Review: Totally Captivated -Vol. 5-

Author: Hajin Yoo
Pages: 184
Price: $9.99
Publisher: Netcomics
Summary from back cover: The new Director Kim confronts Mookyul on the young loan shark’s own turf, but Mookyul quickly cuts him down to size, leaving his bitter rival to vow revenge. Ewon continues his roller coaster love affair with the unpredictable and possessive Mookyul. Then, late one night he finds Mookyul’s foster father, Chairman Lee, waiting for him and the old man has a few choice words to say to Ewon. He even threatens Ewon’s life indirectly. Now, Mookyul faces a terrible choice. He must choose between his lover Ewon or his foster father Chairman Lee. But, whatever the choice, there’s going to be hell to pay.

Review: Volume five continues where the last plot thread left off, with Mookyul being greeted by a herd of unwanted guest in his office. But, you know what, Mookyul doesn’t care about those guys, I don’t care about them, and I’m quite positive you don’t either. What you want to know is probably what the above summary only touched on and that is the situation between Chairman Lee, Mookyul and Ewon. Are the Chairman and Mookyul really doing what Ewon thinks or does Ewon just have a dirty mind?

This volume brings the drama and then punches it in the face. And then spits on it. And then kicks dirt in its eyes. That’s how hardcore the drama is in this volume. I’m not saying it’s all drama all the time. The beginning chapters start off with Mookyul and Ewon going on a date and Mookyul uttering all his deliciously sweet, corny lines. But when it’s time to bring the drama, this volume brings it with a sledge hammer. It slowly creeps up on you and then…BAM! The culmination of this is a huge argument Ewon and Mookyul get in to. Reading these two go back and forth reminded me of one of those situations you might have had with a neighbor who is arguing with her boyfriend in her yard and you know you really shouldn’t listen, but you can’t help yourself and you peek your head out the window. But unlike your neighbors, who you end up calling the police on cause you really need to get back to sleep, you want to see Mookyul and Ewon’s argument through to the end. And, oh, what an ending.

The hardcopy of TC has been cleaned up, primped and pampered. Screentone has been added to many pictures, dialogue changed, Korean sound effects replaced with American ones, and some panels have been completely redrawn. You may think that redrawing or replacing images isn’t necessary, but what is provided on Netcomics is basically a first draft. And the final draft is always better than the first and you’ll completely agree with this once you find the panels that have been changed. Although I’m ecstatic about the changes made art wise, I wish they had left some of the dialogue alone. I understand there had to be some alterations made because when they first translate they’re doing a pretty rush job in order to keep the American fans up-to-date with the Korean online release. But when the majority of what is altered is the colorful language used by the characters then it begins to seem like they wanted to keep TC from having to be labeled as adult content. But I’m probably totally off target with my analysis.

My major problem with TC is with the print. The black tends to fade and has white specks. While reading through it (for the one millionth time) I was comparing it to the print quality to of Aishiatteru Futari and AF’s ink just pops off the page whereas TC is lucky if it can hop. Overall, I just think TC should get a lot better treatment. I’m quite positive this is Netcomics flagship title, so it would be nice to see it treated as such. That might be too much to ask for in our current economy. But, hey, I already shell out three extra dollars for all my other BL, so I wouldn’t mind paying more for better quality.

So, is it worth purchasing even after paying to read it online? Yes, yes, yes, a hundred times YES! Volume five of Totally Captivated is great fun and insufferably hard to put down making it an excellent addition to anyone’s BL collection.

Oh, Totally Captivated, you have yet to cease totally captivating me. You get a:

Reading this while listening to the Junjou Romantica OST’s is a total must.