#3rd Lezhin World Comics Contest

[nyxelestia]

While it's not technically an original Hanahaki work, it's close enough:

The term hanahaki comes from the Japanese words hana (花), which means "flower", and hakimasu (吐きます), which means "to throw up". The Hanahaki Disease trope was popularized with the Japanese shoujo manga,「花吐き乙女」(Hanahaki Otome), or The Girl Who Spit Flowers by Naoko Matsuda (松田奈緒子), which was released in 2009. The symptoms of the disease are summarized to strong pain, having flowers blooming in the heart and lungs, and then throwing them up. However, among East Asian (Japanese and Korean especially) fans and creators, the concept of flower regurgitation due to unrequited love dates to before Hanahaki Otome's release. Its true origins are currently unknown. In 2017 the Korean webtoon Spring in the Heart by Bboong was canceled and disqualified as the 2nd Prize winner of Lezhin's 3rd World Comic Contest due to using the Hanahaki disease trope. According to a translated statement from Bboong, "I did not know that the Hanahaki disease was a fictional concept with property rights owned by the original creator." This apparently referred to Hanahaki Otome.

-- Fanlore: https://fanlore.org/wiki/Hanahaki_Disease

I wonder just how many fans, both younger and even some our age, would be absolutely gobsmacked to find out that The Sentinel was an actual series that people watched on actual TV and not just, like, a really neat concept for an AU (of which there are thousands at this point as compared to the <100 TV episodes)

It's like if it turned out that there was once an original Hanahaki or Omegaverse series

--

Let's be real: it would be more like if there were an Omegaverse series that had no omegas in it.

[kolleh]

I can’t be the only one who’s noticed this, right?

[impromptu-sketches]

✴ Manhwa Rec! ✴

Sign | manhwa by Ker

Completed | 115 chapters

BL | Yaoi | Comedy | Shounen-ai | Disability | Fetish | Slice of Life

--- summary ---

There are a few unusual things about Cafe Goyo. Number one, their coffee sucks. Number two, their customers never order off the menu. And number three, Yohan, the cafe manager, is deaf. So when Soohwa joins as a part-timer, though he is not expected to learn how to make good coffee, he is asked to expand his sign language vocabulary beyond the words, “higher,” “pay,” and “please.” But when Yohan offers to give him private lessons, Soohwa is reluctant. Not because he doesn’t want to study, but because he has a “hard” time around Yohan. Like, literally. He gets hard. Whenever he hears Yohan’s deep, sexy voice.

*3rd Lezhin Comics World Comic Contest Winner*

--- spoiler-free review ---

★★★★★ / 5

First, I have to say that the first 10 or so chapters of this manhwa are PURE GOLD - laugh out loud funny! But more than just the first 10 chapters, the entire manhwa is hilarious. A great balance of comedy, story, smut, and romance. While it’s important to the story that Yohan is deaf and Soohwa has to learn sign language, and that’s what makes the story take off, it is so so SO much more than that and can’t be simplified.

For me, after the initial beginning with Yohan being deaf and Soohwa’s fetish, there was nothing hugely shocking or special that stood out in the story - instead, it was all of the little moments, the hilarious expressions and reactions, the cute art, and the characters that made it so memorable and made me laugh so much.

This manhwa was very recently completed (as of july 2020) and I was so sad to read its final chapter.

Completely - without a doubt - worth the read. This, in my opinion, is a classic.

[greatwyrmgold]

This is the first I've heard of hanahaki, but yeah it sounds pretty cool and thematically loaded, especially if we prune away its romantic origins. Though speaking of origins, one of the first things I learned about hanahaki was a contest where two contest-winning comics were disqualified for including hanahaki, because doing so was technically a copyright violation.

In 2017 the Korean webtoon Spring in the Heart by Bboong was canceled and disqualified as the 2nd Prize winner of Lezhin's 3rd World Comic Contest due to using the Hanahaki disease trope. According to a translated statement from Bboong, "I did not know that the Hanahaki disease was a fictional concept with property rights owned by the original creator." This apparently referred to Hanahaki Otome.[4]

—Fanlore wiki

Which probably means "I didn't know it was copyrighted," but the translation makes it kinda sound like Bboong didn't realize the disease that makes you cough up flowers was imaginary.

Anyways, from the wiki page and AO3 tag, it looks like hanahaki is used pretty much exclusively for romantic storylines, except when it's an STD. But that's dumb. If suppressed romantic love can make you grow flowers in your lungs, why not other feelings? Maybe with different kinds of flowers for different emotions.

Roses of various colors for romantic or sexual love, tulips for filial love, orange lilies for hatred, dandelions for fear, etc. Mix different flower types for complicated multilayered emotions, which is most of them. Have psychobotanists whose whole job is interpreting what might be brewing in someone's heart from the petals coming out of their lungs. There's so much depth you could use if you went past "flowers are in her lungs because she's in love, and maybe she'll die if she doesn't confess". Ew.

...also, maybe don't call it hanahaki if copyright is a concern.

I think that more fanfiction should be written with the aim to tackle the original meaning of hanahaki. Because when the concept of hanahaki disease was originally created, it was intended to be a metaphor for suppressing one’s feelings.

Your feelings are this beautiful garden of flora inside of your chest. When you express how you feel honestly, you allow for it to grow freely. But when you hide how you feel out of fear of rejection, and try to make it smaller and smaller, the flowers become cramped inside of you, until you choke on your own feelings. Every flower you cough up is something you’ve felt, but refused to say.

The whole “dying” thing is intended to be more symbolic especially. You’re killing off bits and pieces of yourself and how you feel, because you’re afraid to express yourself.

It’s not really supposed to be, “The one I love doesn’t love me back, and I’m dying from it.” Rather, it’s more along the lines of, “Repressing your emotions is bad for you, and it’s better and healthier to express them freely, even when it’s scary.”

Which is to say that, one, the cure for the disease should be telling the person that you are in love with how you feel. How the other person feels about the person afflicted should have nothing to do with it, as the trope is meant to be about feeling your emotions unapologetically.

And that, two, it’s not an inherently romantic trope. Obviously, it has romantic applications, but it can be written for any situation where a character is hiding how they truly feel. This can include a refusal to address a specific trauma, a desire to indulge in something that they’re ashamed of, and even really practical things, like wanting to ask one’s boss for a higher position.

Although (as an aromantic person myself) I don’t agree with this conclusion about the trope, this application would also avoid people calling it arophobic. When the thing killing the character is a refusal to be honest with themselves, rather than an unrequited love, it’s on nobody’s hands but their own to save their life.

There are a ton of ways that this interpretation of the hanahaki disease could be applied in new and interesting ways in fanfiction, and I’d love to read what things people could come up with!

[lezhincomics-us]

One of the winners from the 3rd Lezhin Comics World Comic Contest, Freak-Quency will finally be serialized beginning September 6th! Check out the official synopsis below:

Sonnya's brother Milo is missing and the only clue she has to his disappearance is a mysterious text message. She discovers Milo is somehow involved with the now-defunct RPG game, "Freak-quency," which was stopped for good reason: players were disappearing. To her horror, she also finds that the game is no longer confined to computers, and has found a new home in the world of the living. Just what was Milo mixed up in? Finding Milo means she'll have to play... and it's anyone's guess what the game has in store for her.

[miss-cigarettes]

Hey people!!! This is the new manwha of Bboong/Demi (author of Never Understand/Out Of Control). Lezhin Comics recently held a contest and this beautiful manhwa has been the "Winner of 3rd Lezhin World Comic Contest". Her new proyect is called 「Spring in the Heart 」

At the moment 「Spring in the Heart 」 has 2 episodes for free. You can read it on the official Lezhin website (English or Korean). The art is simply beautiful and the plot is very interesting and innovative. If you enjoyed Bboong's (Demi) first manwha (Never Understand) I promise you that you will fall in love with this new proyect!!

Please don't forget to support the artist!!

[sakonlieur]

Our golden girl Sonnya from FQ is back! For anyone who previously asked the English version.. here you go.... Oh wait, korean and japanesse translation available too!!

Genre : Fantasy/Action | Story: XERO & Art: SAKON

The once popular game, Freak-quency, comes to a sudden halt and the reason behind this was because creatures called 'Freaks', originating from another dimension, were lurking inside the game and contracting with humans to give them super-human abilities. But at what cost?

CHECK THE LINK BELOW :D english version: https://www.lezhin.com/en/comic/3rd_world_contest_freakquency

korean version: https://www.lezhin.com/ko/comic/3rd_manhwaking_freak_quency

japanesse version: https://www.lezhin.com/ja/comic/3rd_world_contest_freakquency

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - https://www.lezhin.com/en/page/contest2016 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I am pleased to be taking the time to deadline of Lezhincomics 3rd World Comic Contest after finishing KKN. Because this is the very first comic made-I do not know if I can compete for many professional comic artists out there, so I glad I could make it! I learned a lot and I promise I will be better! I hope you enjoy it and keep support for #FreakQuency!

[Winner of the 3rd Lezhin World Comic Contest - 3rd Place]

Yes, this is based on indie visual novel my friend (Xero, the writer) created in 2014. Back thre, I'm only helping her with the background... now I'm so exited to adopted it to comic version! Lezhin will publishing the next episode in the near future, please stay tune xD

[byunlisa773-blog]

Why did spring in the heart get taken off the English site?

it wasn’t removed on the korean site until i checked just now, so it’s gone on both the korean and english (FUCHK NO IM CRYING AGAIN) sites now

it got taken off because it was disqualified from lezhin’s 3rd annual world comic contest, so its probably not going to be serialized

maybe in the future but im not sure if it can be anymore, maybe on a different publisher???? but i dont even know if dami/bbong is planning on continuing drawing it or not and im so sad

[ao3feed-victuuri]

Bloom

read it on the AO3 at http://ift.tt/2oj4dip

by Tinge

Spring in the Heart AU (aka the au where a disease exists that causes flowers to bloom in your heart when you are greatly loved and love greatly- based on the manhwa that won 3rd in the Lezhin World Comic Contest, Spring in the Heart.)

A story about Viktor Nikiforov and his love and his life with Yuuri Katsuki and what is possibly one of the greatest springs to ever come.

Words: 5443, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: M/M

Characters: Katsuki Yuuri, Victor Nikiforov, Yuri Plisetsky, Yakov Feltsman, Katsuki Mari, Okukawa Minako, Phichit Chulanont, Victor Nikiforov's Mother, Makkachin (Yuri!!! on Ice)

Relationships: Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov, Katsuki Yuuri & Victor Nikiforov

Additional Tags: Character's Name Spelled as Viktor, Slow Burn, Dancing, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Spring in The Heart AU, flowers bloom in your heart, Spring, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Eventual Smut, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, follows pretty close to the original story though, References to Depression, Anxiety, Falling In Love, Love, just pure love, Love and Life, Flowers, the banquet, figure skating, they meet at one point a lot earlier than canon

read it on the AO3 at http://ift.tt/2oj4dip

[ao3feed-yurionice]

Bloom

read it on the AO3 at http://ift.tt/2oj4dip

by Tinge

Spring in the Heart AU (aka the au where a disease exists that causes flowers to bloom in your heart when you are greatly loved and love greatly- based on the manhwa that won 3rd in the Lezhin World Comic Contest, Spring in the Heart.)

A story about Viktor Nikiforov and his love and his life with Yuuri Katsuki and what is possibly one of the greatest springs to ever come.

Words: 5443, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: M/M

Characters: Katsuki Yuuri, Victor Nikiforov, Yuri Plisetsky, Yakov Feltsman, Katsuki Mari, Okukawa Minako, Phichit Chulanont, Victor Nikiforov's Mother, Makkachin (Yuri!!! on Ice)

Relationships: Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov, Katsuki Yuuri & Victor Nikiforov

Additional Tags: Character's Name Spelled as Viktor, Slow Burn, Dancing, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Spring in The Heart AU, flowers bloom in your heart, Spring, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Eventual Smut, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, follows pretty close to the original story though, References to Depression, Anxiety, Falling In Love, Love, just pure love, Love and Life, Flowers, the banquet, figure skating, they meet at one point a lot earlier than canon

read it on the AO3 at http://ift.tt/2oj4dip

[theblerdgurl]

If you're an indie comic creator you should do this.

[sakonlieur]

HOLY SHIT. CONGRATULATIONS! I see that freak-quency has its own comic now!!! I saw that lezhin comics, korean comic company, held an international competition and I saw freak-quency and xero!!! I am so happy for you guys!! One of my favorite games is becoming a comic!!!!

HELLO!! YEESSS.. WE DID IT. Xero and I got nomination in the 3rd World Comic Contest by Lezhin and we have a contract for publishing now! Thank you so much for the message!! It has been a loooong time after I got freaking busy with college and irl stuff. So it made me happy to open the inbox and read your post here. Thank you! There are so much amazing submition who win, I will do my best to bring amazing Freak-Quency comic!! :D

[byunlisa773-blog]

Hi! I was wondering if you knew where I could read spring in the heart, because I heard it was the same person who made out of control, and I love that manhwa~!

sorry if this is late!! i dont know if you found out already but currently there isn't a way to read it as it got unserialized due to copyright issues and disqualified from lezhins 3rd annual world comic contestbut on bboongs twitter, they are currently talking to the person that they had copyright issues with (regarding hanahaki disease and hanahaki otome) so only the future can tell lolol