Authors-Wann

Hey people,

I haven’t finished my last post on authors but I will sooner or later. I don’t have anything planned for this week nor do I have the will to go in depth on another topic that I would like to so I’m just going to be lazy and jump off of last week’s topic, authors. I don’t want to bash on an author nor do I want to choose an author who has written a lot and has been scanlated so please bear with me and excuse me for my laziness.

Wann is a manhwaga. I’m pretty sure Wann is a female because one of the free talk sections in a manhwa, she talked about her being pregnant, also her manhwa chibi portrait is a girl I think….? Anyways, Wann is one of my more recent favorite manhwagas. Or actually, she’s not so much as a favorite as is her stories are interesting and unique compared to what we see these days (so I guess she can be considered a favorite by my standards). She draws shoujo manhwas but a majority of them involve more adult presence than teenage high schoolers. First, her art—the drawings are pretty good and easy on the eyes so they qualify for most people’s standards I think. Males are handsome (especially in a suit and with black hair) and the females are relatively fashionable. Now for her stories…she mixes things up well with different plots touching on different lifestyles and settings. From what I’ve read, there’s been small country royalty, the art world, the rich and wealthy (a few of her manhwas), other worldly, etc. Both males and females are strong character leads in all of her scanlated manhwas so far. Basically it’s the diversity of settings that Wann dips into together with the strong characters that makes her a favorite for me.

The following is a personal note to the manhwas I’ve read by Wann. They’re kind of in order by favorites (length of notes aren't very significant):

Can’t Lose You

This is my above all favorite among all of Wann’s manhwas. It’s not the first that I touched on but it’s the first I enjoyed and read to the end (and rereading a few times right after reading it the first time). I first found it from my local library and later searched for it online with no luck at all until I obtained a direct download to the zip files from someone who had it downloaded from Netcomics. Now it’s available online too but it’s not a scanlated work (the very same Netcomics) so it isn't on batoto but on ad-ridden aggregate sites. 

So…there were a lot of things I loved about this manhwa but I don’t want to be so direct to give too much to spoil so I’ll be very generic. SPOILERS/Synopsis The story is about two people, girls who appear to be each others’ doppelgangers. Lida is rich, heir to an enterprise—she is, in essence, a cold hearted but very insightful queen. Yooi is dirt poor, an orphan but was raised to be a sweet hearted and hard working samaritan. Both are bound to a destiny beyond their grasps from the day they were born. When they meet, attempts happen to be made on Lida’s life so she hires Yooi as her double. Although fate brought the two together, the male lead’s presence, Gaon is significant to the two and their relationship. Gaon is a charismatic and successful young man as well as a cold hearted business man (doesn’t blink an eye to take money from people or have someone killed). Upon the first meeting with Lida, he rejects to be her fiancé but being the only man with his caliber fit to be the husband of the great Lida, she’s insulted. One day he walks by a shop that Yooi happens to be working at and at that moment, Yooi is napping by the window. Gaon is pissed and accuse her of stalking him and then lays a kiss on her. Next thing you know, he’s literally fallen head over heels for this girl whom he thinks is Lida. And so by being Lida’s double, Yooi meets him again and they develop a relationship—whenever with her, his personality turns 180 from his cold hearted-ness. However, with the two girls’ fate, the story isn’t so simple and there’s a lot of action going on especially with the attempt on Lida’s life.

I’m sorry that was a little too detailed was it not? Said too much I think. But anyways, the twist of fate for the two identical female leads, Yooi and Lida as well as the fiancé Gaon who stands between them. This isn’t a simple tale of love as cheesily as I’ve put it. There’s a lot more pressure with fate than with love especially since Gaon’s future is dependent on which of the two girls he decides to fulfill his days with. There are also a couple of other characters and the family of Lida is very crucial to this story. And touching on fate, if you know Greek mythology and the whole prophesy stuff with mythology, then this story is kind of like that. No matter how much you want to change the future, fate has a way to play and force you back to that route is kind of what this manhwa is saying. Also, even though seers can foretell the future, they don't see everything. I just realized it's kind of like how the Fae can't tell lies but they can speak the truth in a twisted way by leaving out details. The details of the future aren't aligned but the future will become as foretold.

Well, for the most part, I feel like it’s a well rounded dramatic story. I love how all of the main characters and secondary main characters turn out to have a happy ending except for one...which makes it a semi tragedy... All in all, it’s wonderful and just one of my favorite all time stories.

                                                                                                                                                                           

The Snow Queen

This is my second favorite manhwa by Wann but I guess this is influenced by another factor as well. This is a shoujo manhwa about a young man who becomes the body guard/chauffer of a spoiled “brat.” Spoiler This is also a tragedy because she has a fatal illness to do with her heart I believe. However their story isn’t as simple as a one day meeting. Her past has been tied to this man through her brother who died when he was young. I think this is a very good story but it has a lot of holes in it in and keeps the reader kind of wondering why and how this and that is relevant in the manhwa. I can’t exactly describe it without talking about the drama it was adapted into. Now, this drama is just really sappy. Literally, I was just crying from the very beginning to like episode 12 I think (it was so good that I remembered) but it was because I just couldn’t bear to cry any more. The manhwa is a good preview for the general storyline of the drama so if you watch it, I recommend reading the manhwa before watching. The manhwa kind of provokes the reader to try to read between the lines which I think is pretty clever of Wann and the drama does a good job filling in the holes. However I’m not sure if Wann had the intention of such a storyline in the drama when writing the manhwa so this is solely based on my personal experience. I guarantee the manhwa and the drama are great as a pair though!

                                                                                                                                                                           

100% Perfect Girl

This manhwa by Wann…many have held it as esteemed but for me, it falls short somewhat but I think it just may be because of my prejudice against harem mangas.  The first time I laid eyes on this manhwa was before Can’t Lose You but it was new in releases. I stopped reading the first few times I tried, I’m not sure why but when I finally did read it, it was because I read Can’t Lose You and The Snow Queen. Anyways..

I love the whole royalty and the whole falling in love between two characters with the same/similar names “J”. It’s cute but when things just got so intense and dramatic with the whole love-hate relationship and the aggressive prince lover…mmm that was a little off putting but I think the obstacles they went through with the whole love hate relationship was really amazing. Destiny really had a way with pulling the two together still. Even though it started off as a fairy tale kind of love story and they went through so much trauma and terror with each other to the point of actually hating each other yet loving each other, gosh it’s really amazing that they ended up together happily ever after if you can say that…

Both characters had SOOOOO many flaws and I meant to use the emphasis of “so” as how I’ve used it. The prince was just an extremely obsessive and possessive lover. A lot of the times, he was (kind of) a douche bag but you know, love has a way of making people crazy ergo “crazy in love.” But, for a powerful figure like himself who has never known love and simply known how to make love, I’m guessing the intensity of falling head over heels was just too much for him. Then there is the female lead…I love that she has talent in art and I admit that she’s pretty and kind of cute but seriously…an harem of men. AN HAREM OF MEN. Every single guy who has laid eyes on her except for her family, (excuse if I have this wrong but) it’s like every single guy literally fell in love with her to the point of laying down their lives for her. I have a prejudice against harems if you’ve read my post on harems and that really got to me about this manhwa. The intense love was already just so much to bear but ugh…every single guy just falling in love with her and every single one of them were all shady and dealt with bad business…she was a bad boy magnet. Also personality-wise...not so impressed with the female lead but I guess she's a different kind of "strong female lead" just not really what I picture or think a strong female lead is. She was kind of weak willed....

Ok, so I have a lot of feelings about this manhwa. I love it (I guess?) yet hate it like the relationship we have in this manhwa but not as intense. Props to Wann for the dramatic and intense story but I really did not like the whole harem of men falling for this “ordinary” but very cute girl (apparently she’s very ordinary in the story but very cute to all the men in the story). Sigh…glad I finally got that out but all things considered, good yet bad, very dramatic—not at all good for the heart yet also sweet. However I think people have disagreements on the ending...

                                                                                                                                                                           

So that's all I have to say for Wann and my experience with her manhwas. She really is a favorite. There are more manhwas but these are the big three. I may update this post at another time to add the other manhwas like Wann's newest 2013 manhwa but another time. Thanks for reading, I hope you've had a nice visit.

Best,

tohukyo