#bl reader

So, I decided to read “Master-Peace” now that it has been released on Lezhin US because I kept hearing about it and decided to see if it lived up to the hype (in my opinion). There are a couple caveats, however, being that I was only able to read 10 chapters into the story so this cannot be a full review and that I already went into it knowing I was not a fan of Ju Incheol’s design or the general dynamic between the characters (I’m not the biggest fan of power bottoms if I’m being honest). But, I still did my best to engage with the work despite my own personal preferences and really get into the story! Here’s my take on the first 10 chapters (and please note, I did not like it, so if you’re going to be offended, dni).

I want to start with what I think is well done and what I personally enjoyed: the artwork. I don’t think anybody could say the artwork for this story is not fantastic. It’s incredibly cinematic, perfectly resonates with the gritty and realistic tone of the story, and carries the unspoken tension between Ju Incheol and Ahn Pyeong-hwa perfectly. The paneling is also extremely smooth— it’s super easy to follow along with the art and flow. I also love Ahn Pyeong-hwa’s character design, I think he’s absolutely stunning and fills me with absurd amounts of gender envy to the point of physical pain (shoutout to my fellow trans men). On Ahn Pyeong-hwa, I further think that he is the character with the most intrigue at this point in the story— though it has yet to be truly fleshed out (of course, we’re only on chapter 10).

This is where I get into why I personally did not enjoy the opening chapters, however. I really tried to be open minded because it’s only the first 10 chapters but they simply didn’t hook me and I found myself just wishing for… more. Every single chapter, I just found myself going “and that’s it?” because it felt like so much of nothing was happening. The whole plot around the redevelopment situation is so tedious and with practically no tension. There’s no reason to root for anyone besides maybe your moral standpoint on redevelopment. We know that Ju Incheol is being pressured by his boss to get this done for her votes/job/reputation (she’s a representative) and he’s a workaholic + perfectionist but we don’t know his motivations or why it’s so important to him or what will happen if he isn’t able to get this situation to work out for him. Ahn Pyeong-hwa is in his way and is refusing to sell the gym and the only reason is because of… the fighting ring? When he said he isn’t doing it for money? There’s nothing else that’s been delved into besides some hints about violence being impactful to him on some level (is he suicidal? Is this self harm?) and we know he has no family but there’s no real reason it has to be that gym or why he even runs the gym. There’s just… nothing. Literally nothing. Everything is incredibly surface level and overly simplistic.

I think there’s something to be said about stories that overly rely on art to carry the plot and tension, as well. In a medium where the story is being told with words and visual representations— such as comics or films— there needs to be a correct blend between showing and telling. Let the art (in this case) do an amount of that, and let the words do another amount. Yet, here, it seemed as though the art was the only thing moving the plot forward. Most of the dialogue was surface level and left no room for deeper interpretations to be brought out. Even scenes where it felt like something big was finally happening; such as when Ju Incheon rushes to Ahn Pyeong-hwa’s door on a moment of impulse (thinking “don’t open the door” on repeat), there’s no real payoff. He feels disgusted with himself and leaves but we get no real internal monologue or background into what he’s really struggling with— the desire for control? His sexuality? Guilt for cheating? Guilt over his job? We know his sexuality is something he’s struggling with, as he’s felt nauseous because of his attraction (is it even attraction?) to Ahn Pyeong-hwa, but there’s nothing deeper there. Why is it so hard for him to handle? Why is he so set on Ahn Pyeong-hwa? Why does he even care so much about his job? About control?

For Ahn Pyeong-hwa, himself, we have the seeds of something really interesting that I hope gets explored in depth, but that has been so far just… brushed off in favor of the plot surrounding the redevelopment. He’s clearly masochistic and doesn’t care about life or death— he tells Ju Incheon that he could kill him, he’s seen nearly drowning himself— but we have no substance there. It seems like moments (such as when he says he isn’t fighting for money) that are meant to be deep and tell-alls but they get buried in the tedious discussion of the redevelopment districts and lack of character development.

I’m sure this sounds overly critical for the first 10 chapters and I’m not going to write this off and say there’s no hope for the story; there are elements that I think would make the story fascinating and well done if they’re explored in depth, but, overall, it feels incredibly banal. So much of nothing happens every chapter, the characters are flat and lifeless, the plot itself seems overly reliant on showing (via artwork) and telling NOTHING, and there’s no real chemistry or tension between the characters. It all just feels “fake deep,” in my humble opinion. I hope that “Master-Peace” ends up surprising me, but right now, I’m just disappointed and wanted to rant about that a little bit.