Man (Manga/Manwha/Manhwa) ia Reviews

*:Man (Manga/Manwha/Manhwa) ia Reviews in order of author L to R:*

(Note: Since I'm still a bit Korean illiterate, my reviews so far are more based on aesthetics and panel flow (from what I can translate). Also, while you may find yourself disagreeing a lot of times on the reviews, try to remember that these are simply my opinions. X_X.

Extra note: Soonjung and Shoujo are comics directed towards female readers in that they're more feminine with usually feminine male characters. Shonen and action comics are usually directed at male readers in that usually the better looking characters are female characters.

L to R

:Review Guide:

((Author - Man-ga/wha/hwa) - English Title (usually rough translation) / Korean Title - Appropriate reading age - Volumes read, publishing date.)

(Story)

(Review)

(Note(s))

(Lee, Kyoung Shin - (Flash Cat - Manhwa) - Teen/Soonjung - 1-5 (completed), 2001-2002.) Reviewed in spring, 2003. - View Images page

Amyoung Doe and Padam Ma have always been cited as the misohnyun (handsome guy(s)) of their High School, but for some reason, they've been rivals for almost forever. Suddenly, Amyoung's mother and Padam's father marry and go off on an extended vacation, forcing them to live together at Padam's house. Then one day, Padam's father calls and tells them his deceased friend's daughter, Sihtah Ah is coming from India to live with them. As their parents are absent, Padam and Amyoung deal with Sihtah, who seems to have a strange feline curse, and eventually, Madi Park moves in with her friend Heesook into the home. As Amyoung and Padam deal with each other and their quirky new guests, odd circumstances and strange cats appear.

I was in the rental comic store and I first passed this story over because the first volume's cover didn't look too great, but when I began reading it, I got hooked. The characters are drawn equally beautifully/cute between both the males and females. Also, as to the story, it's more in chapters than one simple story. Sometimes Flash Cat was hard to translate, but once I read it carefully, I found out how well it was written, while VERY well-drawn. The story flows awesomely smoothly, and I was totally caught off guard by certain events that occurred, which is why I'm trying not to spoil this story in the summary. The only downside to it is how sometimes the story's unbelievable, but since it does have fantasy elements, that can be expected. If you ever get your hands on it, READ it! You'll end up loving it to the maximum.

Note: So good, I want to make a shrine to it.

(Lee, Sangun) - Same Gender Paradise / Dohng-sung-ee-sahng-hyahng - Manhwa - Teen/Soonjung, Volumes 1-3 (completed), 2002-3 - Published by Sugar Books. Reviewed in summer, 2003.

At first, one of the main characters thinks back to childhood in which the person and another promised to marry. The story then starts from there 10 years later. Jung Suk Ha (Sukha Jung) and her male best friend she met on the internet, Park Bong Bin (Bongbin Park) aren't exactly entering their new high school together as "normal" students. Sukha's first love was a girl, while Bongbin's first love was a guy, and they are both homosexual, in which the chatroom they first met at was called "Same Gender Paradise" (the word for same gender, "dohngsung", can also literally mean homosexual). Before school starts, Bongbin and Sukha sneaks into the school office and changes his school name to Hyobin Park (the reason is that the name Bongbin can usually be twisted into "bongpahl", an insult/joke sort of name). While Sukha has her sights on the rigid and somewhat psycho, yet extremely beautiful Dani Un, Bongbin finds himself getting along well with a guy, that was spying on Dani, named Oojean Dong; and they both call each other Jean and Bin for short. As Sukha tries to figure out and get close to Dani, she discovers a guy that seems to always be around her, named Jeesup Kim. Later on, the story gets complicated, as people from Sukha and Bin's past appear and a twisted love story of Dani unravels.

At first when I rented this story, I had no idea what the title meant in English, so I just read the story. The beginning part of the story was a huge surprise, and at a point in reading it, I took a break and looked up the title's English meaning. Thinking on it, there was no doubt that if I had understood the title before, I probably wouldn't have been as surprised by the beginning part of the story. Anyhow, the art of the volumes was awesome, and the characters were all well-drawn aesthetically. As for the story, it was even more interesting, with a lot of humor mixed into the drama of the story. What's even more hilarious is how Tidus from Final Fantasy 10 the Playstation 2 game makes an appearance (though I'll try not to spoil how) ^_^. Overall, this is so far a wonderful series, and I really enjoyed reading it (to the point that I bought the first volume for a keepsake.) Update: The ending was...a surprise, but I think it all fits in somehow. You can find the scanlation of the manwha (translated) at JAnimeS.

Note(s) - Volume one will make you laugh like crazy.

(Lee, Yoonheh -writer-) Journey to Heaven (look at Kara)

(Lee Young Yuu (artist) / Han, Kyeong Ah - Manhwa) In the Flower Garden / Goht-baht-eh-seo - Soonjung/boy's love - Registered in 1989, published in 2003 by Bijou.

Lee Kachi always got a kick out of introducing his name to others when meeting new people. The reason being would be that Kachi is the name of a beautiful bird in Korean. That was...until a gangster named Oh Jinh Wan started calling him "JoKaChi", which is basically a really bad curse word in Korean. It's one day that Jinh Wan, while still calling Kachi "JoKaChi", gives him a computer game. That's when the weird things, such as flowers, and gifts on Kachi's desk become apparent. Meanwhile, Jinh Wan's lackeys are wondering what girl has his heart, upon discovering an advice book on getting another person's heart. Just who does Jinh Wan have in mind?

This is a basic, down to Earth, boy's love story. I didn't expect it at all from the title, but it became evident from seeing the inside pictures revolving around Lee Kachi and Oh Jinh Wan. At times, the story is awkward, but I'm not much of a boy's love story reader, so I dunno. This is basically a good story if you like boy's love stories...If you don't, then stay away from it, it gets a bit raunchy. One thing to comment on is the copyright and publishing dates. The story is over 10 years old, but was published and drawn out into manhwa form probably so late because Korean readers today are more tolerant of boy's love stories. Is it a good manhwa? It depends on your taste and if you've read a lot of boy's love stories. If you haven't read many, then his is a good start, I guess.

Note(s): Never use the word "JoKaChi" around a Korean listener, or you're in for a big punch. #_#

(Lee, Young Yuu - Manhwa) K2 Kill me Kiss me / K2 Kill me Kiss me - Teen/Soonjung - Volumes 1-5, 2000-2002. View K2 page here. Published by Issue Comics. Reviewed in spring, 2003.

First Volume: Secondary school student Teyon Ihm dreams of being married to rising model star Kun, who is a student in her cousin's class. In order to get close to him, she hatches a plan to crossdress for a week as her male cousin Junghu Ihm. During the switch, Teyon discovers obstacles, such as dressing for gym and Gahun Kim, the punk/gangster guy that seems to take a specific liking in picking on / pounding her (as Junghu). Strangely, though, Gahun seems to find irrationally warm feelings to guy he's been pounding (Teyon as Junghu), while Kun himself wonders who the "female" student on he sees on the street (Junghu) is. Junghu, in the meantime, dressed in a skirt as Teyon, finds that playing a female is...

Man, I love / am obsessed with this story. The art is supremely good, and you'll find yourself staring at the pages breathlessly. I stumbled across the first volume at a used book store and started reading/translating it. Anyhow, there's fights, gahng-pei (gangsters), crossdressing, and very odd situations. Something to note is, in the later volumes, the story changes its focus to Junghu and new characters. Also, there are hints of and blatant homerserxuality, even with two guys that are openly...uh, together. If you go to www.candy33.co.kr and look up K2, you'll find a lot of positive reviews for it, but if you end up disliking the story after reading it, it might be because it's a bit strange (as one reviewer noted: Eesahngheh -odd-).

Note(s): A lot of Misohnyun (pronounced meesohnyuhn, it means handsome boy(s)).

(Lee, Young Yuu - Manhwa) Spring Spring / Bohm Bohm - Soonjung - Volumes 2 of 2 so far. 2002-? Published by Issue Comics. Reviewed in late Spring, 2003.

Left by her mother some odd years ago, Yu Dangbi lives by herself and works to stay alive, both in school and in finances. It's one day that a teen her age comes to her house, which is more like a shack, looking for her, talking in a rude, yet laidback tone. She takes offense until revealing that she's Yu Dangbi, to which the teen male hugs her and tells her he's glad to finally meet his "daughter". He (Jimmy) later reveals his age is 27, minus 10 years, being 17, and a tape recording from Dangbi's mother, but gives a dark stare when Dangbi asks him of his family. As that mystery appears, Dangbi deals with a new student and admirer, the rich student named Won Dan, and Lee Yuka, a poseur of being rich, who actually works sometimes for her family's fish store. Jimmy eventually comes at odds with Yuka when meeting her at the fish store, when he calls her an "ah-joo-mah" (married or old woman), to which Yuka takes great offense. Later on, with discoveries, blackmail, and Jimmy entering as a student Dangbi's high school, while calling her his daughter, any reader can ask, "What next?"

One rule of thumb for reading most soonjung stories is to never start reading during the plotline, meaning, start from the beginning and read to the end, because you miss out on key facts and important character analysis otherwise. I started reading from volume 2, buying the volume immediately since it was from Lee Young Yuu. My mistake was reading it before volume 1, since I was utterly confused. Reading volume 1, then through 2, I finally figured everything out, and the story was enjoyable and sheer fun. Also, one note is that Dangbi calls Jimmy "Jimmy", as to "dad". Another note is that Lee Young Yuu does well in differentiating her characters with a new art style, partially different from K2 Kill Me Kiss me.

Note(s): Seriously, why does Jimmy call Dangbi his daughter?

(Park, Sungoo -artist- / Ohdehbahlgum [Meaning "long time of night"] -writer- - Manhwa, full color) - Cyber Doll / Cy-ee-buh-dohl - Children to Adult/Soonjung - 1, Published by Studio Zero. Mentions on the cover www.comicstoday.com - Reviewed in summer, 2003.

One day, an unusual creature comes out of the computer monitor and pleads for an ordinary girl named Jeana's help. From then on, she turns out to have a strange power and can transform into a special suit. It's when fighting a strange monster that he asks her what she is, and she replies after some thought that she's a Cyber Doll. It's later on, that there's also another girl that, like her, has been fighting monsters with similiar powers.

The art is well drawn, but not very detailed because it's in full color (cg-ed), and the volume is shorter than regular non-color manhwas. As for the story, it seems like another sort of Magical Girls story, and wasn't very interesting. Though, since this is the first full color manhwa I read (the only other full color comic I read was a volume of the manga Akira), I really can't complain.

(Ragawa, Marimo - Manga) Baby and Me / Ahgeewah Nah - General/Drama and Comedy - 1st Volume, 1991. Reviewed in spring, 2003.

Jin deals with raising his baby brother Shin after his mother's sudden death.

Originally, when I purchased it, I got it at the used books store, having in mind an old friend who had been reading this series. It definitely was not a waste of 1,000 won (equivalent of 75 cents). The volume went at a steady pace with each character well developed, and I ended up reading it in one sitting (which is usually tough when you can't read Korean quickly. X_X.)

Note(s): A touching story for any reader. Good for light reading.

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