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It would be nice to have seen more of their relationship, maybe Misha telling Gian about his backstory & his flower garden that sparked his career interest. But yeah, the author has a couple of books relating to the Phantom characters, they make for such a good read, as it really fills out the characters, especially Waldo. The webtoon portrayal was emotive enough, but the books are on another level, especially around & after Oscar's death. They aren't officially translated yet, but you can buy them on google play that has such a function. The English title is Into the red (which also relates to the plot),
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Ha no problem, sort of spammed the comment section when reading it myself. The death scene comes so sudden, and it's written from the perspective of Waldo. They met shortly before it, and Oscar ended things, then Waldo receives a phone call from Interlagos, which is where Oscar died, from a reporter who wanted to tell him before the news breaks. Waldo has a lot of internal dialogue, about everything stopping for him, thinking about all the time they spent just hugging and observing Oscar's breath, trying to remember Oscar's thin eyelids, body, hair and becoming frustrated that he couldn't have prevented this. It touches on the "accidents happen, life goes on" coldness that they experience in their industry. Lily comes later, and they properly talk, the details of the accident are described, and how Lily knew nothing. Waldo agrees with Lily, when Lily asks him if he should have died instead, but he knows he is just venting rather than having any hate. He appreciates just how much Oscar was doing for Lily, by not wanting lily's race to stop at Interlagos. Months pass, Oscar would have been 33, and he reflects at the racecourse where they met 9 years ago. The status of Phantom and Indigo is mentioned. Waldo refers to their relationship as an endless summer, and can't believe Oscar is buried under snow. In the phone call scene, Waldo just sits in his chair, eventually looking at the clock and thinks it's been 4 hours since the death, and that all the time he spent working in the Oxford factory, Oscar was dying, and he can't hold his hand. The last scene is a radio communication on the track where Oscar is wanting reassurance from Waldo, wanting Waldo to not leave him and be there when it's over, his car has suffered a fault, Waldo is telling him good job etc, it ends with Oscar saying "please wait". This was an unrecorded communication from the same race track he died in.
Sorry for the awful summary, the author writes so beautifully, so this isn't really a helpful description :)
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WOW the description of the events the time line everything I enjoyed reading it I felt I was reading the novel myself. The summary was wonderfully written. Also, now I have a better understanding to the characters and their stories and how they were developed by the author.
I have to say the characters existing felt very real the events and everything in between felt realistic. Hence, the author has a raw talent and intelligent which can be easily seen in his or her writings … which is something I wish I have.
That being said I loved your summary seriously it’s so easy to read and to understand but informative and well written.
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Thanks, it's such a shame the novels aren't more widely known, as they really are something special, due to the author's lovely way with words. My summary really is awful in comparison ha. There are 3 books with the racing theme, and two that cover everything before the manga timeline and a bit after. It was such a joy to be able to see the "full picture" of the Phantom timeline, and the hearing Waldo's perspective was great, as their relationship and what happened around/after the death wasn't really shown much, as the perspective was mostly on Lily. All the bits and pieces really come together, even simple things that were shown in the manga, like Oscar winning the race, hugging Waldo, the earring, the white flag, their comments about Lily transferring relating to their past. Anyway, am rambling but I really agree that this manga stands out, it's such a gem, and the characters are fantastic. You could really imagine the chapter & epilogue in particular being on cinema, but it had just enough impact on text too.
Would rate momentum more than wolf in the house tbh, it just has that something special.
Why Oscar has to die
This is heart breaking