Después de confesarle a Sangwoo la pesadilla familiar que vivió durante la adolescencia, Bum Yoon se autolesiona gravemente, pero Sangwoo logra detener la hemorragia y que la cosa no pase a mayores. Entonces regresan los fantasmas del implacable asesino…
Cuando el cuerpo de Jieun Min aparece, el agente Yang trata de mover hilos para obtener información bajo sumario. Está convencido de que Sangwoo se encuentra detrás de la muerte de la joven, hija del presidente de una importante farmacéutica. Sin informar a sus superiores, ¡se mete de lleno en la boca del lobo...!
Un tomo un poco corto, pero que sin duda está lleno de acción. Ya necesito tener el siguiente tomo y volver al final de temporada de este tremendo manwha.
Hay que tener en cuenta que a lo largo de la serie vamos a enfrentarnos a una trama muy oscura, violencia, violaciones, Estocolmo, asesinatos, desnudes. Es increíblemente toxica, pero Altamente adictiva.
Alright fellas. It’s time to sharpen up my claws and tear into one of the most spine-tingling, stomach-churning, infuriating pieces of literature I have had the misfortune to read in the past two years. My feelings on this comic are conflicted. And complicated. Because on one hand, I can appreciate the psychological horror and sheer WTF factor of this work. On the other hand, I feel incredibly squicked out by the disturbing ways in which this novel has been interpreted by its fanbase. Because let’s be honest. The actual problem with this series is not its contents. The problem is this book’s fanbase of nubile teenage weebs and the author’s shameless attempts to pander to them.
I firstly want to say that I NEVER want to punish an author for the actions of their fanbase. Plenty of authors have written objectively normal books and have had their fanbase take a fat shit on their reputation by being edgy lil twats. As a result, my rating remains at an ambivalent three stars. I was tempted to make my rating four stars, because if you read this book as the horror story it’s clearly intended to be, it’s pretty damn decent. However, I have a huge ass issue with the ending and I have to pretend that it doesn’t exist in order for me to find this series even remotely redeemable.
Sidenote: I’m reviewing the ENTIRE series in this review, not simply this particular volume. Why? Because I’m not going to write ten different snarky reviews for ten or twenty or however many volumes this fuckfest has. Heaven knows I already talk enough shit.
Speaking of talking shit, I want to make one thing clear. I am not a fan of “yaoi” or whatever genre of “straight people trying and failing to write about gays” this shit is. I’m also not a horny teenage girl. I’m not the target demographic of this work, so perhaps some of my critiques of this work are...too harsh. But don’t crucify me for it. Just think of it as an unreconcilable aesthetic difference. It’s like trying to get your boomer grandmother to listen to Lil Pump. The artistry may not be fully appreciated. I already know I’m going to get hordes of fujoshis in my DMs ready to jump down my throat for disliking this series. But I’m ready for you. Come fight me you nasty hoes. Actually please don’t. Y’all are frightening. And yes, I’m going to refer to this work as a book or a novel because it rolls off the tongue easier. Sue me.
*cracks knuckles*
Now let’s get ass deep into this shit, shall we?
THE GOOD
1) Genuinely Frightening Aspects of Psychological Horror
Listen, if you take this book at face value, it’s a very convincing tragic horror story. Dude A, who has some serious attachment issues, becomes obsessed with Dude B. Dude A decides to stalk Dude B. Surprise! Dude B is actually a psychotic serial killer. Dude A is taken captive by Dude B, who manipulates him mercilessly and the two become entwined in a horribly toxic and strange relationship filled with murder, old school R&B, and Stockholm Syndrome. It’s creepy. It’s tragic. It’s infuriating. It’s a shame this series can’t be appreciated for the passably good horror piece it is. Alas, it’s been tainted by the fangirls who’ve made it into a cheap fapfest. Ah well. Such is the way of weebs. Or koreaboos, since this series was originally written in Korean. Koreebs? Somebody find me a damn linguist.
2) The Art Style
It’s a matter of personal taste, but I liked the art style. Those lines be dummy thicc. Also the illustrator illustrates some truly horrifying scenes in a gruesome manner which is good for the horror aspects I guess. I liked the art. Sue me.
3) Intense Moments of Fury
Listen, I like my reading experiences to be emotional ones. Usually HOLY SHIT type emotions that come with thrilling plot twists or cliffhangers. But occasionally I like to see moments in books that truly piss me off. That infuriate me. That make me seethe with injustice. I have a love-hate relationship with such moments. And DAMN does Koogi deliver! There were so many scenes where I wanted to scream and chuck my tablet at the wall. And while I was pissed to all hell, it’s a testimony to an author’s writing when they can provoke such strong feelings in a reader. I don’t want to go hog wild with spoilers but I’ll make a short list of events that inspired RAGE:
1) The Utter Incompetence of the Police - Just so ya know, the police in this series are the epitome of useless. They know that Sangwoo (serial killer bitch) is shady AF and yet they still dismiss any concerns about him because he’s a nice guy.™️ Seriously. There’s one woke police dude (whose name currently escapes me) who is on to Sangwoo’s bullshit, yet he gets dismissed by his crotchety ass supervisors who don’t take him seriously. AND BOY WAS I PISSED. It’s super frustrating to watch the cops constantly fuck up and fail to save Yoonbum and the unfortunate girls Sangwoo ends up offing. And it adds a touch of depressing reality to this series. In many irl crimes, the police are useless bastards. As someone who is into true crime I’ve heard of sooooo many cases where the cops do jack shit and then act all surprised when a bitch has bodies in the fridge. I was pissed at the cops and constantly rooting for the one woke police guy to TRIUMPH and pop a cap in Sangwoo’s ass.
2) THAT ONE SINGING SCENE - That scene where Sangwoo was singing with a girl who (Surprise Surprise) he later kills. HOLY SHIT. When Yoobum has that moment of clarity and realizes that Sangwoo is a horrible bastard and yet still doesn’t run away when he can is horrible and heartbreaking. Good job Koogi. You made a motherfucker cry with that shit. Props. Mad props.
3) The General Mistreatment of Yoonbum - This boy gets the shit end of the stick. He finds out his old crush is a murderer, his legs get broken by said crush so he can’t escape, he gets forced to commit crimes, and is trapped in a horrific toxic relationship that he cannot escape from. Like Jesus man. Somebody get this kid some emotional support. A therapy dog. Some meds. I WANTED TO SEE THIS BOY HEAL. And Koogi did not deliver. Ugh.
Which leads me into the bad of this series.
THE BAD
1) Torture Porn
This entire series could be described as torture porn. Excessive, graphic torture porn. It’s like being fucked with a chainsaw. But not gently. And not willingly. UGH. There were some scenes where Yoonbum was hurt or in emotional turmoil that I felt were just too sexualized. Which is ick. And of course fucking fujoshis are going to jack off to this shit. Gross. I know that not all stories need to have a happy ending. Some stories can be tragic and dark and horrifying. But the sheer amount of trauma Yoonbum was subjected to was just too much. Is this a horror comic, or some emo Tumblr girl’s whumping blog? I’m really tired of characters being tortured with no end in sight to emphasize how “tragic” and “heartbreaking” their story is supposed to be. Have some fucking subtlety. If I wanted to jack off to traumatic shit I’d do it on my own time. Not by reading this crap. But the fujoshis still slobber over this series anyways so I suppose you do what pays the bills.
2) THAT BULL CRAP ENDING
Seriously what sort of fuckfest was that ending? Yoonbum takes Sangwoo’s ashes and runs across the street, where he is possibly hit by a car? What kind of Romeo and Juliet forced tragic bullshit is this? Yoonbum may be an iffy person for stalking Sangwoo but he most definitely did not deserve death. He was redeemable. He deserved to move on. To heal. To recover and build his own life. But the ending is left “ambiguous” so fujoshis can jack off to the potential star-crossed lovers tragedy. Miss me with that shit. I’m sick of gay characters being killed off or reduced to tragic ends because their love can never be or some shit. LEARN TO WRITE BETTER YOU IMBECILES. It’s okay to show a glimmer of hope for your damaged characters. But I guess happiness makes it too hard for the weebs to get off on something.
2.5) Again, this is not so much a beef with the content, but with the fanbase. You hoes seriously be out here, shipping two characters with each other when one abuses the other constantly. There are no redeeming qualities to Sangwoo. He is a shithead who gets off on abusing Yoonbum. He would have killed Yoonbum in a heartbeat if it suited him. You hoes support this cliche yaoi crap and it’s ridiculous. Just because one character is the designated smol tiny soft boi doesn’t mean that he has to get rammed by serial killer dick. Take a cold shower and repent, you nasties.
Final Verdict: Killing Stalking is a passable psychological horror comic with a horrible fanbase. Of course, this work is only horror if you read it as horror. There’s tons of delusional fangirls out there who see Sangwoo and Yoonbum’s relationship as an UWU KAWAII DESU fluffy romance. And that’s truly and utterly fucked. It truly and utterly exhausts me. Now that I’m done writing an essay on this fuckfest I’m going to sit back and relax in peace. Or at least whatever peace I have before ten thousand angry weeb girls naruto run at me and Hideyoshi my ass. Ah well. Such is life. Such are horny teenage girls. Duckling Out!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
**Reseña repetida** NO ES PARA TODO EL MUNDO. No me esperaba nada, pero nada de lo que era!!!!! me los terminé todos en una noche, no podía parar, no dormí hasta finalizarlo.
Se que por el tipo de historia es demasiado decir que es lo mejor, pero es que es adictivo.
Es sádico y enfermizo pero adictivisimo! No me quiero extender demasiado con tantas explicaciones o análisis porque la verdad, quien lee este tipo de novelas, ya saben a lo que van.
The order of this series on Goodreads is confusing and incorrect.
The best parts in this web toon is the cop getting closer to catching Sangwoo Oh. This guy is the only likable character,the others I want to punch in the face including Yoon at times.
Ya la verdad me esta cansando esta historia. Al principio me estaba pareciendo mala, pero si me entretenía, ahora ya no se me hace tan entretenida, como que me da impotencia el personaje de Sangwoo, claro antes también, pero no como ahora.
Estoy pensando seriamente si segur con esta historia.
La historia es muy buena si lo tomas por el lado que debe ser, POR FAVOR NO ROMANTICEN ÉSTO, ES UNA HISTORIA MUY FUERTE. El final es muy bueno, también que es algo que pasa en la vida real, desafortunadamente.
I’m angry I read this for morbid curiosity. I also just wanted to see how this creator would depict these issues seeing as she’s been open about not looking intense into psychology. Got this was…a lot.
Sencillamente me encanta la trama de este manwha. Me pongo super nerviosa cuando la trama policial avanza y todo se vuelve tenso para alguna de las partes.