this post was submitted on 23 Oct 2023
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I reread D-frag, its one of my comfort reads so I read it now and again from beginning to end.
I also read The Bully In-Charge up to chapter 69, its another korean delinquent work in a world where adults dont intervene no matter how bad things get and kids are so vicious they send each other to the hospital in a daily basis. The catch here being that some higher ups at the education foundation decided to hire a 20 year old ex delinquent to go to school as a 16 year old and beat the crap out of the bullies, so he gets to dominate them. I don't think it was trying to do comedy, but it ended up being hilarious in many situations I laughed out loud, it is pretty ridiculous at times. The fights were somewhat good, but near the end it is getting into the typical delinquent manwha territory where gangs and drugs get involved in every high school conflict and also some special bullshit ability is getting introduced, which kind of ruins the "somewhat plausible fiction" element of the fights into straight-up fantasy. (similar to what happens into kuroko no basket to give some reference)
Your description of The Bully In Charge made me imagine it as a mix between 21 Jump Street and Fight Club. It sounds absolutely wild. I am not too well read on manhwa (basically only follow Omniscient Reader and read Raeliana, an odd pairing I know), so I didn't realize there is a whole genre for Korean delinquents, but I guess it makes sense since there are analogous manga genres. It certainly wouldn't be the first story to start out great and then keep trying to outdo itself until it becomes farcical. Sometimes though, those can still be really fun, even if we end up laughing at them.
It just bugs me how repetitive the mafia involvement plot lines get in this genre, it is in virtually in every single one and when it gets there it does it in the most stupid or unnecessary ways.
Loved your analogy, I didn't think it that way before but 21 jump street × fight club fits it really well. I'm probably gonna start using it to describe it lol
One last thing just in case you get somewhat interested, the korean delinquent manwhas are a completely different genre from the manga ones. Like, manga is usually more romantic about the figure of the delinquent, it also treats it as a weird in between of the worlds of adults and teenagers, stories usually show the protagonist as a noble delinquent. Manwhas are more like trashy entertainment, there is an absurd amount of bullying going around, lots of them are revenge stories from weak to OP, here the protagonist s usually act vigilante-like, and the fights are usually phenomenal, it feels like it is the biggest focus on most works and most manage to make shonen tier pacing of fight after fight being entertaining.