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With more people reading manga and webtoons (aka vertical scroll comics) than ever before, Beat’s Bizarre Adventure gives three writers an opportunity each week to recommend some of their favorite books and series from Japan, Korea, and elsewhere. This week we have puppy love, musclebound yuri SF, and, of course, Audrey.
Paws & Claws
Original Novel: Marine Code
Adapted by: Ilju
Artist: Duhaem
Platform: Lezhin
They say that you can’t judge a book by its cover, and that’s truly the case for the two characters in Paws & Claws. Take the drug runner Gyeon Heeseong, for example. When he’s in his true form as a fluffy white dog that could fit in your palm, you wouldn’t think he could hurt a fly. But as soon as he opens his mouth, even if you don’t understand Dog, you know exactly what he’s thinking and feeling. Dammit, he’s a fighter dog, for crying out loud! Take him seriously!
Then you have Yoon Chi-young. You don’t want to be on his bad side whether he’s in his true or human form. Yet when he’s with Heeseong, he suddenly turns into putty. You would never guess he was the fearsome Wolf Den enforcer known as Savage Fang.
Heeseong and Chi-young “get together” very early on in the story. When Heeseong is hurt doing a job, Chi-young finds him in an alley and takes him home, believing that he picked up a cute stray. Heeseong keeps his guard up, and yet there’s something sweet about this surprisingly clingy and obsessive enforcer that he can’t help but find endearing. Heeseong and Chi-young might seem very different. But both yearn for the same thing: a family.
I love how the artist draws Heeseong’s expressions in his true form. Okay, maybe I’m biased because I’m a sucker for fluffy dogs. But it’s a hilarious contrast to see such an adorable puppy barking and cursing like a sailor. Chi-young also doesn’t understand Heeseong in his true form, so he unknowingly (though sometimes purposefully) misinterprets the angry barks.
Although I would have liked to see the series delve more into Chi-young’s past, Paws & Claws otherwise has a lot of fluff, bark, and heart
SHWD: The Complete Yuri Collection
Writer/Artist: sono.N
Translator: Jessica Latherow
Adaptation: Emlyn Dornemann
Lettering: Ochie Caraan
Cover Design: Nicky Lim
Copy Editor: B. Lillian Martin
Proofreader: Leighanna DeRouen
Production Designer: Christina McKenzie
Senior Editor: Jenn Grunigen
Publisher: Seven Seas
Koga is a new recruit to the Tokyo branch of Special Hazardous Waste Disposal—SHWD for short. The organization is heavily male-dominated, and Sawada, who’ll be Koga’s superior from now on, notes that she is the only other woman in the team. If she can manage to stay, that is.
SHWD is tasked to fight biological weapons called Dynamis, deadly beasts whose electromagnetic fields alter humans’ minds and make them lose their sanity. The closer you get the stronger their effect, so almost all SHWD employees use guns–except Sawada. How can she fight Dynamis within such a close range and remain sane?
I first met sono.N through their Boys’ Love manga. Although those series are not yet licensed in English, we were already blessed with their Girls’ Love titles, and I came across SHWD’s doujin version long before this complete collection release. The self-published version, along with other works by the same creator, is available at Lilyka Manga, the Girls’ Love imprint of Digital Manga Inc.
If I were to look at SHWD critically, I’d say its structure is all over the place. Not that it’s confusing per se, but that it isn’t as coherent as you’d expect from a “complete collection.” There are also pages with perspective errors, especially when it comes to the characters.
But if I were to look at it as a GL enthusiast and compare it to the GL titles we have licensed in English, SHWD goes to lengths that we rarely see. Not only with its science-fiction setting and focus on biological warfare, but with the characters and their body shapes and sizes. Nearly all the women here are super large and muscular, which in itself is worthy of attention for a GL series.
Each character has enough going on that I would have happily read further volumes by sono.N exploring their tragic backstories. The compelling setting and flawed but lovable cast of SHWD leave you wanting for more, in a good way.
The complete collection is practically an omnibus with its 500 page length. It’s chunky just like its characters and full of grit, intrigue, and companionship!
The Boy From Venus
Writer/Artist: Shen
Platform: WEBTOON CANVAS
This is a series that caught me by surprise. The Boy From Venus, the newest series from Shen (the creator of Bluechair and Shen Comix) is centered on Val, an opinionated shut-in gamer who really doesn’t like men. When she heads out to her local store one day to buy snacks, she meets Audrey, an optimistic and cheerful femme guy. The two develop a friendship as Audrey takes Val out to try on new clothes and face her past in gaming communities. Meanwhile Val’s preconceived notions about Audrey slowly begin to change.
The art is typical for Shen: loosely inspired by anime and manga, thick lineart with little to no anti-aliasing for the edges, and bright flat colors with simple cell shading. Val is very expressive despite being a shut in, and conveys anger, disgust, and the occasional smile perfectly. I admire how Shen’s lines beneath Val’s eyes give her a baggy-eyed, tired look together with her muted clothing. Which is in stark contrast to the star of the show: Audrey!! She’s marked by her bright colors, strawberry-blonde hair and big expressive eyes with pink eye makeup. Her faces also make for meme-worthy reaction images that have been filling up my phone since August.
Story-wise, I can’t see yet how the story will end aside from Val opening up more. I also have no idea whether this will be a short series or one that will last for longer. The only thing for certain is that I love Audrey’s character. I’m always happy to see more of this mysterious boy from Venus.
This series is available on multiple platforms including WEBTOON, Bluesky, and even Shen’s Patreon. Damn you, Shen, for creating my newest obsession this year!
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