Reviews in Brief: Rakun's U Don't Know Me

Rakun's U Don't Know Me is a Korean BL man hwa, about two childhood friends, Seyun and Yoojin, who are separated when Seyun's family moves away but reunite years later in high school. And as it turns out, in spite of their closeness as children, they don't know each other very well at all.

Although it doesn't come through with absolute clarity, this is another character-driven story, with conflicts seated in assumptions on either side that turn out to be unjustified. It's also a little bit on the seamy side -- Seyun's acquaintances are not all upstanding citizens, although Yoojin seems to be pretty much squeaky clean -- star athlete, excellent student, good relationship with his parents. (Seyun's parents are not always the most understanding.) Seyun is deceptive -- he seems very frail but is anything but.

It's the parents who offer another one of the surprises in this story, particularly Yoojin's, who discover the nature of the boys' friendship when it's progressed somewhat beyond mere cameraderie.

There's very little comedy in this one, and what there is is pretty understated, although there are a series of vignettes at the end that give us some real -- well, "comedy" is perhaps too strong: call it "humor" of a mordant sort.

The drawing is very clean,, and there's a good clear flow to the graphics, and although the layouts are not too adventurous, they have their moments. Character designs are, of course, appealing, although not as expressive as they could be.

It's from NetComics, a new one for me, but a publisher who looks interesting.