Nonsensical, Chaos, Pseudo-Incest – The Manhwa
About:
Warning:
There will be spoilers for the manhwa series A Hunter's Stamina.
Content Warning: There may be references to drugging, dubcon/noncon, blood, violence, military, military drafting, death, exploitation, orphans, child abuse, child abandonment, pseudo-incest (adopted siblings), bullying, mentions of underage drinking, BDSM (including forced), near-death experiences, gun violence, mental illness, survivor’s guilt, human experimentation, terrorism, suicide, kidnapping, and power imbalance, as they do appear in the manhwa.
Synopsis:
The world has changed for the worse. All around the globe, portals have opened up, releasing all manner of hellish monsters and creatures onto the world. Thankfully, along with the manifestation of the portals, people suddenly awaken superhuman powers capable of stopping the otherworldly threat. Eventually, the portals and where they lead are called dungeons, and those who can manifest powers are known as hunters. Since hunters are the only humans able to kill these creatures with minimal mass casualties, every country is doing everything they can to encourage these hunters to enlist in their military to combat the dungeons.
South Korea, in particular, comes up with a simple but effective offer. If a family has a hunter who enlists for a minimum of ten years, all of their siblings will be spared from having to join the military. Otherwise, every child will have to enlist for a minimum of two years. This causes an influx of parents adopting orphans, hoping they will become hunters so they can protect their biological children from being forced to enlist. Yeon-woo is one of these children, adopted by a family who has failed with two other adopted children, and whose young son, Jeong-woo, is their only biological child.
Having been adopted and returned multiple times, Yeon-woo is determined to become a hunter and make this family keep him. This is partly because the family is extremely kind, but it’s also because of his new little brother. While Jeong-woo doesn’t seem to like Yeon-woo, Yeon-woo can’t help but love Jeong-woo. But as time goes on, Yeon-woo’s love for his little brother begins to change, and he’s more determined than ever to get out of the house and enlist as soon as he can. Jeong-woo, though, wants nothing more than to keep his older brother home with him.
Review:
The cover art for this is super deceptive. The shading is super dynamic, and there is a clear distinction between pieces of their hair. However, within the series itself, the art is much flatter. There is usually zero shading in the hair, and because both characters have black hair, it looks like they’ve just got big, chunky ink stains on their heads. There is also minimal shading on their faces and on certain body parts, which just looks bad. Add in some crooked fingers and massive feet, and this is one of the most inconsistent and chaotic styles I’ve read in a while. It has beautiful aspects to it, and I’m reading another ongoing title (as I write this) by the same artist that is much more consistent, so I know they are capable of it. However, this is just not a good showing for them.
And if that’s not bad enough, this story is just as chaotic. We’ll get into some narrative chaos later on, but to start with, the relationship between Yeon-woo and Jeong-woo is wild. They are adopted brothers, and Jeong-woo is that annoying tsudere type where they act like assholes and are bullies, even in the face of complete kindness which Yeon-woo embodies… until he randomly decides to rape Jeong-woo. Yeon-woo is the bottom, not that, that makes a difference, but it so random and totally out of character for Yeon-woo to be so loving and adoring to Jeong-woo, only to tie him up, blindfold him, and then rape him before running off to enlist. It made no sense to me. Then, as if that wasn’t weird enough, when they reunite, Jeong-woo then rapes Yeon-woo. This is a “love” story between two rapists. I’m a fan of noncon, but this was just really weird and out of character to me, at least for Yeon-woo.
But it’s even more confusing than that. We end up with a weird time thing. Yeon-woo and Jeong-woo are apart for five years, then Yeon-woo goes into a dungeon that locks up until all humans within die or they kill the boss. So, time for those in the dungeon freezes. When this starts, Yeon-woo is a year older than Jeong-woo, but when the dungeon does finally reopen, ten years have passed in the world outside, so Jeong-woo is essentially nine years older than Yeon-woo. I hate these weird time pocket storylines. They can definitely work, but this was just one more drop of confusion amid an already super confusing story.
And yes, I’m sure it doesn’t sound all that confusing at this point, but let me explain. Hunters are essentially superhuman. Easy, understandable. Cool. Well, in the time Yeon-woo was in his dungeon-pocket-dimension, Jeong-woo suddenly awakened as a hunter, donated himself to science, and unlocked what is essentially a deeper level of power… that manifests in video game menus, experience points, level ups, and the like. It could be cool, but it’s explained through information dumps, which is unfortunate. Then, Yeon-woo, who knows nothing about this world, is pressured into awakening this same power, as if he had any way of doing so or knew how. All of this takes place within twenty-five episodes, which is far too short for something this detailed, expansive, action-packed, etc. My head was spinning throughout this ordeal, and by the time it was over, none of it was any clearer or more enjoyable.
Results:
This is the biggest miss I’ve had in a while. It’s so unfortunate since this is uncensored, which is usually such a treat in smutty titles, but everything else surrounding that single positive is just nonsensical. This might be considered a romance, but there is zero chemistry. It’s pseudo-incest, which is already hard to swallow, but then is also essentially a rapist x rapist romance, which is just a weird thing to add on top of this. This could have been much more interesting if it had had time to develop and explore the world and its characters, but it tries to pack in all these elements in a fifteen-episode main story and a ten-episode side story. It’s just bad.
Have you read A Hunter's Stamina? If so, what do you think? Do you agree with my assessment? Do you not? Let me know, and comment below!