About:
Warning:
There will be spoilers for the manhwa series Frenzy Train.
Content Warning: There may be references to noncon, drugging, theft, violence, coercion, gang rape, smuggling, social gap, power imbalance, classism, slut-shaming, exhibitionism, BDSM (including nonconsenting BDSM), confinement, sex work (including unknown sex work and sex in exchange for favors), excessive drinking, manipulation, child labor, blood, prejudice, mentions of human trafficking, bribery, obsession, PTSD, implied murder, drugs, drug trafficking, and Stockholm syndrome, as they do appear in the manhwa.
Synopsis:
Sovian Darnell is on a mission. He’s destitute, but he’s intent on changing his future, all thanks to a marble he has hidden in a private place. All he has to do is smuggle the marble down to the south of the country, and then he’ll be set for life. Literally and figuratively, he’s sitting on immense wealth, but the only way he’s going to get it is if he can make it onto the train heading to the south. Thankfully, he does, but onboard, he runs into a strange man who introduces himself as Zerkin Sicario.
Zerkin is strangely forward with Sovian. While Sovian would like nothing more than to escape to economy class and hole up there until they get to the south, Zerkin doesn’t seem willing to just let Sovian go. Zerkin offers Sovian some cool water, a rarity on the train, which apparently only has warm water. Despite his better judgment, Sovian accepts the water but discovers his body permanently changed upon drinking it. He craves for someone to touch him, and he finds himself getting wet.
Thankfully, Zerkin is there to take care of him, but just as quickly as Zerkin appears, he disappears. And along with him, Sovian’s precious marble. Sovian has no choice but to hunt for Zerkin, but he has to traverse the entire train to get to him, which is full of men looking to take advantage of Sovian’s new constitution.
Review:
The art in this leaves a lot to be desired. Now, this is BL pornhwa in its truest form, so I’m not expecting perfect art by any means, but it is really unattractive to me for some reason. As with most titles, though, the art gets much better as it goes along. Sovian and Zerkin are night and day in art quality, from how they were in the beginning to how they are in the end, but by that point, the series is almost over, so we don’t get much in the way of pretty art. Even by the end, it’s still not the best, but there are some very pretty panels. This does have mind-break content, which means there are some really nice ahegao panels that I immensely enjoyed, but everything else is pretty lackluster and inconsistent.
As for the… story? What story? Honestly, they try to craft some vague nonsense, so the smut has some reason to happen beyond just happening, but there’s no significant meaning behind anything. Every story element appears at random and feels entirely nonsensical and nebulous. Sovian is trying to smuggle a marble up his ass. He gets stopped by Zerkin and offered water, which he drinks despite it coming from a complete stranger. Of course, it’s drugged and seems to permanently alter his body so he can get wet from the back. He’s broke, so he’s in economy seating. After getting banged by Zerkin and his marble stolen, he’s told to come to prestige, the highest class on the train, to get it back, and then he’s suddenly the economy class ‘cum dumpster’? Why? How? Is this common for the train line? It just feels super random, especially since everyone seems to accept it. Then, rather than just sneaking up the train line to the prestige section, he randomly meets people from higher sections of the car, is raped and confined by them, and that continues on and on until he makes it to prestige class. It’s random and completely nonsensical.
There’s also an unreasonable amount of emphasis placed on each of the men Sovian meets and ends up being kept by for a time. We learn their names and brief tidbits of background, such as Liam being one of Sesque’s workers and Liam having a weird obsession and jealousy over Sovian. After all of these introductions and brief backgrounds, once Sovian leaves them, that’s it. Liam, Sesque, and Cyril are never seen again. While I appreciate having key individuals to help move Sovian along as it helps diversify the sex scenes, I think giving them background and relationships takes away from the smut of it all. It makes it seem like these characters will reappear and play some integral role in the “story” of this series, only for them to never appear again. It feels like it really wanted to have a story but also wanted to just have as many opportunities to explore different kinks and sex as possible, which didn’t mesh well with what was ultimately created.
Rather than an in-depth story, I’d say this has a structured setting that lends itself to a steady progression to a goal, though I would not call it a story. This is the porn version of Snowpiercer. Sovian-piercier, if you will *badum tss*. Don’t misunderstand, though. I adore Snowpiercer, and I think its commentary on classism, as well as the thrilling narrative, are super powerful. Still, it does have a similar flow to this series, with the main character trying to reach the front of the train but encountering more dreadful and perilous things along the way. Funnily enough, this also tries to make some form of commentary on how disparaging the gap is between classes, displayed by the quality of food and room accommodations found up the chain of the train line. But all of that is certainly overpowered by the neverending noncon and dubcon smut this has. Not that that is a bad thing, but if you’re hoping for a deep story on a train, you’ll be disappointed. However, if you’re looking for people running a deep train on Sovian, you’re in the right place.
Results:
If you’re desperate for some Stockholm syndrome, mind-break, noncon/dubcon smut, I don’t imagine you’ll be disappointed. Granted, if you still need decent art, even in your pornhwa, you might turned off rather than turned on by this. For me, this was a huge miss. As a degenerate, the amount of smut was intriguing to me, but the quality of the smut was a bit lacking. I would call this a miss for me, but if you just need neverending noncon smut, then I think this is right up your alley.
Have you read Frenzy Train? If so, what do you think? Do you agree with my assessment? Do you not? Let me know, and comment below!