A Nonsensical Romp at a Bathhouse
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Warning:
There will be spoilers for the manhwa series Following Namsoo to the Bathhouse.
Content Warning: There may be references to mentions of death, overwork, toxic work environment, excessive drinking, manipulation, perceived cheating, prejudice, and dubious consent, as they do appear in the manhwa.
Synopsis:
Minjae has a problem. He is suddenly impotent, and he wants nothing more than to unwind after a long day at work and give himself some self-love. Unfortunately, no matter what he tries, nothing seems to spark him up downstairs. That is, until he recalls a man he encountered on the bus. Now, Minjae has never been attracted to men before, but there is something about this stranger that gets him all worked up in the right ways. Desperate to find out more about the objects of his lust, Minjae ends up following the man off the bus to Namsoo’s bathhouse.
Surrounded by naked men, Minjae isn’t sure if this is the best environment to test the waters and confess his attraction to a stranger. But when he ends up in a private stall with the man, who happens to also be named Namsoo, his little fella might not give him much of a choice. Namsoo happens to be a scrubber at the bathhouse, and he’s about to get really close to Minjae.
Review:
Now, this review pains me to write. Why, you may ask? One of my dearest friends recommended this one to me, and he and I usually agree on a lot of the big-name titles. Unfortunately, this is one that we are on completely opposite sides of the map on. Hopefully, he’ll understand, but let’s get into the why of it all. First off, this series is ugly. That’s not all that surprising since it is relatively old. Despite it being ugly, it is pretty fun to see where Cuke Soap came from and where they are now. Even within this one series, comparing the extras at the end to the art of the main story is like night and day. However, while I like seeing how far an artist can grow and change over the course of a series and across different series, this is just plain ugly. Don’t let the cover art fool you.
This is also meant to be a comedy. Yes, there were moments when I laughed – one such moment is when Minjae argues with his penis. However, I found the laughs far and few between. Admittedly, I found a lot of it just awkward, and I think it is partly due to the pacing of the story. I can barely tell how much time passes between every “scene” or “arc.” This very well could be all within three days, or it could be a few months, but the lack of any grounding makes it hard to figure out what is going on and when. I’m sure this is partly because this is meant to be a silly, smutty comedy, but it also tries to have a narrative, and that is where the problem lies.
There is a client that Minjae has who is also in the spa/bathhouse business, and he is doing everything he can to seduce Minjae and ruin his relationship with Namsoo. This leads to a painfully frustrating culmination of misunderstandings: Minjae thinks Namsoo is cheating on him, decides to go out with the client, runs away from the client, gets jealous again, goes out with the client again, over and over again. It is frustrating how cyclical it all is, and there is a point where Minjae goes out with the client, goes to his spa, runs away, goes to Namsoo’s bathhouse, runs away again, and this all seems to take place within the same day. It makes zero sense and is entirely nonsensical. This is one of those series where I wish it had just dumped the plot and gone for 100% smut because the story only makes it worse overall.
I also don’t feel like our two leads have any chemistry whatsoever. Again, I’m going to blame the pacing since these two end up in a whirlwind sexual relationship. That isn’t bad within itself – many of my favorites start out this way – but then it just assumes these two are in a happy, loving relationship. Like I said before, that isn’t too bad when it is a wild romp with little substance, but then it dives into relationship troubles that we are supposed to believe are real and meaningful, and they just don’t feel that way; instead, they come off as hollow and petty. Even by the end, I wasn’t really rooting for their relationship, and that sucks.
Results:
I love my friend Porphyra dearly, but I just can’t love this series (if you’re reading this, please forgive me). It is nonsensical, but tries to make sense, and it is smutty, but is, honestly, too ugly to enjoy. There’s not enough narrative to make a meaningful and satisfying story, and there’s too much story for it to be a smutty romp. I think it tries too hard to be too many things and loses its way entirely as a result. I do think it is a fun piece of history on the path of the current Cuke Soap, but otherwise, it isn’t worth the time or money. I would pass on this one.
Have you read Following Namsoo to the Bathhouse? If so, what do you think? Do you agree with my assessment? Do you not? Let me know, and comment below!
