PULSE Vol. 1

Pulse #1

by Ratana Satis

The beloved yuri/Girls' Love webtoon from Lezhin that became a global favorite! Don't miss this beautiful, full-color paperback in English for Mature audiences.

Mel, a renowned heart surgeon, is well-known for being a stoic loner. She views her erotic flings with other women as a tool for pleasure rather than a show of affection. Then she meets Lynn, a beautiful and spirited cardiac patient who needs a new heart, but refuses a transplant. The two women meet with minimal expectations but soon become enthralled in a relationship that changes everything for them both.

This Girls’ Love comic–and first place winner of the 2nd Lezhin Comics World Comic Contest–is one of the most popular series by fan-favorite Thai creator Ratana Satis, also known for Soul Drifters and Lily Love .

Genres: Manga, Romance, Yuri, LGBT, Lesbian, Manhwa, Graphic Novels

208 pages, Paperback

Published August 30, 2022

About the author

"What were your motivations for creating Yuri Manga?"

Ummmm….the most of my motivation is “l am a Lesbian ”
I love Yuri
I think it could be the way to show what I am
I happy when I draw it

Her official english publications are translated from Thai by the Three Musqueerteers.

Reviews

[Sarah ♡ (let’s interact!) · Rating 4 out of 5]

”A cardiologist with no heart, and the woman who needs one”

Wow. The sapphic tension between the two main characters had me wanting to fan myself down after I finished reading lol, I’m now eager to start the second book! This felt like a solid starting point for the series and a good way to set it up. I’m not sure if I absolutely am love with the artwork throughout or not, I can’t decide? The cover art is so gorgeous, am glad to be collecting the physical copies. The design of characters’ eyes do really stand out throughout the story though. They are very emotive.

In Pulse, Mel is a renowned heart surgeon who rejects the idea of love. She prefers to have casual hookups with women, without getting attached. She much prefers one night stands to dating. She doesn’t want to experience the feeling of heartbreak.
Enter, Lynn, a happy-go-lucky, free-spirited, cardiac patient, who is fully aware that she may end up dying soon if she doesn’t have a heart transplant. But that doesn’t stop her positive outlook on life and making the most of the time she has left, because she has refused to have the life-saving transplant. She’s tired of constantly being in and out of hospitals. But when she needs Dr Mel, she is instantly intrigued by her. They soon end up being inexplicably drawn to one another. Will she be the one to thaw Mel’s icy heart?
Lynn expresses to Mel that she will only have a heart transplant if Mel is the surgeon to do it! But there’s one certain condition that has to be met…!?

4 stars

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

A thirtysomething heart surgeon who likes to sleep around without emotional entanglements gets herself emotionally entangled with a quirky, twentysomething heart patient at her hospital who ends up making a bet about their relationship and her need for a heart transplant. Ayup.

I don't know if the script is super amateurish or if it has suffered dramatically from being translated from Thai to Korean to English. It seems like a teenager's take on adult relationships -- if the teen were obsessed with soft-core porn. The coloring is pretty bad too, with the tint of characters' hair or clothes often changing on the same page or two-page spread.

Too dumb and sloppy to continue.

[Leyla]

An adult sapphic romance manga featuring a surgeon who's all about sleeping around and keeping her heart securly locked away and a hopeless romantic with a failing heart that is bigger than the universe who is determined to win over the icy doctor.

This is a spicy, dramatic and also high stakes romance that is easy to read in one sitting.

[Casually Bookish Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

This gave me Grey's Anatomy vibes with a lot less drama and sapphic; and, I am here for that. I loved Mel and Lynn's chemistry, and I can't wait to see how things play out after that ending.
-doctor/patient romance
-grumpy /sunshine

I also love the artwork and it's in color too *swoon*

1/5 🌶️ (how I rate spicy content written in my bio).

[Colleen Corgel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so excited to have this in print in the West! Ratana Satis is a Thai artist that writes some of my favorite yuri webtoons. Pulse was voted to be a fan favorite and it shows.

This is the story of ice queen Mel Sievers a cardiologist who seemingly has no feelings and Lynn Siles, a young heart patient who is in need of a new one. Can Lynn pull Mel out of her cold coffin? And can Mel and her team find Lynn a new heart before she dies?

The art is absolutely gorgeous and Ratana Satis can make women smolder with the best of them. I also love that she seamlessly moves from her comedic style to her beautiful character models as needed. Mel is an absolute drop dead gorgeous woman with charisma to boot, and she uses it to great effect with women. Lynn, though younger and smaller than Mel, can also bring the smolder, but more often she drawn with this far off sad expression, especially when she thinks she's alone. I love the character work in just the art alone; it is such a treat.

As for the romance, this already on the steamier side, as Satis pulls no punches with Mel's sex life, but it isn't gratuitous and there's only just a touch of the romantic tension between Mel and Lynn in this volume. I do know it will get pretty steamy in the future, and I am here for it.

Another plus is that I believe that Seven Seas credits Satis's original translation team and didn't change much or anything at all. (She had professional editors with Lezhin, but her translators were semi-professional if I recall). I compared the Lezhin and the Seven Seas versions and I couldn't find differences at all. Good on Seven Seas.

Yuri fans will love this, and romance fans should enjoy the ride as well. Great start.

[Shu Wei Chin · Rating 4 out of 5]

CUTE!! And really quite spicy.

Even though the stoic, badass doctor × sunshine sickly girl trope is a tad overdone (I found Mel's overall edginess absolutely hot but her one-liners are sometimes cringey, and Lynn's cuteness ages her personality down too much), I am 100% invested. This volume didn't end up covering too much character development, just kind of set the scene, so I'm holding onto the hope that we'll explore/get past Mel's (supposedly) cold heart and take a deeper dive into Lynn's struggles with being sick so young.

Also, the art style is so pretty and the book is fully coloured 😍

[Valerie Crump · Rating 5 out of 5]

*dreamy sigh* This is such a guilty pleasure of mine. This is one of the only stories I be ever read more than once. I'm so happy to have a print copy, I never thought I'd see the day. ☺️☺️😍

[Dara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally finished it, and it was cute! Happy ending which is great, but Sue… I needed to see her downfall. With my own two eyes.

[Zara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I still don’t know how I feel about this but I already see some stuff coming

[Plague Rat · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF At 75%

I don’t know what to say about this one, I just REALLY didn’t enjoy it. I can’t tell if I was bored or annoyed by the stereotypes portrayed in this, it felt very.. ‘for the straights’

Predatory behavior from a medial professional? The repeated use of ‘oh but she’s a lez’ just felt WEIRD. Beyond the cute cover it’s a pass for me. I won’t be continuing, this is very much on my unhaul pile.

Drop good lesbian manga recs below, please, I beg you.

[Eris Tiner · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was such a let down. At first a story about a heart surgeon who is strictly business and a patient who needs a heart having a relationship sounds wonderful but instead it was a sloppy mess. The story was a lot of soft core porn mixed with comedy that felt like the story was swapping from super dramatic to lighthearted way too fast ugh. I think I will read the next book and see it it improves but we shall see

Favourite character: I guess Lynn? Maybe

[Anisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

1st reread

[Amy! · Rating 4 out of 5]

My review is at StoryGraph

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute and entertaining.
I do love a clever female doctor

[Zwart Raafje · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5*

[Juniper L.H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great manga, although it is award-winning and widely popular enough that I don’t need to tell you that. As a complete package I think this series deserves 5-stars. This first section is a little bit slow to get going (I find this is common in manga) but does a good job of starting to set up the characters and overall plotline.

A delightful grumpy X sunshine situation, that strikes a good balance between being realistic and convoluted. There is some great foreshadowing. Some of the characters are a lot of fun.

I like the art, and the artist does a good job of using it to portray emotions and action.

[dead_g1rl_walking · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good and sometimes quite a bit nerve-wracking. That final scare at the end shocked me really hard.

[Titocas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amei amei amei.

[taylor clonce · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

[Elle Cardenas · Rating 5 out of 5]

It starts off with such a basic premise, but it’s so deeply satisfying by the end.

(that’s what she said :)

The art 100% sells the story and keeps you engaged.

[ButterBook · Rating 5 out of 5]

So freaking cute

[Adrienne Oliveri · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite printed sapphic Manhwa. Still 5 stars after a million rereads.

[deez nuts · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had high hopes for this series, but I lost interest about halfway through the second volume before I started skim-reading. Volume one had an okay start. There is a big setup for a heart surgeon x heart diseased patient story which on paper sounds good, but the story loses that by halfway through and I'd argue even before that. It feels like not a lot of research was put into how hospitals actually work and I understand that not everyone, including myself, knows these things but it definitely felt like there were a couple of quick Google searches here and there and the author only wrote what they read about on the first couple search results.

There is also a plot point being set up with Mel that is never explored. She's stand-off-ish for a reason, it feels like she doesn't date seriously and the story sort of hints at that, but then never touches on that subject again. Yes, it could be a scenario where that's just how Mel is, but it doesn't feel like the author was trying to go that way.

This story also felt rushed. Clearly, the author wanted these major events to happen, like Grace having real feelings for Mel but then suddenly when she's rejected by her she's engaged and now with an abusive fiance. And then a few chapters later Grace shows signs of abuse and then ends up in a hospital where Mel performs her surgeries. This is also a little strange because Mel is a heart surgeon, she deals with the cardiac system NOT trauma response from a car accident.

Another thing. A plot point of the story is that Lynn has a heart disease and she needs a heart transplant in the next two years. At no point at the end of the story did she even receive this heart transplant OR was it even an issue for her. Yes, Lynn had a couple of moments where she needed her medication, but that was about it. I also did not enjoy the age gap. There's no reason to make Mel in her thirties and have Lynn be a college student, it feels a bit weird and this is coming from someone who doesn't really mind age gaps as long as they are legal and actually make sense. It feels like the author made Lynn a college student just for the sake of it because you only see Lynn in class maybe two or three times.

I could talk a lot more but this is already pretty long. Take my word for it or don't, I believe the story Idea could have been executed a lot better. Maybe that's just me because the trope here it feel like there's going to be something really sad happening but it never does, it stays happy and I didn't like that.

[Debby Tiner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Given the bias against women, and especially lesbian women, I was pleasantly surprised to see this graphic novel depicting lesbian sex scenes. Furthermore, I was very happy to see that they’re depicting a woman with a sexual appetite. Too often, women are portrayed solely in passive roles, and not allowed to express any enjoyment of sex or desire for sex, but in this book, the doctor is a player, and has casual, no strings attached sex with a lot of people. My only concern is that this character trait will be “tamed” or “fixed” by the romance plot line. Throughout the story, there is an undercurrent of women (and men) who want to fix her (or even turn her straight) who want her to settle down into a monogamous relationship. I am not at all opposed to people having monogamous relationships, but I worry this plot intends to enforce monogamy as the only “right” way.
My biggest problem with this story, though, is the unprofessional actions of all the characters, but especially the doctor, at the hospital. It really broke me out of the story.

Favorite character: didn’t have one.

[Eyla · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Lily Love a few years ago, one of the first sapphic comics I ever read, and it was pretty cute. When I saw this one by the same author was coming out, I knew I had to check it out. And so far, so good.
Mel is the "bad girl" doctor type and I'm not going to lie, some of her lines are a little... cringe lol. But she's very fun and reads like a bit of a dork. Even if that doesn't seem to be intended.
Lynn is the charming sparkly type, and playful and she matches Mel really well. They definitely have chemistry and I love the way they can casually play off each other.
This volume ends in a point where it feels like the story is just starting, and I'm really looking forward to the next couple of volumes as they come out! And I hope Ratana Satis' other works might end up getting published too.

[Wendy · Rating 2 out of 5]

You know...cardio surgeon, bold, beautiful, excellent and has lesbian vibes (in this case the MC is actually a lesbian) and I immediately think Cristina Yang - my cardio goddess. In all seriousness, I enjoyed Mel I think because she reminded me of Cristina. Haha but she really is the McDreamy and McSteamy of this hospital rolled up in one. However, the story didn't feel exciting and I actually felt bored by the end of it. Not sure if I'll read volume 2.

Funnily enough, the whole of volume 1 reminded me of the restaurant sequence in the movie 'She's the Man' where Olivia/Sebastian is "reunited" with all his "exes" except this is Mel and a string of her lovers; just one after another they show up at the most random of moments.

[Craig Schorling · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty engaging first volume and a good start to a yuri series. The characters are well written, especially Mel. She is the typical cold and reservered to the world but misunderstood type and Lynn is her polar opposite. The heart surgeon and heart patient provides for a good angle and story hook. There is quite a bit of graphic content but it is not presented in a smutty way. It is used to advance the characters and story and build contrast with how Mel interacts with Lynn. I was excited to give this a shot due to all the buzz around it and it delivered on its first volume. Also, the artwork is quite good. I hope that it keeps up the pace and stays well written.

[Jessica Walsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilariously, I picked this up right as my wife and I were ending our first time marathon of Grey’s Anatomy. I picked up that show as a background thing to watch while sewing and immediately got her hooked on the excessive trashiness of it, as well as the chaotic characters. There’s something I really loved about being able to just lose my brain in the show and I was a bit worried about losing it since we decided to stop after McDreamy left the show… What else would I use to unwind when my brain just wasn't willing to work?

Read the full review at Well, Are They? A Queer Review Blog:
https://wellarethey.blogspot.com/2024...

[Zian B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this story more since I liked the overall plot, but I couldn’t get invested in Mel nor Lynn’s love story. Separately, they’re unique characters and I like that their flaws are shown but I couldn’t feel their connection, even a budding one. Then things started taking a bit of a dark turn with one of Lynn’s former flings and Lynn making very questionable choices, and I lost interest all together after that. This isn’t bad, I just couldn’t stick with it.
Also, I didn’t read this through the actual book, I read it online as it’s webcomic form.

[Sucre · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 rounded up

felt like reading a deviantart comic made by someone in college (or younger!) back in the 2000s. the art is poor with a lot of gradient filler panels and a lack of backgrounds, the coloring is incredibly flat and the story and characters themselves have very little going on. the dialogue when it came to anything sexual had me cringing and wanting to abandon the book altogether. i hated how very basic medical procedures were sexualized and i hate how disability and illness in general is handled in this story. i will not be picking up any other volumes