Viral Hit

Viral Hit - Making money on YouTube by engaging in fights in an alternate universe? Now that's the way on How to Fight...so like, share, subscribe, and hit the notification bell for more videos and learn how to get stronger! In the history of anime, no overseas author has managed to get their work featured on the Japanese AniManga stage...not at least with different series under his/her belt. Enter Pak Taejun, the sole South Korean author being the first to have 2 of his manhwa works turned into anime: Oemojisangjuui a.k.a Lookism (which turned into Netflix's very first ONA WebToon series), and hailing from this season,Kenka Dokugaku a.k.a Viral Hit (lit. How to Fight), which is the manhwa-ga's 2nd most recognized series, and also the most recent work (in terms of popularity) that has recently wrapped up early this year. Being bullied is not a good sight, and people want to express their dominance over others in all ways possible, even when they have to resort to violence to do so. And that's the life of the unremarkable Yoo Hobin: being a wiener in a class where the YouTube-derivative streaming NewTubu has taken his school by storm, with everyone doing what they know best, from beauty to pranks, and even picking fights on people just for the green $ monetization, gaining fame and recognition as they go. And he just has to be the target of humiliation and abuse by one of its famous streamers, Pakgo. The relentless big-sized bully who has a rather bigger-sized ego picking on the small fry, Hobin, is one of them, and he spends the daily grind being the play tool of Pakgo. On top of that, with his only family of a bedridden mother and having to take up a part-time job at a fast-food restaurant just to make ends meet, Hobin isn't having life easy. If being a target isn't good enough, his cameraman of Woo "Jiksae" Jihyeok a.k.a Snapper, is an addition to Hobin's woes, trespassing his house to stream his own gaming content, thus using up the former's electricity, which does not bode well with Hobin. An embarrassing Kimchi vegetable brawl of a fist fight ensued between the two...which was mistakenly uploaded, earning them both the accumulation of a viral hit, and the two boys had a brilliant idea going: use their newfound fanbase to initiate fights with everyone around them, no matter how strong their opponents can be, and test the limits of the video social medium to earn them lots of greenhorns in the process. If you think that the characters are a literate joke, remember that this is the same author as Lookism, so Pak Taejun definitely knew what he wanted to incorporate his ugly-ass characters and fit them into a universe that's like a version of Rocky Balboa, but intentionally made in both funny and serious ways. If we are to compare character archetypes, Hobin would be the stereotypical lame MC who's made to be the sapling and the butt of all jokes against his detractors, but yet like a growing tree, he wants to always get stronger against people that he challenges, from the outwardly amateur to the realism of pros in martial arts like Takewondo, taking his lessons from a rather ubiquitous, but mystery person wearing a chicken head who's only known as Samdak with his How to Fight series and analyzing against the types of people that the beansprout will encounter to help him overcome and achieve victory. It's not easy for Hobin to rise up the ranks of being a fighter alongside Snapper (who switched positions to become his cameraman), but as long as the money keeps rolling, nothing is impossible for both weaklings to face the world of the strong, and that's all that matters. Of course, what's the world of the weak without the strong people, and what's the incentive that Hobin and Snapper are willing to go the distance to become the viral hits that they've become? The strong fighters, from the likes of MMA fighter Kim Munseong to Takewondo ace Seong Taehun, are no joke when it comes to their martial art prowess, and you'd think that Hobin would be wise to steer clear of the strong fighters, but nope. The streaming demand for their NewTubu channel is always there, and thanks to Snapper's know-how of how to lead an audience, Hobin is always unceremoniously lured into the fights that everyone wants to watch, especially for a skinny weakling like him being watched by the eyes of many to defy expectations and more. That is what makes How to Fight, the (small) Viral Hit that it is, being both a manhwa and now an anime that you want to watch just to see the end results. And I'm not gonna lie, this is exactly the kind of perfect clickbait show that, like our obsession with social media, is the triggering synapse for all things possible, being so engrossing to watch that you don't want to put the source work down. When it comes to Webtoon adaptations, I would say that this show is one of the most faithful adaptations that you'll ever get to watch the manhwa come to life on the small screen. And despite studio Okuruto Noboru's production being rather bare bones and lacking, I'd think that it's close to the feeling of reading the manhwa in its entirety, thanks to Sokushi Cheat director Masakazu Hishida understanding how to pace the original source material rather nicely. And considering that manhwa, like LNs, are likewise hard to adapt to, pacing is important, and this show has the substance to back up its long-paced content. The music is rather noticeable, given that it's an action series that's all about fighting, and while its effect is rather distant, I'd wish that it had more kick to add to the substance of a series like this one. That said, MA55IVE THE RAMPAGE's OP is such a fit-and-finish banger of a song that has caliber, though the same can't be said for Crab KANI Crab's ED. As usual, some people will whine why the names have been changed from Korean to Japanese-sounding ones, and if you don't understand the word "localization," then I don't know how to convince you. Still though, I thought that Kenka Dokugaku a.k.a Viral Hit was a nice change from Lookism, that at least not just looked better, but sounded better in a lot of ways, though it can't hold a candle when compared to the original source material, and just did decent enough to warrant its own thing at best. It's worth trying for a pickle of its theme, which we don't see often...for someone who gets famous for picking up fights, not just for the streaming counterpart.