Kitty's Analysis

Hello~ I am currently up to date with Blind Play by LIKE and YD. I am really in awe by their work. It is interesting enough that I had to reread from the beginning to see all the hints made throughout the series. This will be the first series that I will do analysis on. I will go chapter by chapter. I’ll be writing my analysis in the prospective of a up to date reader- so there will be spoilers! The first portion of my analysis is on season 1. I will pick the highlights of each chapter to analyze. 

Additionally, I am aware that most people would insert panels from the comic they are discussing in their analyses. However, I’d prefer for readers to support the artist directly. I’d rather the exposure to the art to be seen on Lezhin.

After they were completely done with their session. Seo, who is still naked, told Ah-In, who is now fully clothed, that he could walk him back to the station. “It’s obvious that once we get to the door, he’s planning to kill me.”  Towards the end, Ah-In receives a phone call from his friends to come to dinner. This saved him.

Seo wants to see what Ah-In does if they both walk to the door together. I don’t think Seo intends to kill Ah-In in this chapter since we know Ah-In is sacred to him. In addition, it is ridiculous to even consider a naked Seo willingly walk out of his apartment. Ah-In knew this and was trying think of what to do. I was also interested to see how our main character get out of this one...

Seo mentions later in the series that Ah-In is truly different from the others. He knew this after meeting him again after their childhood encounter.

After fainting when he arrived at the restaurant, Ah-In woke up to Myeong Jun in his room. Before Ah-In was conscious, Myeong Jun picked up a call from Guy A on Ah-In’s phone. Later Myeong Jun told Ah-In that Guy A hung up after hearing that Ah-In fainted. 

We see Ah-In have flashbacks to his alcoholic and abusive father. The flashback then pans out to Ah-in thinking about Guy A calling Ah-In precious (sort of a thought manifesting itself/ not actually Guy A calling him that). The scene presented itself to be warm and loving but then we see Guy A calling all the things Ah-In ever giving him precious and not Ah-In himself. Ah-In resolved to not come by Guy A’s apartment anymore. 

We then see Guy A having sex with some guy he is taking on an over seas trip. They are doing these indecent acts on a window of their University. Then we see Seo walk up to the university with a group of people. It seems Seo was invited to give a special lecture. Seo then eyes Guy A and his partner (who are still by the window). Then one of them questions if Seo was looking at them.

*chuckling*  

Anyways...

Ah-In’s flashback solidified a bit of why we know he yearns for affection. Since he came from an abusive household, he probably needed that. And we now know that his distaste for being pitied upon doesn’t stem from his parent. Ah-In wanted that sort of affectionate relationship, which is what he wanted from Guy A. Unfortunately Guy A is not the one to provide that for Ah-In.

As Ah-In is being pleasured next to a dead body by Seo. He is trying to concentrate “...on this bitter pleasure”. After being done with their first session, Ah-In thought it was done and over with. However Seo wanted more from him. “But I’m not done yet. Don’t move. I’m in control of everything. Including your pleasure.” Ah-In then thought, “What is he talking about?!!”

In this scene, we see Seo acting as the dominate one in control of everything. We don’t know what he is going to do to Ah-In if he doesn't listen to Seo. Clearly Ah-In isn’t aware that Seo knows he is not blind. Indeed this is what Seo was talking about. Seo can essentially turn this “bitter pleasure” into one that is nightmarish.

Seo then refers to Ah-In to be like a terrified puppy. He inquired Ah-In if he was nervous. Seo liked that Ah-In is in this state. 

Seo made a reference to a puppy in chapter 17. Seo mentions that the puppy was a gift to him by his father and that he sacrificed everything he liked to that puppy. In the end, the puppy grew sick, so Seo decided to kill the dog. It is interesting how a puppy reference just so happen to be made in the beginning and end of the season.

As an up date reader, I feel as though if Ah-In suddenly not take a liking to what Seo is doing for him. He too will become like this puppy. Of course, the dog becoming ill is out of Seo’s control. But here, it seems Seo wants to be in control of everything so that the puppy incident won’t happen again. He wants to be in complete control. He is the writer of this game after all.

We see Seo come in for a kiss and this time Ah-In’s lips are already open for him. “Crazy fucking pervert” is what Ah-In called Seo. 

Seo starts out by talking about his favorite wine, the chateau petrus. He then described the word “petrus” and its origins to saint peter, a disciple of Jesus. “I guess you could say this wine is the blood of a scared liar or something like that. Please take a sip, I know you’ll like it.”

Little reference that Ah-In is a liar. The wine befits Ah-In and funnily enough it is Seo’s favorite. I want to emphasize on the word scared. Throughout the series, Seo refers to Ah-In as scared for some reason.

Later Ah-In asks for help to get up from his seat. “Sir can you help me please?” Seo then smirks and squeezed Ah-In’s hand and said, “It would be my pleasure.”

I picked out this scene because Ah-In says please. Multiple times throughout the series, Seo insists Ah-In to speak to him properly if he wanted something. The smirk Seo does probably shows that he liked to be properly asked. He mentioned that it shows a sign of respect. In addition, Seo probably finds it amusing that Ah-In is keeping up this act of being a blind person.

I want to mention that twice or so before, Seo offers his hand without saying anything to Ah-In to see if he takes it. These offers are meant to be little traps for Ah-In to see if he falls for it. Since of course if Ah-In is blind, how does he see the hand offerings in the first place. Seo is a little funny in this way. I think he wants to see Ah-In slip up and see what he will do after.

Seo then asks Ah-In to preform oral on him with the wine. Ah-In refused because he didn’t want to drink alcohol. Seo then remarks, “You’re free to leave now if you’d like.” We see Ah-In’s thoughts, now in a black background, “In a lawless place you follow the rules of the powerful. Just do what he says and get out.”  

Again, Seo says “If you perfer not to, you are welcome to leave now.” to Ah-In.  Seo requested Ah-In to remove his ugly, dirty sunglasses. Of course he didn’t want to becuase he didn’t want to get caught lying about his blindness. We hear his thoughts again, “I want to live. I want to get out alive. I’m a single step away from death. If I want to live, I cannot let him know I can see.” We then see Seo perform oral to Ah-In with the wine.

There is also a panel of Seo licking Ah-In’s closed lips to ask for entrance. Ah-In lets him in. 

To me, the wine drinking sort of shows celebration of Seo and Ah-In’s first interaction. Not to mention they both performed oral together with the wine. It seems like they are making some sort of pact by doing this with each other. Especially since Ah-In felt like he was drinking blood. It reminds me of blood pacts that people do for an agreement to something. In this case, agreement to start this game.

Seo often gives Ah-In options to leave or back out of the game throughout this series. I find it interesting that Ah-In continues to stay. Ah-In keeps trapping himself in the game by complying to Seo because he keeps thinking he will get killed if he doesn’t.

I have bolded Ah-In thoughts whenever I see it in a dark background in the panels because I think there is some sort of significance in them (I could be wrong). I feel we can see what his true self thinking of in these white and black backgrounds.

There are a lot focus on lips and kissing in the panels of Blind Play. I think the illustrator wants to show dominant and submissive type roles. Who initiates first, who opens up first, if the kiss get reciprocated or not are all important. In this case, Seo asks Ah-In if he can let him in. Ah-In does. Seo now has a foot in the door with Ah-In. 

Bonus!

Ah-In’s thoughts are fleshed out in this chapter. Mostly his thoughts on his friend group- of whom are those from the orphanage that he came from.

Ah-In is seen talking to his friend, Myeong Jun, in the beginning of the chapter. It seems Myeong Jun wants Ah-In to go eat with friends. Myeong Jun questions why Ah-In does sex work. Ah-in’s motivation is money. It seems he doesn't want those groups of friends to pity him for doing sex work for money. We know this because Ah-In stated how he can make what those friend make in a month within two hours. He even mentions how everyone from the orphanage only end up as a club promotor or delivery guy. “Everyone who comes from the orphanage are the same.”

He then thinks, “Idiots. What’s the point of meeting up with a bunch of losers? It’ll just be a pity party.” 

He then reflected on potential romantic relationships- (we see a flashback of him and another male- as of the most recent chapter (#53) we do not know who this individual is.)

I think Ah-In wants to be different from everyone else. I feel he doesn't want to be the typical boring and basic individual. His personality is written to be a bit sneaky and cunning according to LIKE (This is mentioned in the epilogue). Perhaps with all the lives he is living- this is what drives him, this is what excites him. He has acknowledge that keeping up with the game can be additive.

The flashback with the male showed that this male was all Ah-In knew. After that relationship ended, Ah-In probably decided to be more open to people through these other lives/characters. Though his true self is probably lonely. What Ah-In is doing seems like a defensive mechanism. He also defiantly values himself a bit lower than what we see when he spoke with Myeong Jun. We see Ah-In refer to himself multiple times though the series as a whore/prostitute. So he also has some insecurities. He cares about how other perceive him and not want to be pitied upon. 

I really like how dynamic Ah-In’s personality is as the main character. He is a bit complex.

“Looking back. I never got any affection that wasn’t tainted by pity. I was curious about relationships untouched by such wretched emotions.” We see Ah-In think about Guy A during this. 

The curiosity for this pitiless relationship started the game Ah-In has with Guy A. Considering the previous chapter, Ah-In is deep in this game since he is aware Guy A is no good for him. The way Ah-In spoke of this “game” in chapter 2, we know he likes the sense of victory winning people over. This victory allows him to sink deeper in the game making Ah-In “...start to forget reality.” 

Ah-In is not thinking properly when it comes to Guy A it seems. I am glad he is aware of himself at least...

“That’s why I became blind. Since I have nothing. There is nothing to see.”

After that line was stated- Seo shows up in front of Ah-In. At his point Seo was just watching Ah-In. Ah-In ends up meeting Seo again in the evening. This time he is An-In’s client.

The significance of Seo being in front of Ah-In after he said this line is probably now Ah-In will have to acknowledge Seo. Seo is going to be SOMETHING to Ah- He will see Seo as some on he has. 

He will see Seo as someone in his life who will give him a pitiless relationship. And considering the previous chapter, this relationship/game will not be good for Ah-In (Since Seo is a serial murderer). He will sink deeper in this game that just started with Seo.

This is me theorizing however... 

Towards the end of season 1, we know that Ah-In ends up telling Seo he isn’t really blind. Thus ending the game. After that, Seo states he will love Ah-In from now on.

Ah-In able to see now. He has Seo. He is no longer blind. I personally do not think Ah-In fully realizes the pitiless relationship Seo is providing him. 

Seo then leads Ah-In to his place. Seo then says, “I have this nice bottle of wine, though I am not sure if it’ll suit your tastes.” Then behind Seo, we see that there is a corpse of the fan on the couch. 

This bit of the chapter is pretty straightforward with the symbolism. “...I’m not sure if it’ll suit your tastes.” In that Seo is basically saying, “I don’t know if you are ready for this game I am about to start with you” or “I am not sure if this game with me will suit your standards.” In chapter 49, Ah-In thinks about why he is so special to Seo. Ah-In mentions that Seo is looking for someone who can bear his love.

Seo is seen doing a book signing for his mystery novel. He meets a fan who is also a mystery novelist. One thing in particular Seo notices is that the fan has a callus on his middle finger. Seo mentions it is a mark of someone who writes notes frequently and that he will become a great author.

This fan ends up being Seo's victim. I wonder why he had interest in this person. Seo mentions later in chapter 7 that he thought that fan 'would be different'. Perhaps Seo thought that fan would be on the same page as him...in terms of murderer...?

The chapter later moves to Ah-In and Jeong-Yeon (I will refer to him as Guy A because his personality in insufferable). Guy A basically gave this review on Seo's book (Song of Shadows). "A sophisticated crime committed by a highly educated person pretending to be schizophrenic." to be cliché. He then mentions that the book is entertaining enough if he scrutinizes the scenes and dialogue.

I find this bit funny because I believe the authors of Blind Play think that this manhwa is cliché - and that the authors want us readers to scrutinize the scenes (the panels) and the dialogue to get more from this cliché-One of the reasons why I am doing this analysis!! In addition, the main character in Song of Shadows seems to be living a double life...perhaps.. Seo self inserted himself in his book a bit or had Ah-In in mind? Or perhaps Seo just thought it is something that peaked his interest and this is why he pursues Ah-In the way he does.* Either way Seo and Ah-In both are wearing a mask. They are living more than one life. These two characters are also written to be very intelligent. Seo mentions later in chapter 16 that he sees Ah-In to be "rather bright". I mean if Ah-In can live multiple lives like that- I personally think he has a high level of social intelligence. Seo is already remarkable if his writing is making a name for him- and since he is a murderer- he is intelligent enough to get away with his crimes.

*In chapter 30, Seo mentions why he is pursuing Ah-In- That is that Seo sees Ah-In as a gift from his late mother.

Later Ah-In is a bit annoyed by Guy A because he thinks Guy A sees him as a push over- That Guy A can easily use Ah-In to get what he wants. Ah-In mentions, "This world is a game and the in game charges rack up endlessly. The rule is simple- if you stop lying everything ends....it is easy to become addicted to a game." He then mentions the addition to the game can make one forget reality even though one is aware that the game is bad for them. The worst the game the more one will sink according to Ah-In. Ah-In later gives Guy A a Rolex (which he stole from the client in chap 1) to pay for his trip. Towards the end- Ah-In believes Guy A caught on to his act and got a bit upset. He also calls Guy A an asshole (like the client in chap 1).

The chapter ends with a panel of Seo saying, "Shall we start a new game?"

Here us readers find out Ah-In is actually living more than two lives.

First as himself. Second as a blind person. Third as an office worker.

Since Ah-In believes his true self can never be with such a guy as Guy A. Ah-In perhaps presented himself to Guy A as a well payed office worker. Ah-In ties to work hard to get the money so he could afford/give the lifestyle Guy A wants hence the "game charges racking up". Ah-In is clearly infatuated with Guy A despite knowing that he is being used. But Ah-In seems like he is nearly done playing this "game" with Guy A towards the end of this chapter.

In chapter 1, we see Ah-In talk about his line of work and how he feels about it.

Ah-In pretends to be blind whilst providing sexual services to his clients. This gives his clients a sense of confidentiality for that they are doing with Ah-In.  

Ah-In says, “ The more stuff you are numb to the filthier it gets.” In reference to the client being an asshole telling Ah-In that they prefer the with his sunglasses on. I guess the client doesn't have the best personality/ is a good person if they are making those sort of comments.