Webtoon Spotlight

Spotlight#119: Manager Kim

Have you ever wanted to feel utterly pumped up? If so, this spotlight will be fueled by kerosene as we 360 turn in towards Manager Kim by Jeongjongtaek and Toy.

Summary

For the past 19 years on this planet, Manager Kim has only had one goal. To keep his head out of trouble while raising his darling daughter Minji. This often means he is nothing more than a doormat for any bully coming his way and a laughing stock to his child. However, when his daughter, unfortunately, gets kidnapped by some powerful figures, it's here where Manager Kim has dust off his past. Causing all of Korea to be turned into a warzone, as Kim does everything in his power to get her daughter back.

Characters

Manager Kim (yes, that's his name): On the surface, Kim is a rather unremarkable, timid, cowardly but immensely caring father who would do anything for his daughter. To the point where she his only moral compass, as without it, he's a highly determined and brutally aggressive warrior.

Mijin Kim: Major Kim's fierce daughter, Minjin, like any child, can be fiery, ungrateful, and snappy. Mainly from a life of becoming everyone's emotional and physical punching bag. However, when she gets kidnapped, she does become far more grateful for his father.

Overview

Manager Kim is the most entertaining webtoon I've seen in a while. Mainly because it's so exaggerated, batshit insane that it comes round to being gutbustingly hilarious. It shouldn't even be a surprise, given this takes place in the same universe as Lookism, Viral Hit, and Tales of Greed. As far as I know, Manager Kim first appeared as a minor antagonist for Lookism, and his series features minor references to it and Viral Hit. However, you can still enjoy this series pretty easily without having prior knowledge on any other series.

Outside of that, though, with such a plot guiding it, Manager Kim is a fucking blast. The story feels like one long action movie, quickly spiraling out of control into an epic featuring mob bosses, corrupt CEOs, and secret government organizations. Each chapter runs at such high octane pace radiating such raw testosterone it makes me want to arm wrestle a roided grizzly bear in the South pole bare-chested with an RPG at my back.

Artistically the presentation matches what I just said extremely well, featuring a grungy, muted color scheme with ridiculously detailed men of muscle. Most of the fights are one-sided stops but still feature surprisingly complex fighting scenes and use of the environment. In nearly every chapter, we get some powerful bouts from dirty fighting, gunplay, and Taekwondo. Combined with Kim's friends introduced later on in the story also provides a lot of variety in the action and humor.

It doesn't go off the rails for me, though, mainly due to the solid and relatable themes that tie the story. Manager Kim and his many foes get complex backstories with relatively universal themes of family, misfortune, trust, and love. Combined with the constant misfortune Minji faces, this series is more than just two buff action figures fighting.

Take away his action movie status, and Manager Kim is a single father who wishes to raise his child the right way. A tale of a man who loves so strong he's willing to fight for it. I only hope everyone, regardless of you, all has that one person you can do the same for

Epilogue

Manager Kim is one of the most fun reads I had in a while. It's still a relatively new webtoon, so it shouldn't exactly be a hard manhwa to catch up on. Considering the nature of its conflict, I hope the series manages to get a more threatening antagonist and more of a plot outside its main premise. But only time will tell, so we have to keep the spotlighting going on another webtoon.