These are notes from my Run Wild Sa Ye volume 1 review video used to film. Some grammatical errors may exist.
Cold Open
The time has finally come. As a lifelong lover of anime and manga, it was only a matter of time when I would add yet another form of Asian media to my obsessions list. Although it took a while, I embraced manhwa a few years ago, dived into manhaus, and now, with this latest title, I’ve made the jump to Danmei and I’m so glad I did. With this video, I’ve now started my new danmei video series and I’m so excited to be here.
About
- Run Wild: Sa Ye is webnovel by Wu Zhe. I mentioned this in my other video but Wu Zhe is also the author of Cure/Antidote that I covered previously.
- I was already familiar with the manhua adaptation that is currently on Tappytoon and I LOVED it. When I learned the novel was being licensed in English, I ran to preorder it
- The Seven Seas Entertainment edition is stunning! I’ll link to my unboxing video here so you can see all the items the special edition came with
The Story so Far
- Run Wild: Sa Ye starts Jiang Cheng, who learns that he was adopted by a well to do family and is sent to return to his birth dad who lives in the slums. He’s angry, depressed, and overall just dealing with a lot of emotions he does not know how to express. On his first day in the city, he meets Gu-mio, an eccentric little girl, and her older brother, Gu Fei. From this moment on, the three of them continue to meet and become irreversible intertwined.
What I Love
- Differences:
- I won’t go too into the differences between the manhua adaptation and the novel bc that can be its own separate video own the novels are complete -, but I will say that there aren’t many storywise. However, for me it was a lot easier to understand what was happening in the novel vs the manhua. This may be because the manhua was one of the first Chinese comics I read, so I was very unfamiliar with a lot of the honorifics and the cultural differences. The novel by Seven Seas has a glossary of terms, footnotes, and a lot of resources to explain things that you may not understand. I LOVE this so much because I feel like I’m getting a cultural lesson at the same time as enjoying something.
- the slow pace and slice of life
- Many may consider this a slow burn and while I don’t always like slowburns, in this story it is perfect. There is so much going on with BOTH of these characters due to their family circumstances, its so important to the story that they show that and have them kind of at odds with each other.
- Jiang Chengs struggles – mental health
- I really loved Jiang Chengs inner monologues and how we were privy to just how much turmoil is going on in his mind and heart due to his family situation. It makes sense why hes so angry, so hurt, and so volatile.
- Gu Fei’s heart
- Gu Fei is the guy everyone fears and simultaneously respects, so its welcomed to get a peak at his heart and mind and see all the burdens on his heart, especially when it comes to Er mio.
- Slowly falling for each other:
- i love the way the book describes them falling for each other. its just so cute and makes my heart flutter
Conclusion
- i am so excited for vol 2 scheduled to come out in June. From what I’ve seen online, the story has 200+ chapters so im happy that there will be many volumes to have moving forward
- this novel fueled my love for the entire series more and i hope more of Wu Zhe’s work is licensed in English
