In Magic From The Margins, Latonya “Penn” Pennington explores sci-fi fantasy webtoons and Tapas comics by marginalized creators. For the sixteenth entry, they’re checking out Vio and Nox.
Vio and Nox
Creator: Chayo_art
Artist: Chayo_art
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
Rating: Young Adult
Platform: WEBTOON
Some say that life and death coexist by bringing balance to humanity. However, what if life and death didn’t get along with each other? What if life and death had to learn to work together, and have romantic and sexual tension between them? What if life and death were male gods? This is the premise of the WEBTOON series Vio and Nox.
One of the best things about this comic is how amusing Vio and Nox are as characters. Vio is the god that represents life and he is prim, proper, and beautifully androgynous. His character design reminds me of the character Yue from the anime Cardcaptor Sakura, due to them both having long-white hair and clothing as well as similar mannerisms.
On the other hand, Nox is the god that represents Death and he reminds me of a scruffy dark haired shonen anime character like Gajeel from Fairy Tail or Yuno from Black Clover. Personality wise, Nox is haughty and brash, which causes him to clash with Vio often. However, he manages to tolerate Vio’s presence enough to do his job.
Since this comic is still in its early chapters, both Vio and Nox end up at each other’s throats a lot due to how both of them have different ways of doing their jobs. As seen in the first chapter, Vio wants to save certain people if he feels it isn’t their time, while Nox wants to go ahead and declare them dead. However, there is also little moments of peace that occur between them, since as when they sit under a giant blossom tree. Of course, the romantic and sexual tension makes things even more promising.
Enhancing the protagonists and their push-and-pull relationship is gorgeous artwork, which seems to have a manga influence. It is black-and-white, with the main characters having a bishonen vibe that evokes androgynous beauty seen in Japanese young men. There is also chibi art at times to show off a character’s emotional side, as well as blocky lettering seen in manga.
Besides the artwork, the world that Vio and Vox live in seems promising. Both them and other secondary characters exist in a fictional world known as Nareth, Dimension of Equilibrium. This implies that Vio and Vox must find a way to get along with each other, lest that dimension and all of humanity cease to exist. Whether or not this will happen remains to be seen, but it makes for a great comic.
Vio and Nox is currently available to read on WEBTOON.
Keep up with every entry in K-Comics Beat’s Magic From The Margins column by clicking here.
