears to be Yoo’s only work released in English. It looks like she did follow through with writing a few doujinshi based on the series, though—including one featuring Ewon’s fourteen-year-old little sister.

MELINDA: I procrastinated on picking up the volumes that NETCOMICS printed (they were awfully spendy) and they sold out long ago. Though, given the 18+ rating, I suppose none of these is the little sister story. Sad.

MICHELLE: I actually had no idea they’d printed any of the doujinshi!

MELINDA: I still have some hope for a manhwa resurgence over here, and given how much I’ve enjoyed most of the Korean BL I’ve read, more of that (and more of Hajin Yoo) is absolutely on my wish list.

MICHELLE: Mine, too!


All images © Hajin Yoo, English text © NETCOMICS. This article was written for the 801 Manga Moveable Feast. Check out Otaku Champloo for more!


More full-series discussions with Melinda & Michelle:

Moon Child | Fullmetal Alchemist | Paradise Kiss
The “Color of…” Trilogy | One Thousand and One Nights | Please Save My Earth
Princess Knight | Fruits Basket | Chocolat
Wild Adapter (with guest David Welsh) | Tokyo Babylon (with guest Danielle Leigh)

Full-series multi-guest roundtables: Hikaru no Go | Banana Fish | Basara | Gerard & Jacques | Flower of Life

Filed Under: BL BOOKRACK Tagged With: Manga Moveable Feast, manhwa, MMF, totally captivated, yaoi/boys' love

3 Things Thursday: Guilty Pleasures?

November 11, 2010 by Melinda Beasi 23 Comments

On midweek holidays like today (link provided for readers outside the US) I find myself clinging to each precious moment of free time, too anxious even to allow myself to get lost in a delicious book, lest the time waste away too quickly. Thing is, between the demands of my full-time day job and the demands of the job I wish was full-time, it’s days just like this that offer me my only real chance to slack off.

With that in mind, I thought I’d use today’s 3 Things to identify some ideal reads for days just like this one–what some might describe as “guilty pleasures.” This is a term I’m frankly uncomfortable with, since I rarely feel guilty about anything I read, but in this case I will use it to draw a sketchy line between re-reads I can justify for “work” reasons, and those I clearly can’t. For instance, though I’m currently re-reading Banana Fish, a series I enjoy very much, this is easily justified as “work” thanks to the upcoming installment of Breaking Down Banana Fish. Other series may still be currently running, allowing me to justify those reads as preparation for discussion of new volumes. Still others may offer “classic” or literary value necessary for my growth as a manga critic.

In short, my “guilty pleasures” can be identified as completed series that I would re-read purely for my own enjoyment, no more no less. For me, that breaks down to Korean boys’ love manhwa and Fumi Yoshinaga. Observe:

3 “guilty pleasures” for a cold November holiday

1. Totally Captivated | Hajin Yoo | NETCOMICS – It’s no secret that I have a weakness for Korean BL, and Totally Captivated is one of my all-time favorites. Here’s a short synopsis from my review of volume six: “Ewon Jung is a 23-year-old scholarship student in Seoul, whose curiosity over whether or not it is possible to have great sex without love (“It was possible.”) leads him to cheat on his boyfriend, Jiho. Devastated and yearning for revenge, Jiho persuades his new boyfriend, a small-time loan shark named Mookyul Eun, to force Ewon into service at his office where he is expected to run errands, clean, and balance the books, all without payment. Unfortunately for Jiho, Mookyul soon develops an interest in Ewon, and it isn’t long before Jiho ends up shunted aside once again.”

Like a lot of the Korean BL I’ve seen published, the story is often violent, but unlike most Japanese BL with an element of rape fantasy, the little blond guy can give as good as he gets. It’s smart, funny, genuinely sexy, and one of the few BL series I keep in my overflowing library.

2. One Thousand and One Nights | Han SeungHee & Jeon JinSeok | Yen Press – Speaking of Korean BL, though I’ve never felt the slightest guilt over my obsession with this series, now that it has completed its run, I have little excuse to revisit it. Trouble is, I just want to. From my review of the first six volumes: “Loosely based on the original tales told by Scheherazade to her mad Persian king, in this version of One Thousand and One Nights, “Scheherazade” is a bookish young man named Sehara who has joined Sultan Shahryar’s harem in his sister’s place, in order to save her from being raped and beheaded like a string of young women before her … It is then that Sehara asks to be allowed to tell Shahryar a story, after which Shahryar may kill him as he pleases.”

Though the overarching tale of Sehara and Shahryar is, honestly, to die for (it’s also a rare BL story written by a man), this series’ real draw is in Sehara’s stories-within-the-story, pulled from various cultures, including those far outside the story’s timeline. Both as a romance and as a celebration of human storytelling, this series is PURE WIN.

3. Antique Bakery | Fumi Yoshinaga | Digital Manga Publishing – Nobody should ever feel guilty for reading Antique Bakery, but until the Manga Moveable Feast finally sets its sights on Yoshinaga (pleeeeeease), I have absolutely no excuse to do so. Still, I’ve re-read this series multiple times, and I intend to do so again. From my review of the full series: “Yoshinaga utilizes all her greatest strengths in this manga, rich characterization, rambling dialogue, and a deep love of food. The descriptions of the bakery’s various specialties is enough to make any pastry-lover swoon (enhanced by DMP’s scratch ‘n’ sniff covers). Her gift for gab brings this corner of Tokyo alive–especially the bakery’s customers, who wander in from all walks of life. Where Yoshinaga really outdoes herself, however, is with her delightful quartet of male leads.”

I love this series for its over-the-top characters, its rambling dialogue, its stunning artwork, and its gorgeous humanity. I could read it a thousand more times. And I just might read it today.


So, readers, what are your “guilty pleasures”? Please feel free to define that however you want (as I have). Respond in comments or in your own blog!

Filed Under: 3 Things Thursday Tagged With: antique bakery, one thousand and one nights, totally captivated

Totally Captivated, Vol. 6

May 30, 2010 by Melinda Beasi 4 Comments

Totally Captivated | By Hajin Yoo | Published by NETCOMICS | Rated 16+ – Ewon Jung is a 23-year-old scholarship student in Seoul, whose curiosity over whether or not it is possible to have great sex without love (“It was possible.”) leads him to cheat on his boyfriend, Jiho. Devastated and yearning for revenge, Jiho persuades his new boyfriend, a small-time loan shark named Mookyul Eun, to force Ewon into service at his office where he is expected to run errands, clean, and balance the books, all without payment. Unfortunately for Jiho, Mookyul soon develops an interest in Ewon, and it isn’t long before Jiho ends up shunted aside once again. Mookyul is controlling and occasionally violent, and Ewon is far from a pushover, but they eventually reach a mutually beneficial arrangement and begin living together. Things do not continue peacefully for long, however, as Ewon becomes aware that he is falling harder for Mookyul than he intended and experiences his first real taste of jealousy. Though the story’s premise initially seems contrived, its real function is to provide a stylish, humorous background to what is essentially a very moving story about two deeply damaged men learning how to love.

In volume five, Ewon finally broke off his tumultuous relationship with Mookyul, unwilling to continue as his lover while Mookyul was still providing sexual favors to his company’s CEO—a man who had long ago rescued a young Mookyul and raised him as his own child. Unable to withstand the separation from Ewon, Mookyul confronted his father figure, breaking all ties with him and his company, and as volume six begins, he sets out to find Ewon and win him back. Ewon consents, but their reunion is short-lived, as Mookyul’s former business rival sets up a plot to ruin him now that he is no longer in the CEO’s favor. Mob madness ensues, Ewon is kidnapped, Mookyul is injured, Mookyul disappears, Ewon runs away, all leading up to the real drama of the volume, in which Ewon begs Mookyul to leave him so that he may be free of the constant terror of losing him. This is the real crux of the story, and ultimately provides the emotional payoff for the series.

It has been hinted throughout the series that Ewon’s absent parents were likely still alive, and this is finally confirmed in volume six, along with the sickening story of how he was abandoned as a child in the middle of the woods, essentially left to die. It is interesting to note that while both Ewon and Mookyul have serious abandonment issues, they have learned to deal with them in completely different ways. While Mookyul grew up to become controlling and possessive, determined to cage anything that might run from him, Ewon learned to avoid any real human connection, carefully protecting himself from the possibility of ever being abandoned again.

One of the things that has always been refreshing about Totally Captivated is that it is not a coming-out story. Ewon never agonizes over or apologizes for his sexuality (something he’s been aware of since the sixth grade), and he is completely comfortable with himself and unusually self-aware for his age. He knows what he likes and who he is sexually, and is completely up front about that with his partners (as they generally are with him). The dramatic benefit of this is that instead of having to focus on the characters’ feelings about being gay, the story is free to explore much further. Though the series does not shy away from the characters’ sexuality, its real focus is on emotional intimacy, and it is this that drives the story forward, especially in the final volume.

This series also avoids the thinly-veiled homophobia that is paradoxically present in so much of the boys’ love genre. “I don’t want some stinking homophobe to buy me a drink,” Ewon says to a co-worker early on in the series, and this attitude is never compromised at any point. The story never avoids specifics about the characters’ sexuality, neither does it portray its primary relationship as “forbidden love” nor insinuate that it is fundamentally inferior to heterosexual love—themes that are unfortunately common in many popular boy’s love stories.

Thankfully, this volume is free of the one discomfiting boys’ love cliché that is too often present earlier on, namely Mookyul’s habit of bullying Ewon for sex that is more frequent or rough than he is comfortable with (made tolerable only by the fact that Ewon proves many times over that he is capable of extracting himself from any situation he truly does not want to be a part of). After some shaky moments in the middle of the series that came uncomfortably close to romanticizing Mookyul’s controlling (even sadistic) tendencies, volume five brought Ewon back into control (despite the fact that he still calls his lover “boss”), with the two men finally reaching equal ground in volume six. Considering the extensive damage both Ewon and Mookyul bring to the table, it’s not surprising that they would fall into unhealthy patterns with each other as their relationship develops, but rooting for them became difficult during those middle volumes while the relationship was clearly abusive. With this in mind, volume six is a balm for the reader, as both characters shed their most destructive habits and are finally able to provide the emotional security each other requires.

The character designs in this series have never been anything special, but with characterizations so strong, they almost don’t have to be. What is lacking in design is made up for in substance, and though more distinctive art would certainly enhance the story’s effect, the series is not gravely damaged without it. The visual storytelling is clear and easy to follow and if the designs are merely serviceable, they at least do not get in the way. All the characters are visually expressive when they need to be, and many are downright poignant, particularly Ewon’s ex, Jiho, and his long-time friend, Dohoon Moon, who puts aside his own feelings to protect Ewon when he most needs it.

In its early volumes, Totally Captivated was smart, sexy, and fabulously dramatic. Now at the end of its final volume, it has also grown into an unexpectedly satisfying love story, rivaling the best of its genre.

Review copy provided by the publisher. Review originally published at PopCultureShock

Filed Under: BL BOOKRACK, Manhwa Bookshelf, MANHWA REVIEWS Tagged With: boys' love, netcomics, totally captivated

Recommendations for NETCOMICS Sale!

August 24, 2009 by Melinda Beasi 4 Comments

dweyw1Ongoing until August 27th, a whole slew of NETCOMICS titles are on sale at Right Stuf and I see a whole lot of titles there worth buying, so I thought I’d recommend a few!

First off, I’d recommend Yeri Na’s Do Whatever You Want, the story of two high school boys navigating school, love, and loyalty as they aim for their musical dreams. I’ve only read the first volume, but I’m dying to read the rest! From my review:

“What’s refreshing about this story is that though it is clearly relationship-driven, it is not obvious at this point that the story is headed toward any particular romantic pairing … Refreshing, too, is that each of the characters is distinctive, complicated, and realistically and sympathetically portrayed …

Don’t be fooled by this book’s cover. Despite its pretty boys, Do Whatever You Want is much, much more than a stylish boys’ love romp or a romance story of any kind, and in fact promises neither. What it does promise is a thoughtful story about friendship and ambition, with an appealing cast of complex young characters searching for their place in the world and with each other.”

*****

…

Read More

Filed Under: FEATURES Tagged With: age called blue, do whatever you want, in the starlight, let dai, netcomics, recommendations, right stuf, totally captivated, u don't know me

 | Log in
Copyright © 2010 Manga Bookshelf | Powered by WordPress & the Genesis Framework