Category: Comics

Webtoon Review: Ecstasy Hearts

Webtoon Review: Ecstasy Hearts

by eastasianlover ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Well, although the author’s name sounds Korean (SilentMaru), it seems the webtoon is originally English, so no original Korean name this time. It’s a complete webtoon, with 101 chapters and available for free to read on webtoon. Please note that this a review and not really a recommendation. Then, let’s dive into it right away.

Shimizu Anya is the child of world’s best two tennis players. And hence, she carries this weight of expectations around her to be the best in tennis as well. She might not have been as passionate about tennis as her parents might have wanted her to be, but provoking from this kid called Axel Koizumi ignites a fire within her to conquer him and become the best. The guy Axel, on the other hand, seems to be an effortless genius in tennis, who doesn’t need much effort to overpower Anya, much to the chagrin of the girl. And thus starts a journey, of the girl, to show everyone how her genes and hard work can lead to her taking the crown of tennis queen of the world.

I love the art tbh. And it evolved overtime to become even better.

If we go into depth a bit, Anya is your everyday girl and I relate a lot to her, especially as an Asian kid. This excelling in every field in school and developing rivalry with your classmates hits home too hard.

And Axel is that guy who doesn’t seem to be working as hard as you but still winning at life more than you. He has his own past and problems for sure. But, you can’t help but feel jealous. He helps Anya become better overtime. Oh man! This takes me back to my school days.

Again, the backdrop of the story is quite common. To sum it up in one line, it’s just a girl’s one sided rivalry dating back to her childhood days which leads to a lifelong love. Now that we have got that out of the way, let’s talk about the plus points of the webtoon. I just love the art of this one. Aesthetically pleasing, amazing use of colors, as close to real world as it could be. Sometimes can be too shiny but still lovely.

Plot starts great, there is good character development for Anya and Axel both initially. A lot of chapters come with background music on the official website, so that’s a plus too, gives another dimension to the whole thing. For people, who are interested, there are too many pictures to drool over, it’s got that great an art.

Hot dudes everywhere

Too bad, oh, too bad. The author fell ill towards the end of the webtoon. They might have fell ill earlier but I guess the pressure of releasing the chapters each week took a toll and apparently an old injury came to haunt them back. The abrupt ending of the webtoon led to a lot of complaints and frustration from readers.

The plot reduced to a bunch of unfinished story lines, deviating from the tennis arena altogether and just focusing on the relationships between the characters. Which might not be that bad but departing from the whole premise is just, basically, crumbling down the whole thing. None of the characters got their deserved ending (actually any ending), and we readers were left with hundreds and thousands of questions.

However much high rating I wanna give this webtoon, I just cannot bring myself to give it a good rating nor can I bring myself to rate it too poorly. Now that I think about it, I probably actually vested myself into it. So, if you come across this webtoon, and find yourself enjoying it, just tread with caution. I’ll warn you against the disappointment you’re in for.

I just hope, as every other fan, that the author gets well soon and provides us with an alternative ending, may be a season 2? But who knows. For now, it is what it is. The unfortunate thing about this webtoon is, there is no one to blame for. It was great at the beginning. It had unlimited potential to become one of the best webtoons out there. But well, unfortunate things happen, this is life.

So, there you go.

Conclusion: Great art, awesome characters, cliche story, poor ending. I will rate it 5/10 just because I put so much time into it. In terms of number of chapters though, it is, well short. And I like it that way, so I shouldn’t be complaining much about it.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention but there are too many hot scenes in this one, so I would suggest reading it with discretion.

Final Feelings: ╮(╯ _╰ )╭

Read here: Ecstasy Hearts on Webtoons.com

Personal Section: Nothing much to write here. It has been truly hard to juggle everything with my lack of sleep. But I am finally getting Fridays off, so I have something to celebrate lol.

I’m heading out to my Sunday work after finishing this post real fast. Everyone, let’s look forward to Thanksgiving holidays where it is celebrated.

Tis the season of winter, a chill is running down everywhere, including my relationship with some people. Hope, spring comes soon 😀

Today’s song: Let’s go with this guy, I don’t even know why I chose it:

Webtoon Reco: My Letter (연의 편지)

Webtoon Reco: My Letter (연의 편지)

by eastasianlover ♥ 0 Leave a Comment
Your letter ch 2

O.M.G. Like how can one person write such a wholesome and most importantly complete story in just 10 chapters? And a while back I was talking about a good story line in less than 50 chapters.

You read that right. Just 10 chapters. Not novel chapters but webtoon chapters. This week I bring you guys a story which would make your hearts full. It started publishing back in Feb. I think I started reading this webtoon in March, but never realized that it would finish so soon, and I miss it. I truly miss it. Another Wednesday webtoon came to an end. And it had such an impeccable timing too. I can recommend it to my readers this week.

The webtoon, written by Cho Hyeon A tells the story of a girl called Sori. Kind and caring, Sori stands up for a girl being bullied in her middle school and becomes a victim herself while her friend transfers away. Ultimately Sori has to transfer from her middle school as well and she finds herself traumatized from her past experience and hence, a bit difficult to interact with people in new school.

Your letter ch 1
I don’t know how many times I have asked that question to myself till date. It’s so relateable…

Afraid that she might face similar situation again, she decides to keep to herself. And then she finds a letter under her desk in the class. This results in a treasure hunt where the guy who previously used to sit in Sori’s seat, takes her on an amazing discovery of magical places and new friends.

Apart from its pros of great art and amazing plot line, that you usually might find in my recommendations, this webtoon has an unusual charm to it. It takes you on a ride of nostalgia of your school days where you might or might not have formed great relationships, not with just classmates but people around, may be gardener or janitor. Also, the special corners in your school you might have shared only with very precious friends.

Your letter ch 3
Special friendships and special places 😌

Of course it raises the ever rampant issue of bullying. And I certainly am a fan of media that raise social issues or inspires one. So, it gets more points for that.

Regarding the art, the use of only 2-3 colors in each panel gives it a unique flavor in my opinion. It’s like finding happiness in really dull life/moments. And so, for me personally, the colors represent the dullness while the plot drives towards a happy ending. It gives the webtoon a dark vibe and fits really well with the overall theme of the webtoon.

As for cons, I don’t have any. It could have gone all wrong given that it’s just 10 eps but its delivery is just fantastic. By the time you even start to try to find any flaws, it gets over. It certainly gives Ghibli Studio productions like feeling. And it’s not even a 15 mins read, so I don’t think anyone reading this has anything to lose. Below is the official trailer from webtoons.com

Conclusion: It’s a really heartwarming story and while it’s a shame that it ended so soon, it doesn’t feel that bad. It was a nice ending and the webtoon truly deserves the rating it has on webtoons.com. I cannot recommend it enough. It’s just so precious that my heart warms up just thinking about it. I guess I’ll go read it again.

Final feelings: (づ ◕‿◕ )づ

Read here: Your letter on webtoons for free

Personal front: This is the first time I have finished writing the whole post before personal section, since I started it. I was perhaps dreading writing it? But right now I am going through really bad phase of my life. Without delving into much details though, I just hope it passes soon.

Anyway, a friend of mine earlier this week introduced me to two new boy groups called The Boyz and Stray Kids and OMG, I am finished. They’re such precious boys. I have officially become a noona fan (although I would be a noona fan to iKon too ;-; ).

I guess they would be my solace for now as Infinite and SuJu were in 2015? Or Exo were in 2017? Wow, I see a pattern here, odd numbered years. Hmm, that’s sad. Anyway, I’ll leave it at that.

Today’s song: Being a new fan I guess it will be songs from these two groups for a long long time. I am not going to lament on lack of songs to post now lol. Below is the song from Stray Kids which I have been listening non stop for some time now, on loop. Also, shout out to my friend who introduced me to these groups. It’s actually so much fun having fellow k-pop lovers.

Disclaimer: All the pics above are property of webtoons.com and Cho Hyeon A. Nothing here belongs to me. Today’s song is the property of JYP Ent.

Webtoon Reco: My Boo (투명한 동거)

Webtoon Reco: My Boo (투명한 동거)

by eastasianlover ♥ 5 Comments
My Boo 1

This week, I am recommending another short-sweet-love and slice of life webtoon from South Korea. It’s been very very long since I finished any manga/ manhwa/ manhua tbh.

I might review Barakamon when its last volume comes out late July. But otherwise, I’ll have to really dig out all the manga I have finished and probably read them again to review. I might actually do that someday but right now life is hectic and I will, perhaps, continue reviewing ongoing webtoons.

Webtoons are the craze these days anyway. Not only Naver’s original webtoons.com have it, but apps like Tapas and Tappy Toon have ever increasing collection. Not to mention, the Chinese webnovels being converted to colored webtoons have taken over the world by storm as well. People who’re already paying to read novels are now also engrossed in their respective webtoons, pouring in more money. *Cough Cough* Qidian is getting richer by the day… *Cough*

My Boo is the love story of a human girl and a ghost guy. When love transcends the boundary of dead and alive, that’s when you get My Boo. It’s not a new concept and I am following another webtoon these days on a similar theme called Ghost Wife.

My Boo 2
I ship ❤

Anyway, the protagonist of this story is a girl names Yuri So who can see the ghosts for some reason. She has had traumatic past with them and tries to avoid them as much as she can. She finds it hard to maintain a balance between her powers and her urge to help when she sees one in distress.

She works as a freelance translator and moves into a new house whose previous owner was our ghost, Jun Ko. He died in the house and is stuck there for past 3 years. First Yuri avoids him and outright rejects him just to not involve herself with him. But slowly she starts understanding him and herself and they become housemates in real sense, ultimately falling in love for each other.

My Boo 3
My Boo 4
I love the dialogue delivery too. Peaceful yet powerful.

What I like the most about this webtoon is how maturely it’s been written. Each chapter starts with a glimpse from Yuri’s past, especially her traumatic experience after which she decided not to involve herself with the ghosts.

It also gives the POV of both Yuri and Jun and how their feelings change for each other. With just 47 episodes, the story is fleshed out so well, I can just feel all the feels again. The emotions in this webtoon are so real and so relate-able, I just can’t. I ended up binge reading it again.

As I said, you can just feel it all with just two characters. Like the whole 47 chapters is majorly with just two characters. OMG, I have whole new level of respect for the author Jeongseo. How can they make something so good with just two characters? You can feel Jun’s helplessness when he can’t save Yuri from falling from stairs or when he can’t drive her to hospital like her ‘human’ friends or when he can’t touch her or when he can’t hold her.

My Boo 5
I feel so helpless just reading this one dialogue, dammit!

Same for Yuri, she can’t save him. She can’t bring him back. She can’t help falling for him either. But fate has something else for them. Their interaction is so fluffy, so awkward initially and turning into sweet moments later. Anyway, I’ll warn beforehand, this webtoon has a bittersweet ending, one which would make you cry and smile at the same time.

And the next best thing about the webtoon is art. Realistic, simple, cute and just amazing. I wish I could draw like that. There is also a 3-D effect about it. The author has real understanding of angles and perspective. Since Jun can pass through objects, most of the scenes need to be presented from unusual angles and I personally feel that Jeongseo-nim has done an excellent job regarding that.

I don’t really have anything negative to talk about. I loved the webtoon to the core.

Conclusion: Giving this like 110/10, highly highly recommended from me. It’s max 2 hours read and is so very engrossing. It has a rating of 9.77 at webtoons.com!!! So, it’s just not me lol. Also, forgot to mention earlier, it also has cute cats. Now I want a boo of my own.

Final feelings: (❤ω❤)

Read here: My Boo on Webtoon for free

Personal Front: I had a very rude awakening this week. So, I was telling some juniors of mine how since they’re in college, they should not be wasting time like how I did and they really have golden opportunity right now and of course I was rambling on and on. It’s actually become a habit to be lecturing those people because I thought I cared and didn’t want them to repeat the mistakes I did but well. And one of them really opened my eyes.

So, if I, as a person who’s like perhaps 6 years senior to those kids, tell them stuff like this, I am acting like their parents and lecturing but if another person who’s just 1-2 years senior to them says exact same thing, they listen. I realized two things then and there: the power of peers vs. anyone else and plight of parents.

We listen to our peers because we think that they relate more to us and understand us better while blaming our parents for generation gap yada yada. I do admit that parents’ way of telling us about adulting might not be the nicest and their advice might not really be suitable for the current economy and circumstances and times etc., but we can always mold their advice to suit ourselves. I guess I would be paying more attention to my parents’ teachings and try to understand them more from now on. Thanks for the valuable lesson whoever the person was.

In other news, I might have to update my last review for the Golden Eyes because the plot went downhill way too fast. After 18th episode, I am so frustrated but I cannot drop it because I have seen further trailers and they’re yet to tell the secret behind the power. Aarrghh, such decisions in life, I tell ya!

Today’s Song: I don’t remember if I have posted this song before but I am back to listening to this song since I have been watching Lay’s drama:

Webtoon Recommendation: Super Secret (슈퍼 시크릿)

Webtoon Recommendation: Super Secret (슈퍼 시크릿)

by eastasianlover ♥ 1 Comment
Super Secret Webtoon

This post was supposed to be the first post of 2019 but I somehow ended up reviewing a webnovel first. So, although I had written this post in the first week of January, I had to change the whole intro again, (basically write everything again). Oh well. I have moved some parts of my intro to the personal section of the post, if anyone’s interested

Anyway, today I bring this super cute 4-panel webtoon for you guys. Completed just a month back, it’s one of my favorite webtoons, kind of. I feel so happy for the characters. But damn, I’ll miss my Wednesday update every week.

Written by author by the name of “eon”, it is a rather short webtoon with 144 chapters only and a webtoon rating of 9.82!! So I guess it comes highly recommended from webtoon readers?

It is a heartwarming slice of life romcom (interesting combo tbh but I am seeing this combo popping up again and again these days) about a clumsy girl called Emma Ji whose parents live abroad and her childhood friend Ryan Nam who has been taking care of her, performing all duties of a mom, a dad and her best friend.

Super Secret funny 2
Lol, Emma admits it herself

As *two childhood friends who fall in love with each other but the girl doesn’t have a clue* cliche as it sounds, what sets it apart from other stories like this is that Ryan and his family have a secret. They’re supernatural beings. Ryan himself is a werewolf, his two sisters are witch and a nine tailed fox (Trust me, it’s not a spoiler! It is just a secret for Emma, not the readers XD XD). These guys helping Emma with her normal life while trying to keep their super secret a secret from everyone including Emma and her friends create real hilarious situations.

More than that, you really feel for Ryan. He is hopelessly in love with her. While our airhead Emma tries to just live her life, she’s totally obvious to Ryan’s or her own feelings. Added to the mix are problems that arise from Ryan’s secret, since in this universe, humans are not allowed to know about the existence of the supernatural beings.

There are of course ways to evade that rule but it involves so many complications that it often poses danger to Emma and her other hooman friends. Her friends also get involved with other super beings.

Super secret funny
Like you’re ever gonna do it >.>

What I really like about the webtoon is the art, which is super cute and fluffy despite being based majorly on humans (super beings in the form of humans, but you get my point, right?). And the author has really not bound the story and characters by any boundaries in the sense that even Ryan’s family contains all kind of beings, which is interesting in terms of procreation (Can you think of a Frankenstein and a Korean spirit/ Goddess with children who are nine tailed fox, witch and a werewolf? Unless they’re all adopted? No information there). I mean, it’s fine, don’t wanna go into nitty gritty stuff.

I also liked the comedy part. It’s not laugh out loud kind of comedy but just funny. You feel good reading it. I wouldn’t comment on character development because it’s not really a plot driven webtoon. I mean there is an overarching theme of how Emma discovers Ryan’s secret and their feelings for each other. But it’s not like you get to see people grow beyond their flaws and stuff.

Super secret 5
From the author’s postscript…

What I don’t like about the webtoon is that it wasn’t originally supposed to be this long. Near the end, there was a lot of stuff in the plot which seemed unnecessary to me, and the author admits it in the last chapter. They had planned it only for 50 chapters but it went on to become almost 100 chapters more. They’re not unbearable and I won’t know how it would feel to binge read it. Perhaps it would make more sense reading it all together?

But somewhere I did get lost in the plot. It seemed to be like every Korean drama where a point comes and you just want to skip to the end. It was not possible for me because I was obviously following it while it was publishing and reading one chapter per week.

Super secret funny 3
Uh, I might be slave to this cutesy art too XD

Conclusion: Personally, despite my reservations about the unnecessary additions of characters and plot to keep the editors happy and just for the sake of it, I really like it. In my weekly schedule, for months, this was the only webtoon that I followed that updated on Wednesday (I have started 2 new webtoons now, so Wednesdays don’t seem empty anymore). And I really looked forward to it every week.

So, I would still recommend my readers to give it a try. It’s not that long that you would feel that you’ve invested too much time reading it anyway.

Final feelings: (o˘◡˘o)

Read here: Super Secret on Webtoons.com

Personal Front: Well, as I mentioned earlier, this post was to go up in mid-Jan as I came back from India to US after a vacay of 3 weeks. I was feeling a bit of non-belonging-ness to either US or India, although I have lived some 23 years in India and 2.5 years in US (time indeed flies!!).

Like you know, I have mentioned this before but I don’t really get attached to places. Not my undergrad college, not Thailand, not my previous place of work, not here. And Pittsburgh is actually the place where I have spent 3rd longest time of my life at one place. It all seems very interesting to me.

Anyway, there is nothing much to tell on personal front otherwise. I am 1/5th through this book called “Common Stocks, Uncommon Profits” and I am loving it so far, more so because I finished those 60+ pages in 2 hours, thanks to an online friend.

I asked her to work for an hour on some project without getting distracted and being accountable to each other for the work we decided upon. It actually feels good to be accomplishing something like that. I see myself using this technique of productivity more often in the future.

Today’s song: Somehow got hooked to Taemin’s new song. Although I don’t like how changed he looks with regards to body (too thin and a bit shorter compared to before? I feel like he doesn’t have bones in his body anymore!), I am loving the sound. It feels okay putting on repeat and listening at length, plus the lyrics are so narcissist, that it inspires some confidence in otherwise under-confident me (Today I realized that the meaning of the song could be quite sensual as well):

Disclaimer: All the images used here are property of author eon and webtoons.com and have directly been taken from the website. Nothing belongs to me or the blog.

Webtoon Recommendation: unTouchable

Webtoon Recommendation: unTouchable

by eastasianlover ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

unTouchable 1

Time for the first review of 2018! Yay!! I am sorry that the first review is coming out in June itself. I just needed to figure my life out, which hasn’t really happened yet, but baby steps 😀

I have been mentioning for quite sometime that I have been religiously following some webtoons since last year. The introduction of Naver’s own English translations of their original Korean webtoons has made access of quite a few of these to the non-Korean audience way easier. Not only that, they have now original creations in English as well (Sarah’s Scribbles anyone?).

So, today I bring a vampire based story. The fans of Orange Marmalade would definitely appreciate this one. Also those people who were disappointed by the open ending of that one would totally love this series.

Pfft, such an interesting start

Plot: The story is about a modern vampire Sia Lee. In her world, vampires live by touching normal people and absorbing their energy. Yup, no blood involved (except a few nasty vampires, as usual). So, Sia finds this guy called Jihoo, whose energy is so delicious that she is unable to absorb energy from any other person after she tastes his. Jihoo on the other hand, has OCD. He hates touch and is quite a mysophobe. They end up becoming neighbors and falling for each other. But Sia’s vampire background and Jihoo’s childhood and germophobia, Sia’s childhood friend Baryu, and of course, the villain whose real intentions are unknown till the very end, pose real obstacles to the development of their relationship. Are they able to cross those and be together? That you can find out on reading the webtoon.

Characters: There is a vast variety of characters in this webtoon. You would find yourself changing your opinion about everyone with the progress of the story. Sometimes, Sia is too clingy and you can’t help but pity Jihoo. Sometimes, Jihoo is a jerk. Their families are no better. You end up developing a love-hate relationship with each and every character. You want to punch them in face but also get to see the other side of their story and empathize with them. This is especially true for Sia’s family; her sister and her dad. Their overprotective nature towards Sia makes you root for Sia’s rebellion but then you get to know why they do what they do.

I love the way the author has weaved the plot to give a happy ending to everyone, even the villains. And, that my friends, I would say is the biggest strength of this series. There are some loose ends, as usual. You would struggle a bit relating to the villain, because of lack of background, but it still works. You’re too engrossed with the main couple that you wouldn’t really feel like delving into this side character’s story. I mean, it doesn’t really affect the flow of the webtoon, and that’s the best part.

Has comedy too!

Not to mention, it has that element of mystery to it. One keeps guessing the motive of the villain till the end. And how our two MCs would end up as well.

Art: Art is just beautiful!! There is a consistency in the drawings and backgrounds are just amazing. The use of subtle colors keeps it easy on your eyes. That is another reason to read this one.

unTouchable 4
Colors ❤

Adaptations: So, the webtoon has been adapted to a Chinese Drama called ‘I cannot hug you’. I have watched the drama and might review it sometime in future. It is pretty close the story of original webtoon but deviates a bit when it comes to the villain and actual ending. But still a good adaptation.

Final verdict: The webtoon comes as highly recommended from me. More so, because it’s completed now, so one can just binge read it on a weekend. And you won’t need to wait for the episodes each week! It is rated at 9.69/10 on webtoons.com. You can read it here completely free: unTouchable on webtoons.com

Today’s song: I think I’ll still put another Jolin Tsai’s song here. From next post though, I might start putting spring anime’s OST. I am hooked on some, and gotta find them soon on YouTube!

 

Webtoon Recommendation: Divine Bells (신령)

Webtoon Recommendation: Divine Bells (신령)

by eastasianlover ♥ 2 Comments

I was going through the drafts on my blog today and there is no text in any of my drafts. I don’t understand what happened. Anyway, I see that a lot of people are getting interested in webtoons lately and hence, I decided to rewrite this piece (because the earlier text I wrote is now missing).

Plot: Divine Bells is a historical fantasy by Lee Hye which tells the story of prince of an unknown country in the land of six kingdoms. In this world, if a girl has divine powers, she is considered a priestess but if a guy has divine powers, he’s considered unlucky (ok, some messed up world this is). The story starts with the ceremony of divine bells choosing their owner.

There are eight divine bells which appeared 150 years ago (they were actually made by a powerful witch/ priestess). They choose their masters, mostly kings of the six kingdoms and the number of divine bells possessed by a kingdom determines their influence. Till now, kingdom of Dae Hyun has possessed three divine bells and kingdom of Myung Joo, none. Others have either one or two divine bells with them. The king of Dae Hyun has recently passed away, and hence, our protagonist, king Hong Ryung has come to take part in the ‘divine bells choosing their owner’ ceremony for the same reason. However, everyone is of the opinion that the three divine bells will choose king of Dae Hyun again. Hong Ryung has no interest in the ceremony either.

But, call it fate (or the author), one of the divine bells ends up choosing Hong Ryung. Hong Ryung, himself is a kid and faces opposition from his late dad’s concubine Chui Bi who wants her own son to be the king. The story develops from here to reveal what divine bells actually are, who Hong Ryung’s real enemies and friends are, why he is chosen so suddenly by one of the bells and ultimately, his role in saving/ destroying the world (No spoilers! Phew!).

Art: I love the art. It’s minimal yet portrays everything. There are some scenes which become vertical from horizontal to show the full extent of the cut, which is a bit annoying. But the author changes the drawing style, I would rather say the drawing style evolves throughout the webtoon. The colors become brighter later and it keeps getting better and better (when will I be able to do something like that?).

Characters: There are lots and lots of twists. I read it while it was still publishing, so it seemed slow to me, but since I was writing a review now, I read it once again. 140 chapters aren’t that much. Pace feels okay now. Character development is not bad. Villains become friends and friends become the enemies, there are many many and huuuuuge plot twists. Every character has got time of their own. However, I would have loved it if each divine bell had much more screen time of their own than they were given. You see Hong Ryung transform from a ‘no fucks given’ to the sympathetic guy who prepares to sacrifice himself for the world (well, he is protagonist after all).  Rest you can find out on your own.

On account of not spoiling the story too much, I have to withhold the names, so I cannot say much. But I would highly recommend this one to anyone who has slightest interest in fantasy and history or just general interest in webtoons. There are quite a few elements of comedy as well. Read it here: Divine Bells on EG Scans

Now for today’s song (I don’t even know why I am listening to this one on repeat, it’s neither Korean nor Japanese, it’s an ENGLISH SONG!!!!):

 

(The credits for images goes to their respective owners. None of the images are mine.)

Webtoon Recommendation: Pinocchio(피노키오)

Webtoon Recommendation: Pinocchio(피노키오)

by eastasianlover ♥ 20 Comments

If you’re thinking that this is spin off webtoon of drama Pinocchio, or if Pinocchio drama was made out of this webtoon but you never came to know about it, rest assured (or rather, be a little disappointed), both are totally different.

This webtoon, one of my absolute favorites, is on the verge of its ending (Only some extra chapters left). Written by Maru-ssi (Why do I suddenly remember Kang Maru from The Innocent Man?), this particular piece is so full of emotions and drama, that shoujo lovers would definitely go gaga over it, once they read the story.

Pinocchio 1

The story is about high school student Choi Ha Ram who, one day, gets to buy a beautiful necklace from a suspicious place. After she wears it, she starts seeing a ghost named Yu Ga On, who doesn’t have memories of how he died or what happened to him but has a feeling that he did something bad to his family .

Ha Ram rejects him first because she seems to find herself in trouble whenever Ga On is near her, but develops sympathy for his situation and lets him live with her. She even starts helping him to create fresh set of memories taking photographs and teaching him to write even though he can’t hold or touch anything. But she keeps Yu Ga On secret from every one else including her childhood crush Han Bit who is handsome, kind, pursued by a lot of girls, her senior and has recently come back to be her neighbor. She has been madly in love with him.

Pinocchio 2

During the course of the webtoon, she confesses to Han Bit too only to be rejected more than one time. The story continues to reveal Yu Ga On’s mysterious past, the truth of the guy who sold HaRam the necklace and obliteration of his soul ultimately. (This, in no way, is a spoiler since the actual ending is quite different, and a happy one, from what might seem from this summary. Keep guessing or go read the webtoon!)

I soo want to give spoilers right now, but well, I’ll hold back. Anyway, the webtoon is full of feels and unexpected twists including Yu Ga On’s real story and who Ha Ram ends up with. The “twistful” nature of this webtoon full of cliffhangers (no cliffhangers for people who read it now but one would definitely appreciate the flow it has been made with) has been kept up till the last chapter. Most of the readers would find it difficult to digest what shows in a chapter at first until they read the whole thing (which happened with me in the very last of the webtoon also) and have tears roll down their cheeks and heave a sigh of relief on reality of events.

Pinocchio 3

Pinocchio 4

It also compels the reader to think about life and how our regrets might be hurting not only us but others as well. And that feelings need to be told and forgiveness needs to be asked, you may not get a second chance at that.

Art is great with great use of vibrant colors (Han Bit’s hair color >.<) and there are a lot of touches of comedy. (I love rom com webtoons and manga)

The whole translated webtoon is available here by EGScans. This webtoon has a prequel too, though I haven’t read it, called One Winter which has Yu Ga On’s story of what he was doing before meeting HaRam. Anyway, highly recommended webtoon.

Side Story 1: I always end up not writing a Happy New Year post (or any other occasion’s post, as a matter of fact) and this year too I am tad late but I wish that may this year bring everybody great health, prosperity and happiness.

Side Story 2: One of my blog’s reader has asked me very recently (few hours ago) to keep my rants with myself. I got that comment once before too, so I have decided, I would stop writing about my personal life. I won’t stop writing about my travel or study experiences though. And I won’t remove the earlier posts either.

With that, I will take my leave. *Wanders off to laze around in warm sun after so many chilly days*

Manga Recommendation: Seiyuu Ka! (声優かっ!)

Manga Recommendation: Seiyuu Ka! (声優かっ!)

by eastasianlover ♥ 1 Comment

Today I bring you a manga which teaches you about the voice actors in Japan. Seiyuu is the Japanese word for voice actor. A story by Minami Aki, many say, it accurately depicts the general hardships, a voice actor faces during their début and further in their career.

Plot – This story is about Kino Hime who joins the Hiiragi academy, a top notch school for voice actors. She is inspired by a Seiyuu called Sakura Aoyama who helped her when she was little. She has kind of complex towards her younger sister who is cute and adored by everyone unlike her. The major problem is, she has very scratchy voice, and that’s why she earns the nickname – Gori Hime (Gorilla Princess). Her another problem is Kudou Senri, the son of her ideal, who is harsh and blunt about Hime’s voice. He doesn’t leave any chance to insult her. In the initial days, she is put in a group of bottom four students in the class.

Seiyuu Ka! 1

Everything changes when she is scouted by a famous voice acting company and she has to pretend to be a guy and hide her real identity from everyone. She keeps improving and making new friends on the way. Plus she changes the hard Kudou Senri in her guy form, little by little.

Analysis – This manga talks about the recklessness of a girl who is determined to prove herself. Human beings’ determination to do something is their biggest weapon is what this manga teaches. It also tells about the importance of friendship in one’s life – unselfish one on the top of that. In terms of values, the 70 chapters have lots of elements to learn. A girl who stands up to face her problems even when her own mother looks down on her, I’m touched *brushes the tears away*

Seiyuu Ka! 2

Other things – Again, if we talk about the art, it’s great! It’s full of many many great looking guys 😉 Has many romantic elements too, not just between Hime and Senri but others too. A good time pass and a great read! I am a sucker for good plot in manga and this one does justice with the plot as well the characters. Also, great to learn about the voice acting industry in Japan since much research has been put before writing it. Highly recommended!

Read here – http://www.mangahere.com/manga/seiyuu_ka/

Today’s Song – Another Naruto OST from Asian Kung-fu Generation 

Side Story 1 – I got myself a language exchange partner for Japanese. I hope my Japanese studies would come on track now, since we decided to write each other everyday. I am very happy and excited.

Side Story 2 – Today was supposed to be my “No Laptop Day”. I am addicted to this guy and my day starts and ends with my laptop. So I decided to have a day when I won’t use it. But damn my plans. There is nothing I can do without it.

Webtoon Recommendation: Nineteen Twenty One (열아홉스물하나)

Webtoon Recommendation: Nineteen Twenty One (열아홉스물하나)

by eastasianlover ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Do you ever compare your lives to animals and get inspiration from them? I know, we consider ourselves the highest beings on the earth, but like Shaolin martial arts is based on movements of animals, their lives can teach a lot too. That is the theme of this relaxing webtoon.

Plot – Two separate lives, Ju Dong Hwi, our hero, 19 years old and Lee Yun Lee, our heroine, 21 years old are brought together by their love for cats. Ju Dong Hwi is a carefree person, same as a cat. He is the philosopher of the story, who makes the girl and us realize a lot of things about life. He has finished the high school, but doesn’t take admission in a college or a job, just because he wants to live his life to the fullest before turning into an adult at 21 years of age.

Whereas, for Lee Yun Lee, the life has become a big mess after an accident just before her college admission exams when she was nineteen and she lost her life’s two years. Now she has started prep school again, but reluctantly, because she is half embarrassed to see her juniors being her classmates at the prep school and half despaired.

Nineteen Twenty One 2

They both find solace in watching cats and feeding them. Dong Hwi makes her ponder over the facts that animals don’t pity themselves and keep moving on, why people call cats with no owners as thieving cats and such. They start finding answers to the questions they have been struggling with, with all this wondering and self realisation.

On the top of that, they start making the people in the neighbourhood who hit these poor animals for no reason realize, that they are to be loved too. They start learning and arranging about neutering surgeries for the cats so that their number keeps  in check. And with all this, they find love in each other.

Analysis – This particular webtoon is full of things one can learn from it. First of all, kindness towards animals, especially strays, who generally are abused a lot for no reason. With proper care and treatment, they can be managed too, but we need to learn how. One of the solution provided here is neutering surgeries, but again the question comes who’s gonna pay. *Sigh* Money is a big problem after all.

Then it poses a lot of questions about life in general. We should not pity ourselves and treasure our lives and go on, to achieve our dreams. It also addresses the impact of what parents say knowingly or unknowingly, on their children. Ultimately, it forces the reader to think about a lot of things dealing with general life, in just twenty one chapters.

Nineteen Twenty One 1

Other things – Author John and artist Jenna, both have done a great work with the Webtoon. Since the art is generally based on real life photographs, generally from the neighbourhood, sometimes the cats don’t look normal – neither proper pics nor proper cartoons. But everything else covers up for it. Flowers especially are detailed and beautiful. To any person, I would recommend this webtoon, any time, anywhere.

Read here – http://read.egscans.com/19-21

Today’s Song – Well, as I said here, I’ve got a lot of songs now to share. Today I’ll go with this MV which I absolutely love. This song is OST of bleach – 

Image credits – Easy Going Scans

Manga Reco: Kagerou Inazuma Mizu no Tsuki (陽炎稲妻水の月)

Manga Reco: Kagerou Inazuma Mizu no Tsuki (陽炎稲妻水の月)

by eastasianlover ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

I saw the cover photo on the website and the drawing style – I knew it had to be Ame Arare Sensei’s manga. And I was right. This mangaka’s drawings are so very intricate and delicate. I want to meet Sensei once in my lifetime TT_TT

Genre – Romance, Tragedy

Plot – Four one shots again. First three stories are tragedies and last one is a happy ending (which made the day I read it on, otherwise I would have drowned in the puddle of my own tears).

1. Kagerou no Shou – Kagerou was sold by her parents to become an oiran (read ahead). She was a bold child and became friendly with the person who transported her to the red-light district named Ryuuji. Before he left her there, she asked him to be her first customer. Now, years later, she is ready to take the customers but Ryuuji doesn’t have enough money to buy her services even for one night. Does her dream come true? Go and find out! TT_TT

2. Inazuma no Shou – Wakana is another oiran, and beautiful and popular one on that. She wants to free herself from the shackles of the prostitution and lures out rich men into giving her expensive presents which she pawns in order to save money. One of them is Mitsunori, who is a high ranking person in society and a shy guy who wants Wakana’s services only. But Wakana gets disappointed when Mitsunori gives her inexpensive presents out of love. After spending one proper night with her, he disappears for three months. On the other hand, Wakana becomes pregnant with his child. In the end, he comes to buy her out and make her his wife. What is the end to this love story? Go and find out! TT_TT

Kagerou Inazuma Mizu no Tsuki 2

3. Mizu no Tsuki no Shou – This is one of those stories, which start happily and you’re happy happy. And suddenly, tragedy befalls and all you can do is ponder what happened. This is the story of Suigetsu, who by chance meets her brother one night as a customer. Her brother promises to buy her out in future. But the poor guy he is, he can’t afford her services everyday and no one knows the secret that they are cousins. His master also gets surprised when he asks him to bring him there again considering he had been reluctant till now. But Suigetsu gets terminally ill before losing her virginity. Her brother tries to obtain medicine illegally but are his efforts enough to save her? Go an find out!  TT_TT

4. Nagasaki Bojou – This was the most different and definitely the most informative one. It is about the times when foreigners started coming to Japan. Otaki is chosen to serve in a colony of Dutchmen. It would be her first time but she has apprehensions about a foreign partner, the language barriers and other things. She is very reluctant but her luck, she meets a super nice guy who cares for her and doesn’t touch her without her consent. They fall for each other and Siebold (her partner) proposes to her. In the meantime, her very beloved senior catches a really bad illness. Otaki, against the rules, return back with the permission of Siebold. When discovered, she is asked to server other customers since she ran away. In the end, Siebold takes her as his wife before everyone’s eyes. Slap in your face, you bad people. Take that!!

Analysis – The topic is same as Hira Hira. Setting is kind of same, just that it deals with the time before Geishas appeared. The courtesans at that time were called oirans, and everything was much more complex and difficult during their time. More you can read here.

The theme is told by the title itself. It means something you have near you but you can’t have it – something on those lines. The major difference in both of the pieces is that the first one was more concerned with their lives, this time it’s more about love.

Kagerou Inazuma Mizu no Tsuki 3

Again, it teaches that human beings have no right to tamper with the lives of other people and treat them as trash. These ladies were the most intellectual and artistic beings of their times. They were in the power to reject the most influential people. But they weren’t in this position or profession by their choice. Call it fate or circumstances of their parents that they had to do the work against their wills.

They are not to be demeaned in any manner, no matter what! After all they are also human beings, with pride, feelings and emotions.

Other things – Art is awesome as expected from Ame Arare Sensei. I have read a lot of historical manga but those sharp lines, those details, from eyelashes to the flowers on their dresses, that is something I admire a lot about Sensei. If you read this sensei, I’m your very very very big fan, though I have read only 8 stories of yours.

Warnings – Doesn’t have that much details but contains a few scenes which may offend some people. But since topic is sensitive, scenes need to be so, to deliver the right emotions. So read on your discretion! It is definitely NOT hentai, take my word.

Read here – Kagerou Inazuma Mizu no Tsuki Manga

Today’s Song – Haha, this is a funny MV. It will definitely help after reading the manga, I’m telling you:

Manhua Recommendation: Once Again (初.末)

Manhua Recommendation: Once Again (初.末)

by eastasianlover ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

So, I’ve appeared with another review and this time it’s a manhua. You know what’s a Manhua is, right? No? Manhua is chinese version of manga. Many of those are colored and they are generally done by hands and not computer softwares, is what I’ve heard.

This manhua has been written by Feng Xi Shen Lei. Also called, The Beginning and the End: Once again, this particular piece reminds you that humans get so busy in work, that they forget why they were working in the first place.

Once Again 1

Plot – The manhua follows the story of a guy named Yuan Ge who is handsome and at a high post in some company. He sees everybody in the terms of gain the relationship with that particular person will bring to him. He travels in subway trains despite him being on a higher position because he thinks that traffic jams are a wastage of time.So you can basically see what kind of Scrooge he is!

Story opens with him ignoring the news of his wife’s death while being in a company meeting. Apparently he makes all the arrangements for his wife’s funeral but is unable to attend. On the top of that, he thinks that he has completed his duty towards his emotionless wife (which he thinks she was). He can’t even remember her face well.

After some days, he starts noticing a 14-15 year old girl in the train he takes. He has been shown intelligent enough to deduce what a person’s profession and position might be in their respective companies by their clothes (pretty much same as Sherlock Holmes, no, it’s not shown like that though). But this girl is mystery to him. He sees her everyday but as soon as he is distracted by even one thing, he loses sight of her.

Since he never gets to talk to her, she slowly starts driving him nuts. He goes as far as to get checked for pedophilic tendencies in him since the girl is way younger than him and he takes his feelings for love.

Once Again 2

*Spoilers start* – Can’t do without the ending can I? But if you’re still tempted to keep it unknown, I must say that it’s pretty interesting. So you can go and read the manhua yourself to uncover the girl’s identity.

He finally decides to chase her and reaches his old school where past memories come to him and it is revealed that the girl is his deceased wife only. Earlier, he blames his wife for everything but now he discovers that it was him all along. He had promised the girl that he would earn a lot of money to buy precious gifts for her. As he starts becoming ambitious and rising the ladder in his company, he asks his wife to change for him. She has to leave her job of kindergarten teacher, shun her cute image to be able to blend among the wives of higher ups, suck up to them for his husband and ultimately along the way, she falls sick. On the other hand, Yuan Ge stops coming to home, or comes late at night and goes early in the morning and such and such. The wife has been shown pretty caring. She prepares food for him as early as 4 o’clock. This finally breaks him and he realizes his mistake of ignoring her completely.

Analysis – From life point of view, I think that the author has shown a proper present life scenario. I mean, I don’t know if it happens everywhere around the world, but it does apply to Asian countries, especially patriarchal societies where they think that it’s a girl’s duty to look after the household and related chores.

Even if we don’t go to that side of the story, it in general depicts how the life has become so fast paced that we forget every thing, including our relationships. There is no time for talking, for sharing emotions, for anything. We’ve become too busy in earning our bread.

Thus we need to rediscover ourselves because we’re missing a hell lot as this guy Yuan Ge realizes. We need to re-remember main purpose in our lives which we have lost sight of, becoming too entangled in the society and material life.

Other things –  Art is good. Plot is awesome. I loved the self discovery thing and the author doesn’t fail to compare the thoughts of the guy pre and post his realisation of the truth like he hated the monotonous breakfast she used to keep for him every day on the table and later he finds out that even though she was sick and coughing all the time, she would get up every day to prepare fresh food for him. So he basically lives his life once again, through memories, to get to know that had he cared for her health earlier, she may have been alive today. But they say that we realize value of something or someone when we lose it. It’s the fact of life and that’s what has been shown here.

In just seven chapters author has shown all kind of emotions and I respect that. Oh, now I realize, this one also has seven chapters. In the end, I would say, highly recommended!!

Read here – http://www.mangahere.com/manga/once_again/

Manga Review: Boku wa Kiss de Uso o Tsuku (僕はキスで嘘をつく)

Manga Review: Boku wa Kiss de Uso o Tsuku (僕はキスで嘘をつく)

by eastasianlover ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

I don’t know what happens to me sometimes and I stumble upon such things which aren’t worth the time. This time I bring you a review which says DON’T read the manga if you don’t want to end up hitting your head on your wall as to why even the story was made. I mean who can write 7 chapter manga on just one kiss? Yeah, this managaka did.

Boku wa Kiss de Uso o Tsuku 1

Plot – So the story goes like this. There is this girl Kitazono Meiko, who has a complex about her slanted eyes and hence, secludes herself in the library reading books. One day she falls asleep and is kissed by a guy. When she wakes up to find him, she is met by four super-handsome boys – Shindo, who is the library monitor, is a senior, Mikoshiba is another senior who is one of those cold kind of guys. Then there is Mogami, who is in her class and is outright about his feelings for her. Last one is Hachiya, a junior of hers who is cute type. And then the seven chapters are all about finding the guy who kissed her.

What I didn’t like – First of all, how can four guys fall for the same girl at the same time? I’m so freaking jealous. I mean, one or two is right as happens in a lot of shoujo mangas but this is too much. Second, how can one fall for a guy who has stolen her first kiss while she was sleeping without knowing who, how and what he is. There comes a time in the manga when one needs to ask herself, what am I doing, where am I? The story is something that can’t happen even in dreams. Meiko is just after knowing the name of the guy and then she would fall for him out of the blue? BOOM! What crap!

I became so thankful to the Mikoshiba guy when he confronts her about the same. What a dumb girl. And in the end, she chooses the one, who kissed her. If we talk about the probability of choosing the right person, its 1/4. And it happens. What in the world….. (-_-* )

Some would say it’s at least different. Yeah. And so are other lots of works which present an acceptable universe to comprehend. This one is just out of the bounds. I’m sorry for the harsh words but I just can’t do anything about that.

Boku wa Kiss de Uso o Tsuku 2

Other things – Art is good. I’m following the same mangaka’s another manga – Reimei no Arcana which I’ll review after it finishes (which I don’t see anytime soon) and that story has some weight. But this one seriously fails on the plot. I thought, since it is short and not as short as a one shot, it may be an interesting read but now I so regret reading it. I know seven chapters are not many, they won’t take much time too. But it’s still stuck in my head. So if you ever find this one in recommendations by your favorite manga site, DON’T get into the trap of lesser number of chapters. It could’ve finished in just one chapter, may be two at most. Has hints of humour too here and there and that’s it. I can’t find any other plus points since I’m so pissed off with the story itself.

I’ll give rest to it here. I don’t want to degrade the mangaka coz I like her other story and faithfully following that one, but I would rather not read any manga than dealing with these kind of plots. Of course, that is upto my discretion. but if you are still curious and end up reading it, tell me how you find it in the comments below. I won’t post the link here since I don’t want you to curse me when you finish it. ¯\(°_°)/¯

Oh, and it’s not colorful opposed to what is being suggested by above two pics. They are just the cover pages.