Cover Up - Reviews

Okay, so I have to be a bit harsh about this comic. I don't want to be, but it has to be done. This story started off so original and beautiful, the premise of a tattoo artist running away from an abusive ex and helping a prominent member of the Yakuza with a sprawling tattoo... it was such a captivating tale. The art was unique as well, the gorgeous watercolor work was breathtaking, especially on the scenery and the tattoos. With all that said, the last half of this comic fell flat. The story seemed so rushed and it left me feeling really disappointing, believing these characters deserved better. When I realized it was the same author as "The Baker on the First Floor", I understood, because the exact same thing happened with that story as well. Such strong characters and story arcs only to putter out at the end. I think this story still deserves a read and is still a great manhwa, the three men in this comic are breathtaking and deserve lots of attention. But tread lightly with your expectations!

Unlike the other readers rating this low because of the ending, I'm rating it low because of the wasted potential. 

At first read, I dropped this. The art was gorgeous but the story was severely lacking in many ways: just your generic bl plot. either way, i decided to give it a second chance, and I was really disappointed. I don't know what it is with bls in general making sexual abuse a common trait between them, tolerating rape culture and being forgiving towards it. It's absolutely disgusting and any bl containing sexual abuse is immediately trash. 

I saw many comments about the "gorgeous men" and the "flat ending" but not a single one mentioned the abuse the main character went through and how he just brushed it off. Anyhow, I read this to the end. I was flabbergasted because of how much potential it had if the author had played this out in a different way.

In my opinion, the original story between Geumhwa and his ex was way more interesting than the current story. The last few chapters from the ex's point of view were way more interesting than the entire story put together. The fish and tank analogy, watching them "fall in love", out of love, becoming toxic.. There are so many stories about falling in love and all that jazz, but rarely one about falling out of love, healing, becoming you. That's what the main character needed, not another guy to fucking rape him.

Speaking of the love interest, you could've brought a rock and it would have more character development than him. I'd go as far as to say his personality regressed. He was the most pointless one of them all. There were some serious issues between him and the main character and they never got touched upon.

If there had been no glorified sexual abuse in this, it'd be a solid 6-7. What we, as a community, need, is to inwardly end the rape culture that is so deeply rooted in LGBTQ content, especially mlm.

(forgive me for conjuring up such a sloppy review.)

Cover Up is an admittedly beautiful story art wise, however, it lacks in almost every other departmet. 

The story begins with a very promising premise, a young tattoo artist temporarily flees his abusive ex partner and finds a man of which perks his interest. This is all fine and dandy until you reach the 10-15 chapter mark where you can tell that the author simply wants to end the story. The main events get repetitive and the writing becomes rushed and almost unfinished., some of the chapters simply stop meshing together decently, and it just becomes all around confusing.

There is so little focus on any characters but the MC and it just  gets really exhausting. The same topics constantly get brought up over and over again when justifying any other person's actions.

The most prominant thing that really killed the entire book for me was how lightly rape was taken. As a victim of those vile actions, it hurt when the author just pushed it aside for the sake of "love" or even the slightest of hate. The author only really showed how negetive it is when it came to the antagonist. There was really no need for so much of it in the book, if anything, the repeated sexual assault only really weakened the "happily ever after" that we were given.

this is a mess towards the end. i would give it a higher rating if the ending was better and not so rushed. it felt like the author just wanted get it over with. if it had at least more 10 chapters to solve things, develop characters and their illnesses it would be good. but the ending was so rushed, with no /real/ closure at all.

i don't remember much about the beginning of the story because i left it on hold for months, so i'm just gonna talk about the last 12+/-.

we got introduced to some serious mental problems the mc has. and they don't get solved. they get ignored like they're nothing and like finding a loved one was the solution for it. honey, no. we see some fucked up things in mcs' past that i wish got explored more, dealt with, and not just thrown there for the sake of it.

i wish i could've seen more of the ex. i think he could've been an interesting character, with his love and complicated and heartbreaking relationship with mc. instead, they get no closure.

the depression gets ignored. the not so healthy relationship with the main love interest gets ignored. main love interest has a total of 0 development. man there's just so much happening that could be handled better. a shame.

and what the hell is with that way of mc and love interest making up? what

OK, this is great a little heartwarming thing, although I agree with the other reviews that the art held it up1.5/3rds of the way(the rest being the story and something else but I forgot lol) and that it was too short but that's not something that I think should be complained about. Yes, this would have been better if it was 60 chapters or something and more time gaps, but there's not. You only get  30 and you can't do anything about it since it's completed (except complain of course!). And you cant do too much with it (as a writer that's like saying you have a month to write a 7-10 page essay or story about anything fill it with emotion and everything you can you can't go over that page limit and there is only so much you can put into to that without making it too much and over whelming{OR TOO FAST} )and for what the author did do  I think it's really good for what was accomplished in the small amount of time(30 chaps) also it's really heartwarming at the end if you like also if sign I think you'll like this. (also for the example I'm just saying I was getting tired of reading reviews complaining about it but it is their opinion and this is mine :) Also, the end definitely could have had more to it it was really lacking but I still felt it