Korean-Russian lawyer Lee-Won Jeong rushes to work one day when he literally collides with a striking, blond-haired, gray-eyed stranger. Lee-Won thinks nothing of the chance encounter—until their paths cross again under far more ominous circumstances.

The stranger is revealed to be Caesar Sergeev, the heir to the powerful Sergeev mafia empire. But even that is just the tip of the iceberg.

As a dedicated civil rights attorney, Lee-Won suspects the mafia is pressuring a senator to cheat his client, and he's determined to uncover the truth. But as Lee-Won delves deeper, Caesar's obsession with him grows more intense. Now, Lee-Won is about to learn just how perilous it is to attract the attention of the Russian mob.

Roses and Champagne has story by ZIG and art by Ttung gae. Lettering by Yumi Sagara. Published by Seven Seas (September 16, 2025). Rated M.

Rebecca Silverman
Rating:

I am fully aware that it can be annoying to discuss something with someone who is familiar with the source material. Sometimes you just want to enjoy a piece of media for what it is, without hearing how much better the original was. All of this is gearing up to me saying just what you're now thinking: the original novels of ZIG's Roses and Champagne are better than the comic adaptation.

The main reason is simple: Ttung gae's version of the story is almost laughably streamlined. While the opening scenes of Lee-Won, a dual Korean/Russian citizen, sprinting through the streets of Moscow and running into mafioso Caesar, are nearly identical, the rest of the volume's plot is stripped to its bare essentials. Without Caesar's interior monologue, his line about Lee-Won being “walking pornography” feels vague and frankly weird, while Lee-Won's reasons for being in Russia in the first place are reduced to a single meeting with a random man taken from much later in the story. Even the corruption he's fighting against on behalf of his client feels pared down, which drastically reduces the danger he finds himself in – or even realizes he's in. And since that danger is key to his relationship with Caesar, that stands to be a real problem going forward.

This may be less of an issue if you're just here for the steamy romance between a lawyer and a mafia boss. Caesar's fascination with Lee-Won remains fully intact, as do the underhanded steps he takes to keep the object of his desire close to him. Nothing says “I want you” like destroying a man's only mode of transportation, right? It's a patently unhealthy relationship (and one that will get markedly less consensual in later volumes, unless that, too, is trimmed), and it works on the page because it's so clear that Caesar has no real understanding that what he's doing is bad. This is a man who sees nothing wrong with pointing a gun at a street kid with real intention to shoot; of course he thinks it's perfectly normal to keep the guy he's crushing on (or lusting after) trapped in his mansion. In his own creepy, obsessive way, he's showing his affection, oblivious to the fact that this is not how normal relationships work.

It's also worth noting that the English translation here is far below the quality of what Seven Seas usually puts out. It's not MTL or anything awful like that; it's just not as smooth and readable as usual. Not a dealbreaker, but definitely something to be aware of.

Of the three manhwa adaptations of ZIG's novels that I've read, only one has really worked. (You can read about it in the previous K-Comics Guide.) That leads me to believe that ZIG's stories are best experienced in the original, and fortunately, e-book editions of the Roses and Champagne novels are available in English from Tappytoon. If you like what you see here, I'd suggest picking them up, because this really doesn't do the story justice.

Lauren Orsini
Rating:

Past this Korean BL comic's generic title is an unexpectedly specific setting: Moscow, Russia. In the enemies-to-lovers plot of Roses and Champagne, a civil rights lawyer goes toe-to-toe against, then forms an uneasy alliance with, the heir to the Russian mafia. It's a very serious topic touching on political corruption, organized crime, and even violence against children, but because of the genre, it's treated in a very hazy, offhand sort of way. Everything else is just window dressing for this slow-burning romance between two people that ought to be natural enemies, but who are inexplicably drawn to one another despite everything. Let's face it, you're not picking up this volume for a hardboiled mafia tale, anyway. But the juxtaposition of serious crime drama with fluffy romance and cartoonish art feels a bit irreverent.

There's a certain kind of BL in which the seme and uke characters look like they come from different species, and this is one of them. There's lawyer Lee-Won, who has wide eyes and long lashes that make him look like a startled fawn, and comparably delicate features and short stature, even though he's described as “tall.” If he's tall, then mafia heir Caesar must be a giant—a hulking blond specimen with a broad smirk on his wide face and meaty neck. And yes, Caesar's hands are predictably enormous. They literally run into each other on the street—the most basic meet-cute possible—prompting a lovestruck Caesar to confide in an associate, “I just saw a walking pornography.” Caesar expresses his inexplicable obsession with the man who by all rights would normally be his mortal enemy in a series of increasingly unhinged ways: destroying Lee-Won's moped so he'll be forced to stay overnight at Caesar's estate, shooting at a beggar child who “threatens” Lee-Won (as much as a child can threaten a grown adult). And despite his moral scruples, Lee-Won keeps finding himself increasingly attracted to Caesar. These characters may be grown adults, but their love story is decidedly immature.

Just like the champagne and roses of the title, this is a story powered by vibes. Picture this: a blustery Moscow winter outside while our romantic leads sip tea in Caesar's toasty glass solarium. An elegant performance of the Nutcracker while our leads sit in plush box seats. Walking side by side on a snowy day while wearing fur-lined hats and coats. This is very much the beginning of Lee-Won and Caesar's dalliance—despite the 17+ warning on the back cover, they've shared a kiss under duress and nothing more. I'm curious about what will happen when the clothes come off, because currently the art style varies wildly in its portrayal of these two: there's their detailed, serious faces, their silly cartoon sketch faces, and their anthropomorphic wolf (Caesar) and tiger (Lee-Won) portrayals. In other words, Roses and Champagne mixes the very serious with the very unserious, and I'm not sure it pulls it off successfully.