As Disney and small producers struggle against screen monopoly in Korea, maybe we are only consuming contents from the big companies as well. We might be even keeping the masterpieces hidden under the ground at this moment. Words of blessings and encouragement for the passion to explore! Let's start today's highly subjective recommendation of webtoons.

 

1. GOSU

I can't discuss my favorite webtoons without mentioning a masterpiece that attracts readers with excellent directing and story, even after bringing out an unfamiliar genre. This may be an overstatement comprised of my love for martial arts and inaccurate evaluation of the work. But isn't there an old idiom that indeed suggests you to 'give someone the benefit of the doubt'? No matter how heartless life has become, recommending some cartoons lightly would leave nothing for you to worry about so please hold onto your doubts for a moment.

The prevailing trend in genre literature is . Initially, it was an expression that referred to a character that cheated in RPG games, ignoring the rules of it. But today, the concept has changed and it now means that certain character is strong enough to disregard the rules in a text.

Anyway, if you ask why being is so popular in genre literature, I want to postulate that it's because the main readers of genre literature are middle-aged people in their 30's and 40's. For middle-aged readers, who are in the midst receiving stress at work, complicated conflicts and suffering characters are avoided because they are painful to look at. Instead, simply crushing through conflicts and smashing the enemies make the readers vicariously satisfied with the genre which 'GOSU' also belongs to.

But 'GOSU' does not focus on the main character's strength. It captures the relationships between the characters and the dramas that happen in the relationships. And here, a different type of fun comes from the characters, unlike other literature. The strength of the main character and the organic relationships between other characters are well maintained without compromising the conflicts of the story. Though don't know what will happen to weekly cartoons at any time, considering the capabilities of the two artists that have brought the story this far, wouldn't that be just enough to recommend 'GOSU'? 

 

2. I am Deaf

No matter how hard non-disabled creators try to cover a disability in a text, they can only view the matter from an outsider's perspective. Since the fundamental nature of the disability and the subjective experience of it are excluded, the text may still work to perceive the deaf people as 'objects', but it would still be ineffective in terms of truly understanding them. Therefore, it is indeed necessary for a deaf person to arouse a new kind empathy from the readers by directly and honestly capturing his own story and is such.

Even if I introduce the webtoon with such a heavy atmosphere, it never becomes serious. Though is based on the stories of a person with a hearing impairment, but it's also a cartoon that depicts the daily lives of ordinary people. Except that he cannot hear sounds, the main character goes through little episodes like everybody else and by doing this, the webtoon emphasizes the message that both non-disabled people and people with disabilities are all the same in their hearts.

There is no emotional exaggeration or soap opera in the webtoon. It's just a matter of quietly revealing what he's been through in a calm manner, and thereby, the school episodes amplify the sorrow because of such serenity. Perhaps the artist is speaking out that people are putting too many burdens and expectations on the webtoon. However, it is a webtoon that I want to genuinely cheer for, and writing such review could be a form of support for the artist and people with hearing impairments.