Category: Manga

Japanese Manga

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.

Manga Reco: Love So Life

Manga Reco: Love So Life

by eastasianlover ♥ 1 Comment

Yeah, yeah. It’s been two days after I said I would write frequently. And now I’m running away from it by telling this sort of thing? Oh no no. This is the manga review I’ve been planning for long. I had just forgotten about this heart warming manga by Kouichi Kaede. A recent release of it’s chapter revived all the memories.

So this manga follows the story of an orphan high school girl, Shiharu who suddenly gets involved with two cute twins and their guardian, Sei (I hope this is the right name but since the children call the guy by this name I’ll write this only). The twins Aoi and Akane have already lost their mother and their father left them with his younger brother Sei and ran away. Sei, a TV presenter by profession, is a handsome unmarried guy who, initially faces a lot of difficulty maintaining the balance between the new members in his life and his job but ultimately develops necessary love and affection for them to be able to handle his now messed up life. On the other hand, the unfriendly twins find solace in Shiharu’s care for them at the day care centre and Shiharu lands up daily babysitting job for the children. Now she is helping the babies to learn things to stand up in the society and she is growing with them too. Also, she is developing feelings for Sei. From romance point of view, this manga is still in development stage even after 62 chapters but the love element between Sei and Shiharu has been introduced much later (although in such scenarios, it is kind of obvious that they will fall in love with each other in the end).

There are many other involvements including the twins’ grandparents on their mother side who want to take care of them and are quite persisting in this regard even after Sei’s refusal. There is one another guy who likes Shiharu and their neighbor. Everyone is invloved with babies one way or other and they become the reason for their relationships with each other. All in all, it is a good manga and I’m soo looking forward to it’s anime if it is made anytime.

Still not convinced? This will give you A waaayyy big reason to read it –

images (1) images love-so-life-1599056 love-so-life-1929495

 

These swiggly wiggly little twins are soooo freaking adorable. I first read the manga just because I saw them.

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

Enjoy!

Webtoon Recommendation: The friendly winter

Webtoon Recommendation: The friendly winter

by eastasianlover ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

One of the best webtoons I have ever read is “The Friendly Winter”.

A heart touching story by Mr. Lee Jun, it is about a girl who is 19 years old but has a body of and a 17 year old boy who has a mind of that of small children. The basic plot is about how their fateful meeting totally changes their lives.

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Han Da Jeong is a 19 year old girl with a rare body growth disorder. Her mother left her and her father; and married someone else. Her father is a worker who finds it difficult to make two ends meet. Then, in her neighbourhood lives a guy of same age as Da Jeong whom she is in love with, but has to pose as 9 year old girl in front of him because of her body. In a mall, she meets a panicked Min Seong  who is lost and helps him find his mother. Thus a new friendship forms and they start running into each other often. They feel comfortable and share their own worries and problems with each other. More characters are introduced as the webtoon progresses including Da Jeong’s mother and her beloved oppa’s girlfriend who happens to be her step sister from her mother’s second marriage.

This webtoon not only shows the difficulties in such people’s lives and their immediate family but also others’ attitude towards them. They are misunderstood quite often and have to face consequences for the things they have never done. This one is especially full of emotions and may make you cry too, sometimes. The best part is, you can actually feel their helplessness and are able to fully sympathize with the main characters.

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Highly recommended, even if you are just starting with webtoons. Awesome artwork and just 64 and some extra chapters. (Extra chapters are especially fun…… coz of Lee Jun’s avatar and the way he tells you things with just three or four apt expressions in the whole chapter) Here is the link – Mangahere (This won’t be in long strip format)

SCS Scantalations (From original scantalators, though this one doesn’t need scanning, but oh well….. and you can find raw too, if interested. And I haven’t seen how it looks, so can’t comment about format)

Enjoy!

Manga Reco: Hira Hira (ひらひら)

Manga Reco: Hira Hira (ひらひら)

by eastasianlover ♥ 2 Comments

This brilliant work by Ame Arare  is an awesome collection of four stories related to “Geishas” (courtesans).

Hira hira

Hira hira itself depicts the waving sound of handkerchiefs, flags, paper etc. in Japanese. It is also associated with frilly and lacy things related to girls.

All the stories are basically historical tragedies, set in Edo period. The first story called “Strings of previous existence” tells the story of  a girl Akane who falls in love with Tadaaki, servant of a feudal lord who is frequent guest of her. What does she do to charm him when he doesn’t show any emotion towards her?

Second story, “Dream mirror”, deals with a girl Miyuki, who leaves her house for her sick younger sister Yukie. Her family is not well enough to continue Yukie’s medical treatment. So she becomes a courtesan to earn easy money. But what happens when she receives a letter saying Yukie is getting married when she doesn’t find herself in a condition to show herself to everyone?

Third story, “Jade’s bird” is about Hisui, a girl who has been raised by Shinza Emon, a person of great authority and post. Hisui grows up to become a courtesan under his supervision and falls in love with him. But Shinza gets engaged to daughter of some feudal lord. Does he realize his feelings towards Hisui?

In the fourth and the last story, “Flower Lantern”, Hotaru is someone who doesn’t get many customers. One of her frequent customers is Shigezou, a flower seller. Hotaru snaps after an ex-customer of her, insults her in  front of younger ones. How does Shigezou help her? Is he really coming for her or is there some other reason?

Find out here: http://www.mangahere.com/manga/hira_hira/

In terms of art i’ll give this manga 4.5/5, stories 4/5 and emotions 5/5. This manga shows you that these girls are not just selling their body for fun. They may have circumstances which compel them to do such work just like present world. People have to do something to fill their stomachs, sometimes unbelievable. You and me are in far better off place than many others. And it teaches that they have emotions too. They are human beings after all (I’m writing this particular sentence, a lot lately….. Obviously, some people are being treated like animals, some worse than that and some, who don’t even deserve it, are being treated as Gods. No one is being seen as human being…..that brings me to the question…. what is a human being…….. but this is becoming too philosophical……… no offense to anyone!)

Oh well, this was my first manga review and I chose tragedy for that, I don’t know why. But oh well!

New form of comics: Webtoons

New form of comics: Webtoons

by eastasianlover ♥ 11 Comments

Have you ever read a webtoon? Of course you must have! You haven’t? You are definitely missing a lot! A lot!

Webtoons from Korea are becoming very popular these days. They are very easily accessible and are free of cost. And since they consist of colorful pictures, they are more appealing to the audiences. The effects sometimes are awesome. They go in a long panel, not pagewise. This, in many situations, helps to have more continuity in the chapter and provides more impact and weight in delivering the right emotion.

Orange Marmalade

Some of the authors talk about how they make them through their webtoon itself. In one of them which I finished recently, The Friendly Winter, there was a chapter in which author told that he had used his own clicked photos as the base for backgrounds. That included his neighborhood buildings, shopping malls, streets etc. We can very well assume we are seeing a different kind of South Korea (real may be?) through those pictures.

The freelance translator community for webtoons is ever increasing too. There are a lot of groups and translators working on them like people on webtoonlive.com (at least they don’t need scanlations, that’s why the translation and all is economical too!)

And the plots! All of the stories I have read till now are fresh and out of this world. Be it ‘The Friendly Winter’ or ‘Nineteen Twenty one’. There is a vast variety of genres too, just like manga. Each one seems to give some message also. There are a lot of famous movies from South Korea which are adaptations of various webtoons. The examples include Apartment and Hello Schoolgirl by Kang Pul and Secretly Greatly released in 2010. Flower Boy Next Door, the K-drama starring Park Shin Hye and Yoon Shi Yoon, is also inspired from a webtoon called “I Steal Peeks At Him Every Day”. It also has elements related to webtoon making. You can easily see the characters in the drama (I have just watched the drama, not read the webtoon) using photoshop to draw the characters.

The Friendly Winter

Webtoons are replacing the expensive Manhwa and Manga making. Both the forms of comics have seen a fall in sales in the recent years. The international craze for these is not going down since a lot of material is available online free of cost. But the home business is facing losses. And this is encouraging more people to take up this new introduction in the market. I am not saying manga reading is inferior or something. It has its own charm. It is a lot of hardwork. (Watch or read Bakuman and you’ll find out!) But seeing the trend, webtoons and similar forms may take over the other two in terms of popularity and fandom, in the coming years.

In the end I will say, the webtoons are totally changing the meaning and essence of comics making and reading. You try too. You easily find them on manga sites or see here: http://www.webtoonlive.com/