Goong

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Goong is a Shoujo, Romantic, Comedy, Drama dealing with the all-too-familiar arranged marriage set-up but in an unfamiliar Korean monarchy setting. So you can expect your characteristic shoujo romance in the forefront, but with political ploys, betrayal and power struggles in the background.

First of all let me say… this is an amazing manhwa where the author brings forth an interesting question for its plot, “what if the Korean monarchy wasn’t just a memory but still an active part of society?” This plot is able to bring forth a number of issues that have rarely been dealt with before in a shoujo manhwa such as: ... social status, ascension of the throne and the true power of the monarchy. With that said, Goong is still like most Rom/Coms where the main focus is on a typical girl named Chae-Kyung, whose forced into a relationship she had no intention of being in and into the royal family. The romance side of this manhwa is entertaining nevertheless it suffers from unnecessary stalling, where the smallest issue prevents any romantic progression resulting in “back to square one” syndrome.

Just as the story contains numerous stereotypes; some of the characters also fall into the category of the shoujo stereotype. Take the 3 main characters for example: the heroine Chae-Kyung is one of those fairly naïve ‘hates him but falls in love with him’ kind of girls, then the male protagonists; Shin who enjoys teasing our heroine & Yul who showers our heroine with affection to form your much loved/hated love triangle. However unlike most manga, the author uses these stereotypes to her advantage for the comedic aspects and also adds a whole another layer to the characters to give them much needed depth. Unfortunately no matter how relevant the supporting cast is, some eventually go from being a necessity to an annoyance and the Eunuch is a perfect example of this.

On a plus side at least the artwork is almost without fault, because just from looking at a page you can tell how much time and effort the author spent researching and such to ensure the Korean monarchy look is just right. Everything from the hairpins to the robes look exquisite and the characters are nicely designed to go with all this. The only reason why this falls short of a perfect score is that the jump from this gorgeous look to the comedic look is far too great.

Overall Goong is an exquisite manhwa that effectively deals with your typical shoujo romance and your not-so typical monarchy plot quite well. Good thing here is that it faithfully incorporates all the royal customs & etiquette of the Korean monarchy however both the scanlated & official Yen Press release can be a pain to read, since there’s a tonne of Korean terminology to get used to. At least this doesn’t ruin the experience but what does is the unnecessary comedy and the random shounen-ai moments that are just thrown in to appease the fangirls. So in the end fangirls would love this to death but even if you don’t fall into this category (like me); as long as you come into it with an open mind, you’re bound to find something good out of it.

*SPOILER-FREE*

I believe the downfall of this manhwa was its poor characters, repeated plot structure, and an extremely drawn out story which quickly became boring.

The beginning of the series was actually really cultivating. Although there are many stories of forced marriage between royalty, I quickly warmed up to this one. I saw huge potential and since there were many chapters I was expecting a great plot with a lot of character development. But I was wrong. Around halfway through the story I noticed that I became very agitated and annoyed while reading this. I couldn't figure out why. I continued on. Eventually I figured out ... that I began to hate every single character. All the characters were whiny little bitches who had no backbone. They ridiculously continued to make the same horribly stupid mistakes again and again. This would not be a problem if it was one or two characters, but it was the whole cast. I have to give props to Hyo-rin for becoming my most hated character that I've ever seen. Even with these horrible characters the series still had a chance to succeed. If there had been only 50 chapters the manhwa could have been great. Instead the plot dragged on repeating the same plot ideas over and over again to the point of me not even wanting to read anymore. As the story dragged on I began to hate the series more and more until I got to the conclusion, which I thought was horrible.

This manhwa was a huge disappointment and I honestly wish I had never wasted my time reading it. I would definitely not recommend it to any type of reader.

Story- 5
Art-8
Character-1
Enjoyment-6
Overall-5

Goong puts an interesting spin on the "historical" type drama. This hybrid of the modern world with a historical monarchy focuses on The Palace and the royal family within. However, we also get to witness everyday life such as school life as well. Many elements are typical of shoujo manga, including the main characters' interactions, but the character development and the story builds into very worthwhile drama. Also, interactions between the feisty female lead and the cold-hearted male lead add a nice touch of comedy.

Goong also features beautiful art. From the scenery of the palace, to the clothing worn, ... there is wonderful detail all throughout the story.


Best of all. Goong is still ongoing, and I expect even greater thing in the coming chapters.

If you have watched the drama, don't skip this manhwa. It's a lot different and it definitely has its own outstanding charms.

Still, having watched the drama first, I was surprised at how different Shin was in the original source. Here, he was your usual arrogant and spoiled rich kid - whereas in the drama, he was cold, more controlled and quite reserved.

Chae-Gyung, however, was still your normal and average heroine whom you can easily empathize with. Having her life changed like that, I can actually feel how lonely and miserable she was inside the palace. Not to mention that in comparison to the drama, ... the royal household in the manhwa is really strict and much more suffocating.

Anyway, I'll stop mentioning the drama and focus on the manhwa now.

If there's something worthy of praise, it has to be the originality. It's not easy to think of possible scenarios that could occur in AU Korea - and it's really amazing how the author illustrated these "what-ifs."

The art here is really gorgeous and it improves in every volume. I really like how detailed the scenery and the clothes were. The characters also become more and more attractive especially Shin and Yul.

Now as for the plot and characters - I guess what I love the most in the manhwa is that you get to see how the protagonists fall in love. It was slow and gradual yet very convincing.

Having brought up by such an environment, Shin was first introduced as a stuck-up and selfish jerk who's not capable of caring for others. When he and Chae Gyung were forced to get along, he begins to feel emotions that were new to him and eventually realize that he's actually missing a lot of things in his life.

It's also the same for Chae Gyung. She was a hyper and cheerful girl who was suddenly thrown into an unwanted marriage. But then, the more time she spent with Shin, the more she got to know and understand him - which eventually leads to her pitying him. And in which such pity turns to love.

Their relationship made me feel a rollercoaster of emotions: I laughed, get angry and cried along with them and the situations they get themselves into. It's true that the story got draggy - but then, I didn't mind it that much cause I did enjoy the ride and it made me like the main characters (yes, their flaws included).

I guess the only disappointing thing was the ending. It was left out in the open and there were still a few unresolved plot points. But since the manhwa did spend a lot of time building up the characters and their relationship, you can already assume that it still end in a positive outcome.

Also, I find it hilarious that the author makes fun of shoujo/drama/romance novel stereotypes. I mean, even Hana Yori Dango was mentioned!

Overall, the author did a great job in balancing the comedy, drama and romance. Recommended!

I feel almost horrible for doing a review like this, because I should, by all accounts, be giving this manhwa a solid 9 or 10. When I look over everything I've just read, all the areas that attract me to a story were covered. Plus, the art was great. Why, then, do I have an underlying gentle hatred towards all of this? Well... I don't know.
ART:
I think we can all agree that whether you liked or didn't like this manhwa, the art was exquisite. It was beautiful. So beautiful, in fact, that sometimes I just paused on a certain page to admire it. It ... was that good. I cannot find a single fault in it.
STORY:
Now here's where the manhwa really lost a lot of points with me. I feel like the author could have cut easily 25% - 40% of the plot, and the story would turn out so much better. There's only so many times I can read through a scene where someone is about to say something life-changing, only to be interrupted by whatever interrupts them, and then awkwardly refusing to say it. I just couldn't take it. I couldn't take how so many of the things that happened seemed to happen for absolutely no reason. What seemed to be problems that could be easily resolved in the span of 2 - 12 words were dragged on for chapters. People got angry for no reason, and didn't get angry enough when there was good reason. Too much crying, whining, and not enough actual logical procedures. It made me angry as I was reading it, which I don't think was the original intent.
CHARACTERS:
Okay, they all started out with so much potential. I thought the main leads were quirky, funny, everything that I like in characters. Then, slowly -- I'm still not even sure how -- I ended up hating each and every one of them. I honestly cannot recall a single character who I consistently liked throughout the manhwa. I don't mind if the characters screw up a few times, that's okay. I don't mind when they make stupid decisions sometimes. I DO mind it when they make the same mistakes and stupid decisions OVER and OVER again. I'm pretty sure every other chapter included a scene where a character sat down, and was like "Well, I screwed that up. *insert obnoxious sobbing and whining here* I must now go out there and screw this situation to the point where I am the biggest screwer of situations who ever screwed.". By the end of this whole semi-fiasco, I honestly couldn't care less whether the two leads got together or just said "Fuck it, I didn't like you that much to begin with anyway." and left it at that. And honestly, all of the secondary characters were such pricks. I'm pretty sure most of them were inserted to just be pricks but at different times -- to provide variety. I tried to like people, I really did, but you can't ask me to do something that would crush any morality that I have left inside me.
OVERALL:
... Now, despite everything I've said, I did finish it. That says something. Well, I finished it provided that I've seen the drama (which leaves out 80% of this manhwa, and changes roughly 10% of it), and I actually really enjoyed it. I felt as if I would almost be betraying the drama if I didn't push through this endless black hole of depression.
If I have anything good left to say about this, it would be the following. The comedy was pretty good. I enjoyed the humor that was injected into here, most of it managed to make me laugh out loud. When the characters weren't forcing themselves into self-induced love traumas, when they were actually with each other and not being all stupid, their scenes were pretty cute. The angst was hardcore -- so if angst is for you, you will seriously fall in love with this. It was a complex story, and it had a lot of things going for it; it just wasn't for me.

You can tell straight away that a lot of work has been put into it: from the costume designs (always super detailed and in accordance with the historical theme), to the character development. (SKIP TO END IF YOU WANT BRIEF CONCLUSION)

First, I think that, compared to the art in other korean manwhas, this one's was pretty good. I had a few moments when I thought "Omg, that must have taken ages to draw, it's really detailed and beautiful". The clothes and buildings are really nice and varied.
Second, the story. This is going to include some venting though... The idea of the story is GREAT. If ... it were written slightly differently, it would be the PERFECT shoujo that I would read again and again. BUT: the way the author wrote it, it soon became very tiring and long. It was very repetitive, obvious what was going to happen, even when there was an event that surprised me, I could predict who and how was going to make it go wrong. In the end, you just want to give up because of how the main characters are constantly torn apart again, and again, and again. It kind of feels like the author just spread the story as long as possible to keep it going longer, which ruined it. If it had been a few volumes shorter, and had a better ending (you know a better "reward" for reading all of that), again, it would have been rated one of my favourite mangas.
Finally, the characters. This was one huge flaw: there were a lot of times where I was super confused about how they had come about a decision, or how they fit into the story. There is also a huge focus on background characters, which only confuses you more, (eg the eunuch and Yul's relationship is super bizarre from love to hate to something awkward...). The main characters and the king/queen are the only consistent characters. They are really well developed and aren't "black and white" like most mangas would make them: they change, don't do what you expect them too, and act like real human beings would (I think this is the charm of the book).

So all in all, this is a good read, I'm glad I read it, but I seriously think that once you get to volume 12 or 13, it all starts going downhill and repetitive. I was tearing my hair out by volume 17. I think something the author overlooked is that when someone picks up a shoujo, it's obviously because they want to feel good about a relationship, like catharsis: overcoming the obstacles with the couple and then being rewarded and happy when they can be together. This is absolutely NOT that. If you want a nice romance that you can stupidly smile at (unfortunately a habit of mine ;) ) and cry and finish with a huge grin and feel giddy, DO NOT READ THIS. But if you want a proper story, basically a novel with pictures, then this book is defo for you, and is very well written (malgré all my bad-mouthing... I was just so frustrattteeeed!!!).

I started with goong by watching the live action drama, falling in love with the story and needing to read it till the end. The concept is a fantastic one that you find a lot in Kdramas and manhwas of a fictional monarchy. this story imparticular deals with a girl becoming a princess, to a prince who she clearly is the opposite of and having her free spirit being contatined by palace rules. This story is also about the love triangles that form resulting in scandal, death and some serious aplogizing.
i loved the way the characters were drawn here, and especially the detail ... to the eyes and lips. I found that the structures were okay, but the people and clothing drawn was really good.
As previously mentioned I fell in love with the story and watching the characters develop, however I felt the author drew it out for a long time. It really could have ended a vloume or two before it did. Parts were very boring and static, and the overall theme of the manhwa did not change for about 5 volumes. the side stories seemed to really be worthless and the author admitted to wasted pages in the 2nd to last volume. I really felt that because it dragged on without any real new development of the story the author rushed through the end, making it unsatisfactory. in 2010 this was one of my favorite reads easily earning it a 9, however a poor ending gets it a 8.
I still will suggest it, because who wouldn't want their parents to secretly engage them to a HOT prince?

enjoy.

In spite of having so many chapters and reach 27 volumes, this manhwa keep attracting my attention. Although at some point i feel tired because it is so long, the conflict is still there and it makes me keep reading it

There is only this one major conflict in this manhwa and it keep continuing till the end of this manhwa and it makes me love it even more, because the conflict is not made up. When finally the MC and ML got together there is still a conflict that break them apart and it doesnt make me bored reading this manhwa. I can see the ... development of each character especially the ML ( shin ) who is a cold and prideful person in the beginning, but started to change and becoming more soft and actually a very caring person. Overall i enjoy reading this manga and i recommend this for the shoujo lovers.