Not So Bad Volume 1

by E. Hae

Book Overview

by E. Hae
Even with his hot career, top movie star Eunhee finds his life empty and without reason. Then one day, in front of his door, he finds Gain... who looks like an abandoned cat from a bad mugging incident. From that day on, the two men get to share Eunhee's house... and his bed, though not intended. Eunhee gradually realizes that his hopeless and meaningless life has changed forever since Gain has entered his house, and his love for...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1600090559
• ISBN13: 9781600090554
• Release Date: April 2006
• Publisher: NETCOMICS
• Length: 204 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.2" x 7.1"
• Age Range: 13 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 8 and higher

Customer Reviews

captivating art

This is a great BL title. The art has the crazy detail of manhwa, as well as the really streamlined quality of contemporary manga. The dark quality of the art makes it all the more beautiful. The story also has an interesting twist with the whole idea of the perfect body temperature. The main character Cain is also very endearing, but seems to have a dark underside that has yet to show. I'm very interested to see where this story will go from here.

A Road Movie in One Place

An engaging "shonen ai" from Korea, in two volumes. It is a character-driven romance with a touch of the surreal. The publisher, NETCOMICS, will let you preview the first chapter on their website. The main character is a famous but depressed Korean actor who in a weak moment takes in a beat-up drifter. The new guy doesn't clean up after himself, drinks all the beer, snuggles next to our hero while he is sleeping without a by-your-leave, and gets all hurt and indignant at hints to move out. When the actor finds himself falling for this feckless moocher, he is at a loss as how to express it, and terrified the drifter will drift on before he figures it out. I honestly picked this up because I figured it would be BAD. I had work to do, and I wanted something that would distract me, but not TOO much. I ended up enjoying it a lot more than most Japanese shonen-ai I've read so far. The characters are more real and more likable. The focus is on genuine character growth and interaction, rather than pursuit/resistance or contrived misunderstandings. The plot revolves around a whimsical device involving the drifter's recurrent insomnia, but the author's interest, as she says, is in examining "the characters emotions and mental states" rather than story or incident. The stream-of-consciousness narration really draws you in, and illuminates the difficulty that the characters have expressing and understanding themselves. This is very true to life, and is the source of both the humor and the drama. In the forward, E. Hae mentions her belief that human relationships should be good for people, and that attitude comes through in the story. There is also an interesting scene where the actor bad-mouths a certain director for valuing brutal contrivance over emotional honesty - which struck me as an expression of the author's own artistic views. I liked NOT SO BAD even better on the second reading than on the first, and better yet on the third. Definitely one of my few "keepers". The art was odd to me at first, but I now find it quite beautiful, and I don't think the covers do it justice. This is rated 16 + for adult themes and some sexual content -- usually handled in conversation or in non-graphic scenes.

A pleasing shounen-ai !

This Korean manhwa on the love between a famous actor and a vagabond is a great surprise. It is tastefully done and interlaced with emotions, which is not lost in the solid translation. Vol 1 did a fine job exploring these 2 young men's characters and the development of their need for one another. There are some sweet moments in their sleeping habits which developed to the point when each could not sleep without the other. The artwork is pleasing though it took some time to get use to, as well as reading from left to right, a problem after being used to the Japanese manga style. Definitely getting Vol 2.