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*:Man (Manga/Manwha/Manhwa) ia Reviews in order of titles A to I:*
(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.
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A - I
:Review Guide:
(English Title (usually rough translation) / Korean Title - (Author - Man-ga/wha/hwa) - Appropriate reading age/type of story - Volumes read, publishing date.)
(Review)
(Note(s))
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Baby and Me / Ahgeewah Nah (Ragawa, Marimo - Manga) - 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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Chocolat / Sho-kohl-lah (Shin, Jeesahng & Shin Jeeoh - Manhwa) - Teen/Soonjung - 1-3 (our of 4 out so far), 2002-?. Published by Bijou Comics. Reviewed in spring, 2003. View images page
Gumgi Hwang has always been in love with D.D.L. (a pop group consisting of three guys) member Jeanyeul Ryu, and was always an obsessive fan, going to every gathering she could of the singers and fanatically collecting every possible merhandise she could of the group. Though, later on, she somehow became a Yo-i (another pop group) official fanclub member. It's when she's allowed backstage to wait to meet a Yo-i member, that she begins arguing and literally fighting with a guy that wants to use the elevator she was blocking. It's as the elevator door opened with them together fighting that she then finds out that the guy was Yo-i member, Esoh. After a very embarrassing discovery that she had little to none knowledge of the actual members of Yo-i (consisting of 3 guys and a girl, named Esoh, Ewan, Unsung, and Oohui), Gumgi then finds out that her aunt, Yoojung, is a staff and co-manager of the Yo-i group. Later on, with more meetings with the Yo-i members and finally meeting Jeanyeul face to face, Gumgi finds herself somehow adored by Esoh, but her heart seems to be stuck on Jeanyeul.
The first volume was definitely the best of all three I read so far, in that there was more humor, drama, and the story was just beginning in unravelling. It was in volume two that the story was pretty good also, but the third volume seemed to drop off in storyline. One criticism to note was how after the first volume, the main character Gumgi seemed to be somewhat irritating, since she seemed to have become the only main female protagonist (think Miaka of Fushigi Yuugi). Regardless, all three volumes were very entertaining, and the art was very, VERY well-done, with the pop groups drawn supremely beautifully/handsomely. I still hope to read the next volumes(s) of this story, because I'm really curious as to what'll happen in the end.
Note(s) - The Jeanyeul look-alike guy in the story is hilarious and cute.
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Comic / Comic - (Ha, Shi Hyun or self-titled Ha, Si Hyun - Manhwa) - Soonjung - 1 of 8 so far, Published by Cake Books. Reviewed in Fall, 2003.
Song HeWon is a regular student and starting artist in love with a man named JinOh. It's when her work is published, though, she finds that the art sucks compared to other artists. From there, she lands in a situation where Kang HyeSung is breaking up with a student at her school, dragging her into the breakup. Knowing somehow that HyeSung is a manhwa artist himself, she asks for him to be her teacher. Later, with the departure of JinOh, HeWon and HyeSung find themselves attached to each other. Meanwhile, HyeSung saves a beautiful girl named Kang RaHa, who's also HeWon's new friend and manhwa fan, from being forced to ride on the motorcycle of some student she dislikes. It's from then on that Kang RaHa makes it a point to get HyeSung, whatever means possible. Later on in the story, in a darkened piano room of the new combined girls and guys school of HeWon and HyeSung's, HeWon falls asleep underneath the piano only to wake up and see a guy taking off his clothes. Thinking he's a pervert, she screams, only to be discovered by him and calmly told to be quiet, to which she escapes his grasp and slams him into unconsciousness with a music stand, only to later see his face close up and find he looks handsome, only to add to the confusion (a handsome pervert?). Later on, is found out that the guy was Moon HuiRyeom, who was using the room to basically practice break dancing. HuiRyeom and HeWon later connect when HeWon stumbles upon RaHa kissing HyeSung and later HyeSung not revealing the information of it. With HyeSung losing HeWon's trust, they part ways and a love quadrilateral appears, where HyeSung still likes HeWon, but is with RaHa, who likes HyeSung, while HeWon and HuiRyeom like each other. What happens in the next volume will be up for grabs.
Criticism and comments...I don't know how to start off with this, except that on every cover, this is titled, "Comic: The Story of Young Citizen, New Generation", and brings out an atmosphere that it is. It's also pretty funny how a Matrix Reloaded scene is portrayed on a movie screen within the manhwa. It has plot twists, humor, drama, and of course, romance. The first few volumes were also very informative as to what it takes being a "comic" artist, what pens and guidebooks to use, and where to buy comics in general (24 pages are done a day by Ha Shi Hyun). The downside and reason why this won't be introduced to the Western world is its one offensive scene and cover which I wasn't aware of until I bought the whole bundle up to volume 7, being a Ha Shi Hyun fan, that has RaHa dress HyeSung at her birthday party into a Nazi uniform, and the cover which has him dressed in it. That issue can't be side-stepped, since it's pretty much offensive, despite the drama that still protrudes from the story at that point. If that was left out of the story and the cover changed, then the story would be an instant classic. It really is a good story otherwise, hence the long summary.
Note(s): Ha Shi Hyun rocks as a manhwa artist, but lacks in sensitivity to the past. I seriously hope there's a makeover of that scene and cover, since I'd love seeing Comic brought over to the West.
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Cyber Doll / Cy-ee-buh-dohl - (Park, Sungoo -artist- / Ohdehbahlgum [Meaning "long time of night"] -writer- - Manhwa, full color) - 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.
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Demon Diary / Mah-wahng-eel-gi - (Lim, Kara -artist- - Manhwa) - Teen/Soonjung - 1-4 (out of 7, which is the last of the series), date unknown.) Reviewed in spring, 2003.
The story is about a nice, yet less-than-there (in wits/knowledge/etiquette) person that is discovered to be a the new future demon king by a knowledgable advisor. Bearing the name Raenef, the new demon king finds he has a lot to learn from his advisor and new mentor, Eclipse. As he begins to learn the proper acting of a demon king, he get challenged by a female knight named Ertis. Later, they all meet Kiris, an oddball priest who also has a mentor and serious past. They go through trials and adventures as slowly they all prepare to face the 4th Raenef, a past demon king that returns and poses a threat to Raenef's future.
I was first introduced to this months ago by the Tokyopop site and loving the banner that introduced the series. I found out later the complete story at another JAnimeS, a far superior scanlation / anime and manga/manhwa/manwha review site, though reading the spoilers was a bane to my interest in reading the whole series, since I knew what would happen at the end. Anyhow, in review of the volumes I read so far, I can honestly say that the art was drawn well (which led me to find another series drawn by the same artist). As for the story, it was also top-notch, and even with my broken Korean, I could find humor in the many situations during the volumes. One critical note is, in order to have interest in reading the whole series, it's best to have no knowledge (don't read spoilers!) of the series.
Note(s): A solid story with good art. The side-note from the author about Ertis was hilarious.
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Don't Touch Me. / Gun-di-ree-gee-mah! - (Suh, Hyunjoo - Manhwa) - Teen/Soonjung - 1-2 (Of 2 out so far), 2003-?. Reviewed in summer, 2003.
A beautiful girl named Kang Midang one day moves back to Seoul to start her new life at her childhood love's (Myoung Won, who's for years now worn a mask over his mouth and nose everywhere he's went) high school. But instead of waiting for him to make the first move, she instantly goes to his home early morning, leads him to a park, and kisses him, unknowingly with a witness who attends Myoung Won's school. It's from then on that a twisted high school organization called the "Dongmeng", headed by a tough girl named Dangdang Kim, steps in to make Midang's school attendance more of a burden, if not heck. (In volume 2, you find out more about why Dongmeng was created and why it doesn't allow anyone (at all) to mess with Myoung Won romantically, hence the manhwa's title.) Meanwhile, Myoung Won tells his friend Soda, a guy who literally was predicted to be too weak to live past age 20, to take care of Midang since they're in the same class/grade. But, does Midang really need any protecting?
When I rented the story, I rented the two volumes on the same day, so I had to read both. The first volume was at first particularly annoying to read, mainly since I didn't like the main protagonist (Midang) because her character was basically portrayed as a narcissistic, bullying type, literally being pointed out as the only good looking female character. It was later when the character Soda in the manhwa noted how terrible Midang's personality was that I realized that it was the author's intention to make such a character, and how it fit the story that was to unravel. In volume 2, it took Midang's exact personality type to deal with the situations and circumstances dealt by the Dongmeng gang/organization and there was evident character growth of the protagonist (Midang), something that I found refreshing in a soonjung type of manhwa. Though, I think the story dropped off towards the end of volume 2, and could've had it's denouement then. Still, it was an interesting read.
Note(s): Survive the beginning of volume 1 and you might like it.
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Fairies Landing. / Sohn-nyeoh-gang-reem - (Yu, Hyun - Manhwa) - Teen - 1 (out of 13 so far), Published by Young Comics and Tokyopop Reviewed in fall, 2003. View images.
[This story is sort of based on an old Korean legend of an angel who came from heaven whose clothes were hidden by a man who she later married, because she couldn't return to heaven without the clothes.]
Gahl-Ryang Jeh, or Ryang for short, is a typical 18 year old guy that one day gets caught as an accomplice to some guy who has the ears of a cat/wolf's actions. Called a fellow byoun-teh, Ryang gets led to a bathing place by the cat/wolf-eared guy, where he finds 3 fairies. The cat/wolf-eared guy tries to take their clothing, but is caught, and Ryang hold's one cloth unwittingly having it torn when one of the fairies tries to grab it back. With the fairy, who's identified as Fanta, unable to return to heaven/the land of the fairies, she lives with Ryang and his older brother and his sister-in-law. It's then told that Ryang and Fanta's meeting was fated to bring Ryang 108 bad relationships.
Ryang and Fanta have pretty good interaction in this volume, one example of which is when they're buying Fanta's clothes. While Fanta pouts that she wants model-like clothing, Ryang buys her cheap sportswear instead. It's instances like these that make this volume fun to read.
Note(s): That many bad relationships...I wouldn't want to be Ryang.
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(Flash Cat / Flash Cat - (Lee, Kyoung Shin - 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.
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Forgotten Juliet - Kaori Yuki's Story Collection 1 / Eechoujeen Juliet - Behkjahk kaeen series 1 (Yuki, Kaori - Manga) - Teen/Shoujo - Volume 1, date unknown. Published by Wink Comics. Reviewed in spring, 2003. - View Images Page
Forgotten Juliet : Ariel unearths a secret about the recently departed Suzette. As he finds out about a mysterious character named Cain, a love story gone wrong unfolds.
The characters are well-distinguished and developed in the stories. One thing that stood out when choosing this volume to read was the art. It was after I read and enjoyed the story that I found that Kaori Yuki was also the author of Angel Sanctuary.
Note(s): A pretty good volume for rainy day reading.
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Ghost! / Ghost! - (Shiozu, Shuri - Manga) - Teen/Shoujo - Volume 1, out of 4 so far. Published by Sam Yang Comics, and Tokyopop. Reviewed in fall, 2003. View image.
Mitsuo Shiozu one day finds a girl who turns out to be a ghost and finds that ghosts can somehow possess his body, leaving him to be a ghost while they use it. While this awakening of information happens, he finds a guy named Hasunuma to attach to him well. One day, after Hasunuma states clearly to the other guys, who think Hasunuma and Mitsuo are a couple, that they're not homosexuals. Hasunuma himself states to Mitsuo that their form of contact is more of friendship. It's during that day that a woman comes to Mitsuo and tries convincing a guy in their school, Ichi, to continue playing soccer and not to grieve over her death, while in Mitsuo's body.
What's fun about this volume is specifically the actions of the beautiful ghost woman who's connected with Ichi somehow. The panel flow was good, and the story seems to be more in multiple stories of individual ghosts and the people they left behind.
Note(s): The back cover's pretty funny. Mitsuo and Hasunuma are drawn as a couple, with Mitsuo in chibi-form, complaining over the picture.
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In the Flower Garden / Goht-baht-eh-seo (Lee Young Yuu (artist) / Han, Kyeong Ah - Manhwa) - 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. #_#
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