Black Haze is a fantasy manhwa (a Korean equivalent of manga). At its most basic, it is a manhwa about the magicians and the magic world. Demons are everywhere, and they vary from animalistic beasts to beings with human intelligence and emotions. And there is a war between humans and demons going on, with demons entering human world and attacking humans.
All of this is explained literally in the first chapter, which also shows how humans were the ones who allowed demons to enter their own world, and also how they gained access to magic necessary to fight the demons. It was in fact the king of demons which gave humans the magic, and magicians have marks on them which allow them to use it. Magicians are considered saviors because they are the only one able to fight against the demons.
Protagonist is one of these magicians. He is in fact the “Black Magician”, a fairly famous and powerful magician. He has a nickname / callsign “Blow”… and is being bullied (well, not really…) by his boss for shit and giggles. We learn this just after he has saved a noblewoman and her retinue from a demonic attack in a supposed safe zone.
Blow however is just his awakened form. Magicians use awakening to give themselves a much stronger form which also changes their physical appearance. And Blow, whose real name is Rood Chrishi, is unique because his form changes far more than normal, making him essentially unrecognizable. He also has massive issues with his master who is sending him on missions that Rood is beyond overqualified for. Second major issue is stalkerish behavior of a rival magician Shicmuon, who will go to any lengths to fight Blow.
Actual plot of the manhwa starts when Lady Dayner comes to Opion – guild that Rood is member of – to request him for an assignment. Her son who is attending the prestigious magical school of Helios is being bullied, and Rood is to go to the school to solve the issue. Problem is that the school year had started a month ago, so excuse for his absence is given that he gets ill easily. And when he arrives at the school, Rood discovers that he is the first perfect scorer in history of the school – despite never having taken the test. This immediately puts him on edge as it augurs trouble.
From then on, Rood has to assist Lady Dayner’s son – Lidusis Dien Artian – to fit into the school. This already is difficult enough as it requires him to go against the upperclassmen (hereis). But the mission proves far more difficult than anticipated, as there is something not quite right with Artian. At the same time, demons have sent their own agent to infiltrate the school, but their own mission will also not go as expected. Not everything is – or rather, nothing is – as it seems, and Rood will get drawn into a spider web of conflicting interests and people trying to either help him, harm him or exploit him to their own advantage. At the school itself, he will gain friends, allies and enemies alike – but not all friends will turn out to be friends, and not all enemies will stay enemies. And the rabbit hole goes much deeper than Rood suspects.
One of high notes of the manhwa is the relationship between Rood, Lidusis and Dio. Rood does not allow anything to stand in the way of his mission to help Lidusis, and eventually becomes actual friends with him. On the flip side, Dio quickly befriends Rood, yet all he wants is to have fun time at the school – something which quickly proves impossible as Rood picks a fight with the hereis (upperclassmen) for Lidusis’ sake. Lidusis initially just wants to remain in his self-pitying shell. Despite these differences, the trio stays together, supporting each other every step of the way even as they are dragged into trouble – either by Rood himself in his quest to help Lidusis, or by forces outside their control.
As noted, this is a manhwa, not a manga, so artwork is very different from the Japanese manga style. Manhwa is colored, and far more stylized. While the artwork is quite messy in the first few chapters, it improves very quickly as the manhwa goes on. It is not long – less than a dozen chapters – before the low-quality art of the first couple of chapters is impossible to find or recognize, and manhwa starts to look even beautiful (see comparison below). And it only improves from there.
All and all, while it is not necessarily the top of the class, Black Haze is quite interesting manhwa, especially for people who like to read the “magical school” stories. For me at least, it is far more interesting than Harry Potter ever was.
Unfortunately, manhwa has been on an indefinite hiatus for the last several years.
Fantasy View 