Updates on stuff
January 11th, 2008 by Lianne
I guess I’ll do a review or essay or something on Death Note now; I’ve practically written one in the comments section of last post already, but that’s lame - I need something more organized. Time to replace my mouth with money, or however the expression goes.
I’ve also read a lot more of Let Dai this week, and I think I can now say that the comic is strangely brilliant. Volume 8 pushed me over the edge of “I like it”/”it’s actually good” that some comics keep me straddling for a while (like INVU). That’s not to say Let Dai isn’t interesting from the beginning - I was pretty intrigued by Volume 2, really. But I think Volume 8 proves that the manhwaka knows exactly what she’s doing, and that the craziness that proceeded it was entirely intentional. Yes, Let Dai is batshit insane. But it’s batshit in a good way, and it goes down these roads that most shoujo are too scared to. For example, rape is handled realistically. Pushover characters actually suffer because they can’t stand up for themselves - and I don’t mean in the cliche way of some girl getting picked on in class for no reason and her love interest saving her, I mean a pushover character not standing up for the right thing and then being hated by the people who once admired him. Also, the beautiful anti-hero Dai IS OUT OF HIS MIND. He’s uncompromisingly, unapologetically, and unashamedly out of his mind. And I really like that. Like Carno from The Young Magician, I admire characters who are thoroughly insane, and not just insane when the plot dictates that that would be cool. If you’re nuts, you’ve gotta stay nuts. And Dai is so, so nuts. Another sign that the manwha is good - the manhwaka keeps telling the audience that Dai changes whatever world he steps into, that people either love him with everything they have or hate him with the fire of a thousand hot Latin suns. That sort of character is almost impossible to write realistically. But…I really do think I believe in Dai. He bothers me deeply in a way that very few other fictional characters can. He’s actually made me stay up at night and stare at the ceiling while I wondered about him.
God, I love good comics.
Anyway, so Death Note and Let Dai updates will be coming soon, and NotHayama’s got some stuff coming as well. See you Tuesday.