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Last edited by Tony K. on Mon Apr 15, 2024 4:37 pm; edited 1 time in total

Viral Hit (TV)

Source: South Korean Manhwa / Webtoon (ongoing @ 8 volumes, written by Taejun Pak, illustrated by Kim Junghyun)

Demographic:

Animation Studio: Okuruto Noboru

Genres: action, comedy, drama

Themes: martial arts, social media

Plot Summary: Scrawny high school student Hobin Yu is probably the last guy you'd expect to star in a NewTube channel that revolves around fighting. But after following some advice from a mysterious NewTube channel, Hobin is soon knocking out guys stronger than him and raking in more money than he could have ever dreamed of.

Air Date & Platform:
April 10, 2024 (Wednesday)
Available on: Crunchyroll

Episode Count / Runtime: Pending
----------------------------------

South Korean-based series about underground fighting. Ya' don't see that too often. Pretty good cast, too. Hopefully the production value can match how promising this sounds.

No, just no.

Episode 1

I think I have two lines that I had a problem watching the first episode, and will discuss separately.

The first is that although I am not a content creator myself, I would like to think that I am as much of an active user of YouTube and pay attention to enough content creators to really be turned off by the portrayal. Sure it probably thought that it was being specific enough with things like some types of YouTubers and revenue stream. But unless I am totally out of touch of younger streamers I find I find the idea of them just making that money to be ridiculous. The content looks like garbage that it doesn't seem believable especially with how the characters are that they would be popular.

The second could really be a personal case, and something I feel pretty confident at this time. I think that I really have a problem with these anime based on Korean source material, it is really feeling like every time I can just pick up that it these are based on Webtoons, and I have some weird visceral reaction to them. Like they are usually based on some mostly unlikable main character that just needs to have the world look like an unfair despite the fact that he is actually such a "nice guy". I had been sure that these things appear enough in anime based on Japanese sources, but to me it just feels dialled up in the Korean ones.

That ick factor to me extends to how the female characters are portrayed. Such that even when they are supposed to have depth and be attractive, or god forbid actually unlikable, there is just something off with how they are portrayed. I can only really put it into terms of what I learned a little while ago about the anti-feminist aspects of Korean society, that they cancel women for having a character make a certain gesture or a character not "sexy" enough. In that the girl made to be likable in this episode comes across with a weird purity framing that feels off in pretty much every love interest for these kinds of shows. Like using a portrait in a puppet show, where at first you might think there is depth, but there is just something flat about it, like an incel's idea of a girl/woman.

I have been just been so feeling so weird since these sorts of shows have come out, that there is so much buzz and people are into it. But when I watch them they feel even more than standard anime that they are written from the point of view of someone who has some weird victim complex, and is coming up with some intricate revenge fantasy. That maybe if everyone sees how awesome they are inside they might be able to win the girl who is the idea of a girl that they would earn if they are successful, but society is just pushing them down and demasculinizing them. And the worst bit is that I can feel myself also possibly get drawn into the hype, like I did with some of Solo Leveling, and there might be something nefarious about being drawn into these types of stories.

Gotta admit, not what I was expecting. I thought it was going to be some kind of fight club anime, as in, the movie/book Fight Club in tone. Anarchic but also smart and funny and self-aware and pointing toward the emptiness motivating the characters.

Pretty sure that's not what I got,

In a way I am thankful for an anime looking that bad and not appealing to me even in the slightest bit with the story, it makes for a pretty easy drop. That said, this one and the racing anime could not have delivered a worse first episode, an impression that bad will stick.

Episode 1

Hello, my name is Blood- and it appears as if I'm the only person in the world who liked this. What can I tell ya? I'm a sucker for "the bullied fighting back" stories.

Well, a mate who reads the webtoon says it gets less bad as it goes on so maybe you will have a lot of fun Blood?

Maybe. But it looks like I'll be having a lot of fun by myself... Sad

With so many shows every season it is kind of a waste to watch something that you are not fully invested in. Hell, even with me being more critical I am still near 30 shows on the to watch list.

I agree with you 100%. Hell, I'm ditching good shows like the Spice & Wolf remake. If I don't feel it, if I get even the slightest sense that a title is gonna feel like work instead of fun, I'm gone.

Blood - Welp, I think I'm the only person who didn't like Delicious in Dungeon. And except for you, I was one of the two people who liked Snack Basue. Sometimes it works out that way. To be fair, I didn't watch the whole episode.

Actually, I was not an instant convert to Delicious, either. I think it took about 3 episodes for me fully warm up to it.

Yah, I keep thinking I'll give Delicious in Dungeon another try sometime and I keep putting it off cos that space where I'll be the right combo of having lots of free time and being bored hasn't come around for a bit. Same with Dark Gathering and Dangers in My Heart..I don't know if I didn't connect with them because I was in a mood when I tried to watch them or because there's something fundamentally wrong with me. Errrr....I mean, sometimes anime just don't connect for nebulous reasons.

Edited once for pronoun reasons.

I've become a big believer in listening to my instincts even if they fly in the face of majority opinion. Didn't make it through the first episode of The Dangers in My Heart's second season and it is probably one of the most beloved shows of winter, apparently. The second I realized I didn't care if the two leads got together or not, I was gone. I had enjoyed the first season but I felt I was "full" as far as that particular story was concerned, I didn't more.

There's stuff I liked about Dark Gathering but I wasn't shedding tears by the time it wrapped up. If you were feeling resistance to it, I highly, highly doubt revisiting it is going change anything.

Some surprises for me this season: didn't get through the first episode of Laid Back Camp 3, a title I had previous really loved. At a certain point it dawned on me: wow, I'm really bored. Bye. Spice and Wolf remake: dropped. I wasn't super blown away by the first version and I was kind of reminded that unlike a lot of folks, I wasn't that charmed by the Holo - Lawrence dynamic. Loved her, found him to be a pill. So, bye. Jobless Reincarnation II, didn't even attempt. I just knew I couldn't take more of that douche in short pants.

Having said all that, I think you might find revisiting Delicious in Dungeon at some point worthwhile. I'm not sure how far you got but based on things you've liked in the past, I think you might cotton to it and even be glad you tried again. No promises, though.

DuskyPredator wrote:

Episode 1

I think it might be a bit unfair to the source. When it comes to portrayal of women, one thing I noticed is that many Korean manhwa have a problem of drawing women in same idealized way, long legged with short skirts, that they looks the same way even in porn manhwa. It feels to me way more uniform than in Japanese manga, compare for example "Mysterious Disappearances" and the big girl. If you're talking about character, they're also seem to be easily slotted into few main trope characters, more restricting than manga's tsundere or kuudere, though to smaller degree similar thing also happens with male characters.

As for world being unfair to MC, I feel manhwa tends to have a lot more of brutal bullying and mobbing, and from what I understand it is actually somewhat rooted in reality - Korean society seems to have similar problems as Japanese one but way bigger in scale - and it can explain why it's more aggressive with the "victim complex" and "revenge fantasy" parts. Maybe it's not because it's incel-y but because Korean society is more broken for many Korean people, leading to attitudes common in manhwa. Obviously such society would have more incels as well, but my point it can be symbol of more than just that,

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