Bastard

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I've just finished this, it's 4 in the morning and I need to express the immense enjoyment I had whilst reading this. Over the 3 days I've read Bastard, it has literally prevented me from doing revision as the story has just kept me glued to page after page, thinking that I'll finish reading at a certain time but ending up spending hours reading.

The overall story is very simplistic yet very surreal, as the synopsis doesn't give away that much, I don't want to give away spoilers as to who the serial killer is but you find out straight away, so the action happens fast. ... This is why it was so good to read as nothing is meaningless for the progression of the story, everything has an effect on either the actions/development of the main character or the plot itself.

The fact that it mixes in so many different genres that wouldn't normally be together, such as horror and romance makes the story even more interesting, as there are different aspects to the plot which keeps the story from getting tedious or boring. One moment the serial killer is up to no good, while at the same time the MC (Jin Seon) is having fun, which shows very different sides of people who are close to each other.

The best points would be the suspense, the unpredictability of the story and the compelling interactions between the characters. These interactions are made better by the art, as it's all in colour, which helps to show vivid emotions on the characters' faces, whether it's sheer terror, embarrassment or complete sadness.

So yeah I would definitely recommend Bastard to anyone who wants to have an enjoyable read!

Let me start this review by saying that I was just on the the final chapter of Bastard literally one minute ago and closed the MangaBlaze app only a few seconds ago. And now I'm here writing a review about it. So here goes.

Story:10
Overall the story was Fantastic. If you used MangaBlaze to read this then you will have already read the word 'Horror' in the description. However there is much more to Bastard than the single word horror. Even if it was purely a horror it wasn't scary or freaky and the gore was quite mild (in my opinion). So don't go saying when ... you read the description "Awww it's a horror story, looks like i'm not gonna read it" etc, because it is not only a horror genre. The story is quite gripping and as each chapter goes by you want to read more and more of it until you become obsessed and don't want it to end. Well this is how I felt about it anyway. The plot takes place in Korea were a teenager is forced, by his dad, to commit murder. Well in fact his dad does the killing, he just lures in women and knocks out the victims with a hammer. The boy (Jin) has been doing this since he can remember so he just thinks it's natural. That is until he meets a girl in his class named Kyun. His dad starts targeting her, and as you probably suspect, he starts wanting to protect her. There is a lot more to the story however out of fear of spoilers I won't continue any further.

Art:10
Now here's the interesting part. The art is very strange and unique and i've never seen it in any manga before. Nowadays manga is done on computers more often than by paper, so the pages have full colour. But the weird thing is the fact that the layout of the page is around two panels a page! This is definitely done for affect because of the dark themes that this series contains. However I can't help but think that this may also have been done to take up space for the lack of content. Probably not, and I hope not, but still i'm just putting it out there. The art is solid and at times may seem a little simplistic but that doesn't really matter due to the fact of it's outstanding story.

Character:10
Well the characters in this series were great. They showed stunning emotion and were really unique. Sure Jin is the shy quite kid that we've seen countless anime/manga but he had his own personality and lack of common sense and knowledge which wade this series humorous at times. Jin really was an amazing character and I was rooting for him throughout his whole journey (except for the first few chapters when I thought he was a psychopathic mass murderer). Jin's dad was also an outstanding character. His two sided personality of crazy psycho killer and nice kind man were really strange though started to make more sense as the story goes on. Theres not much to talk about Kyun Yoon considering she's kind of the cliched anime girl, except she has a bit more personality.

Enjoyment:10
Welp, from reading this review you probably get the picture.

Overall:10
If you haven't read Bastard then go do it now, you won't regret anything.

While writing this review I find myself in a position of affliction. Every limb of my literary body tears and rends its bones separate from the whole, in a combative wave of dissonance Bastard is wonderful. Bastard is awful. Bastard is ecstasy. Bastard is Bastard.

I am here to set the record straight on this series. The most unfortunate and unnecessary problem with Bastard is its ever-present reliance on bad writing tricks and hypnotic acts dependent on the ignorance of the reader. Yet, the irony is that this utilization of plot conveniences and literary evasion grants the series a delectable dynamicsm that one cannot help ... but indulge in. To be conscious of the series flaws is by no means difficult. On the WebToon app, you can see via the comment forums that the audience is fully aware of its qualitative misgivings, but rather than criticize they hold a banquet of praise for its disregard of rationality and admiration of chaos. Indeed, it is a sinful indulgence, but an indulgence nonetheless. The writing is at times unbearably bad and thrives on concept alone. Any renowned writing aesthetic would find Bastard to be an impermissible display of lazy writing that must face every munch and nibble the critic enacts upon its weary neck.

But do not misunderstand. Bastard remains a unique work of art that any reasonable folk who does not find himself obsessed with a conceited sense of the written word will enjoy. What I have learned from my years of digesting literature is that sublime writing is worthless if not founded on an engaging concept. It is the concept that interests us, it is the concept that drives the story, and it is the concept that infests our minds until our perceptive glances are no longer compelled by Earthly diversions, but the enchantment of phantasmal dreams. I can say with assurance that Bastard is a win in this department.


Verdict: 6/10

Quick Summary: Bastard is an enjoyable thriller with poor and absurd writing that could be easily fixed. Yet, it is this use of the absurd that opens the gates to so many narrative pathways making it engaging and unpredictable. The four main characters are well developed and the end leaves the reader with a real sense of fulfillment. Although Bastard has many chapters they are structured with brevity and there are few pages and panels to observe. It is a quick and simple read, that any and all should have no difficulty reading.