After a very long wait and a few teasers later, Ratana Satis’ upcoming GL webtoon series Soul Drifters finally has a release date. This highly anticipated series will debut on January 19th, Sunday on the premium webtoon platform Lezhin Comics. Ratana Satis posted a new visual of the series of her official Facebook page on New Year’s Day.
It was also announced that releases for the chapters will be from every 2nd, 12th, and 22nd day of each month. After the debut, the next release will be on the 22nd. The artist has been teasing art and revealing small info about the characters since last year.
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Official links to the author's webcomics are also included for the benefit of the readers and to support the creator's works.
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It has been a while since my last review on something related to webcomics (for a very good reason, I will explain later).
This has been long overdue. I honestly wanted to talk about this series for a (very) long time and those who have known for me for years can prove that while this series was ongoing, I couldn’t stop talking about it. So finally, here it is! My review on The Third Party by Enjelicious. Spoilers ahead!
The Basics
The Third Party was released in 2017 (during the hype of Lezhin Comics’ GL Renaissance) in the Lezhin Comics EN website. This was created by popular Filipino artist Enjelicious notable for doing cover arts for the physical release of the Diary ng Panget books as well as other local manga releases in the Philippines. Her ongoing work Age Matters can be read on LINE Webtoon and has earned a massive following to this day.
Going back to TTP, the webtoon won First Place in Lezhin US’ first webtoon competition. When the teaser of the series was released, yuri fans were excited and very much looking forward to it.
The Third Party is centered on the romance of two girls: Gu Jeong Hui and Moon Hae Jin. Gu Jeong Hui is the daughter of the CEO of a TV broadcasting company, GBS. Here’s the thing: Jeong Hui is in an arranged marriage with one of the TV anchors, Kang Sang Hun. She immediately obeyed her father’s wishes of marrying Sang Hun regardless if her life still feels empty. It took a different turn when she met Hae Jin, who is a Producer-Director of the company.
While Jeong Hui’s purpose in GBS was to obey her father and her husband’s wishes, Hae Jin had different agendas to why she was there: to get revenge and answers on the death of her father. She didn’t care if she had to manipulate people to do this. She did everything whatever it takes. However, her plans seemed to have slowed down when she met Jeong Hui. Eventually they fell in love with each other.
The webtoon is roller coaster of intense drama and romance. You are sure to be completely hooked.
Late Reaction to The Hype
Due to I was focused on another webtoon series What Does The Fox Say, I admit I never really got into the hype fully. It was when it reached to Chapter 10 when I finally decided to give The Third Party a read. And oh man, I regretted for not starting too soon.
My Undying Love for PD Moon
I am not ashamed to say that ever since her full appearance in the first chapter, I was completely in love with PD Moon (Moon Hae Jin). Just who wouldn’t? She works in a Media company (which is in my line of career), she’s very beautiful, and just whatever she does makes you wish that she’d noticed you. I always tend to joke that “I want PD Moon to step on me” because of how I greatly admire her from her character design to her constant change as the story progresses.
As The Third Party moves forward, you would probably notice that ever since Gu came into her life, PD Moon was torn of avenging her past or just embrace the present thing she has now. She had Gu, she didn’t need anything else. She was willing to let go of almost everything she worked for because of her. But on the other side of the coin, she was already at that peak where the answers that she always demanded and work FOR YEARS is still conflicting.
The Art, Drama, and Intensity
Reading this webtoon for the first time was really a ride. Almost 90% of the time, each chapter ends with a cliffhanger. But you really can’t ignore the art of this webtoon. This is probably the first webtoon series I’ve read in which 3/4 of each chapter has a background. Most of the time, webcomics are only filled with white background and not many details are added except the character. In The Third Party, however, every panel has a background and the artist really took a lot of effort to add in backgrounds to give the scene a bit more life.
Every Monday night was something to look forward to as the intensity of the story grew as each chapter moves forward.
The Ending
For the benefit of those who haven’t read The Third Party ending (or haven’t even started yet,) I won’t spoil much. When the last chapter was released, I was already expecting a lot of people to comment about the ending. How I wish I can elaborate more–but I have to say that that ending was definitely okay for me. It wasn’t sad or it was a happy ending. It was some that people didn’t expect. While people had a lot to say about it, it honestly gave me hope that there will be a continuation of Gu and PD Moon’s story. I don’t mind how long I will be able to wait for that happen. However, it was a good end for me. Let me know in the comments section what you think of the ending if you’ve read it already. I’m curious!
The Webtoon That Got Me Back to the Yuri Community
Yes, that’s PD Moon in a coffee shop. At the same time, it’s my laptop and me in a coffee shop.
Okay, this part may be a bit personal so incoming feels trip.
The time The Third Party was released, I was at that particular moment of my life when I wanted to leave the Yuri community. The story behind this is very long and I promised my friends to no longer talk about it. I honestly lost the energy and motivation to do the things that I wanted to do. So I made the decision to just quit. However, this webtoon got me back. I read this in one of the darkest periods of my life as a yuri fan. Until now, I am very thankful that this series was made. I think giving a hundred or even thousands of thank you’s to Enjelicious aren’t enough to express how this webtoon got me back to loving yuri and just do stuff for this fandom.
Also, I realized that I have such a connection to PD Moon especially when it comes to the topics of romance and life are concerned. We all make mistakes and we take the wrong risks along the way. However, a certain fragment of your past shouldn’t be a reason not to keep going. We keep going even if we have to keep that someone in our life or let go for the better.
Conclusion
No webtoon series is perfect and The Third Party is one of them. I do not want to go technical or critical on this because my overall conclusion is that this webtoon is a must-read. Some of you may be reading her current work Age Matters, but if you have extra webtoon coins to spare, please do read The Third Party. From art to story, and to the characters. I actually lost count to how many times I’ve read the series. I think you might say this is my go-to yuri webtoon to read, and I do hope it would be the same for you guys too.
Alggumba, one of the creators of the popular GL webcomic series What Does The Fox Say announced on Twitter that the webcomic will be ending its service effective on December 31.
Those who have purchased the chapters on Lezhin Comics and want to reread the series will still be able to do so by going to the ‘My Library’ page in the site. The creator will be providing more info soon to whether the webcomic will make its return in the future.
About What Does The Fox Say
What Does The Fox Say is a story of the intense love triangle of Sung Sumin, Ju Sungji, and Baek Seju. Sung Sumin is a Team Leader of Hello Studio, a company run by Baek Seju, her ex-girlfriend. Everything seemed to turn around for Sumin when the new recruit Ju Sungji came into the picture. You may read the series in Lezhin Comics.
In a tweet posted on Friday, webtoon creator Aji shared that the GL webotoon On A Leash will continue once everything is in clear agreements with webtoon publisher Lezhin Comics on the webtoon ownership right. The creator will be providing updates the soonest.
안녕하세요. 아지입니다. 많은 분이 온어리시 재연재에 대해서 문의해주셔서 뒤늦게나마 추이에 대해 말씀드리려 합니다. 온어리시는 계약기간이 끝나 레진에게 게재권을 되찾게 되더라도 재연재까지는 시간이 걸릴 것 같습니다. 기다려주시는 독자분들에게 꼭 다시 연재할 거라 약속드리겠습니다. pic.twitter.com/Z2Rj5yIDkI
The tweet received a lot of replies from fans holding on to hope that the series will come back the soonest.
The announcement of the series’ indefinite hiatus happened last February, the same month Team Gaji announced the cancellation of their webtoon hit What Does The Fox Say.
On A Leash is set in a chaotic battleground where tension and emotions run high. In the midst of the chaos, the story is also centered on the love-hate relationship of Red and Luce (which respectively morph into a dog and snake). You can read the series in both English and Korean in Lezhin Comics.
