Korean BL dramas are on the rise. Live-action series like Semantic Error and Love Tractor were not only critically acclaimed, they became worldwide phenomenons that have left international fans wanting more.
Enter the animated supernatural drama Mignon (민용). Written by Bbang Kkyu Bboung, the ultra-creative mind behind Hyperventilation (2017) and Unbelievable Spacelove (2018), the series was produced by the ABJ Company. Released initially through Vimeo, the short-form webseries consists of 12 episodes with a total running time of 67 minutes, but man is it addicting.
Mignon (Minhyeok Oh) is a skilled fighter while Young-One Oh (Minju Kim) is the doctor who tends to his wounds after a fight. He’s also a man with an incredible secret. He’s a vampire. Beautiful and strong, Mignon is controlled by a coach who only sees him as a cash cow and doesn’t care for his well-being at all outside of the ring.
Even once Mignon learns Doctor Oh’s secret, he can’t shake the romantic desires that force him to want to be close to him. Even when the doctor pushes him away. He’s the only one who’s ever shown the fighter any kind of kindness. As a result, Mignon has fallen completely in love with him.
Then tragedy strikes and the two must make a fateful decision.
To save Mignon’s life, Dr. Oh turns him into a vampire. With everything tightened, including his desires for the doctor, Mignon gives in to his animalistic instincts and the two make love for the first time. The two then decide to continue to live and work with one another. While the fighter Mignon has vanished, the doctor’s new assistant is ready for business!
When I started this drama, I figured it’d be mostly NC scenes centered around a thinly veiled story that served no real purpose except for bridging the gap between nude scenes. Not the case. Not even a little bit. The story is so well-crafted and engaging that, even if no NC scenes were included (there’s only one, at the very end) it would’ve been worth the watch. Bboung is an incredible storyteller.
Another driving factor of this series is the music. Composed by Yonghyeon Jeon is a masterclass in sounds of synthpop. The music is so good it’s almost like its own character and it’s available on all streaming platforms including Apple Music.
While the series is no longer available for purchase on Vimeo, a feature film version will soon be released through https://laftel.net. ABJ Company is an animation and webtoon studio that has released both of Bboung’s previous series and is quickly showing themselves to be a tour-de-force within the industry.
More anime reviews soon so…
Stay Tuned!
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