Not So Bad Volume 2

By E. Hae and E.Hae

by E. Hae
Eunhee is not the person he once was. The handsome and popular actor is slowly losing his fastidiousness and his ability to care for himself. Constantly overworked and ignoring the need for sleep, his body is slipping off the edge. Aspirin has become a constant companion, and water and vitamin supplements have become his closest friends. Gain is not doing much better. Sleep continues to elude him and he is perennially shadowed by a stalker who keeps on pestering him for a relationship he can't give. Apart, these two men seem to be floundering, floating aimlessly in a meaningless world. When Eunhee breaks down from a dangerous combination of malnutrition, insomnia and anemia before a trip overseas, he decides to take a break. Fate intervenes and through a seemingly random coincidence, Gain and Eunhee are brought together again. They've found happiness, but for how long? Eunhee admits to feeling like Gain can leave at any moment and when Gain walks in on Eunhee kissing a young woman, it seems that destiny is ready to tear them apart. Can a drifter and a loner really live together? Have they truly found a way to not let go? Find out in Not So Bad Volume 2.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1600090567
• ISBN13: 9781600090561
• Release Date: November 2006
• Publisher: NETCOMICS
• Length: 200 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.0" x 7.1"
• Age Range: 13 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 8 and higher

Customer Reviews

No bad at all

I saw this title a while ago in a store. But I passed it up to go read from more popular manga publishers... which was a big mistake! I should have picked this one up back then, because it is an awesome story! "Not so Bad" is the story of an actor, Eunhee, who is loved by everyone, yet he doesn't love anyone at all, as a matter of fact he seems to have a little bit of Anthropophobia. He is vain, handsome, smart [...] all the things you would expect from a high class actor. He one day stumbles upon Gain, a stray cat type.... he has no home, he wanders from place to place, he isn't the cleanest of people, he rarely sleeps, playful... he is so unlike Eunhee... and yet, they find themselves drawn to one another. Eunhee takes Gain home with him..... is "home where the heart is"? This is not your typical Shounen-ai story, it is better than that. The dialog is natural, the characters thoughts and inner narrative reveal feelings that are all too real. This story hits the emotional cords of the heart in a beautiful way. The drawing is relaxed and has a delicate flowing feel.... The author E. Hae also has written other stories such as Roureville, which can be read on the publishers website. If you like Shounen-ai (Shonen-ai) this is a sweet yet deep story that will have you wishing it would never end...

End of the Road Movie!

The second and final part of what is probably my favorite shonen-ai series so far. The sudden desertion of his roommate, Gain Yoo, has left star actor Euhnee Kim with a case of killer insomnia and a passion for working himself to death that alarms even his gung-ho manager. We also get to see life from Gain's point-of-view at last, finding out, among other things, that he too isn't doing so well in the sleep department. Can love conquer insomnia and out-of-control chain smoking, or are they both doomed? This has among the best stories and central relationships in any shonen-ai I have read, a solid, quirky supporting cast, and well-evoked settings. The working atmosphere around Kim's film sets, or the camaraderie at the bar where Gain works, are nicely brought to life. Even two lady reporters, who appear in only one single panel on a TV screen, are full of personality. In fact, all the female characters are "salty", and I loved Kim's shleppy director chum. Social prejudice towards homosexuality is clearly being taken into account in a realistic and low-key way, as in Kim's scene with his ex-girlfriend. Like the other reviewer, I hugely enjoyed the juxtaposition of the characters' thoughts with their (sometimes contradictory) dialogue. NOT SO BAD strikes me as something that might be snatched up and made into an independent film sometime. It is a human story with appeal beyond a specific audience. It is grounded in ordinary daily life, but with a subdued whimsy. There is no explicit content, no evidence of sex-role obsessions, no romanticizing of brutality. Kim's worst behavior - his possessive tirade in Book One -- is what makes Gain take off, and here we see Kim being careful not to repeat such behavior, which is extremely refreshing.

A tasty shounen-ai!

"Not so Bad" ends with Vol 2. The characters have taken a surprising turn. In Vol 1, the actor seems the cooler seme type but in Vol 2 I am not so sure. Of course without any sex, we will never know. Here in Vol 2, the actor is the more needy and obsessed one while the vagabond is the tougher and more laid back character. Vol 2 focus on the 2 young men trying to live without the other as their woe of insomnia continues. This Korean Manhwa is imbued with feelings expressed seamlessly in the boys' thoughts as they struggle with the need for the other. It is quite an experience to follow both thoughts and dialogue simultaneously and the translation is solid enough to carry it through. This is a fine piece of Shounen-ai. However I am a trifle disappointed the mangaka is not courageous enough to enhance her emotional words with more explicit sexual content because the atmosphere is surely there. On the artwork, I find it a trifle awkward. Her guys are drawn too angular, their eyes too heavy lidded and droopy and the hands over emphasized. Maybe I am more used to the prettier and more "clean lined" Japanese drawings. Give this Korean shounen-ai a try.