Webtoon Review: Midnight Partner

I am excited to present a review on a webtoon I had been wanting to read for a while now: Midnight Partners. Recently, I had been given the chance to read free webtoons published by NETCOMICS, a webtoon/digital comics platform and publisher of Korean and Japanese comics based in South Korea and the U.S.!  

Midnight Partner is such an underrated webtoon that needs more love and attention. (Please know that I binged 119 chapters in one afternoon+evening.)

Title: Midnight Partner

Author: Minhee Kim

Platform: NETCOMICS

Genre: Fantasy, Romance

Status: Complete

Synopsis:

“On the first day at the new school in a suburb, Naeun learns about yellow ghosts appearing in the area. And, they appear in her new house that same night. Naeun’s homeroom teacher comes to kill them with a sword taken out of his chest.”

***

Essentially, Midnight Partner is about a girl, Naeun, who moved from Seoul to a smaller town with her parents. After a dreamlike midnight encounter, Naeun somehow receives an ability to see strange supernatural beings. Her homeroom teacher, Mr. Moon, is another person who can see those ghostly entities. Together, the two of them stalk the night to fight not just the “yellow ghosts” which comes out only when people sleep, but also inner demons and the difficulties found in friendship, love, and life.

This webtoon was only labeled as fantasy on NETCOMICS. However, I added the “romance” tag (above) because, to be frank, there is some falling in love involved. (But is it love between the lovely Naeun and her teacher Mr. Moon? No spoilers so you’re going to have to read it to find out!)

CHARACTERS

Naeun, the main character, is funny and absolutely adorable. Her character seems authentic like an actual girl any reader can relate to. It is also notable to mention she is a character with a disability. She has a limp which she got when she was a child due to some accident. I think it is amazing to have a disabled character as the main character of a webtoon without making her into a stereotype. Disability and disabled characters are underrepresented in webtoons.

The second main character is Mr. Moon. Unfortunately he’s the typical “man with a dark past.” Fortunately, he is only so in the first arc and there are two arcs to the webtoon. He’s not too bad a character as he helps Naeun navigate some things in her life. It’s also great that Naeun is a strong female character. She relies on Mr. Moon in situations but is not completely dependent on him.

ART

The art is cute. The majority of the colors are kept minimal and pleasant. The webtoon uses a very bright yellow throughout the story. But the use of the yellow combined with the drawings of the supernatural beings becomes another form of art in itself. At first, I thought the yellow used in the comic seemed harsh against the blues, light purples, and grays. But the yellow against those cool colors is what makes it “pop” and adds an enigmatic element that goes with the story.

STORY

The story is phenomenal. The plot is consistent, paced well, and (as far as I could tell) contains no holes. It dwells into heavy problems and emotions, such as hopelessness and isolation from family and peers. Minhee Kim does a great job at capturing such tense emotions into spoken words and recreating them into the phantasmagoric images of her webtoon. Of course there are also a lot of lighthearted moments. The webtoon is actually quite funny and I adore the comical parts. It has good humor that simply makes me laugh.

I do have one negative comment to make though. The ending felt unfinished, maybe a little rushed. Perhaps another chapter or two would have been nice to settle some things I felt were unanswered or simply left out. Therefore an epilogue might have been needed to wrap the webtoon up.

Overall, the webtoon was amazing. Although the fact that it’s not free may deter readers, I definitely recommend reading it and giving it a try. The first five episodes are free and it’s completed too, so no more waiting for weekly chapters.

You can read Midnight Partner here!

Have you read Midnight Partner?

What are your thoughts on the webtoon? What did you think about the ending?

Comment your thoughts below!

*Disclaimer: I was given free access to the comic for an honest review*

Feature Image © NETCOMICS © Minhee Kim

Bibliography

Kim, Minhee. “Midnight Partner.” NETCOMICS. Netcomics, Inc. netcomics.com/comic/midnightpartner. Accessed 24 October 2019.