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 seaside romance, dorky princesses, and, of course, dungeons. Plus, a special appearance by Comics Beat’s own Zack Quaintance!
Far From Romance
Writer/Artist: Amamiya
Translation: Kat Skarbinec
Lettering: Karis Page
Publisher: Seven Seas Entertainment
One of my fears when reading single volume romances is that the author will rush into the relationship without taking the time to develop it. I went into Far From Romance with that sense of trepidation, but was pleasantly surprised.
Tono Arata’s life revolves around work at his small IT company in a just-as-small seaside town. When a newcomer from England arrives, he immediately surprises Arata with his charming but blunt personality, as well as his very non-Japanese customs such as leaving a work drinking party whenever he wants. Lewis didn’t just move to this small Japanese town out of his love for the culture and his favorite anime Oyster Girl, though. He’s looking for the person he once fell in love with, who happens to be Arata.
Amamiya’s art and story contribute to a light, soft read. We don’t learn Lewis and Arata’s previous connection until the second chapter, although hints appear on a reread. Still, the manga artist does a great job developing Tono and Lewis’s relationship, not pushing it too fast or dragging it on for too long. The sense progression is very natural. I also like that Lewis’s pursuit of Arata isn’t too in-your-face.
One of my gripes with Far From Romance is that while we glimpse Arata’s family situation—that his father is disappointed that his son won’t be working in the family business—that’s all we get. The way it was left hanging left me wanting to learn more about Arata’s background in a second volume or sequel. Another gripe of mine was the explicit scene, but that’s just me quibbling with how every single volume BL always ends on a bed scene as a final culmination of the relationship.
Far From Romance is a very sweet read. Although the romance could have been fleshed out more, I like that this tale focuses more on the journey than the outcome of the relationship. — Hilary Leung
The Royal Tea
Writer/Artist: Captain Juuter
Platform: WEBTOON
One of the most memorable moments of the WEBTOON Creator Residency Program I attended in LA this year was witnessing an in-person WEBTOON Launch party for a new series: Captain Juuter’s The Royal Tea. I might not be one for romance stories, but The Royal Tea is more of a comedy with elements of romance.
The lead, Princess Penelope of Gimenia, is what I would describe as a clumsy dork of a woman. When the paparazzi overhear her bad mouthing TV Actor Allan Reinhardt, her popularity drops overnight. Worse, Penelope is so down bad for Allan that she buys merch of him, including some spicy ones! To make matters even more complicated, her new bodyguard looks a lot like Allan…too much like Allan.
What stood out to me when the series launched was the way that Juuter draws Penelope. Her expressive face lends itself so well to comedy. Juuter’s anime inspired character designs are simple, yet allow for such energy and comedic exaggeration. Juuter’s gag writing is also so punchy and fast paced.
My only gripe would be that like some other webtoon series, The Royal Tea over-relies on pre-made 3D assets that don’t mesh well with the characters in the same panel. It’s just a minor gripe, though, that doesn’t affect my overall enjoyment of the comic.
The Royal Tea has been a fun read these past few weeks, and its humor and energy holds up even in newer chapters. This is coming from someone who is very picky when it comes to WEBTOON Original series. So if it has me hooked, I am sure it might interest you as well. That’s my guarantee, birb nerds! — Justin Guerrero
Tower Dungeon
Writer/Artist: Tsutomu Nihei
Translation: Sam Malissa
Lettering: Darren Smith
Publisher: Kodansha
In the past year, English language readers have received five volumes of Tower Dungeon, Tsutomu Nihei’s latest manga. With its shift from sci-fi to dark fantasy, readers can sense Nihei enjoying the novelty, gleefully throwing his usual monster designs at wizards and knights, draconomorphs and nobles.
The concept for Tower Dungeon is relatively simple. A necromancer is causing havoc, having assassinated a king and imprisoned a princess at the top of a massive floating tower. That tower is an inverted dungeon, spanning 100 floors of loose reality. The march up the floors isn’t linear, and the tower’s inhabitants are first and foremost obstacles chosen to cause as much trouble for the heroes as possible.
Nihei plays this out to great effect, torturing his characters and not holding any of them as too precious. The body count in this comic is high. Nihei here is acting as a hybrid of manga artist and dungeon master. He is, of course, writing and drawing a story, but he is also creating a phalanx of traps, monsters, and rug pulls to challenge his party (and, more often than not, take big chunks out of their HP).
Nihei’s cartooning with its heavy inks in Tower Dungeon is gritty and high impact. The story feels more like a deconstruction of fantasy tropes than fantasy told straight. As the series has continued, the stakes have risen as my expectations for who might survive and why have been thwarted again and again. That’s a great way to keep me marching through the tower dungeon myself. — Zack Quaintance
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