Cynical Orange (Vol. 06) – JiUn Yun
Published by Yen Press

Walking down the bumpy path of being Ma-Ha’s girl has gained the cynically sweet, and dazzlingly beautiful, Hye-Min some friends, but it has also gained her a few enemies. Bora won’t hesitate to take her delusional broken heart out on the poor girl, and does so every chance she gets. While grade school antics drive Hye-Min to the brink, the once magical oasis, her oppa’s cafe piper, threatens to fall apart while she’s not even paying attention.

Volume five had me geared up for a new beginning and a change in the story, but six has me wondering how much filler we’re going to suffer through before that happens. Yun JiUn has this weird theme thing happening with the last few volumes I don’t remember happening before. It’s somewhat distracting as it feels like she’s more focused on keeping with the obscure fairy tale theme then progressing the story.

Few things of substance happen in this issue which feels more like an in depth flash back into the Hye-Min + Ma-Ha phenomenon then an actual volume from the series. Somewhat like a ‘the best of’ release of your favourite TV show, you want it because you’re a devote fan but part of you knows waiting for the box set would be better. There is, however, an amusing few pages from the author at the end, some of which was a bit too culture-based for me to understand but entertained me anyway.

With fingers crossed I softly whisper, tell me more about shin-bi, and pray if the next volume is to be another ‘best of’ compilation it can at least be from his point of view.

Review written April 14, 2009 by Marsha Reid
Book provided by Yen Press for review purposes

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Author: Lee YunHee
Manhwa-ga: Kara
Publisher: Yen Press
Rating: Teen (13+)
Released: January 2009

Synopsis: “The search for the demon Se-In and Bi-Wal’s brother Ryung brings about some unlikely alliances between heaven and hell. Confused, Dong-Young seeks out Bi-Wal but once again finds herself with Se-In’s life in her hands instead!”

Things are getting messy after Queen Hong’s little trip to the human world when divisions were created between the four guardians after she pulled rank and changed the rules. The Chaos continues into the depths of hell as both their princes being constantly absent are agitating the elders more and more. With so many people pulling on the threads of their destiny, the future of Dong-Young and Bi-Wal is more then a little foggy.

Read more…

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Very! Very! Sweet (Vol. 03) – Ji-Sang Shin/Geo
Published by Yen Press

Very! Very! Sweet continues to be a charming shoujo story that takes cookie-cutter plots and manages to make them feel like something resembling unique. In this volume, Erica, Tsuyoshi’s friend from Japan, has firmly staked herself in Korea alongside him, focused as ever to get his attention. She’s passionate, determined and obnoxious, but isn’t that the classic role of the country-hopping old girlfriend?

And yet as the other characters have their charms, so to does she. Maybe not as much as the undeniably likeable lead character, Be-Rei, but even Erica has her amusing quirks; from hiding her fluent Korean, to being so infectiously energetic. But there’s more than a triangle created when Erica shows up. While she sees Be-Rei as a possible threat to her chances with Tsuyoshi, Be-Rei is preoccupied dealing with her childhood friend, Mi-Hyuk, who takes a moment of cuteness and turns it into Be-Rei’s first kiss. Alas that her feelings remain for an older man…

Who speaking of which, has his own troubles brewing silently in the background. In fact, this third volume had some great layering to it as the younger lead characters deal with their own fairly average teenage drama, while unbeknownst to them, the adults and siblings in their lives are facing some tough decisions regarding their own futures. On top of that there seems to be some secrets from Tsuyoshi’s grandfather that haven’t fully been revealed, meaning Very! Very! Sweet seems to have more up its sleeve than the entertaining dramatics of Be-Rei and co.

Overall I had fun reading this volume just as I have previous ones. Be-Rei’s spunky independence still feels fresh with her overzealous hobbies and straight-forward attitude, and Tsuyoshi’s disjointed Korean remains pretty cute. Even the art style maintains its same odd charm, even if the insane jaw lines still bug me to nearly no end. All in all though, it remains an entertaining read and that’s enough for me, so I’m more than happy to follow this vibrant cast of characters a while longer yet.

Review written March 19, 2009 by Lissa Pattillo
Book provided by Yen Press for review purposes

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Black God (Vol. 05) – Dall-Young Lim/Sung-Woo Park
Published by Yen Press

This fifth volume of Black God leaps off from where the fourth volume left fans hanging as Keita comes face to face with a woman identical to his deceased Mother. In a world where humans have doppelgangers, it’s pretty easy to deduce who, or what, she likely is, but for Keita, even that ‘logic’ is a hard answer to swallow.

So he takes her out on a date. Or she takes him out on a date. Either way, the two spend the day together, sharing ice cream, frolicking on the beach and having a way-to-close kiss. Come on, Keita, we know you’re emotionally confused but don’t ever let the word Mom stop ringing in your ear!

Without really giving us much more information than we already knew, the Mom-look-alike is revealed to be the woman in the picture that lead Keita and co back here to his hometown in the first place. Good news means it wasn’t his Mother, bad news means… now what? The two in the picture proceed to let Keita in on their own personal mission and even invite him to join up with them. Unexpectedly to my surprise, the often-bubbly headed boxer, Kuro, has had some secrets she’s been keeping from everyone too.

While the artwork, fight scenes in particular, in Black God is still fantastic, I’m finding it hard to care about the grand scheme of things. The lead trio still make up a pretty likeable cast of characters and the plot itself has become much easier to follow once you understand the basic groundwork of this world, but despite how much the story is trying to build up some sort of climatic destination, I’m just not feeling it anymore. Who’s the real bad guy? What’re they going to do next? At least I’m not the only one confused. Hopefully both Keita and I will both get a little more direction in volume six.

Review written February 20, 2009 by Lissa Pattillo
Book provided by Yen Press for review purposes

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Comic (Vol. 05) – SiHyn Ha
Published by Yen Press

This volume of Comic must’ve hit nearly every shoujo cliché in the book, and on the basis of predictability, it certainly took a lot away from the story. On the other hand, shoujo clichés are overused for a reason, because at some point or another they’re pulled off in a way that makes you keep on reading with genuine interest.

Picking up where the last book left off, Alice makes a direct confrontation with Patrick regarding Daria’s claim that the two are dating. Ever the clever one (refreshingly so), Patrick easily deduces the source of the problem and tells Daria to back off and that he’s finally going to tell Alice how he really feels. But of course things never go as smoothly as one would hope, and even after feelings are shared, it takes only one little slip-up, and a witness to see it, to spiral everything back to where they started.

For all of Patrick’s common sense, Alice continues to run completely on her own emotions, which can be a little frustrating, but at the same time they sort of compliment each other in that regard. While I continue to enjoy this series for its quirky relationships (I can’t wait for the new character to become more relevant!), I’m still depressed that bestfriend Daria has so swiftly spiraled into the role of conniving backstabber when a boy was tossed into the picture.

Review written February 10, 2009 by Lissa Pattillo
Book provided by Yen Press for review purposes

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Moon Boy (Vol. 06) – YoungYou Lee
Published by Yen Press

Every time I think I have the plot of this figured out, half a dozen characters show up to confuse me all over again. Sad thing is, they’re the same characters who’ve been confusing me for several volumes now! Rabbits, foxes, magic and Tribes, plus some vampiric tendencies, make for a fairly interesting plot premise, but at this point a rather messy one, and while this book does attempt to advance the plot, I found it lacked the character charm that made me enjoy the previous volume.

Fortunately, a side story following the back-story of two of the secondary characters was this book’s saving grace and I actually really enjoyed it, prompting me to return to older volumes to revisit them as they are now.

The artwork continues to teeter between annoying me when character designs mesh together or anatomical inconsistencies abound, to making me stare with much attentive love at the fine detailing and sharp use of contrasting black and whites. I withhold earlier thoughts however that I find the art much more appealing via the attractive chapter covers than at any point during the story itself where the art tends to veer more to its flaws than its charms.

Moon Boy altogether continues to be a series I have a lot of trouble following but it manages to muster those few moments that keep me caring just enough to keep going.

Review written February 10, 2009 by Lissa Pattillo
Book provided by Yen Press for review purposes

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