Tag: webtoon

Rating The Good Boys Of Weak Hero

I can’t Tumblr but AlliefromSEA commented eons ago about wanting ratings of the good guys in Weak Hero and I aim to please, especially because I’m shocked anyone reads my blog.

All opinions are my own and my opinions are garbage, but loosely my criteria for a good character is not sure because I’ve never thought about it but:

  1. Their removal would affect the plot i.e. their role/dialogue/etc. being removed or relegated to another character would change the story
  2. They undergo some change/character development, for better or for worse, as the story progresses
  3. We see different sides of their personality – aka they are presented as complex individuals with some negative and positive traits
  4. They’re not a Mary Sue/Marty Stu or an author self-insert character that exists to either fulfill an author’s weird fantasy, or preach the author’s personal views
  5. They have personal goals of their own unrelated to other characters
  6. They aren’t so OP that the villains aren’t a threat to their goals (unless it’s a central part of the plot i.e. One Punch Man) but not so weak that they aren’t a challenge for the villains

**Spoilers**

Rowan Im (Im Juyang)

  • Hyper elbow
  • talks a big game, can sort of back it up with hands
  • red-hair clan
  • the reason Teddy joins Gray’s harem
  • childhood friends with Eugene
  • class 1 squad
  • low key a one-trick pony
  • KO’s Helmet with above mentioned one-trick

Rowan is mildly sus when first introduced, both in the sense that he appears weak or like a bully. However, he turns out to be a true bro with a level of courage that far surpasses his actual fighting skills. His backing of Teddy when they finally decide to knock Phillip Kim off his sand throne allows them to live a peaceful existence in class and integrate himself into Ben’s bro club.

Rowan is lowkey helpful in fights because his hyper elbow, when it connects, does serious damage.

Rowan Im Rating: 7.2/10

Eugene Gale (Seo Juntae)

  • Glasses Dude No. 1
  • can’t fight like at all and in a story like this, it’s an issue
  • desk buddies with the white mamba
  • nerdy but not super book smart
    • he makes an effort to better himself by going to cram school
  • physically weak but not a coward. Eugene knows he can’t fight and usually doesn’t try, but he does attempt to defend Gray a few times
  • got into delinquents because of Jake Ji
  • cat lover
  • shuttle patch king
  • knows how to make an awkward situation less awkward (by ordering pizza!)
  • good with lights

Eugene is basically us as the reader, enchanted with Gray, unable to fight, and bad at school but good at collecting gossip and finding out the tea. For most of the story, he’s the side-kick to everyone else until he gets a day in the limelight when investigating some shady buying up of real estate.

Eugene’s knowledge of delinquent gangs comes in handy, but it’s ultimately the fact he’s a kind-hearted dude that allows him to hang with the bros at the pool hall. He’s also Grey’s first true friend.

Eugene Rating: 8.5/10

Gerard Jin (Jin Gayool)

  • broccoli head and upset when others point that out
  • tarot card king
  • the mad hound
  • the quiet one
  • extremely tall – several characters point this out, especially if they’re about to fight him
  • talented singer and guitarist
  • has an actual job even though he’s a child (?)
  • use to be in a moderately successful band called Slam
  • dark and tragic past that resulted in his face being scarred
  • only fights with his shoes
  • always sleeping in class or in bushes
  • KO’d the chiller half of the Mokha Duo
  • the reason Ben Park fought Jake Ji seriously

Gerard’s reason for hiding his face is actually because he’s hot for never using his fists in a fight is because he promised his ex-bandmate, Hyeonjin, he wouldn’t after Hyeonjin pulled Gerard out of a fire and consequently, burned his own hands. Gerard stuck to that promise even at the cost of almost being murdered because he’s a real one.

Gerard Jin Rating: 9.8/10

Stephen Ahn (Ahn Suho)

  • SAINT Stephen Ahn
  • king of giant safety pins
  • gamer boy
  • actually a genius when he puts in effort, which is never
  • Gray’s first real friend – like literally his only reason for living and the light of his life (no homo tho)
  • the reason Gray doesn’t like roof tops (or friends for that matter)

I actually wrote an entire blog post on why Stephen is an absolute king.

Stephen Ahn Rating: Myles Joo’s 2 seconds of Screen Time/10

Alex Go (Go Hyeon-tak)

  • Gogo!
  • Ben’s best buddy since childhood
  • king of trash talking
  • hot-headed – he’s always ready to throw hands, even as a child
  • levels up in boxing – he trains to get stronger so that he doesn’t have to rely on Ben sledgehammer fist of might
  • had a moody moment on the beach
  • got beaten up by Jimmy Bae twice
  • sort of won against Jimmy’s bae Jack Kang but not really
  • ran with a bad crowd, ended up almost being murdered by Donald Na as a result of that
  • KO’d Orochimaru of the Mohka Duo

Alex doesn’t have main character energy, which is why he was/is frequently saved by Ben. That’s actually Alex’s issue – he’s a strong dude fighting actual monsters and he’s constantly comparing his strength to Ben, who is God-tier and doesn’t count. This brief insecurity causes him to get tangled up with some bad individuals in the past and he very nearly gets himself and Ben R.I.P.ed by Donald Na because of it (as it stands, Ben had to get physical therapy lmao). Fortunately, this incident teaches him the power of True Friendship and consequently, Alex becomes one of the more openly caring bros.

Alex Go Rating: 8.2/10

Ben Park (Park Humin) aka BIG BEN!

  • Gogo senses – can always sense when Alex is in danger or in a mood
  • easy going personality and generally goofy demeanor causes others to question his strength and status, which is a negative vibe for them
  • sledgehammer fist of might
    • several characters remark how Ben’s fist feels like getting hit by an actual stone wall or brick
    • he’s only 2nd to Donald Na in terms of strength
    • his punches are so loud others can hear them over a brawl
  • KO’d Jimmy Bae x2
  • KO’d Forrest Lee (x2)
  • KO’d Jake Ji
  • KO’d Juwon Lee
  • KO’d by Donald Na but rose from the dead
  • fried-chicken stan
  • a true amigo. When he learns Gray doesn’t like roof tops, he finds a different spot to chill in
  • low key a therapist. He gets Gray to open up about his tragic past and accompanies Gray on a futile trip to search for said tragic past
  • his strength is 85% of the reason why Eunjang hasn’t been swallowed by the Union
  • zombie Ben

Big Ben initially seems like your stereotypical loud-mouthed hot-head, but he’s actually quite chill and not interested in fighting unless his friends get hurt. Much of Ben’s story is is often pictured smiling even when presented with bad news, so it’s never good when he actually looks upset. And when Ben’s actually upset, nothing short of death will get him to stop fighting (see Donald Na/Jake Ji fights which activated zombie mode)

Ben’s stubborn friendliness helps melt Gray’s frosty attitude too and leads to the creation of the Eunjang gang. He’s a great example of positive masculinity showing that men can be stereotypically masculine and kick ass whilst remaining kind, empathetic, and upbeat.

Ben Park Rating: 10/10

Gray Yeon (Yeon Sieun)

  • white mamba
  • doesn’t like rooftops but gets over it
  • smart – solved The Question albeit in a different way than Donald Na, and he’s regularly shown studying and scoring high on tests
  • according to Wolf (whom he KO’d with a potted plant), he’s a pretty boy
    • actually multiple characters agree that Gray is hella fine, male and female alike
  • KO’d Colton Choi
  • KO’d Helmet, gave him pen PTSD
  • KO’d Teddy Jin, gave him coke PTSD
  • KO’d Phillip Kim, just gave him PTSD
  • Beating Wolf Keum earned him a top ten spot in the immovable shuttle patch ranking
  • KO’d Dean Kwon
  • KO’d TRASH Bryce Oh, Oscar Yang and his goon
  • generally fights dirty aka with bricks, pens, literally anything in sight
  • Jake Ji notices Gray is slowly becoming a blood knight but is in denial

Gray kept to his studies until meeting his sun and stars, Stephen Ahn who was bullied into a coma. This was the start of Gray’s villain origin arc. Fortunately the power of True Friendship turned him into a Hero instead of a bad guy.

He is the Weak Hero, or at least he was in season 1. In season 2, he’s actually not weak but I digress. His frigidity and aversion to humans is slowly melted by the power of fried chicken, and his combo of brains and physical strength allows him to analyze situations and figure out foolproof ways to crush his foes. That, or he just picks up a picture frame and bashes someone over the head with it.

Gray Yeon Rating: 10/10

There are probably some other “good” characters like that random glasses dude that regularly appears, but this is getting long lol. Also, apparently Weak Hero has become a drama so that’s exciting.

Webtoon Analysis: All of Us Are(n’t) Dead

I’ve spent every spare second playing Horizon Forbidden West and I’m trying to get my A+ cert for my job but *see above*. All in all, -0/10 for productivity. Nevertheless, I found yet another way to be unproductive and finished All of Us Are Dead.

Since I haven’t uploaded anything in like 1000 years, I thought I’d blog about this.

*spoilers*

All of Us Are Dead, by Joo Dong-geun (also known as Now At Our School), is a South Korean zombie apocalypse fiction taking place in a school. The story centers around a group of students at Hyosan High trying to survive as a zombie outbreak ravages their city faster than Red Bull pulled out of Russia. There are loads of characters who’s names I’m not gonna list, but I want to contrast Nayeon/Gwinam to Suhyeok/Namra because both duos want to survive. The former solely focus on their own self-preservation and desires, whilst the latter show incredible bravery and selflessness in trying to ensure their classmates survive too. (side note: it’s also a k-drama but I don’t really watch TV so can’t comment on the quality of that)

Notably, the government is semi-effective, rapidly quarantining Hyosan to prevent the infection from spreading and even dropping a sleep bomb on the zombies despite woketavists out-woking the wokest of us by insisting zombies have human rights. I found this level of competence from the government even more unbelievable than Mr. Lee, the science teacher, leaving zombie hamsters in the middle of his unlocked classroom. My dude’s sheer stupidity caused countless of deaths because he literally couldn’t keep those Hamsters home, or in glass cages with air pockets (albeit, apparently the k-drama does fix this incredible lapse of judgment).

Anyway, it’s these zombie Hamtaros who bite one his students, Hyeon-ju, setting off a chain reaction of sickness and sending the students of Hyosan scrambling to find ways to survive.

By comparing Gwinam and Nayeon to literally any other character in this story (including various zombies), but particularly to Namra and Suhyeok, we see all four want to survive but only one duo will do so by any means necessary. While initially the students hunker down and wait for help, once they realize they’ve been abandoned by adults (most of whom are relatively useless anyway) and are unlikely to be rescued by the government, they attempt to escape themselves.

Gwinam had negative fifty redeemable traits. He uses another student as a shield, and eventually eats her but only after assaulting a different female student. Didn’t help he was somehow immune to the zombie virus, so he’d also gotten a taste for human flesh. It’s giving every story needs an additional villain in an already terrible world to make things worst for the characters energy. In contrast, Suhyeok spends most of his time aiding others, even going back out into the wild to forage for food. It’s thanks to him (in part) that the surviving students make it to roof and are able to escape out into the woods and eventually to freedom.

Similar to Gwinam, Nayeon is so focused on not becoming a zombie, she loses her humanity without ever getting bitten. Her fear of death and selfishness frankly would have been forgivable because not everyone is a hero. However, Nayeon not only accuses her classmate, Gyeong-su, of getting bitten and turning into a zombie, she intentionally infects him just to prove a point resulting in his demise. Consequently, the students realize they can’t trust her and lock her away, dooming her to a slow and lonely death. In contrast, class president Namra goes out to find food for the others. After being bitten and realizing she’s also got a taste for flesh, she manages to control herself several times until eventually, after the group escapes out into the woods, she realizes the danger she poses to others and separates herself. It’s the ultimate sacrifice really and exemplifies the verse, “no greater love has one man than this: to lay down one’s life for his friends.”

While all of the characters understandably want to live, Gwinam and Nayeon only care about themselves and as they say “[t]he attitude that comes from selfishness leads to death.” Namra and Suhyeok show immense bravery and selflessness in being unwilling to abandon their classmates and doing everything they can to ensure they survive. Consequently, they do end up surviving… so I guess all of them aren’t dead, which makes sense since the English translation appears to be whack.

Admittedly, the webtoon isn’t as thrilling and fast-paced as other monster survival tales (like Sweet Home/Shotgun Boy) and the art work is definitely an aesthetic not everyone will appreciate. But the story has a lot of heart. Like literally you will see lots of organs, hearts, and blood strewn everywhere because… zombies.

All of Us Are Dead Rating: 7/10

Webtoon Analysis: True Beauty, A True Disappointment

Spoilers ahoy!

True Beauty by Yaongi is a romantic comedy following the life of Jugyeong Lim, a relatable, young student who’s physical appearance is… well average. Jugyeong is no model, but she’s a cute lady who knows how to work the brush. Make-up brush that is. Her face painting skills allow her to ascend to the upper echelons of society, garnering her friends and male attention she previously lacked.

However, none of her friends know what she looks like without make-up, leaving her insecure and using make-up as a mask to hide her “ugliness”. Jugyeong is always on guard, afraid her carefully curated world as the hot girl summer will crumble once others discover what she looks like beneath the mask.

Then, a wild Suho appears!

A wild Suho!

Suho is conventionally attractive, smart, and sort of rude initially. A lover of horror and comics, he runs into a bare-faced Jugyeong at the comic store and the two eventually bond over their shared love of all things creepy. An interest that soon blossoms into love as Suho is drawn to her “true beauty”: the Jugyeong who’s awkward, likes horror, comics, and late night talks on benches while eating snacks in sweats. A Suho who encourages Jugyeong to be better, to study hard, and pursue her dreams. The feelings are mutual too.

True Beauty was sort of cheesy and not typically the sort of thing I enjoy reading, but it was light-hearted and had a semi-positive message: ladies, find a guy who likes the true you. A guy who shares your weird hobbies, isn’t put-off when you’re just chilling in sweats, and who pushes you to be better. But most importantly, a guy you’re entirely comfortable being yourself around.

Alas, all good things must be ruined by love triangles… and poor writing.

The story introduces Seonjun, who initially is very much your average bad boy type character, clad in jewelry and all.

A wild Seonjun!

He’s sort of a jerk to Jugyeong at first (or his friends are – birds of a feather, if you will) and Jugyeong is terrified of showing him her face. Unlike Suho, Jugyeong doesn’t really have much in common with Seojun. Nevertheless, for whatever reason, Jugyeong finds herself interested in him aided by the fact that right as her relationship with Suho was blooming, the author put him on a boat and ships him away. Literally. Suho disappears from the story entirely for vague reasons and then the reader gets what feels like a very lengthy filler episode, depicting Jugyeong’s relationship with Seojun. Suho eventually reappears, but is basically reduced to wangsting over Jugyeong.

Seojun’s introduction essentially marked the end of what little character development Jugyeong was experiencing and what little individuality she possessed too.

Episodes later, Jugyeong never develops beyond that insecure, young lady wearing a mask because she’s terrified of her natural appearance, and her relationship with Seojun seemingly makes her regress into an even more insecure individual, obsessed with looks. And while she quickly grew comfortable around Suho bare-faced, it took her some 90 episodes before accidentally showing Seojun her face. Fortunately, he’s fine with it but still. It’s a terrible way to start a relationship and an unhealthy message to young girls.

Rather than coming to understand what true beauty means, Jugyeong seems to have become a stereotypical “pretty girl”, vain and obsessed with her appearance. And whereas at least her relationship with Suho showed Jugyeong she didn’t need to be all dolled up to obtain meaningful relationships with others, her relationship with Seojun just sort of exists as a plot device to drag the story along endlessly, with no clear ending in sight.

While True Beauty’s not over (and it’s been made into a drama apparently), it should’ve ended long ago. Yaongi seems to have either lost the plot, or is dragging the story on because it’s successful (which get the bag, but personally I do appreciate authors like Carnby Kim who create very tight, well-paced plots without filler (to be fair – those are two different genres, but even compared to “Odd Girl Out”, another ongoing manwha centered around a young woman going through life, True Beauty is lacking as the Main character Nari develops tremendously throughout the story, whereas Jugyeong does not)).

In Yaongi’s defense, the Korean title seems to be “A Goddess Descends” or “The Secret Angel”, so it’s entirely possible English translators set unfair expectations for readers by naming it “True Beauty”. Even still, it lacks character development, the male leads are static, and the story’s initial, more interesting premise about a young girl learning about the meaning of true beauty seems to have ditched in favor of a more stereotypical, love-triangle-ish story about a young women obsessed with looking pretty for the sake of others.

True Beauty Rating: 6.5/10