Be Still My Heart

My Heart is beating is the story about this boy who has a strained relationship with his father. They barely talk anymore and all the father says is that he wants him to be better. As such the MC suffocating in his house finds solace in swimsuits.... Yes the man loves swimsuits. So when he was peeking at the female water polo team and gets caught the teacher decides to blackmail him to make him the final member of the female water polo team. Now the good part about the series is the dynamic between the father and his son. You can feel the sonsuffocating because of the pressure, however because of the short length of the series a lot of characters don't get proper development. and although majority of them are mediocre some suffer from being very 2 dimensional. The ex boyfriend for example is like the example of every ex boyfriend ever. Its very poor character writing. Considering the toughness of the situation i didn't like the art style change for comedic purposes. I actually didn't like some of the comedy in its entirety, and some were just plain gross. The romance was fine but i do wish it was more detailed. It just kinda implied in the end and i didn't like that. Nonetheless the author gave us some great panels that used the webtoon format to its advantage. Especially in regards to swimming, romance and the family pressure. TLDR: Some great scenes. and nice characters, but medicore almost everywhere else. 6/10

So, while i was browsing through stuff i have yet to read, i ended up stumbling upon this extremely underrated jewel. Illustrated by the same guy (Il-Kwon Ha) who did Annarasumanara (go read it!), it's a very heartwarming story of a guy with a swimsuit fetish living with a strict asian parent and, due to certain circumstances, forced by his teacher to crossdress as a girl and play in a girls water polo team. Kinda generic and uninsteresting, right? Well, while the premise may not sound that exciting or unique (it isn't), the way the story was handled in such a short albeit suitable run istruly remarkable and worth praising. The comedy, the relationship between the two protagonists, the extremely likable side characters (and a special shout-out to the teacher, whose backstory was surprisingly touching) and even the more serious parts, everything was handled with the dignity and quality of a good writer, which is what Il-Kwon certainly is. And even though the story as a whole is fairly simple and straighforward, it's also quite meaningful and the deeper themes the artist manages to explore here (things like loneliness, child trauma, the pressure of having to meet expectations imposed by those around you, etc.) are elegantly incorporated in it thanks to Il-Kwon's charmingly artistic artwork, which makes it for a rather satisfying experience, because you can clearly feel the kids you've grown to like becoming more mature and overcoming their issues. And that's what makes a coming of age narrative compelling. You end up feeling happy when they feel happy and you get sad when they get sad. It's that sense of progress that makes the whole thing enjoyable, imo. All in all, it's only 30 chapters long (kinda wish it was a bit longer) and it's a really sweet and satisfying read, so i highly recommend it. Oh, and don't let the gender bender tag turn you off - even though the main guy crossdresses, the people who should know his true identity know it from very early in the story, so it's never annoying. So yeah, don´t waste more time and go read it, you'll probably be pleasantly surprised.

My Heart is Beating definitely has an outstanding story and setup that can relate to many of its viewers. From strict parental expectations to a deluded interest for their boyfriend, the characters were built based on the lives of real people. As eccentric as the synopsis may sound, the swim suit fetish develops the story into a 3-dimensional dilemma. Don't be turned off-- the usual use of genres such as cross dressing and perverted fetishes were changed into something more serious and plausible, and definitely does not meet your usual expectations of these types of stories. As far as the art goes, theartist definitely manipulated the use of tone in their scenery. You could be seeing blues one chapter and vibrant hues the next; it really sets up the proper atmosphere. Personally speaking, I really liked how the eyes were drawn in a semi-realistic way. Within these thirty chapters, the author did a good job on selecting a few characters and giving his/her best on developing them. They had me emotionally moved, since as I had said before, the characters were very close to life. Even the personalities of all the members of the Water Polo team were just like your usual pet peeves of group projects-- incompetent, fussy, and bossy.

Before i start, sorry if my english not that great. bear with me here. Have you ever felt the weight of expectation and hope by the people around you? If yes, you know how it feel. This manga represent that feeling of expectation and pressure that we face in our daily life. I feel how this manga is a bit realistic (other than a guy who is cross dressing). First of all, to make it clear, this is a Korean Manga, or know as Mahwa. Second of all, for me to call this manga a gender bender genre is quite heavy for me it is better toknown this as cross dressing. I know most of people (including myself) try to skip any manga related to gender bender, but anyone who love shonen romance manga should give the manga a chance. ~.It has a bit of spoiler but i will try my best not to expose to much.~ STORY (8) - My Heart Is Beating story revolves around our MC, Bae Sugu an average student who has a father as the vice principal of his school. He weight the expectation of his father to be the top student and enter a good college after school. This cause his life to be in a standstill. He doesn't know what to do with his life. Until he met a girl with tears on her eyes. This where his life changes. Due to certain circumstances he was force to enter the school Polo Team while cross dressing and teaming up with the girl. This manga tell the story of HIM, HER AND THEIRS expectation. It really hit a nail on that side. Well, it has some comedy in it, and it is enjoyable. ART (9) - Its beautiful. That the only thing i could say. Well, i could say more because i love how mahwa (korean manga) draw their character. Its beautiful in colors and drawing. It draw in a 1 page long with beautiful coloring and scene plot. Character (8) - There are a few characters and each character will leave an impact on you, even thou they story are told in short scene. Each character has their own weight of expectation on their shoulder and this really make the story really interesting as it foretold the story and how they outcome their expectation. Enjoyment (8) - I really don't enjoy much a genre with gender bender in it. But come to my surprise really enjoy this manga. Because it doesn't focus much on that genre as it more to show slice of life genre and romance. Overall (8) - One of the best manga/Mahwa i read that should have been given much credit for it slice of life realistic plot and with that romance and comedy. (BTW- The mahwa has a manga remake called Water Cube. Well it Basically the same plot, just the name are more to japanese name as maybe the mangaka want to tackle the japanese manga market)