Lovelorn pining, playful fighting, and sensual biting take center stage in Korean Boys Love Manhwa Only Virgins Left Alive by Sanzang. It’s a short, raunchy comical romp through the lives of two males that certainly stretch the boundaries on whether or not opposites attract. 

The story primarily centers around Gyutae, a kindly and handsome French-Korean transfer student that quickly falls in love with one of his classmates in his senior year of high school. Gyutae, though a bit naive, wants to waste no time in getting to know (and ultimately seduce) his crush, Seok, but there’s one massive problem standing in his way; Seok’s conservative beliefs in chastity. As a headstrong and deeply temperamental person, Seok often sees the world through a lens of high superiority, whereas Gyutae is a lot more easygoing. When Gyutae shyly approaches Seok to ask about his opinion on love and relationships, Seok—not understanding Gyutae’s true intent—simply tells him that he thinks anyone that has had more than two romantic partners or anyone that has sex before marriage “should die.” This ridiculously prudish philosophy lends the Manhwa its mischievous title and concept throughout the series. While initially annoyed at Seok’s confession (which is addressed later), I let this slide due to my curiosity about how the relationship would unfold.  And Sanzang’s depiction of how this relationship plays out didn’t disappoint. 

Seok’s wacky moral compass is not only the impetus for the series’ relatively sparse plot to move forward, but it also manages to be the subtle diversion to help steer the pair’s burgeoning relationship away from common BL tropes (mostly). Instead of challenging Seok’s biased thinking, Gyutae reflects on his past relationships in France and loses the courage to confess his attraction to Seok. His lack of confrontation is a mistake (the first of many miscommunication errors in the series) that leads to a six-year time jump where the two boys, now 23 years old, have graduated college and are now living together as roommates while being blissfully unaware to how the other person is feeling. Well, sort of. 

For Gyutae, every waking hour is frustrating as he can only settle for the conjurings of his wild imagination where he and Seok are a true couple. Sure, he is grateful for their close friendship, where they do nearly every mundane task together as roommates, but he could never quite suppress that desire he felt towards Seok. Meanwhile, Seok continues to be seemingly unbothered by the living arrangements. His general nonchalance towards Gyutae even prompts a funny bit of dialogue in which Gyuate notes, “He probably looks at a toaster oven with more affection than me.”  While not entirely revolutionary, Sanzang’s decision to time jump and focus on how they cultivated a genuine friendship really helps the levity of the story. It’s a common trope in some BL series where, if one of the love interests claims not to be interested in the opposite sex, or rather even not expressing interest in sex, they are often begged or coerced into being the partner of the one who initiated the attraction. Here, Sanzang shows us that Gyutae still harbored feelings for his former classmate–turned roommate but still respects him enough not to try to change his beliefs or force him into an unwanted situation—this way, when the two fall for each other mutually, it makes it much better. 

Without going into deeper spoilers about the overall story, I’ll try and tread carefully as I have a few more things I’d like to point out. 

The series lightly hovers on the periphery of trying to show that falling in love is easy, but growing in love certainly has its challenges. Once the two are in an established relationship, Gyutae is still constantly unhinged by Seok’s more abrasive behaviors (the fights he picks with Gyutae serve primarily as more comedic moments throughout the 16-chapter run). While Seok often fails to understand Gyutae’s compassion for himself and others. During a fight over misguided jealousy on Seok’s part, he hilariously shouts to Gyutae, “Actually, just die already! I’ll just see you again in hell.” To which Gyutae only responds in kind. It’s this kind of drastic push and pull in the dynamic of their relationship that is perplexingly both the strongest and weakest element of Only Virgins Left Alive. 

Because of the series’ short length, Sanzang doesn’t allow the story to breathe naturally, so minor plot points that should have been lengthened to add more depth to the relationship itself often go unchecked. For example, while you are rooting for Gyutae to confess his feelings to Seok, the scenario that arises for him to do so is a bit too convenient and contrived. It would have been nice to allow space between the two characters to see how they felt between the six-year gap to make Seok’s acceptance more plausible; he was far too agreeable. 

But at the same time, Sanzang goes to great lengths throughout the series to establish that the two have very distinct and somehow complimentary personalities to make the relationship plausible. In particular, my favorite arc of the series involves something rarely addressed in BL narratives: the attention to equal pleasure for both partners in same-sex relationships. In the last half of the Manhwa, during a passionate night in bed, Seok inadvertently tells Gyutae that he didn’t know that having an orgasm was possible. Gyutae, considering that they had been having sex for quite some time before this confession, is horrified by the thought that Seok had been unsatisfied by their lovemaking for months. Their response to the incident is interesting, and I wish there were a larger expansion on it.

Embarrassed and heartbroken, Gyutae leaves the house to clear his head, while Seok is upset that Gyutae is ashamed of something that he deems trivial. To Seok, the fact that he never orgasmed (as he didn’t know it was possible until that night when he had one) with Gyutae isn’t important because to him, Gyutae’s pleasure was more important, and in his own way, all he cares about is Gyutae’s happiness. Not that Seok wasn’t having fun, he was, as he admits, he just didn’t know that he wasn’t reaching his full potential. Because of Seok’s more transactional view of their relationship, he can’t understand the nuance of Gyutae’s anger. This leads to a staggering emotional conversation between the two men, as Gyutae explains that his frustrations stem from not noticing Seok’s nonchalant behaviors to his own sexual prowess and for not having a more open dialogue with Seok about their intimacy. Gyutae firmly tells him that a relationship is about the happiness of two people and that they both need to have an open dialogue to flourish together. It’s a really heartwarming moment in an otherwise fluffy story. 

Overall, despite its sparse plot with how the two characters exist within the world outside of their relationship, Only Virgins Left Alive is a briefly fun journey to go on. The art style, also provided by Sanzang, is playfully dynamic, the sexy scenes are indeed sexy and creative, and watching the two characters love and hate is an occasional delight. 

3.5/5 

[You can read Only Virgins Left Alive on Lezhin]