Manhwa, Gil Dong, Beautiful Days, etc...
Feb. 8th, 2008 05:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieI totally have a guilty pleasure to recommend: manhwa 100% Perfect Girl. It’s by WANN, and is (I swear, it’s true) like a lovechild of Goong, Time Between Dog and Wolf, Winter Sonata, and Beautiful Days. And a tiny bit of Haou Airen (though luckily things never get anywhere near that level. The one time Hero tries, Heroine hits him, and he stops, and there is yummy self-loathing afterwards. I can deal with that much).
The art is so pretty! And the story so deliciously OTT.
Basically, our heroine, Jay, is a Korean art student. She is spunky and fun. She also makes extra cash by being a tourist guide. One day, her paths cross with J. Max, a foreigner on Korea on business. J is no-nonsense and cold, but really, sort of a dork when it comes to girls and is smitten by Jay at first sight. (I swear to God, for some reason all WANN heroes make me mentally cast Joo Ji Hoon). And hey, Jay ends up falling back for him, but since it’s only first volume, the story is just beginning…So we get an OTP, fictional European kingdoms, amnesia, mobsters, a small boatload of angst. What’s not to like? Who doesn’t want to have a hot, madly in love, if poorly socialized Prince compete for us with a no-good but hot Italian mobster? :P
Oh, and episode 9 of Hong Gil Dong, how awesome are you?
I really really like Chang Hwe, the Prince, now. He really is struggling with the question of what is his right to be King (other than the biological), of coming to terms of what he should be and, more importantly, how he should be. Also, he just totally lights up whenever Yi Nok is around. She has that effect on everyone, doesn’t she? After all, look how she got through Gil Dong’s thick (though very different) armor as well. I think it’s because she is so good yet funny, unselfconscious, straightforward and kind. It’s just…how could you not want her around? But I love that he knows that she is not interested in him this way. Just as I love that under all the funniness and the madcapness, the drama never forgets its heart: it is clear YN still misses Gil Dong desperately, still loves him. That scene where she stopped eating and put on his broken, broken sunglasses. Oh. Oh.
But the same is true with Gil Dong: despite his ‘cool outlaw’ pose (and he is so good at poses), he is startlingly young and vulnerable, when he finds out that everyone he left is well, and is somewhere where he doesn’t have to maintain the façade. I am seeing one thing in common between Kang Ji Hwan’s characters in this and Capital Scandal (different as they are in almost every respect): he is really good at portraying someone who can find humor and carry on even in the most heroic (or grim) situations but you never get the sense that he doesn’t realize the seriousness or what is going on. It’s just a basic…ummm, I can’t think of an English word. Russian for it is ‘zhizneradosnost’. Umm…Joie de vivre?.
But while Gil Dong gets cooler and cooler and Chang Hwe grows up, and Yi Nok is her usual wonderful self, Creepy Goth Girl makes me want to kill her. Unlike the rest of the three main characters, she is a spoilt brat, and a child. Yi Nok is neither (she can be goofy, or too straight-forward, but the school of hard knocks made her grow up pretty fast. In a way, she is similar to Gil Dong: it’s not ignorance or spoilness that makes her enjoy life, it’s a determined ingrained spirit). Gil Dong is, of course, always a grown-up. Even when he was a useless layabout, he was still a grown-up, playing at it, lashing out against restrictions. And Chang Hwe is also finding his way in the world. Not so Creepy Goth Girl. Unlike the three of them, she never had to undergo any hardship, any loss. It’s all a game to her. She is like a spoiled child with a shiny toy: oh, it’s so fun to slum with the hot lower-class rebel, oh how exciting! Even if he is not interested in her, even when her coming puts him in danger, even when she blackmails him constantly, even when she doesn’t really see him as a person. Both the scenes with her demanding he build her a rock bridge (I love that he just picks her up and plonks her where she should go) or her little hard, spoiled ‘I will stop coming when I am bored with you’ made me want to kill her. Lady, word to the wise. He’s a slave (runaway one, but whatever), who’s been made to feel inferior his whole life, he isn’t going to like you for treating him as a thing. His treatment of her is really the treatment of a grown-up with gritted teeth enduring a small, nasty child. UGH. See, the other three show ability to care for others above themselves: I mean, Gil Dong is doing the ‘rob the rich give to poor’ thing and also staying away from Yi Nok because being with him would be dangerous for her. Yi Nok was ready to die for GD. Chang Hwe has certainly shown he cares for YN and rescued her etc etc. Only for Creepy Goth Girl do her own wishes come above everything.
I could even forgive her for not telling Yi Nok that GD is alive (fine, he wants to play dead, she is fulfilling his wishes) if it wasn’t for the treatment of GD which shows there is nothing caring about her. When she sits there with YN, knowing she is about to go see GD? UGH. Yeah, selfish. Selfish to the bone.
Also, I am up through ep 23 of Beautiful Days and oh, so excellent.
I love when he found out she is ill and came back and basically made her go out with him on all these ridiculously couply things (and she was all 'we broke up' and he was all 'I know you'll take me back because you love me, so let's shortcircuit.' Bossy :P) And afterwards he called her and she was all 'I know why you did it, you found out I am ill' (so much points for not making her stupid) and he runs there and the most awesome scene follows, where he basically tells her not to be burdened because this gives him an excuse to be by her because he left her because he thought it would be better for her but now she needs him so he can stay by her without feeling guilty and if he left her he'd go insane and other awesome stuff. And so they start dating and she makes him get couples shirts (heeee, he must really love her to agree) and he goes with her to the doctor's and he is so good even though it's totally killing him to see her in pain. And he proposes again but she says no because she doesn't want him to be even more devastated if she dies but their friends do a secret wedding plan anyway and only inform them after and he is so giddy and she actually is too (her friend was all 'you said no and now look like a kid whose lollipop was taken away') and eeeee, it's a tiny wedding, and I love that Hero's sister is all 'should we have dragged Dad out for this, naaaah' (I love that they never truly reconcile with their father, it makes sense). Oh, and did I mention earlier make-out scene? Adorable.
And they have their cute do-it-yourself wedding and he kisses her hand when he sees her in her wedding dress, and they are all sweet together and he spins her among roses.
*dead of mush*
And there are wedding night kisses (quite yummy) and he tells her he loves her, but the cutest thing is in the morning in his house, when he is stroking her hair when she sleeps but when she stirs he quickly removes it and pretends to be asleep. So she wakes and is about to get up to get breakfast but he is all 'you haven't done your morning duty yet' and she grins at him (because he told her he wanted the first thing he saw in the morning be her smile). And it's so adorable! And she gets up and places a quick peck on his cheek.
So yeah, I love.
The art is so pretty! And the story so deliciously OTT.
Basically, our heroine, Jay, is a Korean art student. She is spunky and fun. She also makes extra cash by being a tourist guide. One day, her paths cross with J. Max, a foreigner on Korea on business. J is no-nonsense and cold, but really, sort of a dork when it comes to girls and is smitten by Jay at first sight. (I swear to God, for some reason all WANN heroes make me mentally cast Joo Ji Hoon). And hey, Jay ends up falling back for him, but since it’s only first volume, the story is just beginning…So we get an OTP, fictional European kingdoms, amnesia, mobsters, a small boatload of angst. What’s not to like? Who doesn’t want to have a hot, madly in love, if poorly socialized Prince compete for us with a no-good but hot Italian mobster? :P
Oh, and episode 9 of Hong Gil Dong, how awesome are you?
I really really like Chang Hwe, the Prince, now. He really is struggling with the question of what is his right to be King (other than the biological), of coming to terms of what he should be and, more importantly, how he should be. Also, he just totally lights up whenever Yi Nok is around. She has that effect on everyone, doesn’t she? After all, look how she got through Gil Dong’s thick (though very different) armor as well. I think it’s because she is so good yet funny, unselfconscious, straightforward and kind. It’s just…how could you not want her around? But I love that he knows that she is not interested in him this way. Just as I love that under all the funniness and the madcapness, the drama never forgets its heart: it is clear YN still misses Gil Dong desperately, still loves him. That scene where she stopped eating and put on his broken, broken sunglasses. Oh. Oh.
But the same is true with Gil Dong: despite his ‘cool outlaw’ pose (and he is so good at poses), he is startlingly young and vulnerable, when he finds out that everyone he left is well, and is somewhere where he doesn’t have to maintain the façade. I am seeing one thing in common between Kang Ji Hwan’s characters in this and Capital Scandal (different as they are in almost every respect): he is really good at portraying someone who can find humor and carry on even in the most heroic (or grim) situations but you never get the sense that he doesn’t realize the seriousness or what is going on. It’s just a basic…ummm, I can’t think of an English word. Russian for it is ‘zhizneradosnost’. Umm…Joie de vivre?.
But while Gil Dong gets cooler and cooler and Chang Hwe grows up, and Yi Nok is her usual wonderful self, Creepy Goth Girl makes me want to kill her. Unlike the rest of the three main characters, she is a spoilt brat, and a child. Yi Nok is neither (she can be goofy, or too straight-forward, but the school of hard knocks made her grow up pretty fast. In a way, she is similar to Gil Dong: it’s not ignorance or spoilness that makes her enjoy life, it’s a determined ingrained spirit). Gil Dong is, of course, always a grown-up. Even when he was a useless layabout, he was still a grown-up, playing at it, lashing out against restrictions. And Chang Hwe is also finding his way in the world. Not so Creepy Goth Girl. Unlike the three of them, she never had to undergo any hardship, any loss. It’s all a game to her. She is like a spoiled child with a shiny toy: oh, it’s so fun to slum with the hot lower-class rebel, oh how exciting! Even if he is not interested in her, even when her coming puts him in danger, even when she blackmails him constantly, even when she doesn’t really see him as a person. Both the scenes with her demanding he build her a rock bridge (I love that he just picks her up and plonks her where she should go) or her little hard, spoiled ‘I will stop coming when I am bored with you’ made me want to kill her. Lady, word to the wise. He’s a slave (runaway one, but whatever), who’s been made to feel inferior his whole life, he isn’t going to like you for treating him as a thing. His treatment of her is really the treatment of a grown-up with gritted teeth enduring a small, nasty child. UGH. See, the other three show ability to care for others above themselves: I mean, Gil Dong is doing the ‘rob the rich give to poor’ thing and also staying away from Yi Nok because being with him would be dangerous for her. Yi Nok was ready to die for GD. Chang Hwe has certainly shown he cares for YN and rescued her etc etc. Only for Creepy Goth Girl do her own wishes come above everything.
I could even forgive her for not telling Yi Nok that GD is alive (fine, he wants to play dead, she is fulfilling his wishes) if it wasn’t for the treatment of GD which shows there is nothing caring about her. When she sits there with YN, knowing she is about to go see GD? UGH. Yeah, selfish. Selfish to the bone.
Also, I am up through ep 23 of Beautiful Days and oh, so excellent.
I love when he found out she is ill and came back and basically made her go out with him on all these ridiculously couply things (and she was all 'we broke up' and he was all 'I know you'll take me back because you love me, so let's shortcircuit.' Bossy :P) And afterwards he called her and she was all 'I know why you did it, you found out I am ill' (so much points for not making her stupid) and he runs there and the most awesome scene follows, where he basically tells her not to be burdened because this gives him an excuse to be by her because he left her because he thought it would be better for her but now she needs him so he can stay by her without feeling guilty and if he left her he'd go insane and other awesome stuff. And so they start dating and she makes him get couples shirts (heeee, he must really love her to agree) and he goes with her to the doctor's and he is so good even though it's totally killing him to see her in pain. And he proposes again but she says no because she doesn't want him to be even more devastated if she dies but their friends do a secret wedding plan anyway and only inform them after and he is so giddy and she actually is too (her friend was all 'you said no and now look like a kid whose lollipop was taken away') and eeeee, it's a tiny wedding, and I love that Hero's sister is all 'should we have dragged Dad out for this, naaaah' (I love that they never truly reconcile with their father, it makes sense). Oh, and did I mention earlier make-out scene? Adorable.
And they have their cute do-it-yourself wedding and he kisses her hand when he sees her in her wedding dress, and they are all sweet together and he spins her among roses.
*dead of mush*
And there are wedding night kisses (quite yummy) and he tells her he loves her, but the cutest thing is in the morning in his house, when he is stroking her hair when she sleeps but when she stirs he quickly removes it and pretends to be asleep. So she wakes and is about to get up to get breakfast but he is all 'you haven't done your morning duty yet' and she grins at him (because he told her he wanted the first thing he saw in the morning be her smile). And it's so adorable! And she gets up and places a quick peck on his cheek.
So yeah, I love.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-02-09 01:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-10 05:33 am (UTC)100% is fun!
no subject
Date: 2008-02-09 02:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-10 05:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-09 09:31 pm (UTC)That is so almost the plot for Bali. And he's a prince to boot! And anticipated angst! And foreign kingdoms! I am totally checking out this manwha. Thanks for the rec!
no subject
Date: 2008-02-10 05:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-11 06:57 am (UTC)Also, I found another series by WANN (author (group?) of 100% Perfect Girl) called "Can't Lose You"--perfectly horrid title, but! Manwha is EVEN BETTER than 100% Perfect Girl (and I really didn't think another manga could top it in terms of angstiness). Eeeeeee.
Sidenote: Netcomics.com let's you read a chapter for 25 cents. AWESOMENESS, though I really wish it would let me *keep* the chapter, considering that one has a pay for it... But for the convenience factor, it's almost worth it.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-11 04:47 pm (UTC)I read Can't Lose You and loved it, but didn't finish it. Need to find last volume. Such crack. WANN (no idea if it's a group or a single author) seems to like the mob :P
no subject
Date: 2008-02-12 11:31 pm (UTC)Ahahaha, I am thrilled over it since Tree of Heaven has made me equate mobster to hotness.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-11 10:38 am (UTC)I'm up to vol 15 of Goong and Shin with his agnst... I love it, I just wished that the publishers would sort themselves out and get the volumes out!
no subject
Date: 2008-02-11 04:55 pm (UTC)Some other publisher is taken over now defunct IceKunion's titles so hopefully they'll start publishing soon.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-03 03:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-03 10:13 pm (UTC)