Generally, a big like for this manhwa! Well drawn, okay story, interesting chars... It's not my cup of tea fully and didn't blow me off the water, but I enjoyed it and there are no huge faults one can find. But if I wanted to nitpick, I have to say this "childhood crush" trope is overused in yaoi, as is "poor orphan becomes a bigshot". This mars the story a bit IMHO, and the narrative also could have been handled a bit better (when you underatand why the seme did what he did, I saw at once that the storyline could have gone in a much smoother direction, but to each his own.)
What is the main selling point of this manhwa is the seme. He's quite a cool char, foul mouthed, crass and crazy, but with plenty of cunning and panache. The uke was polarizing, at moments I found him a kickass char, at moments he seemed so out of touch with his surroundings, but that's even realistic, given the circumstances. Their push and pull was solid. I would have like for the uke to have been a bit more on the wild side, but okay, I understand, the whole point is that the uke wants to live a normal life and separate himself from his mobster father.
Overall, this was an delicious, nice bite of yaoi. While it wasn't tailored to my taste and will never be a top-tier for me personally, it's still a solid recommendation.
I seriously enjoyed it a LOT, not even one boring moment. Great characters, story, art, chemistry of leads, ... Seriously so good + I love all Haribo's work. The only thing bother me a little is it's so short , I seriously wished for more Totally recommend.
This is such an upgrade from the authors previous debut series. I feel like they really learned from their mistakes storytelling wise and plothole wise from their debut work At the end of the Road.
The plot is simple, we have a strong (minded) male MC (Hamin) who meets this total psychopathic, hot killer MC bodyguard (Sehyuk) who is a bit rude at times. The MC is honest and earnest, and never acts like a gangster. I love the mixture of comedy but also serious moments. I love the writing primarly, the art and the side characters (Sehyuks people, Hamin's friends, the Sunbae). Usage of flashbacks was done great.
I can't believe this is Shonen ai!!! Altough I'm happy kind of because then the focus is more on the plot hehe. Wish there were explicit scenes but there's a lot of subtext/body touching that happens.
Their relationship:
I enjoy the fact that even though he could, and is a psycho at times, Sehyuk has never harmed Hamin himself or forced himself on him (other than body touching and pinning him down).
The characters actually have depth and past backgrounds that we get to know about. (It especially covers Sehyuk's past and why he has this sort of personality and how Hamin is linked to his past).
About the art: I love the art and damn that motel bedroom scene....
my favorite moment is when Sehyuk pins Hamin down and we see Sekyuk's snake tattoo in a position that seems like the snake wants to bite Hamin's neck...and Sehyuk tells Hamin that if it were anyone else he would have sliced their wrists off.... but if he does, Hamin wouldn't be able to hold his dick in his hands LOOOORDDD what a psycho. But I also appreciate that he didn't force himself on Hamin sexually, he only pinned him down. He has never harmed Hamin physically which is sometimes rare in a BL manga with this type of setting of gangsters.
My only gripe about the art (which the author improved on halfway through the series in season 2!!!) Was how they used to do color. It was such a stylistic choice but ugh. The whole face would be so washed out with one bright color. But now the lines are more darker! My only issue still is that they still color in the white of the eyes with the skin color instead of leaving it white. Stylistic choice but story wise I love Mad Dog! I think also unfortunately the skin tone is way to yellow ish at times.
About Hamin's Sunbae:
I enjoyed the fact that instead of a potential love triangle, we find out that the Sunbae is not interested in Hamin in a romantic sense. He is more interested in Hamin as a tool, if I could say that. Sunbae is obsessed with the fact that Hamin looks at him, instead of his other legitimate two older brothers. He's delighted that when they were younger Hamin never looked in the two brother's way but instead IS interested in Sunbae. I definitely had thought sunbae would be interested in Hamin in the romantic sense, stalker love more so since he has a....copy of Hamin's house keys...
I feel like Hamin's love for Sunbae was more of awe since Sunbae hanged out with him even with the gangster father rumors. While it seems that Hamin is more interested in Sehyuk romantically because Sehyuk treats him well and does not beat around the bush (even if he is rude)
Popular Reviews
Generally, a big like for this manhwa! Well drawn, okay story, interesting chars... It's not my cup of tea fully and didn't blow me off the water, but I enjoyed it and there are no huge faults one can find. But if I wanted to nitpick, I have to say this "childhood crush" trope is overused in yaoi, as is "poor orphan becomes a bigshot". This mars the story a bit IMHO, and the narrative also could have been handled a bit better (when you underatand why the seme did what he did, I saw at once that the storyline could have gone in a much smoother direction, but to each his own.)
What is the main selling point of this manhwa is the seme. He's quite a cool char, foul mouthed, crass and crazy, but with plenty of cunning and panache. The uke was polarizing, at moments I found him a kickass char, at moments he seemed so out of touch with his surroundings, but that's even realistic, given the circumstances. Their push and pull was solid. I would have like for the uke to have been a bit more on the wild side, but okay, I understand, the whole point is that the uke wants to live a normal life and separate himself from his mobster father.
Overall, this was an delicious, nice bite of yaoi. While it wasn't tailored to my taste and will never be a top-tier for me personally, it's still a solid recommendation.
I seriously enjoyed it a LOT, not even one boring moment.
Great characters, story, art, chemistry of leads, ...
Seriously so good + I love all Haribo's work.
The only thing bother me a little is it's so short , I seriously wished for more
Totally recommend.
This is such an upgrade from the authors previous debut series. I feel like they really learned from their mistakes storytelling wise and plothole wise from their debut work At the end of the Road.
The plot is simple, we have a strong (minded) male MC (Hamin) who meets this total psychopathic, hot killer MC bodyguard (Sehyuk) who is a bit rude at times. The MC is honest and earnest, and never acts like a gangster.
I love the mixture of comedy but also serious moments. I love the writing primarly, the art and the side characters (Sehyuks people, Hamin's friends, the Sunbae). Usage of flashbacks was done great.
I can't believe this is Shonen ai!!! Altough I'm happy kind of because then the focus is more on the plot hehe. Wish there were explicit scenes but there's a lot of subtext/body touching that happens.
Their relationship:
About the art: I love the art and damn that motel bedroom scene....
My only gripe about the art (which the author improved on halfway through the series in season 2!!!) Was how they used to do color. It was such a stylistic choice but ugh. The whole face would be so washed out with one bright color. But now the lines are more darker! My only issue still is that they still color in the white of the eyes with the skin color instead of leaving it white. Stylistic choice but story wise I love Mad Dog! I think also unfortunately the skin tone is way to yellow ish at times.
About Hamin's Sunbae: