Martin & John, vol. 1

By Hee-Jung Park
Released in the US by TokyoPop


Slugline: Why is it in a yaoi book the most fully fleshed out relationships are between men and women?

Martin & John is an anthology about the relationships between two men named Martin and John, set at different times and settings. The names alone seem to the linkage between the stories, with the characters behaving differently, so it you can't necessarily say that these are the same 'souls' finding each other. That was part of the theme of Deja-Vu, another manwha we recently reviewed, but the first story here (which is very short) is set in some future so it is not being told chronologically. Two other stories are in this volume, but the last story is not completed. While the first story can be seen as about the redemptive power of love the second seems to be more about it's destructive power, and the characters, while active participants in the story, are in some ways helpless in the face of their own emotions. I am still waiting for the yaoi aspects for the last story in the volume to come into play, with the relationship with the Martin character to John being actually split over two different characters named Martin, John's best friend that apparently is not aware he himself is gay and a small child that has been placed into John's care.

The first story is not really more than a scene between the title characters, but in the other stories it seems that the most honest examination of the characters feelings occur when one of them is speaking with a woman. I understand that yaoi are actually written with women as the intended audience, but I still sort of feel offended on the behalf of the male characters that they need a female in order to work out their feelings. Of course, there are exceptions, but these male/female conversations are the most interesting in the book. I don't see this as a deep romance title, and there are the typical overwrought teenage emotional displays, but these conversations, how they are artistically presented and how they also can emotionally draw back are among the best parts of this title.



Martin & John, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga

-Ferdinand

Deja-Vu: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter

Stories by Youn In-Wan and various artists
Released in the US by TokyoPop


Slugline: Love hurts. Over and over, with no escape.

This manwha has six stories that are connected by having been written by one author, using different different artist for each. Four of the stories are loosely linked together as two lovers repeatedly try to meet through history and fail to connect. It is somewhat unusual that each chapter of the Deja-Vu story is done by an different artist. One interesting story deals with the Japanese occupation of Korea during World War 2. At first it seemed like it would be a whitewash, but then it goes straight for the jugular with an unsympathetic but historically accurate note. I think the power of deja-vu, the 'repeating' nature of the love story, is oversold in the later chapters of the story, but the individual chapters can still fairly well on their own. I think the story without the love theme was actually one of the better ones, handling how behavior and philosophy interact in youth.



Deja-Vu: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga

-Ferdinand

Seduction more Beautiful than Love, vol. 1

Created by Lee Hyeon-Sook
Published in the US by TokyoPop


Slugline: Korean schools still have corporal punishment? Another important safety tip for manga fans who go abroad.

Daoun is a new teacher at a high school and temporarily takes over the homeroom of a class with one of those quietly tortured pretty boys the clutter up manga/manhwa, Ryumin. He barely pays any attention to schoolwork but enjoys twisting her head about over whether or not he is trying to seduce her, drawing her out emotionally then (apparently) feigning disinterest. But both have their own other romantic interests, Daoun has an old college friend Hyunwoo who never managed to tell her how he felt before and has become a new teacher at the same high school that Daoun teaches at and Ryumin has a girlfriend (of a sort) that seems to be able to manipulate everyone but him.

This is a fairly low key title, no big or broad character traits or actions. Daoun is a little clueless, which is best shown by how her mother manipulates her into a blind date but also because she can't seem to make head or tails of Ryumin or Hyunwoo . Why is it in real life (or at least western fiction) that it seems women can see right through guys (not that it is all that difficult) but in manga/manhwa/eastern fiction women never seem to have the first clue on what is going on men's minds, or even can decipher the most blatant of actions? I realize that the truth is probably more in the middle (and that fact would destroy whole buildings of the Library of Congress) but it just seems that Daoun would have at least some clue Hyunwoo likes-likes her, even if she doesn't acknowledge it out loud. Most of the other character's confusions are more or less believable but having the main character being so clueless is just annoying and let's you see the hand of the author pushing the characters around like chess pieces just so that he can have story that lasts longer than an episode. And more importantly make sure to have lots of moments filled with sexual tension. Nice art though, easy to recognize the characters and each is attractive in their own way.



Seduction more Beautiful than Love, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

Aspirin, vol. 1

By Eun-Jeung Kim
Released in the US by TokyoPop


Slugline: Never has a title been such an accurate descriptor of the drugs I needed after reading it.

This is another one of those manga that thinks by being self-referential, they can get away with having a ridiculous plot and have random things happen. Why? Because the characters seem to know that they are in a manga and absurd plot contrivances and weird coincidences happen in manga all the time, so why bother stringing together the very basic plot structure. Or have characters be internally consistent or even have motivations beyond the most basic? Someone unleashes the four gods, but he really didn't and he was set up to take the fall, but he can do it because someone says he can, blah blah blah. Didn't care, the main lead is a cipher, the only person that that I felt the least amount of connection to was Samson, the nun who mom had relations with the Angel Samson, which is wrong on so many Biblical levels that I can't even begin to describe. The art is okay, the actual mechanics of storytelling is decent, it's just the story itself that is trying to be told makes very little sense and has even less desire to be so.



Aspirin, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

Jade of Bango, vol. 1

Story by Ae-Ju Yim with Art by Jin-Ju Yim
Released in the US by TokyoPop


Slugline: Despite Japan and Korea having a history of disliking each history, their manwha and manga is not that different.

Lin, is a cheerfully happy girl despite the fact that her mother was killed by a monster one night and lives with her forgetful father. Of course, she just accepts that monsters killed her mother in a world that seems otherwise exactly like our own. Despite the fact that she can see ghosts Lin doesn't think that there is anything wrong with her world until monsters start attacking her directly and night falls instantaneously around her. After a rescue she learns that she is the Jade of Bango, with a Phoenix related power that can destroy the world, so of course she gets a hot but emotionally distant protector (is this an attempt by get women to accept that emotionally distant men are cool, or that they need to settle for that?) Lin is also informed that he will be her husband. Of course she has no problem with that, or that her protector's rival arrives to take her away from him, but despite the whole kidnapping thing she thinks that they are friends. And yes, it is even sillier than this brief description of it.

Wow. Mystical girl with the power to destroy the world is given a hot but emotional distant protector. Never have read anything like that. This week, that is. As a manwha I was hoping to see some interesting spins on the standard manga genre conventions, but nothing of that was here. Sure, some of the iconic imagery was different (different portrayal of the ghosts) and the costumes seemed more Chinese based than usual, but otherwise is way too conventional. Even the two girl friends with one more mysterious one having lesbian overtones is right out of the manga playbook. The one thing that was forgivable was this appeared to be a double volume, so at least there was decent chunk of story to suffer through.



Jade of Bango, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

Hotel Africa, vol. 1

By Hee Jung Park
Released in the US by TokyoPop


Slugline: Is it a memory or a dream?

Elvis is living with two friends, in the post college uncertainty that so many graduates face. But so much of their interaction with each other and theworld triggers Elvis's memories of growing up in the Utah desert. As the half black child of an unmarried white mother, many of his memories are of the time when his mother Addie turned their large home in bed and breakfast called the Hotel Africa. One of their first guests was named Geo, who decided within a day that he will marry Addie. But that is not the first bit of oddity, as strange folks come through Hotel, and there is Elvis and his friends own activities in the present.

Oddity here is the sort of human oddity that you can believe in, the sort of everyday strangeness that can happen, not that it is likely too. It does feel like a slice of life, but there is an undercurrent of something more, that bit of magical realism touch. Considering that Elvis and his friends are involved in the film industry (on the very outskirts) the feeling of superrealism , more real than real, permeates the stories. At the end of the volume, I am left feeling unsure about what the volume is really about, but it is an interesting meandering journey getting, umm, nowhere in particular. And the format, larger than the typical manga format, does help it stand out.



Hotel Africa, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

-Ferdinand

Devil's Bride, vol. 1

By Se-Young Kim
Released in the US


Slugline: A devil is always ready to make a deal for his yaoi love.

Devils are more like a powerful spirits, vampire and low level god all wrapped in one. The unnamed devil of the story is trying to live more like humans, because his nature is destructive and he wants to be creative. He lives near some human villages and thinks that by having a bride, he will become more human. A poor family basically sells off one of their children to him, and takes off before he discovers that the child is a boy, not a girl. Not that it really matters that much to him. Now, that I cansorta buy, because he isn't really human, so I get he can be omnisexual rather than being an yaoi pretty boy. Ley , the boy, dies, not sure if it accidental or deliberate, but the devil decides to keep him alive, but in order to do so he need human parts to returnLey to humanity. As a devil, he has decided to offer his serves to mortals, not for souls which is normal payment, but in body parts. Meanwhile a blind heir elsewhere in the world has been forced to prostitute himself to soldiers to save his kingdom, and his boyhood companion has to be take some harsh actions.

It is an interesting set-up for an anthology story, with the ability for their to be one-off stories to that tie in devil's search for parts to help Ley recover from being a little bit dead, but it is the framing device is far more meaningful and involved that the usual ones. So the setup for the anthology structure takes up enough time that the first anthology story is not finished in this volume, though we do seem to have hit the first turning point on the last page. Of course, it is has a yaoi focus, with a tall lanky pretty boy and the younger, more effeminate looking 'junior' member of the partnership. Which is one of my major icks here, in that it seems that one half of the pairings are inherently in the inferior position. Yeah, it may be typical how yaoi is arranged but that doesn't make me feel any better. But the story is well structured, the characters have some depth and the art is 100% pretty boy, so that assuages my other concerns.

Devil's Bride, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

-Ferdinand

CBG Review: Emperor's Castle, vol. 1

I have written a review for Emperor's Castle, vol. 1, available on the Comic Buyer's Guide website. Please remember that the CBG website uses a 4 star rating. Check it out!



Emperor's Castle, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

-Ferdinand

Fever, vol. 1

by Hee Jung Park
Published in the US by Tokyopop


Slugline: Screw-ups and lovelorn of Korea, unite!

The structure of this volume is nice and tidy: we meet Hyung-In, we meet Ji-Jun, and Kang-Dae brings them all together for a first meeting. What happens next is anyone's guess, but if the dialogue maintains this quality and Bong-Nam the spaniel sticks around, I will too.

Hyung-In is wrestling with the consequences of her friendship with an unpopular girl. Ji-Jun is...unlucky, in more ways than one, and more or less adrift in life. And Kang-Dae is the sort of scattered oddball that could make things interesting. Bong-Nam brings the drool and a waggy tail.

4 stars, with a bullet.



Fever, vol. 1 is available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

-Miranda

I Wish..., vol. 1

By Hyun-Joo Seo
Released in the US by TokyoPop


Slugline: The granting of wishes with no monkey paw in sight!

Jin Ryu was left behind when her parents and brother went on vacation, and in a moment of spite wished that their plane would crash. Of course, their plane really does crash and Jin, ridden with guilt, goes to a sorcerer K who will grant a wish in return of what is most precious of the wisher. Unfortunately, his rule is that he cannot bring the dead to life. And since Jin has seen him, he cannot let her go without her making a wish. So Jin ends up being K's assistant, and observes (and usually tries to help) the people who come to K looking for wishes to solve their problems.

Many of these sort of stories seem to revolve around the monkey paw type of a wish, a wish whose intentions rebound on the wisher so that he receives what he wants in the most horrible way possible. I Wish... is different, in that while there are consequences to the wish, and what is taken in payment is often unexpected, if the wish rebounds unexpectedly, so far it does so in a way that the wisher would actually prefer if he knew. There is also an unexpected relationship between K and Jin's dead brother, which implies that Jin herself is more than one would expect. Also of interest is that the chapters are of much longer than one would expect, with only three stories in this volume. I am not sure if the published format for this story is longer than normal or that several episodes have been edited together to form longer chapters. Either way, this is a different but still well done entry in the wish-fulfilling genre of stories.



I Wish..., vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

Hanami: International Love Story, vol. 1

Story by PLUS with Art by Sung-Jae Park
Released in the US by Dark Horse


Slugline: Is this story just about being stuck between two girls or stuck between Korea and Japan?

Joonho has finally had the courage to confess his love to Sae-un, the girl he has been attracted to in his Korean high school in and for once in these stories she actually reciprocates right there rather than refusing or running off. Unfortunately, as soon as he gets home from having his confession accepted, he find outs his family is moving Seoul that day. Once he complete the move he begins a long distance (well, medium distance) relationship with Sae-un, but his Japanese neighbor Hanami keeps on intruding on his thoughts and she keeps on finding herself thinking of him. But both of their lives in Seoul are complicated by cast of ludicrous characters.

I do find that there is an interesting subtext in the title. To say that there is an apathy between Japan and Korea on the cultural and historical level is to understate the case. Koreans who were relocated to Japan in World War 2, their grandchildren who remain in Japan are still not citizens. And let's not even bring up the issue of the comfort women (If you don't know what I am talking about, well, the wiki entry is here, and it is not pleasant.) So the fact that Hanami's grandfather actually married his Korean wife and then moved to Korea, well, just from that you can tell this is a manwha because the whole Korean issue is still very unspoken in Japan. That whole issue is something I hope that gets touched upon more seriously in later volumes.

Despite the cheese, cliche and chibi aspects of the story, the fundamental conflict that is driving Joonho and the story is handled well. Joonho is torn between Sae-un who he has been attracted to for a while before moving and the friendship and possibly something more he could have with Hanami. Sae-un is someone that he understands, liked for a while, but he is also separated from her, not by a great deal but still a distance. Meanwhile Hanami is right there, foreign and so exotic, yet needing him. But Joonho is right to wonder if she likes him on his own merits or because he is a substitute for the love she had previously lost. And while the issue of language/miscommunication is first played up for laughs it is then is played a little more straight. Joonho's sense of detachment and discomfort at the Japanese language study group feels right, and I think Hanami is purposely misunderstanding Joonho's explanation of his relationship with Sae-un. I wish that the early chibi /cliche aspects could just be forgotten, but if they continue to treat the love triangle as a real dilemma rather than an excuse for broad comedy, the series can only strengthen. If the story could perhaps begin to deal with Japanese/Korean issues, this could be an exceptional series.



Hanami: International Love Story, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

Shaman Warrior, v.1

By Park Joon-Ki
Published in the US by Dark Horse


Slugline: We're introduced to the action-heavy world of shaman-based fighters. Sort of.

So much time is spent on the action, in fact, that almost nothing is said about what a "shaman warrior" actually is. Little is said about our apparent main character, Yarong, too -- but that doesn't matter because this first volume is something of a bait-and-switch.

The action is gritty and un-glamorous, which is fine, and a bit of back story is provided, but this is ultimately more of a prologue than a first volume. And as such, I don't know where the story will go from here except, probably, to more combat. Which is fine, too, but I have no reason to expect that there will be anything more than that.



Shaman Warrior, v.1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Miranda

Magical JxR, vol. 1

By Lee Sun-Young
Published in the US by UDON


Slugline: It is not a good sign when I tell you to skip the first 70 or so pages.

I did for Publisher's Weekly a while back an article on UDON called UDON on the Upswing.

Jay and Aru begin the volume as two magic students in the second grade whose magical style clash wildly. After a bunch of adventures while in second grade that show that they care for each other despite not being very similar, we suddenly jump ahead at least five years, in which Jay andAru turn from chibi children to bishonen (pretty boy) adolescents. They have to complete a year long contract with Cho -Ah, a combative student whose plans to start her life over in a new school and attract a boyfriend is derailed by the appearance ofbishonen Jay and Aru.

As far as I can tell, the stories of Jay and Aru in the second grade doesn't really add anything to the rest of the story. Other than Jay and Aru, the characters in the first half of the book don't really appear in the second half of the book and the theme of Jay and Aru being mismatched does not seem to be touched upon again. In other words, the first half of the book is very skippable. Which was almost, almost a fatal flaw with this book. What pulled it back was some very attractive art spreads and a relatively solid story in the rest of the book, even if it was nothing out of the ordinary. And since I am reviewing this title based on a preview copy, I am not sure how the art will look in the final version (UDON's preview books are printed on 8.5 x 11 paper, so it is hard to judge how the page crease will affect the final version.) And I'd better end this review before I talk myself into lowering its rating even further.



Magical JxR, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

-Ferdinand

Star Project Chiro, vol. 1

By Baek Hye-Kyoung
Released in the US by UDON


Slugline: I think this is the fastest I have ever seen a manga (or manhwa) series fall apart.

Note: UDON seems to prefer using the term manhwa rather than the currently more popular term for manga from Korea, manwha. And this creator has also done the series Bring it On!

Eun-Yo Song has fashion designer brothers who make her fine clothes and the appreciation of most of the boys in school, but cannot make a move on the boy that she is really interested in, Chan-Kyung Woo. But after an accidental confrontation with the pop singer Nan Lee, Eun-Yo's life becomes more than a little crazy. She manages to get into a relationship with Chan-Kyung, but that is challenged when she gains a debt to Nan Lee for burning down his house, mostly by accident.

This started out as a nice little wacky comedy series, but then halfway through the volume things started falling apart. First of all there is a a jump forward in time of a year that I don't really think was necessary, and it jumpstarted some things I think we should have seen, such as the beginning of Eun-Yo's romantic relationship. Several characters seem to be needlessly cruel, and make demands that one would think that any reasonable person will refuse, but because this is a manga/manhwa they will be taken seriously by other characters, to those character's detriment. Plus the debt that makes characters dependent on each other? Hasn't anyone in Korea heard of homeowner's insurance? Or perhaps using banks to schedule payments over time? Sorry, one of these days I would like to see an approach of one of these massive debts in a somewhat reasonable fashion rather than just using them as a poor excuse to keep characters together when there is no other reason to. But there was a good beginning and some effective use ofchibi art throughout the book, so if the creator can resist the urge to go all cliche, she may still pull this off. (At least I believe it to be a woman, my grasp of Korean naming conventions is need of improvement.)



Star Project Chiro, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

-Ferdinand

Dorothy of Oz, vol. 1

Son Hee-Joon
Released in the US by Udon


Slugline: After watching or reading thirty billion adaptations of Oz, I could believe that this yellow brick road was really made of gold.

A woman and her three strange companions enter a town along an endless road. The town is under attack from monsters and their military garrison has done little to stop it. It turns out that the military garrison are the monsters and that they are also experimenting on the townsfolk. But it also turns out the four are wanted criminals with the codenames Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Woodsman and Cowardly Lion in the Kingdom of Oz. The secret agent Shine seems to have his own agenda for them, but we then flashback to how a Korean girl named Mara ended up in another world called Oz, but not on how she ended up on the run or gained her companions.

I was afraid this version of Oz was going to turn into a cultural Mary Sue (Click here for definition of a Mary Sue) after reading the first couple of a pages. But if it a Mary Sue, it is a well written one, which forgives many literary crimes. It transposes many of the aspects of the Oz stories onto one that is more familiar to manga/manwha readers. Now that I am thinking about it, the Wizard the Oz be one of the prototypes of otherworldly manga stories, where the character leaves an otherwise boring world, becomes important in another one, but yet still yearns to return to their old life. It is not a perfect translations of course, a cowardly lion is not much use in a title with fights so I am not quite sure how that flaw will be expressed here. But they actually set up the book in an interesting way, in that they showed Mara and her companions already on the road having adventures, and then flashing back. This shows up front how your expectations for the story will be challenged, so when you go through the origin story, you are not too anxious to rush through it because you now know it is not going in the expected directions. The strategy worked, for I have a preview of the 2nd volume here also and I will probably read it tonite.



Dorothy of Oz, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

-Ferdinand

Nabi, the Prototype

by Yeon-Joo Kim
Published in the U.S. by Tokyopop

Slugline: A collection of stories, mostly about Myo-Un and Ryu-Sang.

At the end, we're informed that these are "side stories" for an upcoming series, also titled Nabi. I must say that I'm looking forward to that series, now.

These stories are non-linear and not all of them involve Myo-Un or Ryu-Sang. But they are all set in the same semi-fantasy, semi-scifi world and share threads of melancholy and unexpected kindness. The art is lovely, the dialog is good ad the world is left to build itself, for the most part -- about the only story element that I could complain about.

The layout of the book could be better, sadly. There is not enough separation between the stories and I tended to run straight from one into the other, then get confused and have to backtrack to find out where one ended and the next began.

But I'm definitely looking forward to Nabi, the series.

Nabi, the Prototype is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Miranda

Rure, vol. 1

By Da-Mi Seomoon
Released in the US by TokyoPop

Slugline: At least this time we change worlds before the end of the volume.

Ha-Ru is one of those exceptional students that everyone loves in a high school manga, except for maybe the readers due to repressed traumatic high school memories. But there is a reason for her exceptional nature, in that she is the (implied) mystical heir of an island. The inhabitants of which have built up a mythos around their matrilineal leaders, a leadership role that Ha-Ru is not eager to embrace. Meanwhile, her half-sister Mi-Ru wants to be part of the island's society, but because she is illegitimate she is shunned. The final straw is when Ha-Ru is confirmed as the heir while Mi-Ru is told to leave the island when Mi-Ru's grandmother dies. Ha-Ru still considers Mi-Ru her sister, and when Mi-Ru runs into the raining night Ha-Ru pursues her, and something in that pursuit throws them into another world. They arrive in the middle of the desert since that would make things even more inconvenient. Ku-Ya, a mercenary of this new world, is tricked into accepting both of them as slaves and more importantly taking care of them. The volume ends as they all stumble across a royal caravan whose attempt to drive away the demons of the desert have instead attracted them and has possibly doomed them all.

While I think a lot of the setup of series reminds me too much of many other generic fantasy manga, there were some aspects of the main character that I still liked. She is willing to use her brain, so rather than having a ferocious fight scene, she immediately surrenders so that Mi-Ru can get the medical attention she needs. Despite her state of perfection, she doesn't seem to consider it her birthright, which is refreshing. She know that despite her abilities, there are limits to them and that they may be taken from her by chance. Some of the story choices I don't get, such as introducing and developing the two schoolmates who then disappear from the story, and the flash forward two months, but for the sake of the characters I am willing to wait to see what happens next.

Rure, v.1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

-Ferdinand

Fantamir, v.1

By Eun-Jin Seo
Released in the U.S. by TokyoPop



Slugline: Something is different about this title. No, it's not that it's Korean. Wait, I know, it's because no one is madly in love with anyone else!!! Is this even a high school drama?

Mir is a young sorceress, but she has lost her powers and rather than disappoint her family she fled the isolated compound she has grown up in and runs away to the big city, in this case Seoul. One of her family's retainers follows her, and reassures Mir that her mother, who is in charge of her clan, will let her stay in the city and will allow her to go to a school. Of course, once she gets to the school she immediately gets swept up into the competition between the Wonhwa and the Hwarang, the leading girls and boys of the high school. Mir quickly is challenged to a duel with Ba-Ri, the leader of the female Wonhwa, which begins with a swordfight. Mir wins unexpectedly (she still has a touch of her enhanced abilities, just not her full sorceress's powers) and claims as her prize a vow of friendship with Ba-Ri. That is all that Mir really wanted, to make some friends rather than be isolated like she was previously. The other parts of the duel are put off until Ba-Ri recovers from a minor injury, but meanwhile Mir discovers that her mother was once a member of the Wonhwa. Mir runs away from the school in frustration, certain that this is just another one of her mother's stratagems to get Mir to do as she wishes.

As I mentioned in the slugline, there was something that I was enjoying in the title, but I just couldn't put my finger on it. Then it hit me: no one was pining over somebody else. Not to say there weren't romantic interests, they were there, but they are not the drivers of the action or the definition of the characters, they were just part of them. Romance is the usual source of conflict for any sort of high school drama, but here the characters were trying to react to each other as people, not necessarily as lovers or competition. There is a moment of jealousy in Ba-Ri that starts the duel, but I am not sure if that was really jealousy or just a subtle power play of the factions, and that ambiguity is exciting. And there is a whole supernatural element that has yet to be really played around with. So I am cautiously optimistic about the series, and could easily seeing myself giving this series a high rating in a volume or two.



Fantamir, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

Stand By Youth, v. 1

Story by Young-Bin Kim with Art by Juder
Released in the U.S. by TokyoPop



Slugline: What if your SATs really did determine what you did for the rest of your life?

Sometimes it is easy to forget that the differences between the US and Japan are more than just cosmetic, that there are some deep differences aside from just wearing school uniforms. And those differences are even bigger once you add Korean manwha to the picture. In Stand By Youth, we are talking about tests that define what schools you get into to a much greater degree than the US's SATs do. If you do not do well enough, you go to cram school for a year in order to take the test again and repeat the process as often as need be. Stand By Youth is about one of these students, Hyungmo, who usually does well in school but manages to choke big time in the exams and places dismally in them. He has to go to one of the cram schools to prepare for the test again and due to his scores he ends up in a class filled with juvenile delinquents. Once there he meets Sora, a fellow student who has to study for the test. After consoling Sora because her alcoholic father has shown up at the school threatening to withdraw her, they start, or at least Hyungmo thinks they have, dating. But she has a secret and whether or not they are really are dating in anyplace but in Hyungmo's mind is a question that has yet to be answered.

This is an interesting title, especially given that it gives us a view of the cram school environment (though they are not exactly cram schools by the Japanese definition) in Korea. There are some cliches wandering around and I think I see some story elements coming, but neither is this title a complete cookie cutter. The guy is spineless, but he's not clueless. He can see through the front that others are putting up to encourage him, though it does take a little effort on his part. It is also a snapshot of that point between high school and college, where people whom you've known all your life leave you behind -- literally in the case of Hyungmo -- and you have to figure out what you are going to do next and how you will shoulder the new responsibilities that come out of that time. Hyungmo does still have his parents around to rely on, but he now sees his relationship with them differently, as he has to prove to them that their faith in him is justified. But then those annoying cliches masquerading as characters wander back in, so while it has something worthwhile story-wise, there is a lot of other stuff obscuring those elements.



Stand By Youth, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

Good Luck, v.2

by E-Jin Kang
Published in the U.S. by Tokyopop



Slugline: Not confused enough yet? Don't worry: at the end of v.2 we start throwing random passers-by into the mix.

I will admit that I have more trouble keeping Korean names straight than I do Japanese names. It does not help that "Shi" and "Hyun" both show up in more than one person's name. But I'm trying, because this series has gotten a few genuine lols out of me and that's worth fighting for when you're old and jaded.

Shi-Hyun both survives the betrayal of a friend and consents to a first date with the hot boy at school, which then turns into a tangled web of romantic interests including the hot girl at school and Shi-Hyun's adopted brother. And then she starts flirting with a guy on the train and it looks like he'll be sucked into all of this too. (Run! Run while you can!)

The art swings from fun to romantic at will, and the dialog drifts toward the melodramatic but still rings true. So it's still a thumbs-up and I'm glad to have finally found v.2 -- I was starting to worry they'd canceled it right out of the starting gate.

Check out our review for Good Luck, vol. 1.



Good Luck, vol. 2 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Miranda