This was what I imagine an acid trip feels like lightweight. Because at the beginning it seemed as though it would be a "how aliens adapt to Earth" series and then it turned into a teen rom-com and then again it turned into an action series? It's hard to explain or give a clear genre to.
I have to say that the only reason I read this was because it was on Webtoon and it was a completed series. That was it. There was no real other enticing factor for me. The premise was interesting for sure, but at the time I wasn't really looking for anything sci-fi/action. And if you know me you know I'm all in for aesthetics and great plot. So let's just jump into it why don't we?
Aesthetically, the art is definitely more geared towards action. It's got the iconic 'kaboom' and 'smash' onomatopoeia that are so prominent in action comics. The color palette is consistent and it's got this muted sort of aesthetic throughout. Very primary color-ish as far as the main characters go. No one had outlandish hair and from a visual point of view it all looked relatively normal. Save for the black mouths and how that one zookeeper guy became white and blue. That was a little...
The premise of this comic again was something I wasn't particularly interested in. It was an experiment for me as well as the author. Literally in the creator's epilogue they wrote that this whole thing was just an experiment. And it was a wild ride. It could've taken a very traditional turn and just been about how Aura and Auger adapted to life on Earth, but instead it became a sort of political/societal commentary. It dealt with issues such as government which led to an interesting discussion in the comments section about different political systems and the mentality of the people. If you want a more in-depth and wayyyyy better analysis of things like that than I can give you, you should head over to the LINE Webtoon app because wow those people are good. And beyond the political aspect was the socio-cultural aspect. Because it seemed like everything was all hunky-dory on Leviathan, the planet Aura and the others were from, but there were some obvious flaws. Like if life was so great there, why did they all start emigrating to Earth? If this wasn't Leviathan, how were people able to harness mana? Why would they need mass buffs to brainwash people if it was so great? Was there a great god Leviathan? There were so many questions that were raised that it was hard not to be enraptured by this alternate society and wonder. That wonder kind of leads you to contemplate our society and its constructs.
One of the poignant societal elements that this comic touched upon was the issue of appearances. I don't want to start sounding preachy or anything, but it was interesting seeing the blind eye people turn to girls in danger. When Zizi was being stalked, literally no one did anything. They just all stood by and took that creep's word against hers. No one questioned it, no one even gave her a second thought. If Gosu wasn't there Zizi would've been another number for the statistics. Sure she's an imaginary girl, but she's also signifies the risk that every girl or boy for that matter is in. I can't stress this enough how we actually need to care about others and not just brush aside their concerns.
Another element that made this comic way deeper than it should've been is the other dark backstories people had. Like Gosu. He seems like your average, run-of-the-mill stony faced strong male hero. But beyond that he's a family man. Sure he gets mad at his mom and sometimes says things he shouldn't, but he always regrets it and does things to help his mom out as best he can. He even starts picking up his schoolwork to give her less to worry about. Under that stony faced demeanor he's a real guy with real motivations and a big heart (even if sometimes it's hard to take him seriously with his chair summoning and hair changes). And the teacher too. Oh my lord, he wanted to become a teacher to help kids like his old teacher helped him. And lost hope in everything around him when it wasn't that easy. Is there anything more heartbreaking? It's not just the soul crushing event of having no one believe in you that hurts the most, it's when even you start to doubt yourself. It's hard to accept the truth that not everything is pure and good in this world, but you've just got to do your best. That's so cheesy. Ugh why am I preaching right now?
Beyond all that deep stuff, I give this comic an A+ for the comedy. The amount of times they break the fourth wall is ridiculous. I think it was probably because the author thought to themselves "wtf am I doing?" but it also made this comic that much more enjoyable to read. And when the minor characters identified themselves as minor that was gold. And all of their facial expressions! Don't even get me started on the bara af rabbit. I'm still pretty disturbed about that. But the comedy was sincerely great and made it so much more candid and an easier read to binge.
I realized while inserting my screenshots that I forgot to mention the actual alien things like portals and elixirs. Well there's a lot of sci-fi action going on here with elixirs you can feed to animals/eat yourself to become mutant creatures. And there's kind of magic that's also ridiculous in here. Aura is one of the people on Leviathan that're called buffers and they cast spells called buffs. They're really ridiculous and serve to boost your stats like in a video game with +100 confidence or something like that. The premise is pretty interesting as Aura's buffs often go wrong, but they also desensitize you to stuff like death. Literally they get stabbed with lightsaber-esque mana weapons and get up perfectly fine. Like hmu with that shizz when Leviathans come to Earth for real (lol can you tell I'm starting to lose it?)
Overall I'd say if you can handle the slightest bit of creepy content and general ridiculousness then you can read this comic with no problems. There's a lot of profanity, but it's all censored to the point where you (or at least I did) become desensitized by it. It's super funny, super thoughtful, super ridiculous and it's finished. What more could you want? It's got the perfect amount of tension to keep you reading, but the pacing is good enough where you can stop yourself from reading all 100 episodes in one day. I think.
Yay for screenshots!
How could you not love these sexist jabs? Pfft
This will be more funny once you know the context I swear
asdfghjkl; the fourth wall has been breached
Ok this was really touching, let's be honest. And it just struck me that I didn't talk about Aura's buffs. RIP me.
RIP fourth wall
Gosu is the real winner in how to approach math textbooks
Sniffing glue is the real hardcore drugs
:') when a gangster delivers the real hard hitting lines
Awhhh isn't the teacher so great in a bittersweet sort of way
He's the fakest little b!tch if we're being honest here. A creepy yandere through and through.
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