Killing Stalking
Writer/Artist: Koogi
Genre: Mature/Psychological Horror/Tragedy
Number of volumes: 2
Available of Mangafox: Yes
What’s it About?
Our manga begins with a scrawny quiet boy named Yoonbum who has developed a crush on the most popular and handsome boy in school named Sangwoo. When his obsession is sent into overdrive, Yoonbum breaks into Sangwoo’s house, where a nasty surprise waits for him…
Strengths
Where shall I begin?! When it comes to it’s strengths, Killing Stalking is captivating from the first chapter! The plot twists begin straight away and from there you will find yourself immersed in a spiral of an intense plot where you would love to look away but you can’t. It’s theme is horrible, even the die-hard fans of the manga would agree with me, it’s horrible, but you cannot put it down! You need to know what’s going to happen. Will Bum make it through? Why is Sangwoo the way he is? And what I think makes this manga so interesting is the fact you do not have a clue how it’s going to end! I honestly cannot predict how it’s going to end, and for me it’s so refreshing. With some mangas you can predict from the start where it’s heading, the plot becomes too obvious, but with Killing Stalking you just don’t know what’s going to happen. I honestly have no clue what’s going to happen and I cannot wait to find out what!
One of it’s strengths is that Koogi is still developing her characters and therefore how you feel for the characters change as well. Koogi manages to ignite such a vast amount of emotion from you with this manga with every new chapter! The writing is insanely good at well, I love the thick eyeliner look they have going on, it makes the manga stand out from it’s peers. The way that Sangwoo is drawn – the combination of the hair, the thick eyeliner, and the broad muscular frame – he is (personality aside) a handsomely drawn character.
Weaknesses
For many in the fandom (including myself) it’s weakness is the romanticisation of what is clearly a very, very abusive relationship. And I’m not suggesting that Koogi has romanticised it in their work, in my opinion it’s actually far from it, but how many within the fandom have romanticised it themselves? Personally I do not see this manga as a romantic piece. This is horror, a grotesque piece of work meant to shock you. However you will see people saying here and there saying things like: ‘I hope they get together’ or ‘they’re so cute’. No. Abusive relationships are far from cute, even in the work of fiction, however I should add that this is more on the fandom side than the actual book. I do not believe that the relationship is romanticized in any way and after discussing the book with an online friend, I found that some find it triggering due to it’s misconstrued portrayal of borderline personality disorder which of course many people struggle with. There are many triggering aspects in this manga and Koogi doesn’t daintily tip toe around them, she scissor kicks over them!
Give it a Chance/ Leave it Be
Give Killing Stalking a chance and I swear you will not regret it! It’s horrifying, it’s shocking, it’s triggering. It’s everything I never expected when I read the first few pages and that’s what makes it so unbelievably good! I haven’t been this sucked into a manga since 19 Days and that is the complete opposite! And FYI, Killing Stalking will make you want to play the song ‘Killing you Softly’ over and over again.
