Bird Cage review
Remember when I said Kaoya has drawn a new work? It's called Bird Cage and the first chapter is available on pixiv in Chinese and Japanese.
I wasn't able to articulate my thoughts to her so I've decided to write a review to outline my thoughts, expectations and overview of the story in line and how it reflects her style.
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We're two chapters in and we've been introduced to three characters so far: Gao Ye, Yu Nong and Yun Yun.
Gao Ye is a 26 year old gamer who met Yu Nong in an online game and assumed Yu Nong was a girl. They arranged to meet up but upon meeting, Gao Ye learns he's been lowkey catfished and Yu Nong is actually a guy, and he works with the police too! After some complaining, they become irl friends and Yu Nong promises Gao Ye three things (not mentioned).
In chapter 2, we start seeing more of both of their lives. Yu Nong has a girlfriend, Yun Yun, he's been seeing for a while. She wants to get married but doesn't really care about him. Meanwhile, Gao Ye asks Yu Nong to help him move into a new apartment.
In this comic, I expect her to tackle parental expectations, online vs offline relationships, (ie the inexplicable bond between people you meet online vs those you meet in person), dating standards, the conflict that arises during a relationship, the demands of Chinese society and working life, and as she mentioned, aspects of the working life of China's police force. If this is a love story, I wonder how she will tackle this aspect of modern Chinese society. If not, this might just be an illustration of the validity of online vs offline relationships. We’ll see.
~Warning: mindless praise ahead~
First of all, I'm so stoked to see Kaoya tackling something as domestic as a budding romance in a modern day setting. Her opm doujins have themes that are along the same vein but it's one thing creating fanwork and another creating a full-fledged original work.
Here's why I'm excited: She makes sure neither the characters nor the drama are overly exaggerated and she saves over the top reactions for when it's completely necessary. The result is a thought provoking but entertaining read with 3D characters who are wholly imperfect, mature, struggling but self-sustaining adults.
One thing I appreciate about Kaoya is that she does not belittle any character's thought processes even if other characters disagree. In Chapter 2, Yun Yun and Yu Nong discuss their ideas about marriage and their relationship and though kaoya has a self-imposed mandate to not describe internal thoughts, she lays them out through actions and dialogue in a way that's easy to understand as long as you take the extra step to think about them (which is all anyone ever asks).
One thing I don’t expect to see is kdrama-style drama. As we’ve seen in her previous work like the side story for Yao Zai Sheng, she doesn’t tend to draw out misunderstandings and conflict, and if she does, that relationship is definitively doomed. Honesty and being true to yourself features strongly in her work. Her characters are as straightforward as she is and she presents a conflict which only persists if the solution is not immediately present.
Another thing I don’t expect to see is a strong love rival. Her works aren't typically structured with heroes, villains or even archetypes that resemble them, similarly, Yun Yun is looking to be the type of pitiable character who I predict will either not change and continue to live under her parents’ expectations to find another Yun Nong, or will grow to find her own wings. She might also become an obsessive ex that will hinder Yun Nong and possibly Gao Ye but I hope not as I don’t favour those sorts of characters. Yun Yun is by no means stupid, so when she watches Yun Nong go, we have to wonder what she's planning.
Criticism
Other than her simplistic style (which I personally favour) and pacing, I can see why she isn’t popular. All the things I mentioned above as pluses (little or no drama, no exaggeration, adult characters) mean tension is not particularly high, which makes her work not as compelling. You feel a niggling fear that bad things are going to happen at some point but always controlled and never to the point where you think “no way no wayyy”, in this way the work is never cheapened, but remains mature.
In addition, things which have great significance (even plot significant) are never put in bold flashing lights but rather hinted at subtly with passing glances and carefully worded statements. You have to pay attention when you read, and then you have to read it again. This applies to her overall message too.
On that note, I should mention that one of the reasons why Kaoya's work is actually compelling is that she has something to say.
Finally, she's said it's to make a strong impression, but Gao Ye’s hair sucks.
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Thanks for reading this ridiculous disjointed review. Do check out Bird Cage lol
