Review: 0/6 (zero/six) Vols. 1 & 2
Published by: Netcomics
Writer & Artist: Youjung Lee

176 (162) & 192 (180) pages.
Original Language: Korean
Orientation: Left to right
Vintage: 1998. US editions December 2005 and March 2006.
Translation: Jane Choi (1) & Jeanne (2)
Graphic Designer: Eunsoon Cheon
Editor: Jason Lee Oakes (1) & Philip Daay (2)
Publisher’s Rating: Ages 13+

Rating: 3 out of 5

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Premise: Boy, Moolchi, meets Girl (Robot?) Jong-e. She knows Kung Fu. She claims that her job is to protect Moolchi, which she does any way she can.

Synopsis:

Moolchi Ga is every bully’s favourite target: He is easy to beat up, always willing to fork over a little cash, and his athletic prowess is only developed to the point of being able to run away. He gets beat up daily.

One day after his beating, he comes home and is asked to sign for a package. A large package. Jong-e, to be exact. At first, she doesn’t move, which worries Moolchi a little. When she does start to move, he gets worried a lot. She beats up the bullies for him, which doesn’t solve his problem or improve their attitude. She follows him to school, which leads to more misunderstandings, a few more beatings, and another set of problems.

Jong-e either learns quickly, or is slowly gaining more and more of her personality the longer she is up and operating. While in chapter 3 her movements are still stiff, and her conversation skills severely lacking, by the end of volume one she is not only talking, but talking back, and it’s apparent this isn’t just some living doll sent to serve her ‘master’ but a much more complex problem, and relationship, for Moolchi to deal with.

Of course, Moolchi is changing, too. In volume two, he finds that he’s grown somewhat suddenly overnight, and he is both more capable and maybe, more attractive to the chicks. Kanghee Song is a girl who always sort-of liked Moolchi (not that he noticed) but now that he has more confidence, it seems things are developing on that front, too.

And then things get really complicated. Let’s just say that when Jong-e was sent to protect him, it wasn’t because of the bullies, and scarier things will soon be getting off a plane that has recently landed in Korea…

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Review:

This is a very different style than a lot of manga fans might be used to. Lee uses a lot more ink, with a rather decided preference for hand-drawn effects and shading, and only uses a few grey-scale tones– and those sparingly. (Oh, and the eyes are roughly normal-sized too, not big doe-eyed moë platters.) The art reminds me much more of an independent American comic than of most manga. The effect is off-putting at first, but easy enough to adapt to. I wasn’t even halfway in when I was much more taken by the story, rather than distracted by Lee’s artistic style.

The story can be distracting enough, on its own. I found myself, many times in just these two volumes, thinking, “Oh. so it’s going to be that kind of comic,” when just 20 or so pages later, Lee takes my expectations, blows his nose with them, and tosses them out like yesterday’s trash.

I think he’s doing it on purpose. And the larger story, the one where forces unknown are converging on Moolchi for reasons unknown, still waits in the shadows like some hungry grue, and we the readers are given only scraps and crumbs as to how that’ll play out. There is so much going on in the meantime, though, that you can almost forget the vaguely-outlined frame story that brought (well, shipped) Jong-e to Korea in the first place.

With the high school drama and first romances, along with the occasional fight scene, and the usual hints and peeks (PG-13 teasing)–plus the whole boy and his robot angle–we might be justified in thinking that this is just another teen comedy manga. Except it’s manhwa, and I doubt anything will be manga-generic like we expect. Writer/artist Lee isn’t going to let us off that easy.