This is bad. Having Jaeyoung around has become my life’s default state. This error has become too deeply engrained. Sangwoo Choo.

Sangwoo finds himself in a state of confusion due to the sudden change in behavior of his nemesis, Jaeyoung Jang. Jaeyoung, who used to make his life difficult, now displays a friendly and charming side, especially when they work together on their Chinese class project. This shift is so unexpected that when Jaeyoung gives him a friendly pat, Sangwoo’s reaction is so extreme that he flees in embarrassment. As Sangwoo tries to comprehend why his body reacted that way to Jaeyoung, he realizes that his long-held heterosexual assumptions are challenged, causing him to once again distance himself from Jaeyoung.

On the other hand, Jaeyoung is also perplexed by his own feelings. Despite having more experience with romantic partners compared to Sangwoo, he has never felt this way towards anyone before. When Sangwoo and another student, Jihye, visit the restaurant where Jaeyoung works, he feels unexpectedly bothered by their presence.

When Sangwoo proposes that they collaborate on developing a mobile game with a strict deadline, Jaeyoung agrees. However, he soon realizes that Sangwoo’s definition of a tight deadline leaves no room for slacking off, playing games, or being late for meetings. As they work on creating the game “Veggie Venturer” and promoting it, they start to gain a better understanding of each other. While Jaeyoung tends to revert to his laid-back attitude, Sangwoo is determined to keep him focused and pushes him to meet the project’s standards.

If there’s one problem with Semantic Error it’s that reading it may well spoil you when it comes to enjoying many of the other manhwa around, BL or otherwise. Angy’s art is superb, ranging from gorgeous character art (her leads are both good to look at) to a versatile range of cartoon-based images and super-deformed/chibi to score comedic points when necessary (but never overdone). The use of colour is also a treat to look at, whether in the naturalistic panels or some of the impactful collage-style panels showing what’s happening in Sangwoo’s mind, employing IT-inspired imagery. However, the strength of Semantic Error is the way the art is used to convey the clash of two forceful personalities; and here the story and character-building from J. Soori is strong and compelling.

In so many BL manga and manhwa today, too little time is paid to building the characters before they fall into bed together which is fine if that’s all you want to see portrayed but has led to an overabundance of ‘meh’ material in which the way the characters react to each other lacks spark or originality. By the end of Volume 2, nobody’s fallen into bed with anyone – although there’s definitely been a kiss (or two) and so much more in both young men’s fevered imaginations. Because yes, Sangwoo is beginning to realize that he is attracted to Jaeyoung even though he tries to shrug it off as ‘some abnormal lust’ which doesn’t convince Jaeyoung at all. Sangwoo (predictably) keeps trying to explain away his physical reactions to Jaeyoung in terms of chromosomes and evolution. When Sangwoo tells him, “Let’s pretend it never happened” Jaeyoung is not to be dissuaded. And, even though Jaeyoung with his insouciant, cool attitude and dazzling good looks, seems unlikely to be able to feel any kind of attraction toward strait-laced Sangwoo, Angy’s drawings show us how his expressions around Sangwoo change and soften as their arguments crackle with repressed emotions. This is still one of the best ‘enemies to lovers/opposites attract’ Boys’ Love around in manga and manhwa at the moment; highly recommended for its character interactions, feels and its humour!

Ize Press have produced another very attractive edition that really does justice to Angy’s colour art; extras include a really useful page of translation notes, a two-page lookbook showcasing the outfits worn by the two main characters and a two-page preview of Volume 3. The translation by Manta is better overall than the slightly rough-and-ready earlier Manta translation and it’s very well served by Chiho Christie’s versatile lettering. Volume 3 (of six) will be available in July when the rating is rising from OT (Volumes 1-2) to Mature.

Our review copy was supplied by Ize Press.