Welcome back to Manhwa Mondays. This week, something a little different, the romantic comedy THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT SUNYOOL.
Written and drawn by Youngran Lee, who I've read is rather famous for romance and romantic-comedy comics, THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT SUNYOOL was a comic that Barnes & Noble's website kept trying to foist on me and I, after repeatedly seeing the ad pop up, finally gave in.
The result? Eh.
The comic is about Sunyool, the bastard daughter of an extremely high-ranking and powerful politician many believe will be South Korea's next president. They didn't meet until she was in her teens, when her mother died and she had nowhere else to go, and the abrupt change in her lifestyle from freewheeling free-spirit to forcibly-well-mannered daughter of a powerful and very visible politician lead her to an extremely rebellious phase. Basically, she's been a troublemaker for years and now her father is trying to marry her off through an arranged marriage (which is still quite common in Korea among the upper class).
Sunyool is resistant, of course, but it turns out that her father's number one choice for her is actually a great guy, and she thinks he's gorgeous, too, which doesn't hurt. After some dithering around and trouble-making (some of which is pretty funny, some of which just seems strained), Sunyool decides to give in her for father's sake and marries Sihyun, the son of a powerful political ally of her father's - on the condition that they not consummate their marriage until they are truly in love. And lo and behold, they do fall in love over the course of the first few months of their marriage. They actually work hard to give each other and their new life a chance and it bears fruit when they realize they are head over heels for each other. Underneath the goofiness, there's a nice little message about how love is hard work, but it's worth it if you put in the effort.
And then tragedy strikes. On their honeymoon (their "real" honeymoon in which they plan to finally consummate their relationship) in France, they have barely checked into their hotel when Sunyool gets a call saying her father has been killed in a car accident while trying to outrun paparazzi. It turns out the country's highest-profile politician has been taking bribes and making illegal deals for political influence for years and a reporter has shown the world proof of all of this.
Sunyool, understandably, is devastated. She never really knew her father, never made an effort to, but she does realize that he tried to do right by her. They cut their honeymoon short, fly back to Korea... and it gets worse. Sunyool's stepmother is disowning her as her father never formally, legally made her part of his family. But who cares? She has her husband, right? Except his family has annulled the marriage--against his wishes, so powerful are they politically--because a marriage to Sunyool is no longer advantageous to them.
And as Sunyool's life falls apart so does the story. What comes next is completely out of character. The strong-willed tomboy who's spent most of her life doing what she wants and fighting tooth and nail against anyone who would keep her from doing so... just gives in. She doesn't fight at all when she's told her marriage is being annulled. She doesn't fight against her stepmother. She simply says, "Okay" and makes a lame joke about how small the settlement her now-ex-in-laws have offered her to disappear is. And that's it. She doesn't fight for the husband she's been so madly in love with for the past 60 or 70 pages? Totally out of character for this woman.
Then the story takes a ridiculously sharp left turn and we're four years in the future, in a different part of the country, where Sunyool has been living and working as a chef in a fancy western-style restaurant where another romance is being set up in the final chapter...
Well, you can tell what I thought of this from the tone. Sometimes it was funny, but more often than not, the jokes were forced and ineffectual. The story was sometimes interesting, but then the writer ignores the character traits she's spent so long establishing. It's a mess.
The art isn't terribly good, either. It's not bad, per se, but not what I'd expect of a comic professional. It varies wildly between the type of art you expect to see in Korean shoujo-style manhwa (see the cover image above) and very cartoony, nearly-chibi-style. Overall, the art is fine... it's sufficient for this story. Rather, it's the story itself that is lacking.
Two volumes of this were serialized before the series was cancelled, presumably unfinished. Only one volume was published in English and it's pretty clear why.
The result? Eh.
The comic is about Sunyool, the bastard daughter of an extremely high-ranking and powerful politician many believe will be South Korea's next president. They didn't meet until she was in her teens, when her mother died and she had nowhere else to go, and the abrupt change in her lifestyle from freewheeling free-spirit to forcibly-well-mannered daughter of a powerful and very visible politician lead her to an extremely rebellious phase. Basically, she's been a troublemaker for years and now her father is trying to marry her off through an arranged marriage (which is still quite common in Korea among the upper class).
Sunyool is resistant, of course, but it turns out that her father's number one choice for her is actually a great guy, and she thinks he's gorgeous, too, which doesn't hurt. After some dithering around and trouble-making (some of which is pretty funny, some of which just seems strained), Sunyool decides to give in her for father's sake and marries Sihyun, the son of a powerful political ally of her father's - on the condition that they not consummate their marriage until they are truly in love. And lo and behold, they do fall in love over the course of the first few months of their marriage. They actually work hard to give each other and their new life a chance and it bears fruit when they realize they are head over heels for each other. Underneath the goofiness, there's a nice little message about how love is hard work, but it's worth it if you put in the effort.
And then tragedy strikes. On their honeymoon (their "real" honeymoon in which they plan to finally consummate their relationship) in France, they have barely checked into their hotel when Sunyool gets a call saying her father has been killed in a car accident while trying to outrun paparazzi. It turns out the country's highest-profile politician has been taking bribes and making illegal deals for political influence for years and a reporter has shown the world proof of all of this.
Sunyool, understandably, is devastated. She never really knew her father, never made an effort to, but she does realize that he tried to do right by her. They cut their honeymoon short, fly back to Korea... and it gets worse. Sunyool's stepmother is disowning her as her father never formally, legally made her part of his family. But who cares? She has her husband, right? Except his family has annulled the marriage--against his wishes, so powerful are they politically--because a marriage to Sunyool is no longer advantageous to them.
And as Sunyool's life falls apart so does the story. What comes next is completely out of character. The strong-willed tomboy who's spent most of her life doing what she wants and fighting tooth and nail against anyone who would keep her from doing so... just gives in. She doesn't fight at all when she's told her marriage is being annulled. She doesn't fight against her stepmother. She simply says, "Okay" and makes a lame joke about how small the settlement her now-ex-in-laws have offered her to disappear is. And that's it. She doesn't fight for the husband she's been so madly in love with for the past 60 or 70 pages? Totally out of character for this woman.
Then the story takes a ridiculously sharp left turn and we're four years in the future, in a different part of the country, where Sunyool has been living and working as a chef in a fancy western-style restaurant where another romance is being set up in the final chapter...
Well, you can tell what I thought of this from the tone. Sometimes it was funny, but more often than not, the jokes were forced and ineffectual. The story was sometimes interesting, but then the writer ignores the character traits she's spent so long establishing. It's a mess.
The art isn't terribly good, either. It's not bad, per se, but not what I'd expect of a comic professional. It varies wildly between the type of art you expect to see in Korean shoujo-style manhwa (see the cover image above) and very cartoony, nearly-chibi-style. Overall, the art is fine... it's sufficient for this story. Rather, it's the story itself that is lacking.
Two volumes of this were serialized before the series was cancelled, presumably unfinished. Only one volume was published in English and it's pretty clear why.
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