Manga bites #005 – Yuri gems: What Does the Fox Say (Team Gaji) and Magan & Danai (Ermuzibu)

Yahallo!

It’s the return of Manga Bites: Yuri Gems edition! Actually, that’s not an official thing in this blog yet, but since I’m adding another pair of yuri webcomic goodies I might as well call it that. Though I am under no obligation to keep doing this, I’ll see to it that whenever I find something interesting (and I personally love, dream of, and fangirl over) I will share it with you because you all deserve the HNNNG and D’AWWW feels I have with these works. In all honesty, I just want more yuri-loving people out there to have access with the more “underground” fluffy stuff. That’s why these are gems—things you won’t initially notice that they are worth more than what they seem.

This time, my recommendations are an odd pair. The first one I’ll present is a NSFW title, while the other is a totally light-hearted webcomic. However, this post contains no explicit sexual graphics, so be rest assured.

Ready? Let’s take a look at them.

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What Does the Fox Say?

by Team Gaji (팀 가지) [KR] (NSFW)

(c) Lezhin Comics, Team Gaji

Synopsis: Ju Sungji is the new recruit in a PC and mobile game development company, Hello Studio. Because of her beautiful face and seemingly cold expression, she has a somewhat awkward space between her and co-workers. The work atmosphere, however, changes when she inadvertently proves she is actually kinder than she looks. At the welcoming party thrown for her, she meets the manager (Sung Sumin) for the first time—just who is this enigmatic lady that easily gets drunk? The president (Baek Seju) comes in late and fetches the inebriated manager. It seems like there’s more than what meets the eye.

Main Characters

Ju Sungji (주성지) – a.k.a. The blonde. She has a foreigner’s appearance but information says she is Korean. Her beauty is undeniable and, although she looks unfriendly at first, she actually makes a good hoobae¹. She is very obedient and completes tasks with little supervision. However, she also has an innocent or childish side that’s really refreshing to see, as it comes unexpected from a beauty like her. She seems clueless about romance and love life, and she hadn’t been in a relationship before. [Trivia: 24 y.o., Birthday April 28, Height 168 cm, Blood Type O]

Sung Sumin (성수민) – a.k.a. The black-haired lady boss. She sports a very serious disposition, like she’s the type of person with a distant look in her eyes. Sumin is level-headed, as expected of someone in her position, and she takes the role of tsukkomi in the office. [Trivia: 34 y.o., Birthday July 12, Height 158 cm, Blood Type A]

Baek Seju (백세주) – a.k.a. The pinkhead. The president of the company who spends way too much time away from the office. Although she treats her subordinates kindly, she has that mysterious smile that hides her secrets. [Trivia: 34 y.o., Birthday November 2, Height 172 cm, Blood Type AB]

Thoughts: This series immediately starts off with some adult content. Perhaps this was expected from a webtoon being published online at Lezhin Comics, where there is a healthy pool of talented artists that draw quality mature (19+) comics. When I say mature, however, I am not only referring to the work’s sexual content, but also to the way the story is written and drawn. Everything is shrouded in mystery, you’ll only get to know about the characters in snippets. Plus, the portrayal of office environment and interaction of officemates are enjoyably convincing. Hoobae respect their sunbae¹ and sunbae look after their hoobae, maintaining an apt distance physically and emotionally (shown in their dialogues). The mood is always restrained, reminding us that this is a realistic office drama. Characterizations do not only rely on facial expressions, but the manga wisely exploits the framing and dialogues.

The art style in this is nothing like anything I’ve seen so far, though the closest I can think of that somehow resembles it is Gantz’s. At first I was honestly a bit disgusted because it was so uncanny, but I was fortunately able to get used to it pretty quickly. That’s when I began appreciating at how wonderfully drawn each panel has been. The way the main characters are colored and shaded makes it welcoming for outstandingly crafted 3D backgrounds. One can really tell that quality time has been spent in defining each setting.

I didn’t expect that I would fall for this webtoon so hard that I can’t stop thinking about it. It’s often compared with Fluttering Feelings, though I guess it’s because a lot of FF fans who are also SONEs simply appreciate their Korean and girl-on-girl love stuff, which is something I understand even if I’m not a Soshi fan myself.² It has less fluff than FF but still remains a good source of feels—adult romance feels. And I love the main characters so far. Some tidbits of their past have been shown which remind me that we really can’t judge a person by her looks. I am shipping Sungji and Sumin, ever since the first chapter, but with the later revelations, I kind of feel bad for Seju. Now, if it’s possible, I actually won’t mind a threesome ending—but I am honestly more inclined for a SungjiXSumin end.

Man, I’m a fan of Sungji faces! Cracks me up every damn time.

Where to Read: Now that my boring monologue/rambling is out of the way, let me guide you to where you can read it. Its original page is found here. The website is in Korean, so if you can read it fine, good for you. Each chapter unlocks for 3 coins. Lezhin Comics and the author her/himself have not allowed for any free English (fan) translation of this webtoon. Meaning, you can only read it legally. Read the instructions in the first page of the Dynasty-Scans forum thread. For non-Korean readers, I highly suggest you follow this method. It will cost us a bit, but once you unlock a chapter it is open for you to read anytime, anywhere. Good folks like halmoni and her team are doing their best to provide an ‘overtoon’ translation that is best viewed when you buy and view a chapter in HD.

Magan & Danai / Magan he Danai

by Ermuzibu (二木子布) [CN]

(c) Ermuzibu

Synopsis: A 4koma-like storytelling of random day-to-day happenings in the lives of a lesbian couple, Magan and Danai.

Characters

Magan – The goofy one of the adorkable pair. She is very tall, beautiful, and handsome. She somehow commits more mistakes (at least, as shown so far in the webcomic) and would often make Danai mad. Don’t be fooled by her charming looks, she’s actually a crybaby whenever she’s done her wife wrong.

Danai – The ‘adult’ one of the adorkable pair. She has long, grayish hair and is shorter than Magan. Don’t be fooled by her cute looks—she gets easily mad, but will forgive her wife quite easily, too. Quite the tsundere, huh?

Thoughts: This one reminds me a lot of Their Story. Perhaps Chinese cartoonists love their webcomics drawn like this. Anyway, it’s full of fluff, and every chapter won’t fail to make you wish for more because, seriously, every update is so short! But I have no right to complain since this isn’t an officially published comic. Apparently, this is based on the real life of the author, Ermuzibu, and her partner. I’ve actually stalked her Weibo account before and found some pictures of her and the waifu. They’re preparing for their marriage, so for the meantime she’s drawing and writing this comic! Can you guess who’s Magan and who’s Danai from the two?³

Where to Read : If you’re Chinese, you’d better go to Ermuzibu’s Weibo for faster updates. For us, international readers, there’s only one tumblr site (Manhuajia) that I found where we can read the English translated pages.

Enjoy!~

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Notes:

1. Hoobae (후배) = Junior, underclassman. Basically the Korean equivalent to ‘kouhai’(後輩). ↑ Sunbae (선배) = Senpai~ (先輩) ↑

2. SONE (pronounced “so one”) is Girls’ Generation’s fandom name. Soshi is short for Sonyeo Shidae (소녀시대), which is the Korean for Girls’ Generation. ↑

3. For those who don’t like guessing games, or are lazy to guess, Magan is the author, while Danai is her beautiful waifu. ↑