Manhwa Angst

Have you ever had the experience of being in a relationship with someone, taking that person for granted, losing that person in your life and subsequently realising they were the best thing that ever happened to you? No? Yes?

Don’t worry about it, it’s irrelevant. Manwha is Korean for comics, and can be likened to Japanese Manga, and Chinese Manhua in its various forms, styles and storytelling. Outside of the random issue of Shonen Jump I’ve browsed at a friends house, personally, I’ve never found much about any of those to hold my attention. Okay, so maybe some Dragon Ball, anyways, I recently bacame aware of Netcomics and their large amounts of online comics-where I was formally introduced to the first three chapters of “The Great Catsby” by Doha. This is not to be confused with Sailor Moon or (insert lame manga here). He uses simplicity and a subtle visual language to communicate larger messages. Anthropomorphic and (sometimes) abstracted animals represent characters residing in contemporary times. Large, engrossing backgrounds fill the spaces around the characters, giving readers not too unclear messages about the location of the story and its rare, tempestuous beauty. Couple that with a story so realistic you want to cut the heart out of the protagonist’s chest, yourself, just to save him some grief. The plot takes cues from “The Great Gatsby”, adds a Richard Linklater mentality, and has enough potential to be a John Cusack property. Translation is less than stellar but, you’ll find that out for yourself. If you make it through, it does payoff in a beautiful and timeless, train-wreck of a story, about youth, employment, and the things we do for love.