Many thanks to Yen Press for providing a review copy
About the Mangaka
Not a lot of information on So-Hee Park unfortunately, this seems to be her second work, the first being Real Purple. She’s being working on manhwa since 2000 when she won the Seoul Media’s silver medal for Best New Manhwa Creator.
About the Manga
Not sure if my tastes have changed, or if my senses have deadened, but I honestly enjoyed this volume…..which has me worried hehe
What can I say about the art? It hasn’t changed since the previous volumes, and it still makes my teeth grate.
So-Hee goes from some stunning art to gawd awful chibi styled characters that destroy all the atmosphere. I also still find it damned annoying as to how there’s so little difference between the two male characters, the way they look and stuff is practically a mirror image of each other.
Sure there are some differences, but all told they’re the same. I found it hard to differentiate between the characters at times in the volume.
The sad thing is, So-Hee is clearly an exceptional artist, proven by the cover art, and the colour inserts, all of which are stunning. And then of course there are times throughout this volume where the art really is amazing.
However, while I can forgive bad art a lot of the time, the chibi’s in this series really are disgusting and out of place.
The story development is also a bit, well, meh, this volume. It does have it’s moments though. There were a few times I really liked how everything came together, art, dialogue, setting, it was all perfect. This perfect union made for several really awesome scenes that are sadly left un-explored.
One of this volumes biggest issues, was the time slips. One of the worst was a two month one that I had to reread several times to get my head round, and I don’t think I really did hehe.
I also find myself wondering over the leads, which is a good thing in a way. None of them are really straight forward, or that’s how they’re appearing. As it stands, I like that, it adds a bit of depth to the series. However I do worry that this might really just be a lack of writing skill on So-Hee’s part.
As always Yen Press do an outstanding job, and that’s saying a lot given what they must have had to work with. The colour panels are given glossy pages, and I have to admit, they really do look truly awesome, I have to give her credit there. She does have skill as an artist, just a shame she doesn’t use it all the time.
Like I said though, I did enjoy this particular volume, on it’s own. Chae is the saving factor of this volume, especially her dealing with loneliness, and the problems that arise from it. I found her facial expressions, body positions, and designs, to really be exceptional. These were also the times when I found I liked the story.
What really surprised me though is that after the last volume I was all but ready to trash the series, but I now find I can’t in good conscience do it. I need to give it another volume or two, who knows So-Hee may create a miracle and fix the series issues over the next few volumes……and pigs might fly, but we can live in hope hehe
Where to buy
