Those of you who have been reading this website for a long time have probably realized by now that I tend to gravitate towards things I like. Sure, I’ll indulge in a rant now and then, but overall, I’m just a lot more likely to spend time composing picture-filled essays on why you should read something rather than why you shouldn’t.
It’s easy to identify the stuff I love, because you’ll find lots of rapturous material about it. I love classic shoujo like Moon Child, Banana Fish, and Please Save My Earth. I love shounen epics like Hikaru no Go and Fullmetal Alchemist. I love plotty BL like Wild Adapter and One Thousand and One Nights. I love Fumi Yoshinaga. I love CLAMP. I love NANA. And I love to talk about all these things (and more!), because I honestly just can’t get enough of them.
A while back, Noah Berlatsky asked me if I’d consider participating in the Hooded Utilitarian’s fifth anniversary festival of hate, and at first I thought I simply could not do it. Despite my occasional ranting, I didn’t think I had it in me to spend real time with anything I hated enough (or even close to enough) to qualify for such an organized effort. After all, this is something I’ve tried hard to avoid.
Then I remembered Kim Dong Hwa’s Color trilogy. Back when I hosted its Manga Moveable Feast, I worked hard to keep my feelings about the series confined to my own posts, so that I could be sure to give enough room to those who were truly fans. Even then, I know there were those who felt I failed—and maybe I did—but I really did make an effort to contain my own feelings of negativity towards the subject so as to encourage opinions from all sides.
Now, though? I don’t have to. I’m free now to hate the Color trilogy with all my heart and soul. And behold…
I hope you’ll join me there, whether you hate along with me or not.
YEah I’m with you on this one my local Library had all three copies I checked out all three and could’nt even make it past the first couple chapters of volume one.
I loves me some Hot Gimmick for the train-wreck that it is. And I just love Aihara’s art. Possibly one of my top 5 shojo titles.
COLOR… wow. Almost single-handedly stopped me from not only reading Korean comics (which I was very curious about from a research level at the time) it also made me question First Second as a company (even when it was staffed by a few close friends of mine).
Definitely feel the hate for many of the points made. That said, I think the MMF for this was one of the best I have read since it was polarizing.
I’m so glad that I already loved a lot of Korean comics when I read this series, because it might have scared me away completely!
Also, I actually loved that there was so much disagreement in the Color trilogy MMF, because I think it made the conversation more interesting, but I know it made a lot of people uncomfortable, especially those who liked the series.