Nowhere Boy

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Welp, spent the night reading through up to chapter 28, to where translations have currently stopped. I can't say that I'm very impressed.

On the good sides, I definitely like the art and presentation. I'm not used to the web-comic style of the series, but I found it enjoyable nonetheless. Everything's colored, so that's definitely a great plus. There're a few cut corners on the artist's' side, using fewer panels with longer spaces for example and using repeated images, but this didn't really affect my reading. I think it's fair to not expect manga quality from a web-comic, so I won't complain. I suggest finding the ... series online with the original, long/vertical panels for the best viewing experience.

But I do have quite a few problems with the characters. I get that they're parodies, but my god, 12+ characters is just too much to keep track of for my poor brain. We dig ourselves a grave here when we try and mess around with so many characters, especially with so little time to expand upon them. Because we can't develop each character thoroughly enough, everyone just kind of loses their individual flavor and boils down to a one-dimensional figurehead. The same thing happens here. Over time, we've built up rather bland, rather boring cast of static characters.

That's not my main concern though. My biggest problem of the story is with our sad Lee Hyun character. We just, well, know absolutely nothing about him until well into the story. There's definitely I think some problems of withholding here, where it just simply takes too long to understand past background and grasp what's going on in his head. While there's humor to keep us afloat in some dry/unclear sections, I feel that we have a very weakly fleshed out title character, and that bothers me.

And on the topic of humor, I have to additionally say that there's a pretty jarring blend of humor and seriousness thrown into this story, which may appeal to some and put off others. For me, I definitely don't like it. The two sides have their individually funny and touching moments, but when mixed, the two just seem awkward and out of place in comparison to each other.

I highly enjoy this manga because of its artwork and its captivating story line. The first few chapters are set up very silly, which is a inane contrast to later chapters when the story becomes extremely profound. If you are not able to cope with abusive stories or are struggling with depression yourself, you may not be in the best state of mind in order to read this piece because it truly captures the emotions of hopelessness and despair. However, it is not all misery. There are several comic reliefs throughout the chapters that ease any sadness. Also, there's a kitten at the end of ... almost every chapter! This manga has been a fantastic ride and once you begin reading, it is very difficult not to continue to the next chapter. The story provides such a brilliant perspective towards the transition between unhappiness and happiness. I cannot wait to read the last four chapters.