Title: Vampire Syndrome
Type: Webcomic
Year: 2023-2024
Country: South Korea
Genre: Action/supernatural
Status: Completed
Platform: Webtoon (read here)
Appropriate for 30+?: Yes
My rating: 4/5 stars
(Rating scale: 5/5 = masterpiece, 4/5 = quite good, 3/5 = mostly good, 2/5 = bleh, 1/5 = I regret ever being exposed to this series, 0/5 = affront to humanity)
When it comes to webtoons, especially Korean ones, I often find myself making the same criticisms over and over: this is just a new twist on a tired concept, there's no novelty to the art style, the pacing is terrible (and drags on for way too many chapters), and the big one: this series is all plot and no substance (it has no thesis, nothing it "wants to say," it's only goal is to be entertaining).
Then in strides an underrated action/supernatural series, catching me completely by surprise because it's about one of the most tired concepts of the 21st century, vampires, and yet feels like one of the freshest new entries to the webtoon scene in years. The art is super unique, stylish, and flashy (and for once does not completely clash with the 3D-generated backgrounds), the characters are all distinctive and interesting (and relevant through the whole series, no "introduce, use, and dump" here!), the series wrapped up comfortably in an engaging 80 chapters, and the entire premise is an analogy for social issues facing 21st century South Korea (and most of the first world):
spoiler
The villains are vampires, specifically the vampires at the top of the food chain who are mostly wealthy old men who became vampires seeking immortality by consuming people younger and less privileged than themselves. Most of the protagonists are in their 20s or 30s, although there is a spread from teens to 60s, and there's a very strong "the older generations should sacrifice themselves to ensure the success of the younger generations, not the other way around" theme throughout. Like any good social analogy there's debate over preserving the status quo vs inciting a chaotic revolution, and what "revolution" would even look like. While the themes are presented from a South Korean perspective, I think most everyone will resonate with the "pass the fucking torch already, Boomer" messaging.
The dialogue can be a bit clunky at times, although it's hard to say whether that's a result of a poor translation. The series engages in a lot of time jumps, and although I think they're handled well some people may find them confusing. The series has the emotional subtlety of a teenager's poetry diary and the social analogy thesis is pretty superficial, but it carries a sincerity that, combined with the art style, makes it all just work. The surreal rubber-people art, character-driven plot, and stylized body horror all remind me a bit of the Land of the Lustrous manga.
If you can stomach some (highly stylized fantasy) violence and noir-level brooding, Vampire Syndrome is a series I'd recommend to anyone looking for something different, or at least less superficial, in the action genre.
As with all my reviews, the above is nothing more than my personal opinion. Have you read this series? What did you think? Post in the comments!