Musings of the Obsessive Kind

I'd forgotten how cracktastic 100% Perfect Girl gets. So far (as of volume 7), it has taught me the following things:

1. You can trade your virginity for your boyfriend's life.
1a. Corollary: if he is willing to die for you, maybe you should just let him - he'll be happy, and you'll be still a virgin. Win - win. Seriously.
2. If you have a hot, rich, sweet suitor - find out if he is an only child. If he is not - run!!!!
3. Just as in Samuel Richardson's 18th century bestseller, Pamela, the best way to get out of a rape situation is to faint - if the guy carries on, at least you won't feel it, and there is a chance he may stop because he doesn't think it's fun to do it with an unconscious woman.
4. Male shirtlessness makes everything better.
5. Your boyfriend can't save you even if he has mad fight skills, a gun, and his own private assault force. Best way to save yourself is to have your abductors fall in love with you.

Volume 7 has my favorite manga sequence EVER. Evil Ewan the Insane Half-brother (of Jarte not Jay, this manga is not THAT twisted) has kidnapped Jay as a part of his psycho revenge plan against Jarte for having a nice childhood/being normal (what, he couldn't see a shrink?). Jarte has come to rescue Jay but it's a little hard to do when Ewan has a gun to his fiancee's head and tells him he will kill her painfully unless Jarte surrenders to him for some torture fun.

( And we go from here: scans from my favorite sequence )


Anyway, by the end of volume 7, both Jay and Jarte are so screwed up, I believe they need to be heavily medicated, not dating each other. Slitting your wrists is not a healthy coping mechanism. Obsessive codependency and a guilt complex the size of Nevada isn't either. (One of the things I like about 100% is that both of the protagonists start out the manhwa as pretty well-adjusted and then kinda spiral into insanity - it's nice to see a manhwa which actually admits that horrible things happening to you will fuck you up).

After posting on it, I started my reread of 100% Perfect Girl - it's dangerous to my sleep schedule - it's my favorite manhwa for a reason. It is also the prettiest one I have ever seen. I am currently in the middle of vol 5 and I bring you some really gorgeous pages from it.



Btw, in case you are curious about the story, it revolves around two very different "J"s - Jay Jin, a bubbly, warmhearted Korean art student and Jarte Max - a reserved, intense ruler of a small fictional European kingdom. Even though Jarte claims not to believe in the nuisance of love, it's love at first sight for him when he see Jay. He proposes and they get engaged - during the time of engagement Jay will have time and space to figure out if what she feels for Jarte is love or just attraction to his looks and status. The story would be about 2 volumes and the fluffiest thing ever, but throw in amnesia, evil mobsters, and more angst than in the entirety of a small city, and you got my fave manga of all time.

It is also the prettiest.

( For proof, have some scans )

After posting on it, I started my reread of 100% Perfect Girl - it's dangerous to my sleep schedule - it's my favorite manhwa for a reason. It is also the prettiest one I have ever seen. I am currently in the middle of vol 5 and I bring you some really gorgeous pages from it.



Btw, in case you are curious about the story, it revolves around two very different "J"s - Jay Jin, a bubbly, warmhearted Korean art student and Jarte Max - a reserved, intense ruler of a small fictional European kingdom. Even though Jarte claims not to believe in the nuisance of love, it's love at first sight for him when he see Jay. He proposes and they get engaged - during the time of engagement Jay will have time and space to figure out if what she feels for Jarte is love or just attraction to his looks and status. The story would be about 2 volumes and the fluffiest thing ever, but throw in amnesia, evil mobsters, and more angst than in the entirety of a small city, and you got my fave manga of all time.

It is also the prettiest.

( For proof, have some scans )

My previous post reminded me of my true manhwa love, 100% Perfect Girl. Together with Sensual Phrase, 100% is my ultimate "take from my cold dead fingers" guilty pleasure. I love the really emo love story (why don't kdrama makers stop adopting Japanese mangas and do their own instead?) and the really really clean and uncluttered art. And so I have come to share some scans of the pretty. Because, in addition to everything else, the manhwa is ridiculously pretty.



I cannot emphasize enough how I really really love uncluttered manga art (see also very different, but equally uncluttered Hot Gimmick).

Quick note, in case you are familiar only with manga - unlike the Japanese version, the Korean one reads from right to left, the way you would with an English-language graphic novel.

( Sample 1: They like to have angsty conversations in bed )

( Appeal of shoujo tropes in 10 easy panels )

( My favorite scene: hurt/comfort by the bucket )

( A pervy but worksafe bonus from the epilogue )

( In conclusion, I like the way WANN draws clothes )

For some reason, I always picture Joo Ji Hoon as a WANN hero - I have no idea why. Maybe it's because he does icy/repressed/angsty combo so well.

If these scans weren't enough, here is a link to a mv which uses more artwork.

If you are interested, 100% is available at the usual scanlation places but it's also in print and can be found at amazon etc.

Browsing in a bookstore today, I came across Stepping on Roses (Hadashi de Bara wo Fuma) and read both volumes that were available. The story is pure Harlequin novel, set (rather anachronistically) at the end of the 19th century. Sumi is our heroine. She and her brother are orphans who care for 4 little abandoned kids they found. But Sumi's older brother is a feckless gambler and the family is always penniless and in debt. As the story opens, Sumi's brother has gone missing and the loan-sharks are threatening to take the little kids away to be sold. Desperate, Sumi decides to sell herself to the highest bidder for a night so as to get money to protect her adopted siblings. But the situation does not go as she planned - the strange young man who agrees to pay her exorbitant price has no designs to relieve her of her virginity - what he needs is a wife. He needs to be married by a certain date to inherit but also wants someone he can order around and have no emotional attachment to. He explains the situation to Sumi and gives her his condition - she is never to fall in love with him. Sumi accepts - not only does she need the money, but she is already in love with a kind stranger she met earlier in the day - why would she ever have eyes for her husband? So off they go to get married. And as Sumi walks down the aisle, she sees her kind stranger crush - he is a guest to her wedding!

So far, it's pretty enjoyable if nothing to write home about. Both the hero and the heroine are shoujo stereotypes (the author admits as much in her author's notes) but they are stereotypes for a reason - that sort of thing is fun. The hero is your usual jerk with hideous childhoodd trauma and the heroine is just-as-usual nurturing, selfless woman who ignores his jerkish ways and cures the trauma within. I like this trope when it's done well but so far it's leaving me rather cold here - usually I like it much more when the emotional power in the relationship lies with the woman in this scenario or when the hero is in the constant state of trauma - e.g. my ultimate guilty pleasure manhwa 100% Perfect Girl - the hero is totally an arrogant jerk (he is, literally, a prince) - but the heroine in that one literally forgets him and proceeds to make out with a sexy mobster etc and hero angsts all over the place.

But here, in the first 2 volumes, while there are hints that the hubby is beginning to be seriously attracted to Sumi, and Sumi is not particularly in love with anyone (her crush is just that, and she feels sorry for her husband, but she is not lovelorn for any guy), it is not fully developed yet - I do see hints that it will be in which case I will probably like it more.

Oh, and there is no danger for my falling for secondary guy in this one, btw - not only is he incredibly boring, he likes the heroine because she looks like his mother (!!!!!). Now, that is one heck of a Freudian crush.

In drama news, I have started The Vineyard Man, due to agreement with darkeyedwolf and have watched the first ep. Now, if it wasn't for the agreement, I'd never even come within a 10 mile radius of TVM. Prior to watching the first ep, my breakdown of positives/megatives went like this:

NEGATIVES

* The hero is a farmer and story revolves around farming activities to a large extent. Farming may be an honorable profession but, fiction-wise, I can imagine few things that are more unsexy and boring to me. The only farming drama I'd ever want to watch would be one that would involve Huang Xiaoming, Hu Ge, and Yuan Hong as three sexy shirtless farmers who beat their ploughshares back into swords by ep 2. So yes - the topic is a huge turn-off. Not to mention, the farming in question is wine production. I don't drink wine - I hate the taste. Plus the trauma of the horrible French Kiss movie embittered me for life. So I can't even swoon over yumminess, the way I would if the guy was, e.g., a strawberry farmer.

* I am about to offend Oh Man Suk fangirls but I am shallow and the man is ugly. He is not just plain, but plain hideous. He has no neck and his face is better covered up and in a dark room. He must be quite a good actor in order to be a leading man - in kdramas this territory is usually reserved for Greek gods. To add insult to injury, he sports a straw hat. Outside of period dramas' battle helmets and stylish fedoras, or an occasional motorcycle helmet, I dislike headgear on men intensely.

* Fluff. By all accounts this is a very fluffy drama and I dislike even well-done fluff. I crave my angsty-angst-angst. And unless I missed somewhere that there is amnesia or discovery that the OTP are stepsiblings, this looks remarkably pain-free. It is no coincidence that I lost interest in You're Beautiful the second I realized there would be no angst, and pop-stars are a lot more of a fun occupation than farmer.

POSITIVES

* I adore Yoon Eun Hye.

VERDICT AFTER ONE EP

I will continue as promised but so far the drama is not grabbing me. Heroine is rather annoying and the drama keeps trying for cracky vibe - I have yet to find a kdrama which makes it work. Hero? Well, suffice it to say that unless he gets plastic surgery to look like Hyun Bin, he is not winning my heart any time soon, alas.

Browsing in a bookstore today, I came across Stepping on Roses (Hadashi de Bara wo Fuma) and read both volumes that were available. The story is pure Harlequin novel, set (rather anachronistically) at the end of the 19th century. Sumi is our heroine. She and her brother are orphans who care for 4 little abandoned kids they found. But Sumi's older brother is a feckless gambler and the family is always penniless and in debt. As the story opens, Sumi's brother has gone missing and the loan-sharks are threatening to take the little kids away to be sold. Desperate, Sumi decides to sell herself to the highest bidder for a night so as to get money to protect her adopted siblings. But the situation does not go as she planned - the strange young man who agrees to pay her exorbitant price has no designs to relieve her of her virginity - what he needs is a wife. He needs to be married by a certain date to inherit but also wants someone he can order around and have no emotional attachment to. He explains the situation to Sumi and gives her his condition - she is never to fall in love with him. Sumi accepts - not only does she need the money, but she is already in love with a kind stranger she met earlier in the day - why would she ever have eyes for her husband? So off they go to get married. And as Sumi walks down the aisle, she sees her kind stranger crush - he is a guest to her wedding!

So far, it's pretty enjoyable if nothing to write home about. Both the hero and the heroine are shoujo stereotypes (the author admits as much in her author's notes) but they are stereotypes for a reason - that sort of thing is fun. The hero is your usual jerk with hideous childhoodd trauma and the heroine is just-as-usual nurturing, selfless woman who ignores his jerkish ways and cures the trauma within. I like this trope when it's done well but so far it's leaving me rather cold here - usually I like it much more when the emotional power in the relationship lies with the woman in this scenario or when the hero is in the constant state of trauma - e.g. my ultimate guilty pleasure manhwa 100% Perfect Girl - the hero is totally an arrogant jerk (he is, literally, a prince) - but the heroine in that one literally forgets him and proceeds to make out with a sexy mobster etc and hero angsts all over the place.

But here, in the first 2 volumes, while there are hints that the hubby is beginning to be seriously attracted to Sumi, and Sumi is not particularly in love with anyone (her crush is just that, and she feels sorry for her husband, but she is not lovelorn for any guy), it is not fully developed yet - I do see hints that it will be in which case I will probably like it more.

Oh, and there is no danger for my falling for secondary guy in this one, btw - not only is he incredibly boring, he likes the heroine because she looks like his mother (!!!!!). Now, that is one heck of a Freudian crush.

In drama news, I have started The Vineyard Man, due to agreement with darkeyedwolf and have watched the first ep. Now, if it wasn't for the agreement, I'd never even come within a 10 mile radius of TVM. Prior to watching the first ep, my breakdown of positives/megatives went like this:

NEGATIVES

* The hero is a farmer and story revolves around farming activities to a large extent. Farming may be an honorable profession but, fiction-wise, I can imagine few things that are more unsexy and boring to me. The only farming drama I'd ever want to watch would be one that would involve Huang Xiaoming, Hu Ge, and Yuan Hong as three sexy shirtless farmers who beat their ploughshares back into swords by ep 2. So yes - the topic is a huge turn-off. Not to mention, the farming in question is wine production. I don't drink wine - I hate the taste. Plus the trauma of the horrible French Kiss movie embittered me for life. So I can't even swoon over yumminess, the way I would if the guy was, e.g., a strawberry farmer.

* I am about to offend Oh Man Suk fangirls but I am shallow and the man is ugly. He is not just plain, but plain hideous. He has no neck and his face is better covered up and in a dark room. He must be quite a good actor in order to be a leading man - in kdramas this territory is usually reserved for Greek gods. To add insult to injury, he sports a straw hat. Outside of period dramas' battle helmets and stylish fedoras, or an occasional motorcycle helmet, I dislike headgear on men intensely.

* Fluff. By all accounts this is a very fluffy drama and I dislike even well-done fluff. I crave my angsty-angst-angst. And unless I missed somewhere that there is amnesia or discovery that the OTP are stepsiblings, this looks remarkably pain-free. It is no coincidence that I lost interest in You're Beautiful the second I realized there would be no angst, and pop-stars are a lot more of a fun occupation than farmer.

POSITIVES

* I adore Yoon Eun Hye.

VERDICT AFTER ONE EP

I will continue as promised but so far the drama is not grabbing me. Heroine is rather annoying and the drama keeps trying for cracky vibe - I have yet to find a kdrama which makes it work. Hero? Well, suffice it to say that unless he gets plastic surgery to look like Hyun Bin, he is not winning my heart any time soon, alas.

Case in point. This is J. Max, the hero of the story:



meganbmoore's recent post reminded me of how much I enjoy the Korean manhwa 100% Perfect Girl. It's my delicious guilty pleasure, a personal Harlequin romance cum kdrama full of delicious cliches that would probably drive some of my flisters nuts but feel rather yummy to me.

The title is from a Haruki Murakami story, but the rest of the manhwa is hardly intllectual, which is just as well - it's hard to meditate on the meaning of life while pursued by gangsters, finding out your beloved is a Prince, or almost forcing yourself on the heroine to make her remember you.

The initial set-up is fairly simple. Jay Jin, our heroine, is the daughter of a family which only puts stock in her brother and ignores any of her wishes or dreams. That hasn't stopped Jay Jin from being spunky, warm, cheerful, and hardworking (as a tour guide). Basically, she is a typical kdrama heroine. J. Max is a foreigner who is in Korea on business. Roughly Jay Jin's age, J.M. couldn't be more different in background or demeanor: he is (not so secretly) a ruler of a small but wealthy country, and is rather cold and disdainful of sappy emotional entanglements. That is, until he sees Jay Jin and it's love at first sight. He pursues her but he is rather clueless about how to behave and hilarity ensues. But yes, of course they end up falling for each other.

The initial set-up is a tiny bit Goongish, but this being done by WANN, it soon wanders off into a much stranger, yummier, chiche-full territory. I don't want to spoil too much, but there are jealous rivals, sexy mobsters, amnesia, aaaangst etc. Oh, and I am still unclear as to whether the Heroine ended up sleeping with the sexay mobster who was initially hired to trail her for nefarious purposes but falls for her, in addition to her hunny-bunny boyfriend (who almost forces himself on her in despair because she does not remember him) or not.

This is not quite Mayu Shinjo territory, but it's delish. Even if my inner feminist dies a litte :)

I. Note to self: Do not read 100% Perfect Girl manhwa while using public transport. You never know when you are going to come across a full-page panel of Jarte (our hero) taking a shower, while you are sitting next to an elderly grandpa. Purely a hypothetical, of course :D

II. Because I am planning a Fushigi Yuugi rewatch, here is a cool (Miaka/Tamahome-centric) vid.

( AMV behind the cut )

It's funny, but even after all the anime I've watched since, two of my earliest anime, Trigun and Fushigi Yuugi, remain my number 1 and number 2 favorite animes, respectively. (Ouran High School Host Club snuck in at number 3, though I think a rewatch of Peacemaker might change that).

III. Fangirls. How you amuse me. This said, here are reasons drama fans sometimes creep me the hell out

( Reasons drama fans sometimes creep me the hell out )

IV. "What this show doesn't understand is that a male's sexuality is SACRED!! It's a GIFT! A gift from GOD!! Or from the Flying Spaghetti Monster. I forget. Anyway, exploiting it is a sin against nature, and the people who worked on this show should be ASHAMED!!"

These: ( Links here )

are the best things ever on-line.

Go read them. NOW.

if you have ever seen Firefly or Serenity.

I laughed so hard I felt ill.

Also, I will never be able to call Mal anything but 'Magical Flower' now.

V. So, in addition to starting on Vampire Knight (watched first ep raw since I read the manga), I also watched and loved the first, subbed, ep of Itazura No Kiss (It Started with a Kiss) anime. The story is just as amusing as in the drama, but somehow is less OTT when animated :P

( I bring you screencaps! And snark )

I am definitely keeping up with this one.

VI. Powerful Opponents starts next week. And I made a couple of caps from the bit from the drama they showed at the press conf. Yeah, I have no life.

( Funniness here )

7. Also, ( Quiz )

I. Note to self: Do not read 100% Perfect Girl manhwa while using public transport. You never know when you are going to come across a full-page panel of Jarte (our hero) taking a shower, while you are sitting next to an elderly grandpa. Purely a hypothetical, of course :D

II. Because I am planning a Fushigi Yuugi rewatch, here is a cool (Miaka/Tamahome-centric) vid.

( AMV behind the cut )

It's funny, but even after all the anime I've watched since, two of my earliest anime, Trigun and Fushigi Yuugi, remain my number 1 and number 2 favorite animes, respectively. (Ouran High School Host Club snuck in at number 3, though I think a rewatch of Peacemaker might change that).

III. Fangirls. How you amuse me. This said, here are reasons drama fans sometimes creep me the hell out

( Reasons drama fans sometimes creep me the hell out )

IV. "What this show doesn't understand is that a male's sexuality is SACRED!! It's a GIFT! A gift from GOD!! Or from the Flying Spaghetti Monster. I forget. Anyway, exploiting it is a sin against nature, and the people who worked on this show should be ASHAMED!!"

These: ( Links here )

are the best things ever on-line.

Go read them. NOW.

if you have ever seen Firefly or Serenity.

I laughed so hard I felt ill.

Also, I will never be able to call Mal anything but 'Magical Flower' now.

V. So, in addition to starting on Vampire Knight (watched first ep raw since I read the manga), I also watched and loved the first, subbed, ep of Itazura No Kiss (It Started with a Kiss) anime. The story is just as amusing as in the drama, but somehow is less OTT when animated :P

( I bring you screencaps! And snark )

I am definitely keeping up with this one.

VI. Powerful Opponents starts next week. And I made a couple of caps from the bit from the drama they showed at the press conf. Yeah, I have no life.

( Funniness here )

7. Also, ( Quiz )

I 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?

( Spoilery ramblings )

Also, I am up through ep 23 of Beautiful Days and oh, so excellent.

( Rambles )