Totally Captivated: Volume 1 by Hajin Yoo
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I got this one because of the gorgeous cover art and I have a weakness for mob related yaoi. Since this is pretty popular, there are a ton of stories to choose from. Totally Captivated deals with Ewon, a young twink that gets hijacked into the mob by his ex-boyfriend. Ewon then deals with the daily struggles of being the low man on the mob totem pole while his ex-bf is sleeping with the mob boss; a boss who of course wants Ewon’s ass.
Ewon is a super cute character and the artwork often reflects this. He initially cheats on his boyfriend (soon to be ex- Jiho) because Ewon is a friendly guy that shares his love around. He learns perhaps that’s not the best choice of action. Ewon is cute, funny, and contradictory. He’ll say one thing and do something totally else. Jiho and the mob boss Mookyul are more difficult to get a handle on. Since Ewon is pretty clueless and the story is told from his perspective, the two characters are mostly seen as larger than life.
The artwork is decent but what mostly killed my enjoyment is I couldn’t follow the plot very easily. It seemed to jump around and never made a lot of sense. I usually have an easier time following yaoi stories but this one never came together in a cohesive narrative for me. Plus I never really understood why they were always slapping the crap out of Ewon. He always takes it pretty well but he seemed to get hit (and hit on) every other page.
I’m curious to read more but not sure I’ll enjoy this particular series. It’s easy to read and lightening fast with ok artwork. Ewon is pretty adorable and can carry the story, even considering the problems I had so if this might work for someone else.
three am 
This sounds familiar and I thought I read it but maybe not since I didn’t blog about it. I’m not big on the mob-boss theme in yaoi, I think because I don’t get the whole yakuza system and I hate when the story makes no sense.
I don’t mind the whole mob boss theme but I couldn’t figure this one out. The whole I had no idea what was going on lol. I also didn’t get why the main guy kept getting hit … ouch!
LOL. This is actually quite a typical reaction when reading the first volume of this series. I’d definitely encourage you to read the series in its entirety though. Not only because it’s one of my favourites, but, I think, that’s how you can really appreciate it.
Would you like to borrow mine? Although if anything happens to them, I would have to kill you.
Just sayin’.
I’m going to see if I can get the next one from Paperback Swap. I’ve got like 30 or something credits to burn. If not, I’m totally borrowing yours then passing them around at a gay rave then trying to find them again to snail them across the ocean on the backs of turtles.
So, just the normal then.