Dec 31, 2009
Do you like Cinderella? Do you like gender swap? Do you like drama? Do you like relationship angst everywhere? Do you like jokes?
You probably like at least one of those things. This story has all of those. But it's executed terribly. So don't read it. (By the way, this is going to be a long review because I find a lot of fault with this.)
Story: Poor. 3.
The IDEA is that the main character is a plain girl. But when she's dressed as a boy, she's cute. And guess what she does from time to time (I mean other than has feminine problems)!
Right, she dresses
...
as a boy. Apparently, by just reading the summary, that also gives her amazing fighting skills, which is more the translators fault than it is the manga's fault, except that it's true that she only fights when she's dressed as a male. Which is silly. Also stupid.
Our poor plain main character is the slave to this chick who everyone calls Princess Mimi because she is the complete opposite of plain and I don't know if this is supposed to be dramatic or funny, but it's neither. The back story between Mimi and our plain female character isn't even really dramatic. All you need to know is Mimi is a stereotypical bad character for this kind of story. All the males like her, all the females envy her and only a few characters see her as terrible. Oh, and the main character's name is Choi Ida, she's so plain I almost forgot. I should also mention that ANY TWIST YOU CAN THINK OF IS IN THIS STORY. So yeah, the back story between these two has to do with Choi Ida's unfortunate family and Mimi's rich one and how one of Choi Ida's parents died and the other is in debt to Mimi's and OMG WHO CARES WHEN WILL THIS END.
Okay! So Choi Ida dresses as a boy to vent her anger because apparently it's impossible to do that as a girl. I think she tells you at some point, but it's probably something very silly. Anyway, she chooses the inventive name Choi Yodah, because her last name is just so unoriginal and EVERYONE has that last name, so no one will assume that they are related at all, except everyone with eyes and a functioning brain. Story ho! The rest of this is really uninteresting. Girl/boy meets boys, boys are awed at girl/boy's fighting skill, girls fall in love with girl/boy, girl/boy can't date who she wants because of bully/mistress, mistress is a bitch, mistress gets other boys and some girls to tease/prank/make life difficult for girl/boy-- I know it sounds interesting (to some of you) but this story is executed SO BADLY. Mostly because the author just did not know what she wanted to do with it.
Art: Pathetic. 1.
You may (or may not) notice the lack of backgrounds in the manhwa. I believe this was on purpose. You do get a lot of gradients, though. And shadows. Every time you switch places, the author TRIES to show you a background, but then is like, 'well, they know where we are, let's not draw that again,' and then we have characters floating around in midair. Sometimes you think you're somewhere, but then the author draws a background that doesn't match. Then you're like, "How did I get here?! How am I here now? Who did this?" For on of the earlier fight scenes, Choi Yodah SAYS you're at the river bank. But you never see the river. Maybe once. But then you see like buildings and grass. That's not a river. Can we have a river please?
Also, Fighting? In my Manhwa? It's less likely than you think. The fight scenes are complete with facial expressions that don't match the actions that are going on, awesome attacks that could also not be attacks, and action lines that are too afraid to get close to the action. Yes, this is a prime example of a true fighting manhwa, but only if a true fighting manhwa is synonymous with terrible. Sometimes the action lines are going in directions that don't make sense with the positioning of a character being attacked. Hint: Believable fight scenes are more than just the attacker looking like they're attacking. In the earliest fight in the book, this is seen once when Choi Yodah kicks some grunt. You don't know where, because there's no marking on the guy. I would say it's the face, but he's not bruised there. And his position is still weird, but he wasn't kicked in the gut or the leg or anything like that either. It's just really bad. And the action lines on Choi Yodah's leg is definitely supposed to be as if he kicked upwards, but is he really kicking upwards, or is he just being retarded? You decide!
Anatomy is important when drawing human figures. That way faces are on heads and not like, partially off. This manhwa is queen of having faces that aren't on right or fight positions that aren't correct because anatomy dictates it. It is important to have those. We readers appreciate it. Also, facial expressions are kind of helter-skelter in this manhwa, it's KIND of like there's there's a light on upstairs, but it's MOSTLY like everyone has a mental illness and hasn't been diagnosed yet. Like some characters I think want to look introspective, but that comes off looking stupid, and some want to be badass, but that comes off looking stupid and some want to be normal and that works out okay until it looks stupid.
Character: Pathetic. 1.
Where do I begin.
For STARTERS, Choi Ida is the most passive aggressive girl EVER. If it is obvious that she is stronger than Mimi I don't understand why she won't stand up for herself. Seriously, if the story was like: "Mimi says: Do my work for me. Ida says: no. Mimi says: Guys, beat her up. Ida beats the crap out of those guys and tells Mimi to shove it," then the story would be OVER IN ONE CHAPTER. ONE CHAPTER. Instead Ida is spineless. Except she's not because SHE BEATS PEOPLE UP ALL THE TIME. This character is so WEIRD. Now if you HAVE read it, you'll probably bring up the back story thing. But that does really MATTER, does it? If Ida beats up five or six boys and then Mimi decides to tell her mother, that still doesn't change the fact that Ida can beat up five or six guys on her own without help. I mean technically that means that she could threaten to kill Mimi and it would be totally believable. Absolutely believable! WHAT PART OF THIS ESCAPED IDA? Did she think Mimi was going to go tell her mother when Ida is around her all the time?
Oh, and then there's Mimi. The girl is an airhead and a bully. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME THERE WAS AN AIRHEAD BULLY? Maybe it's just because she's rich... OH WAIT NO, THAT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE. Even if you're rich, you still have to come up with better plans than 'Let's make the poor girl suffer' in order to make yourself the party with the least amount of blame. that means you can't be an airhead. Even if the author DIDN'T KEEP PANDERING TO THE READERS by telling us Mimi's plans, we would've still known Mimi is behind everything. Because she's always behind everything. World hunger is Mimi's fault. Child abuse is Mimi's fault. And also anything that has ever happened to Choi Ida that is bad is Mimi's fault. Because she's a bitch. But why is she a bitch? Why does she hat Ida so much? Your guess is as good as mine. Because she's poor? Yeah, that's a good reason. Moving on.
Every male character in this series is stupid for reason that can be explained by the following:
-Is in love with Choi Ida, but can't admit it because she's average looking
-Is in love with Choi Yodah, but can't admit it because he's a guy or something.
-Is in love with Mimi and swarms her
-Is not in love with Mimi, but doesn't have an explanation for it.
-Has no character, no real motives
-Is fat, which therefore makes them stupid? Somehow?
The ONLY FAT CHARACTER in this series is the one that's creepy, socially outcast, and placed with the plain Choi Ida. I understand that being obese is a liability, but this is a high school setting so there is no liability for being grossly overweight AND this character isn't grossly overweight. Fat people are not all creepy or socially outcast. So why exactly is this manhwa treating this one like that's how it really is?
Enjoyment: Dreadful. 2.
There are some things that are unique and interesting and new. This is not one of them. It TRIES to be, but honestly with the terrible mix of terrible story + awful characters + that's not art, how could one enjoy reading? I feel like the editor for this manhwa was just like, "this weed is great, also publish this thing in front of me, the covers are colorful and remind me of spaceships." Do. Not. Want.
Overall: Pathetic. 1.
Reviewer’s Rating: 1
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