Manga Bookshelf

Discussion, Resources, Roundtables, & Reviews

Anna N

Special Giveaway: Street Fighter x Sanrio Book set

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Hello everybody! Today I have a special giveaway of a set of Street Fighter x Sanrio books. Included in the giveaway are:

Street Fighter x Sanrio World View

This is a cute hardcover book that has stats from characters in Street Fighter interspersed with inspirational quotes and pictures of Sanrio characters like Hello Kitty and Badtz Maru dressed up in Street Fighter cosplay. You can also learn interesting factoids like Chun-Li’s blood type.

Street Fighter x Sanrio Sticker Book

This sticker book is a combination of stickers, tiny paper dolls, illustration pages, and general adorableness. I’m sure most Hello Kitty fans would go crazy for these stickers, and it is hard to deny the appeal of Hello Kitty dressed up as Chun-Li proclaiming “I am the strongest woman in the world!”

If you are trying to think of stocking stuffers for the manga fan who has everything, these books would be great candidates.

To win the set of books, just leave a comment here with the name of a franchise you would want to see in a Sanrio mashup next. Personally I would love to see Sanrio X-Men, just because I think a Hello Kitty Dark Phoenix would be hilarious. The giveaway will be open for one week, and is open to US residents.

Thanks to Viz for providing the books for the giveaway!

Manga the Week of 12/5

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SEAN: What we have feared for so long has finally come upon us. Viz’s first week has combined with Yen’s monthly shipments. But that’s OK. We can get through this if we just stay together. (I can’t actually confirm Yen’s stuff via Diamond just yet, but it’s definitely coming into Midtown.) So let’s get going.

First, a brief stop off with Dark Horse, where the Shinji Ikari Raising Project has reached Vol. 12. I don’t follow most of the Evangelion AUs, but this is supposed to be one of the fluffier ones. Given that, if you like Evangelion but hate that everyone keeps getting killed (sorry to spoil that 17-year-old anime for you), this may be a winner!

MICHELLE: I’m pretty surprised that series has gotten up to twelve volumes without me noticing! I guess that shows how far under my radar it is.

SEAN: And now (oh dear) for Viz. Let’s start off with Arata the Legend 12, Yuu Watase’s stab at shonen that hasn’t quite won as many readers as Fushigi Yuugi, but has quite a cult following.

ANNA: I’ve been following this, but slowly. I still haven’t quite forgiven Arata for not being Fushigi Yuugi, but Watase is such a pro I find myself enjoying this shonen fantasy series. I have a couple volumes of Arata on my “to read” stack.

MICHELLE: I really like Arata!

SEAN: Bakuman finished in Japan, so there’s no reason not to have the American release GO GO GO to catch up. Here’s Vol. 17.

Black Bird has reached 15 volumes, and its cover still has that same look, thankfully with less actual blood than the last time I read it. But hey, Shojo Beat readers adore it.

ANNA: I read the first couple volumes and then later volumes somewhat sporadically, but this is one of those shojo series that I just can’t seem to connect with.

MICHELLE: Yeah, I gave up long ago.

MJ: I’ve hated this series for so long, my relationship with it seems somehow… intimate. And isn’t that just sad?

SEAN: Two more Bleach volumes, still strangely Aizen-less. Poor Ichigo’s lost his powers! Who can help? Why Rukia can… unless she’s distracted by adorable plush toys. But hey, what are the chances of that happening?

D.Gray-Man 23 tells us about a group of demons called Noah. Right! What’s a Gray-man? And why is it D? Did they have three Gray-men before it? (Look, I’ve gotten into the bad habit of trying to be funny with these. Bear with it, it’ll be over soon.)

Dawn of the Arcana 7 is out, another in a series of shoujo manga from Viz I’ve gotten behind on, so I’ll let my colleagues try to be funny here.

ANNA: I didn’t realize I’d gotten so far behind on this series either! This fantasy series has a slow but rewarding pace, and a refreshing heroine. I see myself stocking up on Dawn of the Arcana for some quality vacation reading next month.

MICHELLE: I’m behind too, but somewhat on purpose so I can have a small stack to marathon next time I feel like catching up on it. (Sorry, can’t think of anything funny!)

SEAN: Oh boy, another Mayu Shinjo series! I am feeling equal parts eagerness and trepidation, given her past record. Demon Love Spell seems to be made up of shrine maiden, sexy demon, lots of seduction. I suspect I will both enjoy and be repelled by it.

ANNA: I am very much looking forward to this series. After not being quite sure what to make of Ai Ore, I have come to the conclusion that it is entirely satirical, and the second series settles down a bit into being a shojo comedy. Still, I enjoy Mayu Shinjo series when she brings the crack, as found in all the bondage, forced drug addiction, bondage, kidnapping and sex in unusual places that she treated readers to in Sensual Phrase. If this series is more like Sensual Phrase than Ai Ore, I can see myself enjoying this very much.

MICHELLE: I was actually reading the back cover blurb of Demon Love Spell to a friend on the phone last night, and snickering unkindly that the wholly original name for the shrine maiden is…. Miko. While I’d like to believe Ai Ore is satire, I still pretty much hated volume seven, so that doesn’t leave me too eager for this new series, though I will still probably check it out.

MJ: I don’t know what to think of this. I really dislike Ai Ore!, but I’ve never read Sensual Phrase, so I suppose there’s still hope?

SEAN: Devil and Her Love Song 6 is a Shojo Beat series that I am keeping up with, and it hasn’t lost its spark yet. Here’s hoping we get a bit less angst and a bit more bite this time, though.

ANNA: I enjoy this series every time I pick up a volume, but it isn’t the type of series that I see myself rereading very much in the future. I’m glad though that Shojo Beat is releasing such a good variety of manga under their imprint currently.

SEAN: The Earl and The Fairy light novel series is 29 volumes and counting, but its manga equivalent finishes here with Vol. 4. Given I think that Vol. 2 was a perfectly serviceable ending, I’m not sure what to think. But hey, I liked 2 better than 1, maybe I’ll like 4 better than 3.

Natsume’s Book of Friends has rapidly become one of my can’t miss titles, and seeing it’s hit Vol. 13 fills me with happiness. (And yes, there won’t be enough Taki in it. There’s never enough of my OT3. Ah well.)

MICHELLE: I too am rejoicing over volume 13 of Natsume.

MJ: Likewise!

SEAN: I can’t remember the last time Viz wasn’t putting out a Tanemura series, and this is definitely not one of those times. Vol. 9 of Sakura Hime is due out next week.

Slam Dunk has reached a quarter century of volumes! I think this means it only has a few more to go, in fact. Perhaps when it finishes we can see Kuroko no Basket?

ANNA: SLAM DUNK RULES! I have no other comment than that.

MICHELLE: I can get behind Anna’s sentiments 110%! But yes, after this one there are only six volumes left. And I’d love to see Kuroko no Basket released here. Now that Cross Game has finished, are there any other sports manga coming out here now? I can’t think of any off the top of my head…

SEAN: There’s Cross Manage, which runs in Shonen Jump Alpha.

Toriko 13 has our heroes realizing that it’s time to GET STRONGER! Oh dear, a training arc? Not quite. Getting stronger in Toriko means BETTER KNIVES. Food preparation is still serious business.

As for Vol. 2 of Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal, when did this series start to sound like it was written in On Beyond Zebra? Did I miss Yu-Gi-Oh Yuzz?

Now then, Yen. I bet you thought “What would it be like if I had even more Alice in the Country of Hearts spinoffs? Can my heart even take another harem route?” Now’s your change to find out, as My Fanatic Rabbit is the March Hare route, sitting nicely next to your Cheshire Cat volumes.

ANNA: I’m taking a bit of a wait and see attitude towards the Alice In the Country of Hearts spinoffs. I did enjoy the original series very much, but I wasn’t a big fan of the first Alice in the Country of Clover: Cheshire Cat volume. I’m going to rely on the opinions of other reviewers before I contemplate picking this up.

MICHELLE: Cheshire Cat was actually loads better than Bloody Twins, even though it wasn’t great. Still, I am kind of fond of the March Hare, so I might like Fanatic Rabbit. We shall see!

SEAN: I first saw Blood Lad a while ago and remarked that it would no doubt be licensed as it had Vampires in it. And here I am, proven right again. The burden of being me can be overwhelming sometimes.

MICHELLE: Hee hee.

SEAN: Given I now share this list with my fellow Manga Bookshelf peeps, I can’t just skip over manwha like I used to. So, Chocolat Vol. 8. Anyone?

MICHELLE: Chocolat is a manhwa series by the creators of Very! Very! Sweet, originally licensed here by Ice Kunion. Yen took over with the fourth volume and and released through volume seven by the end of 2008. Then the series languished for four years, even though it wrapped up in Korea. But now we’re finally getting the ending! Though it’s labelled as volume eight, Yen’s site notes that it’s actually a 512-page omnibus containing the final three volumes of the series. I’m sure this is making a lot of people happy! I hope the final volume of Comic is next!

MJ: YES! YES! YES! I’ve have been anxiously waiting for this series to continue! I’ve really missed all of those Ice Kunion licenses, and Yen has nearly reached the end of them, without much hope for more of the same as far as I can see. I’m grateful for one more taste.

SEAN: Another in the series that I seem to like a lot more than most everyone else online (though it sells, unlike my usual obsessions), Higurashi When They Cry. Vol. 20 is the middle of the Massacre arc, containing Vols. 3-4 from Japan, and features everyone in the entire world trying to make child services see reason. Also, I finally get to stop pretending I don’t know who the real villain is, as they’re revealed here.

Maximum Ride: The Manga is still by James Patterson, even after 6 volumes.

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya continues to be the dullest of the 3 Haruhi manga currently running, but it’s trying its best! Currently documenting the events of the 7th novel.

Why are so many series hitting Vol. 13 these days? Here’s Pandora Hearts.

MJ: Always happy to see more of this series. Yes, indeed.

SEAN: Madoka Magica’s manga may not quite have the impact of the anime it’s based on, but it still manages to shock. Vol. 3 is the final volume of the main series (be prepared for spinoffs and AUs).

The Raiders have finally found the Blood of Christ, but are stopped by Jeanne D’Arc. This description of Raiders Vol. 9 is almost enough to make me try to go back and pick up the rest.

MICHELLE: I’ve read most of Raiders, and while it often doesn’t make complete sense, there’s something about it that keeps me returning to see what’s going to happen next.

SEAN: Lastly, there’s the Collector’s Edition GN of Twilight, which everyone except Midtown seems to have had for a month now.

So, any stocking stuffers?

07 Ghost, Vol. 1

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07 Ghost, Vol. 1 by Yuki Amemiya and Yukino Ichihara

I’m always a little curious about license rescues, and I hadn’t read 07 Ghost when it was released earlier by GoComi. I was even more interested when I saw that in Japan the series ran in Monthly Comic Zero Sum, the same magazine that features Saiyuki Reload and Loveless. In manga genre terms, I suppose that 07 Ghost is josei, although it would be a bit hard to tell from the trade dressing that Viz provided, as it isn’t released under any of the Viz sub-imprints and it is labeled as being for teen readers. 07 Ghost is one of those titles that I can see appealing to a wide variety of readers, as it features a nice combination of world-building, a solid protagonist, magical battle scenes, and perky nuns.

Teito Klein is an orphan going to school in an militarized area. Teito and his fellow students are trained in a form of magical combat called Zaiphon, which uses hand gestures to evoke energy. Teito’s acerbic nature and favored status by one of his instructors ensures that he’s just about the least popular student at the Barsburg Military Academy, but he does have a best friend named Mikage whose sunny disposition contrasts with Teito’s more brooding personality. Teito is An Orphan With A Forgotten Past, and when he starts getting flashbacks to memories from his previous life he begins to think that Barsburg isn’t the right place for him anymore. He confronts Aya, who he suddenly remembers as having killed his father. Aya says that Teito is a “slave from Raggs” and puts him in chains. Teito manages a daring escape and winds up in District 7, the City of God. District 7 is filled with handsome priests and pretty but interchangeable nuns. Teito starts to adjust to a different way of life.

There’s a ton of plot explored in this first volume, but overall I thought that the pacing and world building aspects of 07 Ghost were handled very well. Teito’s journey serves as a way to introduce the tricky geopolitical issues of his world, and the fantasy and action aspects of the manga are visually striking. In District 7, the religious order believes in seven ghosts that serve as guardians against evil. The guardians are depicted as hooded figures with dramatic scythes inscribed with runes. When the unconventional priests battle their spells are also depicted as sweeping scythes that cut across the panels of the manga. This results in some action scenes that are a bit more pretty than coherent, but it was still not to hard to follow what was going on. A large cast of characters are introduced but aside from Teito and Mikage the most prominent person from District 7 is Frau, the cynical priest who rescues Teito and sticks around to make sarcastic comments and protect him occasionally. There’s a bit of a Saiyuki vibe with Frau and Teito’s relationship, which makes sense given the source magazine for the manga.

When I finished 07 Ghost I wanted to see what would happen next with Teito’s story. While Teito’s amnesias-orphan status isn’t particularly novel, I enjoyed seeing the world he lives in and it was fun to read a fast-paced fantasy manga. I feel like many of the series I’ve been reading recently develop much more slowly, so 07 Ghost‘s storytelling pace was a nice contrast. The attractive art, fighting priests, and hints of a larger magic/spiritual system to explore all have me looking forward to the next volume. I can see why Viz chose to put out this series again. It has plenty of commercial appeal, but is still quirky enough to be genuinely intriguing.

Review copy provided by the publisher

Bringing the Drama: Faith

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Anna: Welcome to Bringing the Drama’s discussion of Faith, the newish show starring Lee Min Ho. Faith centers around the misadventures of a modern day plastic surgeon named Yoo Eun Soo who is kidnapped by a handsome soldier Choi Young and taken back to the Goryeo era, where she is greeted as a doctor from heaven. There are superpowers! Ninjas! Cranky Kings and Queens! Bureaucratic machinations! Faith is streaming on Dramafever and Hulu.

New addition to the Bringing the Drama roundtable Michelle Smith joins us as we ponder the answers to the pressing questions raised by this drama such as:

Are grommets historically accurate? Can they also be sexy?
How hard would you clutch your handbag if you were stranded in the past?
Will you forever be suspicious of people wearing dangling earrings?

What were your reactions to Faith?

Michelle: I’ve not finished it yet, but I’ve certainly gotten farther with it than I have with any other k-dramas. I’d say episode four is around where I started to really enjoy the entirety of each episode, as opposed to just enduring the parts where Eun Soo was particularly loud and whiny. I admit to snickering unkindly about a few things—especially Eum Ja’s unfortunate wig—but on the whole I like it a lot. I’m a fan of political scheming in my fantasy, and Gi Cheol’s multifarious plots supply that nicely.

Lee Min Ho as Choi Young, with his historically accurate grommets.

Anna: Eun Soo is fairly whiny, but I found myself liking her anyway for a few reasons. One is that suddenly being transported into the past would be traumatic for anyone. The other reason is that I was amused by how much she was constantly clutching her handbag. I was actually alarmed and concerned when the handbag disappears later on in the series with no explanation. I also found her weird get rich quick schemes amusing. Her attempts to collect antiques and launch a business in homemade cosmetics were pretty funny.

Eva: Ha! I didn’t notice the handbag clutching until about episode six (I now wonder how I missed it). What made me giggle in the beginning was how every symptom presented by just about everyone Eun Soo treated was likely to cause pneumonia.

Like Michelle, I’m only about half way through the series. As usual, for me anyway, it took a good three to four episodes before I was sure I was going to like the show. And I’ve got to tell you, I’m loving it. I’m not nearly as attracted to crack-for-crack’s-sake shows as Emily is (don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of crack here, just lots of other stuff, too), so the added history, political intrigue, and smattering of romance made all the difference for me. In fact, this show reminds me a lot of Diana Gabaldon’s book Outlander, only less Scottish.

Eun Soo and her Very Important Handbag

Emily: I really enjoyed Faith. While it didn’t “wow” me as much as I had hoped when I read the original premise and news articles about the series, I still found it to be, for the most part, engaging and fun. I think it could have been even better with a more stylish historical look like in another historical fantasy airing at the same time, Arang and the Magistrate. Faith seemed to be reaching for an epic feel, and didn’t quite get there. It was really the main relationship that carried this show for me. Things got bogged down a little in the middle when all the factions seemed to be going in circles repeating the same plot points a few times, but I was interested enough in the development of Choi Young and Eun-Soo’s relationship enough to stick it out. When Lee Min Ho as Choi Young gets serious, he’s very… appealing :) I also greatly enjoyed the supporting characters, in particular, the relationship between the tiny King and Queen. I don’t want to spoil anything for people who haven’t seen all of it yet, so I’ll just add that I also liked the development of the main villains.

Time travel has been one of the most popular plot trends this year. Of the 4 series featuring it (Faith, Doctor Jin, Rooftop Prince, and Queen in-Hyun’s Man) I still have to call Queen In-Hyun’s Man my favorite, followed by Faith, then Rooftop Prince and lastly Doctor Jin.

Michelle: Oh yes, there’s much striving to be epic and it sometimes backfires. I actually think they use musical cues for this a lot. The opening theme is fairly grandiose, but there’s a lot of music within the episode, too. Sometimes it’s awesome, like when it bolsters a triumph for the good guys—I’m thinking of the scene where King Gong Min, having cast aside his Yuan garb, welcomes Wu Dai Chi into the throne room—but it sometimes tries to manipulate the audience into thinking something is, say, romantic, like when Choi Young indulges in a flashback montage that includes Eun Soo stealing vases or whatever.

Anna: I think that for Eun Soo, stealing vases IS romantic! Another reason for the almost but not quite epicness of the show is the tendency of Korean Dramas to frontload most of their budget onto the first couple shows and then back off a little bit. If every episode included special effects of Choi Young using his lightning powers and a random ninja-infused animated flashback, the show might have seemed a bit broader in scale. Overall though I didn’t mind the focus on relationships and I enjoyed the supporting cast in addition to the two leads. I do agree that at certain points the plot did get a bit repetitive. How often can someone get poisoned, kidnapped, or run away only to come back to the palace?

Michelle: Yeah, I was kind of frustrated by that, especially after the king had engaged in all sorts of cleverness to wrest Eun Soo from Gi Cheol’s clutches—though he largely did this to save face with the queen—she ends up spending time with Gi Cheol again because he’s got that notebook of hers. But all the same, I’d see why she’d want to know more about it!

Gi Cheol and his Evil Earring

Really, I find the mystery of how that notebook came to be (I’m not quite done with the series, so I don’t yet know the answer) sometimes more compelling than the relationship between Eun Soo and Choi Young. I love her when she’s serious, and love the conversations they have when she is in that mode, but sometimes I think the actress just isn’t up to playing angry or desperate and it just comes across as whiny. Either that, or those moments are poorly written. I can’t decide.

I agree about the supporting cast. I actually like nearly all the female characters—the queen, Court Lady Choi, Hwa Soo In, —more than Eun Soo with the exception of the mute herbalist, whose seems to’ve only received the direction to “sneer a lot.”

Anna: If someone had asked me my opinion of Lee Min Ho’s career after watching him in Boys Over Flowers and Personal Taste, I would not have predicted that he would suddenly become a believable action star, but with City Hunter followed by Faith, that’s exactly what happened. Faith won’t disappoint his fans and I’m curious to see what type of series he decides to do next.

Watch Faith at Dramafever!

Pick of the Week: GTO, Limit, Kurosagi, Sailor Moon

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MICHELLE: There’s not a very robust crop of new manga at Midtown this week, but there are some interesting items nonetheless. I’m tempted to call the second volume of Limit my pick, since it’s of a different breed of shoujo than is usually licensed here, but I just cannot deny the more feel-good pull of GTO: 14 Days in Shonan, which has now reached its sixth volume. Okay, yeah, it can be a little crass, but it’s got a good heart!

MJ: Well, since Michelle took up the banner for GTO: 14 Days in Shonan, I’ll be the one to go for the second volume of Keiko Suenobu’s Limit. From my review of the first volume: “Limit‘s biggest asset at this point, in my opinion, is Konno, its difficult protagonist. I call her “difficult” because I think it’s really tricky to get an audience invested in a main character whose motives are so morally weak and self-serving, but when done well, this can be really freaking effective.” And effective this is. Also, the artwork is freaking awesome. Definitely a must-buy for me.

SEAN: I thank my colleagues for leaving me with the choice I was going to make anyway. Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service has become another one of *those* Dark Horse titles. You know, the critically acclaimed ones that come out once every decade? As such, I cherish each volume, and volume 13 looks to be giving us more wry humor, more mystery, and more gore. And probably more of Sasaki’s nipples, which have almost appeared more than Makino by this point. With its mystery, horror, and fanservice, it could almost be like Higurashi… except that one would never, ever call Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service moe.

ANNA: I also lean towards Limit 2, but since that was already discussed I will note that the Sailor Moon Box Set is perfectly timed for anyone wanting to pick up the manga for the holidays! I’ve bought all the volumes as single issues already, but box sets are nice to give and get as presents! Plus, who wouldn’t be delighted by the chance to experience again all the sailor suits, battle cries, and swooshing cape of Tuxedo Mask?

Readers, what looks good to you this week?

Give My Regards to Black Jack, Vols. 1-4

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Give My Regards to Black Jack Volumes 1-4 by Shuho Sato

I’m not sure if many people in the English language manga blogosphere have reviewed Give My Regards to Black Jack. I know Kate at Manga Critic covered the first couple volumes. Give My Regards to Black Jack is an interesting example of digital manga, as it is released directly in Kindle format. It is only $2.99 per volume, so it it is also one of the better bargains out there for digital manga. It is a bit ballsy to reference Osamu Tezuka’s Black Jack in a modern medical procedural manga, and while there were aspects of the manga that I found very gripping, a story that took up volumes 3-4 made me question if I wanted to continue reading the series.

Saito is a just graduated medical intern, training to be a full-fledged doctor. He has a certain type of relentless optimism and a “can do” attitude that will be very familiar to anyone who has read manga before. Saito’s salary as an intern is so insignificant, he has to take on a night shift in the emergency room at a nearby hospital. Saito is entirely unprepared for the next phase of his life. He finds himself paired with an emergency room veteran for his first shift, and Dr. Ushida doesn’t have the time to babysit the new doctor when car accident victims start rolling in the hospital. Saito romantically assumes that the hospital is providing the best medical care for accident victims, but Ushida quickly disabuses him of the notion that altruism plays any part in what goes on in the hospital. They can bill more for traffic accident victims, so every patient experiencing severe trauma is actually a moneymaker. Saito is wondering if it is morally right to take the higher salary at his part-time job, but when he’s left alone to cover the emergency room he freezes instead of providing treatment because he has no experience doing major surgery. The head nurse has to call in the supervising physician.

The art in Give My Regards to Black Jack is workmanlike, but it doesn’t have that extra flair that would cause me to read the manga more for the art than the story. The accident victims and surgeries are quite detailed. Saito is portrayed as a wide-eyed innocent, while the other doctors sometimes look like detailed caricatures. Ushida looks rather horse-like, for example.

Give My Regards to Black Jack is a very didactic manga, as Saito’s adventures provide the author with plenty of opportunities to expound upon the problems with the Japanese National Health Care system, issues with medical billing, and problems with the hierarchical nature of intern training and hiring. These elements actually appealed to me a little more than Saito’s emotional struggles with becoming a new doctor, because I’m always a little fascinated at the way manga of this type will work random factoids into a larger story.

The second volume shows Saito rotating on to the cardiac care unit and struggling with a patient named Mr Miyamura whose physical condition makes it almost certain that he will not survive his scheduled surgery. The other doctors don’t believe in really giving the patient the full picture of what is going on, but Saito decides that he’s going to try to find a more qualified heart surgeon to treat his patient from outside his hospital, even if the result is political and professional suicide for himself. Saito is helped out by Ms Akagi, a cynical and world-weary nurse who just happens to know one of the best heart surgeons in Japan. Dr Kita is having his own crisis of faith as a surgeon, but meeting Saito causes him to take up the scalpel again.

The third volume opens with Saito dealing with political fallout from his actions, but he still has the time to check up on one of his colleagues who is thinking of dropping out of the program. Michiba’s grandfather is a neighborhood doctor, diagnosing colds and making a pittance of a salary. Michiba doesn’t want to end up like him. But Saito and Michiba see the impact an old-fashioned doctor can have when they go along on a house call to a live-long patient who is dying of terminal cancer.

The next story in this volume featured a situation that I had a great deal of difficulty connecting to as a reader. Saito is rotated on to neonatology, a placement that every intern before him has avoided. He’s assigned to care for premie twins whose parents refuse to bond with them over their fear that they will end up disabled. The father in particular just wants his sons to die, and since he’s a lawyer he is prepared to file suit if the hospital doesn’t withhold treatment from the babies. Give My Regards to Black Jack doesn’t hesitate to wallow in sentimentality but this was one situation where I thought the motivations of the parents wasn’t fully explored, and Saito’s reactions in pushing for the treatment of the infant to the extent where he was exploring parental rights and offering to raise the baby himself were so farfetched that they were unrealistic even for an overly sentimental medical procedural manga. While the reasons for the parents’ reactions were explored, it was really difficult for me to feel any sympathy for them whatsoever, so when the story wrapped up with a somewhat happy ending, it felt both unnecessary and in some ways unearned by the narrative.

This was my first experience buying manga for the Kindle app in my iPad, and it was a smooth reading experience. The pages turn with the orientation of a western book, but the manga itself was unflipped. $2.99 is a bargain for digital manga, and the medical procedural aspects of Give My Regards to Black Jack did appeal to me. I might give another couple volumes a try once Saito has rotated beyond neonatology to see if the rest of the series has more appeal than that particular storyline.

Romance Manga from jmanga.com: The London Game and Forbidden Love With a Prince

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I was hoping to kick off the new incarnation of Manga Report with a triumphant series of reviews this week. Unfortunately I have a horrible cold and am really only capable of communing with my roku box and knitting scarves. But! There is a certain type of manga that I can enjoy when I am too incoherent to actually follow a plot very well, and that is romance manga! Because the plots are so predictable that even someone loopy on cold medication can follow everything without getting lost and the art is often pretty enough to distract me from my kleenex-riddled misery. Romance manga from Ohzora are usually amusing, because they are very similar to Harlequin manga adaptations, but usually the art is much more consistent and well-executed. Both of these titles are available from jmanga.com.

The London Game by Harumo Sanazaki

The London Game

This is the story of Maximilian Rochefort, a commoner with an impressive fortune and equally impressive eyebrows, and Eleanor, the unmarried only princess of a tiny European country that has fallen on hard times. He proposes a game to her – she’ll convince him that the royal family is worth saving and he’ll rescue her. Maximilian and Eleanor knew each other briefly several years ago, and a party at a country house provides an opportunity for them to spend some more time together despite Maximilian’s antagonistic attitude. Unfortunately there are groups of other rich social climbers hanging around. Maximilian quickly determines that Eleanor’s country is basically auctioning her off to the highest bidder, and she’s utterly unaware of what is happening around her. Maximilian asks if she’s ever watched the news or read a tabloid and Eleanor says that her only reading material is “the front page of the Financial Times” because her father has always encouraged her to make appearances at charity functions instead of learning about current events. Maximilian yells “Are you an idiot?! It should be a crime to grow up this naive and unsullied! Think a little bit about who you are!” I found this scene very amusing, because all too often heroines in romance manga are idiots and no one calls them on it. Eleanor grows up a little bit and Maximilian stops acting aggressively petulant. Sanazaki’s art is detailed, lush, and a little bit stylized which is exactly the type of illustration I tend to look for from romance manga. I enjoyed the backup story about a vengeful ex-boyfriend “Flames of Love in the Aegean Sea” much less because it was a bit too rapey (in the old 1980s romance novel sort of way) for me.

Forbidden Love With a Prince by Rikako Tsuji

Forbidden Love With a Prince

This was a fun single volume story about an aspiring actress named Sherry who is studying in a tiny European country (there are so many of those in romance manga) when she has an encounter with a handsome yet slightly weird young man named Ernest at her part-time job working in a cafe. He tries a slightly cheesy pickup line on her and she dismisses him. They meet in a park and Ernest woos Sherry in the undercover way commonly practiced by princes of tiny European countries who don’t wish to reveal their royal natures to their crush objects. Ernest and Sherry’s dating activities include foiling bank robberies and accidentally getting handcuffed together. Sherry’s career begins to take off and Ernest vanishes from her life. When Prince Ernest attends Sherry’s new play, she finally realizes who he is. Sherry then has to make a decision – should she continue with her career or become a queen? Tsuji is very good at portraying facial expressions and body language, and it was particularly interesting to see the way Ernest is open and enthusiastic when he’s undercover and then turns much more stiff and formal when he’s in his role as a Prince. The story took up the whole volume of the manga, and I was amused to see that there were little touches with character introductions which highlighted the possibility of a number of spin-off stories featuring Ernest’s friends and relatives.

Romance manga might not be great literature, but it is the perfect thing sometimes when one wants to be diverted and distracted by the spectacle of pretty people falling in love. Both of these volumes are good examples of the genre, and I’m glad that Jmanga.com has stepped up to translate so much romance manga in recent months.

Electronic access provided by the publisher.

Pick of the Week: Thermae Romae FTW

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SEAN: There’s a ton of stuff coming out next week—again—but one obvious Pick of the Week, which is Mari Yamazaki’s Thermae Romae. The artist is known for her comedies, and there’s lots to laugh about here. A Roman architect discovers the ability to time-travel via bath, and ends up in modern times. Though initially freaked out, he is able to use our own modern bathing ideas to transform his own spa back in his time. It may not sound like much, but the execution is what makes it a winner. The manga has won awards and spawned an anime and a live-action feature. Plus the artist lives in Chicago! If this sells well, maybe we can get Kodansha or Vertical to pick up her Sweet Home Chicago series, which runs in the josei magazine Kiss.

MJ: This really is a pretty incredible week, including the latest volume of Real, another installment of Viz’s X omnibus, and license rescue 07-Ghost. And though I absolutely agree with Sean that Thermae Romae trumps pretty much anything you could put on the list, since he’s already mentioned that, I’ll take the opportunity to give a shout-out to one of my surprise favorites of the year, Yen Press’ graphic novel adaptation of Gail Carriger’s Soulless. Its second volume comes out this week, and it’s a wild, tense ride. If you only buy one comic this week, go for Thermae Romae, but if you can manage two, Soulless is worth a look!

MICHELLE: … That really does just about sum it up, doesn’t it?

If, after buying Thermae Romae and Soulless you have room in your budget for more, then I absolutely recommend volume eleven of Takehiko Inoue’s Real. Saturn Apartments and Bokurano: Ours are good, too!

BRIGID: Yes, I want to jump in and put in the word for vol. 6 of Saturn Apartments. It’s a story with a great concept—the main character is a window-washer for a ring-shaped apartment complex that orbits around the earth, so he sees all strata of society—and an amazing visual sense. The cast of characters has been growing since volume 1, and there is an underlying plot anchoring it all, but it’s really a collection of self-contained stories so it isn’t hard to just jump in and start reading with this volume. So yes, Thermae Romae is my first pick too—it’s awesome—but this is my solid second choice.

ANNA: Thermae Romae is on my wish list for the holidays and any week that features a new volume of manga by Takehiko Inoue is a cause for celebration. I am going to go with 07-Ghost though, simply because it is next on my to-read list. I’m always a bit curious about license rescues, and I didn’t read the earlier version of the series which was published by the late lamented Go!Comi. I thought it was interesting that this manga came from the magazine Monthly Comic Zero Sum, home of Loveless and Saiyuki Reload. As I was quickly flipping through the volume I saw attractive art, plenty of action scenes, and weird religious iconography. I am always excited to read any manga featuring those three things!

Readers, what looks good to you this week?

Strobe Edge Volume 1 by Io Sakisaka

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Strobe Edge Volume 1 by Io Sakisaka

I’m always curious when Shojo Beat announces a new title, and from the brief description I’d read of it Strobe Edge sounded appealing. While some of Shojo Beat’s recent offerings (Jiu Jiu and Devil and Her Love Song) have a bit of an edgy take on the genre, Strobe Edge is more of a straightforward high school love story.

Ninako is the heroine of Strobe Edge, and she is almost painfully naive. She blindly believes whatever salespeople tell her, and when she consults with her friends at school she allows their opinions to override her own feelings. She has a perpetually surprised look in the first chapter of the manga. As Ninako deals with her first romance, she begins to grow in awareness. All of Ninako’s friends expect that she’ll be going out with her childhood friend Daiki any day now. Daiki seems like a nice, boy-next door type who constantly finds excuses to check up on Ninako at school, unaware of the torrent of feminine gossip that he’ll unleash as soon as he disappears. Ninako cares for Daiki deeply, but she doesn’t even contemplate having any romantic feelings for Daiki until her friends tell her that she likes him. Ninako’s credulity is a bit hard to take, but Sakisaka manages to portray her personality as so fresh and innocent, I was willing to give it a pass in this first volume.

Ninako’s friend-determined destiny with Daiki is derailed when she keeps noticing the main crush object for all the girls, Ren Ichinose. Ren is cool and detached, so of course he’s the most popular boy in school. Ninako manages to have a conversation with Ren when he accidentally breaks her cellphone charm and then brings her a girly butterfly one as a replacement. She treasures it even though she’s not usually into super-feminine things. Daiki notices Ninako’s heightened interest in Ren and asks her if she’s a big fan of his, and she explains it by saying that she views him as if he was a model in a magazine, not someone she likes. But as Ninako keeps encountering Ren randomly on the subway back from school, she begins to see that he’s actually a very kind person instead of the aloof idol she envisioned. When she has a sprained ankle, he pretends to be asleep and deliberately misses his stop so he can walk her home. This is shoujo manga though, so of course there are plenty of additional complications for Ninako to deal with as she discovers her first love.

Sakisaka’s art is expressive and assured, and while I sometimes got a little tired of Ninako’s surprised face, she does certainly look like a sympathetic shoujo heroine. The character designes for the main and supporting cast are varied, making it easy to distinguish between all the characters. Sakisaka wrote at the begining of the volume that her goal in this manga was to capture “the sensation you feel in the window of time between one event and another,” and I think that Strobe Edge pulls it off. Ninako’s inner thoughts gradually become more self aware, and Sakisaka is very good at portraying the excitement and agony of accidentally sitting close to one’s crush object. One thing that I appreciated in Strobe Edge was that it was relatively angst free in terms of having evil protagonists. Daiki starts acting a bit erratic, but both he and Ren seem like basically good people. Even though Ninako’s friends have been pushing their own ideas of what her first relationship should be, when she makes a decision they are generally supportive. Reading a manga with basically nice characters just seems relaxing and refreshing at this point. Of course this is a 10 volume series, so I’m expecting an evil male model or an evil secret fiance to show up at some point. For now though, I’m going to be checking out this series with the hope that Ninako’s journey to self-awareness continues.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

Bringing the Drama: To the Beautiful You

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There’s a particular type of excitement that grips a manga fan when they find out about an upcoming live action adaptation of a favorite manga. Will the latest version be inspired or insipid? I had high hopes when I found out that a new Korean drama version of one of my favorite manga, Hana Kimi, was in production. Fortunately for the most part I wasn’t disappointed. The entire series of To the Beautiful You is available for streaming on Hulu and Dramafever.

Clearly, these are all boys

For those of you unfamiliar with the Hana Kimi manga, I’ll provide a brief summary. Mizuki lives in the US, but decides to return to Japan, disguising herself as a boy and enrolling in an exclusive all-boys school in order to get close to her long-time track and field crush, Sano. Like many shojo heroes, Sano is tormented by his past and thus is currently struggling with his high jump. He’s disturbed when he gets assigned a new odd transfer student as his roommate, and his orderly and somewhat solitary life is about to get shaken up dramatically. Hana Kimi the manga explores the romance between Mizuki, who is determined to bring Sano back to high jumping glory. Comically enthusiastic soccer player Nakatsu finds himself falling for the new boy at school and starts questioning his sexuality, while Sano sees through Mizuki’s disguise fairly easily but keeps his knowledge to himself as Mizuki’s kind and energetic personality slowly starts to win him over. Hana Kimi is one of the manga that cemented my addition to shojo, and to this day I still have an irrational affection for cross-dressing reverse harem stories.

When adapting the manga for Korean drama format, there were several choices that I thought really made sense in driving the story forward, even though some of the plot points diverged a bit from the manga. In To the Beautiful You, the Sano character Tae Joon is a high jump champion, but he’s also a celebrity with an agent and issues with endorsement deals. It makes a lot more sense for Tae Joon to be a mini-celebrity when Jae Hee (Mizuki) sees him on TV in California and promptly decides to move to Korea to be near him. In the Hana Kimi manga, I just assumed that Mizuki only had a very odd attachment to track and field. I don’t think it is possible for a Korean drama to air without a slightly evil second lead girl to serve as an antagonist for the main character. The second lead girl in To the Beautiful You is Ha Na, a rhythmic gymnast who is also signed to Tae Joon’s agency. Ha Na is pretty much exactly what one would expect from a second lead girl, although she does put her gymnastics abilities to work in interesting ways whenever she decides to infiltrate the boys’ school to spy on Tae Joon.

Platonic roommates, just hanging out the way guys do.

Hana Kimi the manga dealt with the love triangle between the three characters, but it did so against a backdrop of slice of life school antics in a boarding school with dorm-based rivalries between groups of jocks, martial arts trainees, and drama geeks. There’s a large extended cast in Hana Kimi, and for the most part the emphasis in To the Beautiful You is on the love triangle only, and many of the supporting cast members are either not present, combined into one character, or seldom seen. This aspect of the manga is referenced in a couple episodes where the three dorm leaders have to come together in conference. It makes sense that a TV version of the story would opt for a more intimate plot focusing on fewer characters. One big change is in the character of Dr. Umeda, who is no longer the fabulously gay man he was in the manga version. The doctor in To the Beautiful You is quirky in his own way, but Umeda was such a standout character in the manga that I missed him quite a bit.

Cheer up, Eun Gyul, the boy you loved might have turned out to be a girl but at least your haircut has improved.

The acting in To the Beautiful You is for the most part fine, although Eun Gyul (Nakatsu) seems to be channeling the character Jeremy from You’re Beautiful in the first few episodes. This isn’t helped by the fact that they have almost identical haircuts. Minho does a good job contrasting Tae Joon’s closed-off personality before Jae Hee enters his life with the more open and expressive person he becomes after spending time with her. One storyline where I thought the drama had a bit of an edge over the manga was showcasing Eun Gyul’s reaction to finding out the truth behind Jae Hee’s disguise. In the manga I always thought that there should be more emotional fallout from the revelation and since Korean dramas tend to go for the crying scenes whenever possible, I thought that Eun Gyul’s storyline was handled better over several episodes as opposed to the faster way the Hana Kimi manga wrapped up this particular plot point.

Fans of the Hana Kimi manga looking for a live action drama version will likely not be disappointed by To the Beautiful You. I think that if I were watching this drama without the inherent interest of seeing one of my favorite manga adapted, I’d rank it more towards the midrange of the dramas I’ve seen. It is good, but it isn’t an instant classic like You’re Beautiful and I’m not sure if I’m going to feel the need to rewatch it at all. Still, it was interesting to see the adaptation choices as Hana Kimi was translated into a Korean drama, and this series maintained my interest and kept me entertained until the last episode.

Bringing the Drama: Big

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Big: Not as charming as one would assume from this promotional image

ANNA: For this episode of Bringing the Drama, we are going to talk about Big, which is notable because it is the new show from fan favorite creators the Hong sisters and it also features the return to television of Gong Yoo, who was previously so excellent in Coffee Prince. The series is available on Dramafever and Hulu. Big‘s title and plot is a reference to the classic Tom Hanks movie of the 1980s but in execution the show might provoke more flashbacks to Freaky Friday. Gil Da Ran is studying to be a teacher, and her life seems to be going fairly well because she is engaged to be married to a doctor, Seo Yoon Jae. Yoon Jae doesn’t always seem to be able to find the time to spend with Da Ran, and a shady female colleague wants to break the couple up. Da Ran has an encounter with an overly precocious and slightly obnoxious teenager named Kang Kyung Joon. Kyung Joon and Yoon Jae get into a car accident with each other, and when Kyung Joon wakes up, he’s in the older doctor Yoon Jae’s body! Kyung Joon’s teenage body is stuck at the hospital in a lingering coma. What is Da Ran going to do, with a teenage boy in the body of her attractive and reserved fiance?

What were your reactions to the first few episodes?

EVA: I’m getting more and more used to Korean comedies starting off in tragic ways. Unrequited love! Orphaned children! Accidental drowning! What fun. But this one actually is. I completely bought Gong Yoo as both the doctor and the teenager (in fact, it took me until about halfway through episode three before I gasped and shouted at the computer, “It’s that guy from Coffee Prince!”) and Lee Min Jung’s reactions to both versions of Gong Yoo’s character is convincing. I’m impressed at how well the two actors are pulling this off.

EMILY: The first thing I noticed about Big is that it has a different feel than the other Hong sisters dramas I’ve seen. They usually go for the screwball comedy right from the get-go (just look at the beginning of You’re Beautiful) but this time they went with a more serious first episode. There were hints of humor, but in general, episode 1 plays things straight and sets up the premise of the story. Things start to get funnier in episode 2, but even then, it feels a bit toned down.

I like Gong Yoo in pretty much everything I’ve seen him in. Really, he could just sit there and read the phone book, and I’d probably tune in. In this drama, he faces the challenge of playing two characters- the adult doctor, Yoon Jae, and the teenager-trapped-in-an-adult-body, Kyung Joon. We don’t really get to see him in his role of Yoon Jae for very long, so it’s difficult to get a handle on the character. When he starts acting as Kyung Joon, he really lights up. I think he does fall into that trap, at first, of acting TOO childish, when trying to act like a teen, but he gets over it quickly and settles into the role.

I’m somewhat disappointed in the heroine, Gil Da Ran. She seems like such a cliched naive Kdrama heroine. I like how she acts around her younger brother- feisty and in charge- but everywhere else, she seems to have some doormat tendencies. While she isn’t quite as blindingly naive as Minam was in You’re Beautiful, she still scores high on the unbelievably-innocent scale. I have no problem with the actress playing her; it’s the character that feels a bit weak.

I love Da Ran’s family. They have a wonderful dynamic, one that almost mirrors the situation Da Ran will eventually face. Da Ran’s father is about 12 years older at least than her mom. In fact, they were teacher-student. Yet in spite of the age difference, and lots of parental drama they hint at, they have a successful and loving marriage. Something for Da Ran to keep in mind, perhaps, as she will no doubt become confused by the presence of Kyung Joon’s soul in her fiance’s body.

Thank you, Hong sisters, for all those bare-chested-post-army-body-fanservice scenes of Gong Yoo :)

One of the better things about Big: Gong Yoo and his abs

NANCY: I’m about eight episodes into the drama now, and I still don’t know what to make of it. It is not “Big,” for those who care about those kind of things. I would call it…a half-assed Secret Garden. Harsh, but…true.

I agree with Emily that Gong Yoo acts too childish for a 17-year-old (18 in Korea), and to top it off, his acting in no way resembles how Shin Won-Ho (the “real” Kyung Joon) interpreted the character. Kyung Joon is treated as such a child by Gil Da Ran that it’s impossible to view him as a romantic interest for her. So then is Yoon Jae her romantic interest? But he’s never around, so we have no idea what he’s like. It’s great that the viewer is unsure about Yoon Jae’s true feelings just as Gil Da Ran is—that is what makes the plot interesting—but it doesn’t work beyond that.

This is a romantic comedy without the romantic comedy. There is no couple to root for. I have no idea where this drama is going, and I feel like the drama itself doesn’t know where it’s going either.

EVA: See, here’s where it shows that I’m the noob here: I have no idea what Secret Garden is. But, yeah, this is nothing like Big and kinda-sorta like Freaky Friday.

It’s also clear that I’m (at least with this show) willing to cut the actors more slack than Emily and Nancy are. Yeah, Gong Yoo isn’t portraying the Kyung Joon character the same way Shin Won Ho did. But I was having so much fun with the character the way he decided to play it that I didn’t care. Heh.

ANNA: Actually having no idea where the show will go is mainly what appeals to me for this drama. Being unsure of which couple to root for actually seems somewhat refreshing. I’m sure that there will be a happy ending, but right now I’m not sure what to expect. I honestly am not sure if Gil Da Ran would be better off with Kyung Joon in in Yoon Jae’s body or the real Yoon Jae. She seems to have built much more of a solid friendship and companionship with Kyung Joon, even though she does treat him like a little kid. She really didn’t know Yoon Jae very well, despite being engaged to him. I agree that Gong Yoo’s frenetic little kid act settles down a bit a few episodes in. I’m afraid I’m too much of a fangirl to be all that critical of Gong Yoo’s performance or interpretation of the character, because he’s just so appealing as a lead character.

I feel like I have to give a shout out to Jang Ma-Ri, Kyung Joon’s ex-girlfriend who shows up and quickly suspects that something is wrong. She’s basically like The Terminator with ridiculous hair fashion accessories, and she injects a comedic element into the series that is definitely needed.

Ma Ri: Making Hair bows Menacing!

NANCY: I agree that Suzy as Ma-Ri is a great addition to the series! At first her interpretation of what is basically a sasaeng (crazy stalkers of kpop idols) scared the hell out of me. But once she stops acting like a freak, we see a loyal person who is trying to right a past wrong. She’s charming, and I also feel for Da-Ran’s brother.

Basically I’d like this series a lot more if Yoon Jae would just wake up to fix the plodding pace of this drama. :p

EVA: Ma-Ri is awesome. Once we got past the crazy stalker stage she became, fittingly, the most American of the characters — no noble idiot here. If she wants something she goes for it and damn the consequences. She may be incredibly annoying to the rest of the characters, but to me she’s a breath of fresh air.

I’m still only seven episodes in, so hearing that the show turns plodding is not good news. Emily, is there hope for a turn-around?

EMILY: I finished the series this week, and was extremely disappointed with it. I still love Gong Yoo, and think he did a fantastic job with what he was given, but the writers really dropped the ball here. They just went in circles for so many episodes. There were so many pointless scenes. Heck, all of episode 15 is a waste of time. Even Ma-ri becaume a useless plot contrivance in the last episode- I can’t believe she got away with what she did, good grief. I also can’t believe this is a Hong Sisters Drama. I really enjoyed so many of their other shows (You’re Beautiful, Greatest Love, My Girlfriend is a Gumiho, etc) that I can’t understand what they were thinking when they came up with this series. I am usually very easy to please, but in this case, I was just left scratching my head and wondering what the hell I just watched. *sigh*

Still, this has been a good year for dramas over all. I LOVED Queen In-Hyun’s Man, I’m still enjoying A Gentleman’s Dignity (in spite of 1 episode of stupidity, the rest of it has been pretty solid), and there are a bunch of new shows coming that look like they will be fun. That’s the nice thing about the Korean and Japanese TV systems- if you don’t like a show, just wait 3 months, and a whole new crop of shows will start :D

ANNA: Oh, I was hoping it would get better by the end! I was stalled out at episode 10, but I was thinking that the Hong Sisters would somehow be able to pull off the show. My tastes in drama generally tend to synch up with yours, do you think the show is worth finishing, or should I switch over to A Gentleman’s Dignity for more satisfying drama watching?

EMILY: Personally, I would switch. Apparently, the Big ending was a let down to a LOT of people, judging from the flurry of blog posts I am seeing today. Granted, it’s not the worst ending I have ever seen in a drama (that honor goes to the K-drama “Let’s Go To School, Sang-Doo” and the J-drama “Cheap Love”) but it is extremely weak and leaves lots of questions. And important events happen off screen. So annoying.

ANNA: How quickly my excitement over a new Hong Sisters’ drama has turned into crushing despair! If we aren’t going to recommend that people watch this one, what should people watch instead? Coffee Prince, to experience the glory of Gong Yoo in a series with much better writing? Secret Garden, if people are looking for a series about body switching that is less maddening?

EMILY: Watch Coffee Prince for Gong Yoo, Secret Garden for awesome body-swapping, and You’re Beautiful/Greatest Love/Girlfriend is a Gumiho for better Hong Sisters efforts. ^_^

At least we can all cherish our memories of Coffee Prince!

Let’s Get Visual: Takehiko Inoue

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MICHELLE: It’s been a while, but Let’s Get Visual has awoken from its hibernation in time to celebrate the Takehiko Inoue Manga Moveable Feast. Joining me for this occasion is special guest host Anna Neatrour, who is also co-hosting the MMF with me! Welcome, Anna!

ANNA: Thank you! I am excited to join in on a Let’s Get Visual post for Takehiko Inoue, because I think he is one of the top contemporary manga artists. He has an incredibly detailed and realistic style that really sets his manga apart from other series.

MICHELLE: I just started reading Vagabond the other day, and there was one close-up picture of Takezo drawn with extreme care and obvious skill, and I thought, “Y’know, this should be the image that all manga fans carry around to immediately dispel the misconceived notion that all manga looks alike and/or involves big, sparkly eyes.”

ANNA: I think that Inoue’s style (particularly in Real and Vagabond) is probably more reader-friendly to Western comics fans who haven’t read much manga before.

MICHELLE: Yeah, probably so. I’ve often thought that Western comic fans would probably like a bunch of seinen manga if they’d give it a chance.

Anyways, I suppose we should proceed to get visual! The images I’ve chosen are the very first pages in the very first volume of Real.

Real, Vol. 1 (VIZ Media)

I chose these images because they demonstrate how well Inoue is able to communicate Togawa’s character here without needing any words at all. Okay, sure, this guy is in a wheelchair, but he’s clearly driven. He’s pushing himself, possibly to the point of pain (if that’s what that one black panel represents). He has bulging muscles, so he’s clearly been at this a while. He’s moving fast. He may have a disability, but it doesn’t mean that he can’t take being an athlete seriously.

And then you turn the page and see that he is all alone. Inoue pulls back to show the entirety of the gym to emphasize Togawa’s solitude, and if that wasn’t enough, we get a glimpse of the empty school campus, as well. This sets the stage for what we later learn (which you mention in your review)—that Togawa’s attitude toward his wheelchair basketball team does not mesh well with his hobbyist teammates. Here’s a guy who is giving it his all, and he is the only one.

There’s just so much we can tell from this elegant introduction that it kind of blows me away.

ANNA: I agree that one of the things I like best about Inoue’s art is how much the images are able to contribute to the storytelling of his manga without overtly telling the audience anything. The themes touched on in the images you showed are addressed again later in the manga. Togawa’s ego and isolation contribute to his central struggle in the manga, and at the same time his willingness to practice all by himself shows just how dedicated he is to his sport.

MICHELLE: I will always, always be a big fan of nonverbal storytelling, so Inoue really wins my heart here by going above and beyond impressive art.

Want to tell us about the images you picked?

ANNA: The panels I chose were from Volume 26 of Vagabond, collected in the ninth VIZBIG edition of the series.

Vagabond, Vol. 26 (VIZ Media)

One of the reasons why I love Vagabond so much is that the fight scenes are never merely about two people fighting. There’s always a psychological or philosophical element involved. We see Miyamoto Musashi in a midst of battle against 70 members of the Yoshioka sword school, an ambush he willingly walked into. As he battles, he’s focused on centering himself and living in the moment. The close-up panels of his face show the process of self-reflection even as he is mowing down his opponents.

MICHELLE: That’s a really striking sequence. I like how he seems to be looking off into the horizon as he tells himself to have no aspirations for the future, as if to acknowledge the existence of other paths that he’s not allowing himself to take. Granted, I’ve not read the series that far—I’m barely on volume two—but it almost seems to me like he could walk away from this fight if he wanted to, but he’s not letting himself do it. Is that anywhere near the case?

ANNA: I don’t think Musashi is capable mentally of walking away from a fight like this. There are a lot of things that lead up to this sequence of many chapters where Musashi takes on the entire sword school, but one thing that struck me about the battle as a whole is that while you see Musashi getting beaten down and injured, towards the end Inoue almost has the reader concluding that it was really unfair to the 70 men who were planning on ambushing and attacking Musashi from behind that they had to go up against this one particular single opponent. Vagabond’s
fight scenes are always interesting, even when they stretch on for hundreds of pages, simply because the exquisitely rendered battles are contrasted with the internal struggles of the people who are fighting. Battle is as much of a mental exercise as it is a physical one.

MICHELLE: That’s an interesting point! So far I’ve only seen a few fights, and there hasn’t been much on Takezo’s (as Musashi is known at that point in the story) mental state yet. But I definitely admired the pacing and structure of Inoue’s artistic approach to battle—even watching Takezo just turn around and notice one opponent still standing becomes something frankly terrifying.

ANNA: One the things I enjoy about Vagabond is seeing the way Musashi changes over time. The man fighting the sword school in these panels has a measured sense of self and an inner stillness as he fights opponent after opponent. This is totally different from the way Takezo is portrayed in the earlier volumes, where he is more arrogant and animalistic.

MICHELLE: I definitely look forward to seeing how he gets from point A to point B. I admit, I still prefer Inoue’s sports-related series, but there’s just no denying that Vagabond is a masterpiece.

Thanks to everyone for reading, and we hope we’ve inspired you to check out some Inoue!

Bringing the Drama: Rooftop Prince

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Rooftop Prince is available for streaming on Hulu, Viki, and Dramafever.

ANNA: I just finished watching the first episode of Rooftop Prince and I’m not quite sure what to make of it. There were so many elements that were all over the place, it is difficult to summarize!

The Rooftop Prince, His Retainers, and Their Tracksuits

There are two parallel stories set hundreds of years apart, cast with the same actors. Is everybody time traveling, or are we looking at some odd cases of reincarnation?

In the present day, Se Na reacts badly when her mother remarries, providing her with a new sister, Park Ha. Se Na torments her little sister, and eventually causes her to become lost. Park Ha grows up in the United States with no memory of her previous family. She finds out that her father was looking for her and travels back to Korea in time to attend his funeral. She’s reunited with her stepmother and evil older stepsister.

The two sisters also exist in the past, with the older one about to be passed over as a candidate for crown princess in favor of the younger one. A horrible accident (or was it?) results in the younger sister being scarred. The older sister becomes crown princess. The crown prince Lee Gak is extremely charming and light-hearted, but when he wakes up to find that his princess has drowned in the middle of the night, he becomes overcome with grief. Determined to find out the truth behind his wife’s death, he puts together an investigative supergroup consisting of a scholar, warrior, and a fabulously fashionable eunuch.

In the present, a rich young man named Tae Yong who closely resembles the crown prince notices Park Ha, but he doesn’t ask her out. He’s betrayed by his cousin and drowns. Two years later, the crown prince and his retainers show up in Park Ha’s apartment. I think I’ve covered everything! What were your thoughts on the first episode?

EVA: You guys promised me a comedy! What the heck, man. The older sister isn’t funny, she’s evil! Awesomely evil, true, but still. Not a comedy!

In all seriousness, though, episode one is full of all the reasons why I usually give a series three chances before committing myself. It is clunky, disjointed, and not at all funny. Because the two storylines, one taking place in the Joseon era and the other in modern day, jump back and forth with no explanation, it’s hard to know if we’re dealing with a case of reincarnation or of doppelgangers. All I know for sure is, if it hadn’t been for the last scene where the prince and his retainers appear in the rooftop apartment after being sucked through a lunar eclipse after fleeing from Korean ninjas (that’s right, Korean ninjas), I’d have thought this show was going to be a straight up mystery.

The Rooftop Prince Scooby Gang

ANNA: I agree that the first episode was a bit confusing. I had no idea what to make of the doppelgangers, and the storylines seemed to tilt towards the tragic with all the bullying and death going on. The sudden switch of tone towards the end of the first episode where the prince forms his supergroup of retainers made me hope for much better things for the second episode, and I found myself liking it much better.

EMILY: Episode 1 was a lot more serious than the plot description I’d originally read of the series, but it is obvious that the whole episode is intended as set up for the hijinks to ensue later. The episode bounces back and forth between the story of a Joseon King, his beautiful Crown Princess, her scarred sister, and the story of modern reincarnations of the same people. Or are they reincarnations? There are a lot of questions and mysteries set up in the first episode. There are also two murder mysteries being set up. One in the past and one in the present. But they both have interesting twists. In the past, we aren’t entirely certain who the victim is, though it’s pretty much assumed to be the Crown Princess. Also, we don’t know who the killer is, though one piece of evidence points to an unlikely suspect. As for the accidental murder in the present, we know who the culprit is, but we aren’t entirely sure the victim is dead and not doing some sort of time-travel thing instead. You never know.

I enjoyed the first episode, and didn’t have any problems following the intertwined plots. I think Micky Yoochun is doing a great job in his role of the time-jumping King. His acting is a lot more animated than I’ve seen it in past dramas, and he sounds very funny with his historical accent (er, not that I’m one to judge Korean accents). I also must say, Micky looks fantastic in historical garb. He should stick to historical dramas forever and ever. Or at least, always wear that hat. I can see it now—Micky in some drama playing a lawyer, but wearing the historical hat. It would be awesome, I tell you.

Episode 1 ends right when things start to get funny, as our Joseon King and his sidekicks end up in a modern rooftop apartment. OF COURSE they land in a rooftop apartment. Given how often they appear in kdramas, the odds were fairly evenly split between them landing in a rooftop apartment, or a plush penthouse suite in a hotel. For comedic value, they obviously go for the rooftop.

Episode 2 promises to be very silly :)

Is it an elevator or a changing room? The modern world is so confusing!

ANNA: What did people think of episode 2? I liked the way it focused on the main thing I enjoyed in the first episode, the Joseon King and his merry band of sidekicks. Putting them in different colored tracksuits for modern dress was inspired, and there were so many funny moments when they were trying to learn how to survive in the modern world.

EVA: Well, I both enjoyed it and didn’t enjoy it. I loved the track suits and hated the slapstick. (I have a very low tolerance for slapstick.) I loved the hate/hate relationship that forms between Lee Gak and Park Ha, but hated how long it took Lee Gak to figure out that he has traveled through time. And, man, is Park Ha’s sister evil. Eeeeeeevil.

Here’s the thing: I know it sounds like I’m doing nothing but whine and complain about this show, but I’m actually enjoying it. I just wish I didn’t have to put my brain on hold to do so. Sure, this is a comedy and most situations are going to be played for laughs. But my ability to suspend disbelief is being sorely tested. As the series progresses through the first four episodes, Lee Gak is way too slow on the uptake. I’ll grant that it takes him a while to figure out the whole time travel/doppelganger thing, but don’t you think that once he understands that there is a guy in this world who looks just like him he’d be able to open his mind wide enough to embrace the possibility that there might also be a person in this world who looks just like the princess? Considering how quickly he grasped the concept of television, this shouldn’t have been such a stretch.

The other thing that’s bugging me are the merry henchmen. In episode one they were described to be intelligent, crafty free-thinkers. Sure, okay, they’re loyal to their king, but once they realized a) there isn’t a king in modern day Korea, b) their constant kowtowing draws a lot of unwanted attention, and c) that their best chance of returning to their time depends on the kindness of strangers, that they’d start trying to fit in? While I love the comedic aspects of the merry henchmen, I do wish they’d start living up to their potential.

A trunk full of adorable merry henchmen

ANNA: Overall, I’m enjoying this drama although it seems to reel me in gradually. I think that anyone considering watching it has to view at least the first two episodes because they are so different in tone. I didn’t feel truly hooked on this series until the very end of episode 4, where we see the dramatic tension of the show ratcheted way up as the whole reincarnation storyline that was introduced in the first series was finally addressed.

I liked the storyline with Park Ha’s business and the henchmen being willing to help out so much. I’m wondering what sort of outfits they will have to wear next, since they’ve already been in tracksuits and furry mascot costumes. After 4 episodes, Micky Yoochun’s performance is really starting to grow on me, and I can see why Emily is such a fan. The time-traveling prince is a tough role to pull off, and it looks like there will be plenty of challenging scenes ahead after the end of episode 4. While I’ve enjoyed this series, I think it took 4 episodes for me to become enthusiastic about it. I watched the first 4 episodes gradually over time, but with the twist scene at the end of 4 (even though it was a bit predictable), I can definitely see myself marathoning the next few episodes as soon as I get time to watch more.

EMILY: I’m having a hard time containing my thoughts to episodes 1-4 because I have gone ahead and watched all the episodes that are out now and am current :) I’m enjoying the show very much. It seems to have several mini story arcs. It begins serious, and then shifts to ridiculous for several episodes, as our spoiled prince and his color-coded Joseon Power Rangers adjust themselves to our times. This is played up for maximum silliness, as the writers find not just the major things (cars, elevators, etc) to baffle our time-travelers with, but also a lot of small details of modern life that we take for granted. From putting out a fire by spitting toilet water, to the deliciousness of omelet rice, to the fabulous black card that will let the prince buy anything (oh, the power of chaebol credit limits) there is a lot to get used to in our time. But once the hilarity ends, things start to take a more serious turn as the murder mystery heats up, the Prince finds his Princess, the villains step up their scheming, and romance begins to bloom. Through all of it, I like the chemistry between Park Ha and the Prince, the antics of the Power Rangers are endearing (poor lovelorn blue ranger), and I don’t even mind the obligatory kdrama Birth Secret that pops up. I will say that the villains in this series are in the running for worst villains ever. She, because of her skill at lying and ability to make me want to poke her eyes out, and him because of his total ineptitude. I don’t think he could manage to kill anyone even if he aimed and shot a gun directly at their heart.

I really look forward to how this drama will play out.

The Rooftop Prince wears a Texas Tuxedo

ANNA: I think you’re right about the series functioning in mini story arcs, as I can see a new arc developing at the end of episode 4 and start of episode 5. In some ways I like that structure because having the story presented in 3-4 episode bursts makes it easy to stop and start the series if you don’t have the time to watch the whole thing at once. I think I will be watching the entire series, even though I’m not going to be able to get through it as quickly as Emily.

EVA: I am glad you two have enjoyed what you’ve seen of the show so far, but the more I think about it, the more sure I become that I don’t need to see the rest of the episodes. Yeah, Mickey’s character begins to grow and the plot begins to thicken, but all the silliness has pulled me out of the story enough times that I don’t think I want to dive back in.

ANNA: So Rooftop Prince is a good show if you enjoy your kdramas with family angst mixed with slapstick, but not so great if you find yourself with a low tolerance for silly men dressed in tracksuits. Have you watched this show yet? What did you think?

Bringing the Drama: City Hunter

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Anna: For our first Bringing the Drama feature we picked the romantic comedy You’re Beautiful, so for our next column we decided to vary genres a bit and discuss a more action-oriented series very loosely based on a manga, City Hunter. City Hunter is the story of a boy named Lee Yoon Sung who is taken from his mother as an infant and then raised in Thailand by an ex-spy turned Drug Triad Boss as an instrument of revenge against the Korean government. Returning to Korea with a doctorate from MIT, our hero promptly gets a job working in computer security for the government and encounters a feisty female bodyguard named Kim Na Na. Together, they expose corruption and struggle with their mutual attraction! City Hunter is available for streaming online on Dramafever, and Netflix.

City Hunter. Hunts in the City!

Anna: Have you read the City Hunter manga at all? I have the first volume and I’ve paged through a couple chapters, and I have to say that there’s not much resemblance between the manga and the drama, other than the fact that both versions of City Hunter wear sharp looking blazers and have womanizing tendencies.

Emily: It took me a while to decide to watch the City Hunter drama (and I still haven’t finished it, though I plan to). I am a huge fan of the manga, and it’s blatantly obvious that the only thing this drama has in common with the source material is the title. I was only really able to enjoy this by telling myself that it isn’t REALLY City Hunter, it’s a completely different franchise, and the name is just a coincidence :) There is no way Lee Min-Ho’s character resembles my beloved pervert Ryo Saeba, that’s for sure.

Nancy: I haven’t read the City Hunter manga, so I didn’t have to battle the same expectations as Emily did. I really enjoyed watching this drama. I usually choose romantic dramas, so the action in this was refreshing. And it stars Lee Min Ho.

Eva: I haven’t read any of the manga either, and now that I’ve heard from Emily, I’m kind of glad I haven’t. While I understand that a book is a book and a television show is a television show and one is never going to be just like the other, if your show is going to be nothing like the book, why bother licensing it?

City Hunter's Daddy Issues

Anna: I thought that this was one of those series where you really have to watch at least 2 episodes in order to get into it. Not that the first episode was bad, but there’s so much tragic back story in the show to start out with, Lee Min Ho doesn’t show up until over a half hour into the starting episode. What did you think about the shift in tone between the first and second episodes?

Emily: I was also worried, after watching episode 1, that this series would take itself too seriously, and be all dramatic action and depressing stuff. That first episode is all back story, and while I suppose it’s useful, I sort of think that it might have also been interesting to open the series with Lee Min Ho’s character just arriving in Seoul for his job at the Blue House, and for them to let us in on his back story bit by bit as we watch him work his revenge. I was happy to see the dreary tone lighten up a little once Na Na arrived on the scene.

Nancy: I think the first episode needed the gritty beginning to prepare you for the political intrigue and brutality ahead. If you can’t sit through the beginning, you may not be able to take the rest of the drama. There will be blood and violence. There will be mean, dastardly men in power. There will be sweet romance too, but this is a bitter, fatalistic drama. That’s part of the beauty of it. You’re not sure how it can end in any other way than tragedy, so you keep watching.

Eva: I was hooked from the first episode, and that’s rare for me. As I said in our discussion of You’re Beautiful, it usually takes me three to four episodes to really get into a kdrama, which is about how long it takes for the writing team to figure out which direction they’re going to take the show. But City Hunter started off with a bang: tragedy! deception! crime! gunfire! more tragedy! It was fantastic! And then, once Lee Min Ho’s character was introduced, we got a much needed humor break and it was fantastic, too! The second episode gave me even more action hero action and I couldn’t have been happier. I mean, I like me some romantic comedy, don’t get me wrong, but there’s nothing like violence and vigilante-ism to get my heart pumping.

The sad thing about episode two is that Kim Na Na’s back story is so much less interesting than Lee Yoon Sung’s. And the whole Blue House cadre — especially the stupid, stupid, stupid president’s daughter — well, you have to take the bad to get the good, right?

Anna: I feel that any discussion of City Hunter would be incomplete without an examination of how cute Lee Min Ho is. What are your thoughts on this matter?

Lee Min Ho: Great Tsukasa or Greatest Tsukasa?

Emily: Lee Min Ho is very cute, but I admit that I think I liked him best with his ridiculous haircut from Boys Over Flowers. Or maybe I just like him more with his hair off his forehead. I was also happy to see him wearing pants that reach past his ankles. In Personal Taste, his character always wore these floods/highwater type pants that annoyed me so much :) I think he has great chemistry with all of his leading ladies.

Anna: He is my absolute favorite live-action Tsukasa! I agree that he is the type of actor who can manufacture chemistry with anyone. While he wasn’t wearing floods in City Hunter, I found myself sometimes perplexed by his pink pants. They don’t seem like the type of thing anybody would wear if they were engaged in covert action in a city.

Nancy: I really liked Min Ho in this. I think he’s a great action star as well as a romantic lead. At some point you wonder why Lee Yoon doesn’t just run the hell away or off his bastard father altogether, but somehow Min Ho is able to keep you believing in the choices his character makes despite all the craziness happening around him. I prefer him in this to Boys Over Flowers.

Eva: Lee Min Ho is adorable. It’s funny that Emily should mention his hair from Boys Over Flowers, because I was mesmerized by his hair in that series. Lee Min Ho’s hair is about as convincingly curly as mine is (which is to say, not at all), and I loved watching the curls slip slowly down his head whenever the weather was even remotely humid. And that chapter when they were in Thailand? At the hotel right on the water? Hahahahahaha! I think his stylist just gave up at that point and walked away. Hee! It still makes me laugh just thinking about it.

I will say that over the years, Lee Min Ho’s acting keeps getting better and better. He’s earning some comedy chops and I was surprised at how well he has pulled off the action scenes. I still don’t find him terribly convincing during the sensitive, romantic scenes, but that may be due to the fact that he’s freakishly tall compared to his costar. There’s one scene where Lee Yoon Sung comes up behind Kim Na Na and embraces her, resting his head on her shoulder. And even though it can’t be seen onscreen, everyone knows that he’s had to bend so far over to get down that low that his butt must be sticking out into the room behind him. Which, for me as a viewer, kind of spoils the mood.

Anna: One of the things I found amusing in the staging of the action scenes in City Hunter is that it seemed like there were some Bourne movie influences in the way Lee Yoon Sung fought his enemies. There were several scenes where he relied on improvised weapons like a rolled up folder or a random spoon. This also underscored his reluctance to kill, because he wasn’t always reaching for a gun to shoot his way out of tough situations.

City Hunter and His Covert Pants


Anna: The main source of dramatic tension in this series was found in the different philosophies towards revenge that the father and son exhibit. Lee Jin Pyo is determined to carry out his revenge through straightforward assassination, but Lee Yoon Sung wants to expose his adopted father’s enemies to public censure instead. Did this conflict, combined with the detective work in hunting down Lee Jin Pyo’s betrayers maintain your interest throughout the series or however much of it you’ve watched?

Eva: I would have liked to have seen more of the father-son conflict in the series, but then again, it was the action/adventure side of City Hunter that drew me to the series in the first place. Lee Jin Pyo was awesome in his ruthless take-no-prisoners approach to revenge (his smug smile of satisfaction was something I found myself looking forward to towards the end of the series), and the conflicting revenge styles made for good drama. What I didn’t like was when the conflict between father and son became an afterthought. What I kept hoping for was what we had with the show IRIS, where it was the romance that was the afterthought and the intrigue that was, well, intriguing.

Anna: I thought that Lee Jin Pyo was also awesomely ruthless his approach to revenge and his wearing of cravats. I wish that there had been a tiny bit more nuance in his approach though, because it did make his behavior and reactions a little bit predictable.

City Hunter is Surprised!


Anna: Does anyone have any theories about the prevalence of “Daddy Long-Legs” type plots in dramas? Having the righteous young prosecutor sending Kim Na Na anonymous notes of encouragement and presents certainly helped cement the love quadrangle that provides a nice contrast to the father-son angst and action scenes.

Emily: Regarding the use of Daddy Longlegs themes in dramas, I know I have seen the trope before, though a specific instance is eluding me. My impression, though, is that it is usually part of what eventually turns into a romantic gesture (as opposed to a mentor/sponsor adult supporting a child in a paternal sort of way) and dramas usually end up making what could seem like a kind of creepy thing into something kind of sweet. I guess you could consider the super nice supportive second lead guys as Daddy Longlegs characters. Like Shinwoo in You’re Beautiful, when he would do nice things for Minam in secret (and losing the opportunity to reveal himself). The helping-the-girl-in-secret thing is, as I thought in You’re Beautiful, nice, but too passive. Given that kdrama heroines are often naive, the bold approach is better. I think the Daddy Longlegs approach would only work with a stronger, sharper, more assertive heroine, because she would figure out who her benefactor is, or at least would have a funny reaction to all the unwanted help.

Daddy Longlegs, prosecutor, hunter of City Hunter, this guy does it all!

Anna: I think there was a fair amount of Daddy Longlegs in the second lead’s approach to the heroine in Coffee Prince too, since he was generally in the quietly supportive mode, taking her out for a makeover and just generally being her cheerleader.

Anna: What did you think of Kim Na Na’s character arc? I confess that I was hoping that she’d be the focus of more heroic action towards the end of the series, just because so much was made of her abilities as a woman of action in the first few episodes. I was a little disappointed, but not surprised that she ended up in more of a girlfriend role at the end.


Eva: I still haven’t seen the last four episodes, so I don’t really know what happens with Kim Na Na at the end. I’m guessing (this is a Korean drama, after all) that her father wakes up from his coma, that Lee Yoon Sung’s mother goes into remission, and that all four live happily ever after eating food cooked by Bae Shik Joong. But I don’t actually know.

Emily: I have only seen half way through City Hunter, so I can’t comment on the end of Na Na’s storyline. But my impression of her from the beginning is that she is a reasonably strong character (working hard to earn her position, skilled at martial arts, etc) even though she still has a bit of that kdrama-heroine-naivety . She doesn’t seem like the weak type that needs rescuing all the time.

Kim Na Na demonstrates her judo skills


Nancy: I think Kim Na Na’s story arc ended before the series did. She was just hanging around, waiting for the ending, and perhaps that could have been structured better, but I feel her character was consistent throughout and she overcame her own set of obstacles. I was not displeased.

Anna: My hopes were probably raised too high after seeing Kim Na Na throw Lee Yoon Sung around so much at the beginning of the series. Still, I think it is notable that Na Na is able to be as much of an action heroine as she is.

So overall, City Hunter is a show with great production values, a good mix of tragedy, comedy, and action, and it features an engaging cast of characters anchored by the always handsome Lee Min Ho. If you haven’t seen it yet, check it out! If watching City Hunter prompts you to seek out other action-oriented series, a good one to try next is the spy saga IRIS.

City Hunter

Bringing the Drama: You’re Beautiful

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ANNA: To start out this new feature on Manga Bookshelf, I thought that You’re Beautiful would be the ideal show to discuss, because I think it would be a good first series for anyone to try who isn’t familiar with Korean dramas. There are plenty of plot points in You’re Beautiful that manga fans can appreciate, due to the cross-dressing reverse harem scenario that the heroine has to face.

You’re Beautiful is the story of a novice nun who has to impersonate her twin brother and join a boy band, cross dressing as an idol singer. It is available for streaming on Dramafever and Hulu.

What about You’re Beautiful do you find compelling?

EVA: Of the four of us, I think I’m the newest kdrama watcher. I’m still learning the conventions, quirks, and tropes of Korean television, so many of what you all take for granted I still find either hilarious or perplexing.

What brought me to You’re Beautiful was, if I remember correctly, you and Emily chortling about it on Twitter, then Emily and Nancy coveting the stuffed pig-rabbit that came with the deluxe edition of the DVD set. (I may have my time line a bit skewed. It was a while ago that all this took place.) I figured anything that had all three of you so excited must be worth giving a try.

What kept me going past the first three episodes (I’ve learned that kdramas don’t often get started until at least episode four) was how deliberately silly the show is. Even as a novice viewer it was easy for me to spot many of the things the show parodies. From our heroine’s first appearance on screen as a ditsy nun (a trope that usually drives me crazy), to the boy band decked out in lace and guyliner, to the evil arch-rival plotting against them all, there is nothing about this show that takes itself seriously.

ANNA: I was also inspired to watch You’re Beautiful after seeing Emily post about it on twitter. For me, it was the first drama that I’d watched that wasn’t a manga adaptation, and it ended up being a bit of a gateway drug because I promptly immersed myself in watching many more dramas after finishing it.

Minam is tortured by cute idol singers. Tortured!

Minam is tortured by cute idol singers. Tortured!

I think that You’re Beautiful’s silly tone is one of its strengths. It isn’t cynical at all, which is quite refreshing in today’s world. Even though the characters do plenty of ridiculous things, their actions totally make sense when you consider their personalities. When sheltered Minam has to face entering a locker room filled with undressed men, the mental gymnastics she puts herself through in order to maintain her disguise result in one of the most hilariously surreal scenes I’ve viewed in a TV show.

A.N.JELL lead singer Tae Kyung might be an emotionally distant OCD case with an odd obsession with cowl neck sweaters, but compared to how he might have turned out considering his harpy of a mother he’s actually not so bad. Poor Jeremy wanders around like a lost puppy, wondering why he keeps having visions of his new band mate eating fruit in slow motion, and Shin Woo’s penchant for quiet observation and on-demand emotional support doesn’t further his goals of romance.

So even though there’s plenty of guyliner and ridiculous scenarios, the core cast is remarkably sympathetic in the midst of all the silliness. When the characters do goofy things like pondering the dangerous nature of bidets or getting trapped on a moving truck, they aren’t ever really the objects of ridicule for the audience.

Chibi A.N.Jell

NANCY: Kdrama is the new shoujo manga! At least for romantic comedies. This drama was written by the Hong sisters, who definitely brought the “shoujo manga” aesthetic to this series. There are even chibi versions of the members of A.N.JELL (the fictitious kpop band in the show) that can be seen on merchandise in the drama itself. And that pig-rabbit is merchandising gold–I still want one! Unfortunately it wasn’t included with the YA Entertainment release here.

At the time this came out, I think I was still a bit hesitant about many of the TV dramas because they can reach high levels of tragedy sustained over many episodes, which can be grueling to watch. Like Eva, I wasn’t keen on the “Sound of Music” beginning with the hapless nun, but by the end of the first episode–with its super-shoujo ending–I was hooked.

Tae Kyung, King of Guyliner


EMILY: I’m a huge fan of shoujo manga, something that is chock full of ridiculous situations, unrealistic characters, and romantic comedy. There are also quite a number of series featuring cross dressing idol singers. Therefore, when I heard about a kdrama that embraced these same themes I’m so fond of, I was all over it. As an added bonus, You’re Beautiful is by the Hong Sisters, a writing duo whose work I have previously enjoyed (Fantasy Couple, Delightful Girl Chung-hyang, My Girl) so I had high hopes it would be good. I was happy to find myself hooked rather quickly. You’re Beautiful is silly, and the characters are all so exaggerated, but it’s so much more fun that way.

The Hong Sisters have a way of taking cliched situations and putting just the right amount of spin on them to bring unexpected results, or a surprise laugh. They are masters of parody. And what can I say, I love seeing surly heroes like Tae Kyung (king of all guyliner) be taken down a peg or two, be it from falling for Minam, or being chased by a wild pig.

Shin Woo in a clever disguise!

ANNA: That’s funny that Emily and Nancy were commenting on the similarities of You’re Beautiful to shoujo manga, because for me it was my first time getting sucked in to the kdrama staple plot of the second lead guy’s hopeless romance with the main girl. I really wanted Minam and Shin Woo to end up together even though I knew that wasn’t likely to happen. The Hong sisters really packed this show full of interesting supporting characters and plot lines.

Other than the romance of the main couple, what were your favorite supporting characters or stories?

NANCY: I have to say I was always a fan of the leading man, Tae Kyung, snarls and pouts and all. Jang Keun Suk is captivating, even when his acting is deliberately overblown. I also have a soft spot for Lee Hong Ki, who plays Jeremy. Jeremy is the one who keeps finding his bandmates in suggestive situations with Minam, whom he believes to be a boy. This drama also includes one of the best tongue-in-cheek nods to female fandom. There’s a scene in which Jeremy reads slash fanfic about the band in an online forum, and he then goes on to imagine how it would play out. You then see the three male leads reenacting a love triangle.

Minam’s online test to become an official fan of A.N.JELL is another gem. I feel that I can’t talk about Jung Hong Hwa (Shin Woo) or Lee Hong Ki without mentioning that their bands (Hong Hwa’s C.N. Blue and Hong Ki’s F. T. Island) will be holding a joint concert in Los Angeles on March 9.

pig rabbit

Who wouldn't want a slightly toxic pig rabbit?

EVA: Hahaha! I love how Nancy’s unabashed love of Kpop sneaks its way into every conversation.

It’s hard not to love Jeremy. The adorableness of everything he does is almost cuddly. And the scene Nancy described is one of the standout scenes from the entire series. But my favorite side character is Minam’s archenemy Yoo He Yi, played by Uee. The Evil! It Burns! She’s so effective as the villain because she really, truly thinks she’s in the right, that Minam is the bad guy (girl), and that Tae Kyung just doesn’t understand. Her love is pure, by golly, it’s pure!

EMILY: I’m generally a first-lead fan, so I was Tae-Kyung/Minam all the way. Shin Woo was nice, but was waaaay too passive. It’s funny how he kept trying to be a shoujo manga-type prince, doing all these secretly sweet gestures, but he should have realized that with a heroine as dense, er, naive as Minam, he needed to be a bit more outgoing to make her notice. I felt bad for him, but it also sort of felt like he was stringing her along and getting more personal kicks out of being the secret helper. He put himself on the sidelines, so he shouldn’t be surprised if he ends up there. I think my favorite supporting character was Jeremy. He managed to be really sweet and considerate and likable in spite of the strangeness of his hair. (Seriously, what was up with his hair? Poor guy). And yes, the BL fanfiction scene and Jeremy’s support of it is one of the best moments in the series :)

Jeremy, confused by fruit.

NANCY: Caught by Eva!! I enjoyed Yoo He Yi as well (and Uee happens to be in the kpop group After School–ha ha ha!). I also agree with Emi that Shin Woo was too passive. In a way I feel Jeremy got robbed because most of his time was spent with Angelina Jolie, his golden retriever. He never got the chance to be a serious contender for the heroine, but his scenes are a joy to watch.

ANNA: I totally understand why you’d say Shin Woo was too passive – setting up elaborate scenarios and expecting Minam to guess his feelings was doomed to failure. One of the nice things about the way the Hong Sisters wrote You’re Beautiful is that it is possible to enjoy the supporting cast even when they are portraying characters that might be unsympathetic like Yoo He Yi.

But how do you feel about some of the other characters who are a little more villainous?

Even though Minam’s aunt was a focus of comic relief, she’s pretty much a hypocrite for seeking out her nephew only when she discovers that he’s in a boy band. What about Tae-Kyung’s mother? I pretty much wanted to drop her down a well for her selfishness, even though she is given plenty of back story to explain her motivations for being the Worst Mother In the World.

EMILY: In regards to the villains of the series- they are all so totally selfish!. Tae Kyung’s mother gets ranked high up there on the evil kdrama mom scale. She is even worse than the stereotypical evil kdrama mom type that always tries to bribe the poor girl to stay away from her rich son. In this case, she doesn’t even care enough about her son to go that far. As for the idol angel He Yi, she was a good obstacle in Minam and Tae Kyung’s road to true love, but I did get annoyed at how little she actually had to work to be that obstacle. All this great ammunition kept falling right into her lap without her having to do any snooping or conniving! I would have liked it if she had to work harder to be evil :)

ANNA: I agree that the villains could have used a bit more nuance. Maybe it is just the dramas that I’ve watched, but I’ve found that there isn’t a whole lot of subtlety to be found in the antagonists. I’m not sure what all the evil kdrama moms indicate, perhaps many of the drama writers have mommy issues.

NANCY: I think the evil mother was in there merely for Tae Kyung’s character development and to show why he was a cynical guy in the first place. I did worry a bit that You’re Beautiful would follow the lines of Winter Sonata with his mother’s obsession with Minam’s father, but thankfully that did not come to pass.

EVA: I guess my last question on this topic is: What, if any, kdramas have you watched as a result of watching this one?

I tend to follow actors and actresses I’ve come to enjoy (which is easy with kdramas, since there seems to only be 27 different actors/actresses in the whole country who just rotate around the various channels and genres). I think my viewing flow went something like this: I saw Kim Myung Min in Bad Family, so I followed him to Beethoven Virus. In Beethoven Virus I was introduced to Jang Geun Suk, so (after I heard you all talking about it) I followed him to You’re Beautiful. In You’re Beautiful I was introduced to Hyun Jyu Ni, so I followed her to IRIS where I was reunited with Jung Joon Ho who I had loved in Last Scandal.

Do you three do the same? Or do you have other ways of finding new shows to watch? Which show would you suggest as a follow-up to You’re Beautiful?

ANNA: I went on a major kdrama binge after watching You’re Beautiful, and I can’t trace my viewing flow as exactly as Eva does. But on what next to watch after You’re Beautiful, I think you have the options of following either the actors or finding something similar in tone. I haven’t watched many of the other Hong Sisters’ dramas, but I did enjoy Greatest Love quite a bit, which has the same satirical take on show business with the benefit of having adult as opposed to teen characters.

I did watch Heartstrings solely because of wanting to see Jung Yong Hwa and Park Shin Hye together again, but while it was fun to see them overall I thought it was a tad on the inert side dramatically. For a similarly funny drama, I’d actually go with Protect the Boss, which is a hilarious show about a juvenile delinquent who gets a job as a secretary for a spoiled young company heir.

You're Beautiful

You're Beautiful

EMILY: I don’t have an easily followed chain viewing pattern like Eva either, but I do mainly watch dramas for actors I like, and genres I like (romantic comedy), then creative staff. I enjoyed the dramas the Hong Sisters made after You’re Beautiful– My Girlfriend is a Gumiho and Greatest Love. Both were wonderful in different ways. Once again, the Hong sisters take common kdrama cliches and twist them around a bit to make something refreshing. In particular, Greatest Love takes another look at the show business world from a different perspective than You’re Beautiful and manages to have a lot of excitement even without a specific ‘bad guy’ character.

For other crazy romantic comedies, I have to agree, Protect the Boss is fantastic. I love how everyone in it is just a bit insane, plus it has awesome bromance.

Another series that deals with teens trying to make it in show business is Dream High.

Two other series that have a ‘girl masquerading as a guy’ theme are Sungkyunkwan Scandal and Painter of the Wind. Both of them are historical dramas. Sunkyunkwan Scandal has a more fusion-historical-idol-pretty-boys-hijinks-ensue sort of feel to it, while Painter of the Wind is more dramatic. I keep hearing that they are planning to make a kdrama version of Hana Kimi, but I have no idea if it will ever happen.

On a random note, I’ll watch anything with Park Shi-hoo in it because he is the amazing second lead guy who can actually get the girl (he has stolen the girl from the first lead at least twice now).

NANCY: I did watch some of Marry Me, Mary as a result of this drama (also starring Jang Keun Suk), and I may finish it someday. Keun Suk is also in a new drama Love Rain, which I will check out. I usually find kdramas by what people are talking about on Twitter, though I do watch shows with kpop stars too. (Iris is on my list. T.O.P ;))

I think if you like You’re Beautiful, you’ll like the kdramas based on shoujo manga like Boys Over Flowers, etc.