College Campus is Overrun with Zombies, and Axe Man Seems to Know the Future
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Warning:
There will be spoilers for the manhwa series Dead Man's Switch.
Content Warning: There may be references to blood, violence, overwork, zombies, gore, death, sexism, suicidal ideation, suicide, sexual assault, arson, self-deprecation, murder, dubcon, noncon, mentions of military, theft, PTSD, gossiping, depictions of heterosexual intercourse (imagined), ableism, corporal punishment, military, gun violence, media censorship, and corruption, as they do appear in the manhwa.
Synopsis:
Hohyun has spent night after night working towards the end of the semester. He has one professor who is particularly difficult, but all goes well once he gets his work done and passes out in his dorm. What was meant to be a recuperating rest turns into an extended slumber, so deep that when Hohyun wakes up, he doesn’t realize just how much time has passed. But it must have been a good chunk of time, since when Hohyun went to sleep, everyone was heading out for Christmas break or settling in for winter classes, but when he woke up, there were cannibalistic dead people filling the campus.
It’s like Hohyun is stuck in a nightmare.
And just when he’s found another living human being, it turns out to be an upperclassman named Youngwon, and he’s carrying around a bloody axe, which he uses to chop down these monstrous remnants of their classmates like he’s been doing it all of his life. What’s worse is that Youngwon acts like he knows Hohyun, but Hohyun has never interacted with this man in his life. But with no one else to turn to, Hohyun hesitantly aligns himself with this violent stranger. As this mismatched pair does their best to survive, it becomes apparent that the real dangers are the other survivors. Just what has caused this horror show to begin with, and is anyone coming to save them?
And does Youngwon’s insight have something to do with this?
Review:
I have to say, I really like this art style. It really fits a horror thriller series like this, but I would love to see it in other genres. I’m not going to pretend that it is the cleanest style out there, but it is very dynamic, and this artist can draw a look of crazed delirium or horror with absolute perfection. The smut is also very nice to look at, and that is always a plus. The most important thing is that it fits the tone, and that made me very happy.
Unfortunately, the fact that I like the art makes the rest of this review all the more disappointing. Before I get too deep into the negatives, though, let’s talk about something I liked that many people probably won’t. This is full of dubcon/noncon smut scenes. Part of what I love about the art is how horrified Hohyun can look in the face of all said horrors, but I especially love his strained, fearful pleasure face in the smut scenes. It is like the horror carries over into the smut, and I really like that. Of course, noncon isn’t everyone’s thing, so be aware. I will say that, because this is on Tapas, there are comments, and many of them mention that in the novel version, the sex scenes seem more consensual than they do in this adaptation. I haven’t read the novel, though I do own the original eBooks and have it on TappyToon, so I’ll hopefully be able to read and review that one day.
But as much as I like the art, especially in the smut scenes, where this begins to fail is in the pacing. This is meant to be a horror thriller, which includes many scenes where Youngwon and Hohyun are faced with violent and intense situations against other humans and the undead. These are strangely short-lived, and while Hohyun (and later on Youngwon) fears these things, all of the major problems they encounter are resolved, and they just flit from one thing to the next. This isn’t so bad, especially when their slow-burning romance and the mystery behind Youngwon’s foresight fill in some of the disappointment, but then Youngwon’s reincarnation/regression is revealed, and everything falls apart from there.
While this wasn’t technically axed, it certainly felt that way toward the end. Once Youngwon reveals that every time Hohyun dies, he resets to the beginning of this horror, the mystery and intrigue that were padding the pacing are gone. So the thrilling events that happen after that are just needless. They lose their intensity, and while we still get some smut and romance, which is nice, there still isn’t enough to build anything up. Add in that there is a halfhearted second reveal that Youngwon might have been the one to release the virus (which we never actually see), followed by a quick succession of non-thrilling escapes, that culminate in one of the most unsatisfying endings I’ve seen in a while. I’ve read that the novel is much more thorough and thrilling, which makes this adaptation all the more disappointing. I’m sure there were limitations in the run for this, which is why it fell so hard and short, but it is still just so disappointing.
Results:
This was honestly a painful read. It had its bright points, especially in the beginning, and while the smut carried a lot of this for me, when the foundation is meant to be a horror thriller that barely thrills, it all falls apart. This artist’s style certainly spoke to me, though, so I will be looking out for more of their work. And while the adaptation wasn’t great, I am looking forward to giving the original novel a try. But at the end of the day, unless you are just super curious with some ink (Tapas currency) to burn, I would not recommend this one.
Have you read Dead Man's Switch? If so, what do you think? Do you agree with my assessment? Do you not? Let me know, and comment below!
