Young-You Lee

Originally posted here at Anime Radius.

As the manwha series Moon Boy comes to a close, I definitely have to say this: it did not suck. At all. This is almost a miracle in itself, since it has always been very uneven in terms of quality, bouncing up and down with each volume between ‘pretty good’ and ‘author didn’t care today’. But not only did the author care today, she cared a lot. All the pieces have fallen into place, the players of the game have taken up their positions, and the final play for the series' finale has begun. Everyone is pursuing their own respective agendas in full force, a lot of character arcs are drawing to a close, and Myung-Ee as the main protagonist is finally pulling back the focus to her and Yu-Da as well as the war that has been brewing in the background for so long.

One thing that is just absolutely spot on in this volume is the artwork. Lee YoungYou's skills really shine through on each and every page - and the panel ordering is outstanding as well. If you look at how she layers out the scene between Hang-Ah (in Chi-In's body) and Yumei, the effect is just striking. The contrast between Hang-Ah at the window and Yumei in bed, how we watch Hang-Ah's back as he talks while Yumei watches him from bed then climbs out of bed slowly - that is how you make a dialogue-heavy scene dramatic. That's how you use the visuals of the page to your benefit.

Another thing about Moon Boy's finale that makes it impossibly enjoyable is that it's not an easy ending. Lots of people get hurt, some of them even die, and things change that can never be changed back. The memories retrieved in last volume of their past lives do not come and go without repercussions. The conclusion isn't easily reached by those involved; for Myung-Ee to get her happy ending with Yu-Da, some terrible things have to happen. In other words, this is an atypical finale for a series like this one. Even the 'happy ending' is not a perfect ending for everyone, but it won't leave the reader bitter for things that could have happened instead. Sure, some of the events seem a little rushed due to time restraints - I kind of wish Hang-Ah's story arc had another chapter to fully develop before ending - but nothing feels so rushed that it seems cut off before it was done.

To compare similar series with similar endings, look at the underappreciated fantasy manga series Planet Ladder by Yuri Narushima. Not to spoil any potential readers (and really, everyone should read that manga) but at the end of Planet Ladder, everyone who is still alive has settled into their own personal place with the people they've found along the way, and everyone has changed in such major ways that they have clearly become different people than the ones who started the journey in the first place. There's also the fact that, um, impending world's end, but no one seems particularly bothered by such details. Like Planet Ladder, the Moon Boy finale brings its characters a kind of respectable calm - for some of them, domestic happiness is theirs, while for others all they have left after the war is a literal shell of what they really wanted. But no one is left wanting and no one is openly hostile and everyone is satisfied on some sort of level, even if for some people the reader may not ever understand why they're not angry at what's happened.

That's the thing about Moon Boy: you get what you put into it. It's true for both the cast and the readership. For those readers who pursue the series into the end, they will find a finale that will sate them and leave them gratified that they followed the story to its natural conclusion. It's a full serving of action and drama sprinkled with humor and romance that, while not perfect, is pretty darn close given the series' track record. Also, you can now make the argument that Yu-Da/Myung-Ee/Sa-Eun is totally canon now - and that's awesome.
… (lisätietoja)

Originally posted here at Anime Radius.

The end of volume seven, which I've also reviewed here, showed an upkick in action and a whole lot of Myung-Ee that I think readers have been missing since earlier volumes: someone who was bright and spunky and not afraid to speak her mind or defend her choices. I had hoped that, when volume eight came into my grasp, it would not prove my hopes of the series getting better wrong. They did not. Bless my heart, Moon Boy has finally realized that near the end of its run it should actually make an effort in pulling out all the stops and try to make a finale that will be both memorable and enjoyable. It's doing this by pushing the story to its limits and making things happen - actual plot developments that matter in the long run! Catch me, dear reader, I seem to be falling into a dizzy faint! And to add to this excitement, we finally get something I always crave in these kind of reincarnated fantasy series - backstory! Mainly, backstory for the enigmatic Sa-Eun as well as the past lives of both Myung-Ee and Yu-Da, and these scenes are in no way just window dressing but serve a greater purpose - that is, explaining why the heck current events are happening as they are. These are explanations that are sorely needed and they do not disappoint in their explosive natures, including a brand-new twist on the Myung-Ee/Yu-Da relationship and a fresh insight into Sa-Eun's character. Sa-Eun is fast becoming one of my favorite characters in the series: he's brash and unpredictable and has a complicated and troubled history that this volume draws upon and uses to develop him further in some very satisfying ways - I don't think any fan of his will be disappointed with any of his scenes (and if you like me love you some Yu-Da/Sa-Eun, I know a certain scene that will have you squeeing excitedly in your fujoshi knickers, let me tell you).

Once again, I'm still not sure if Moon Boy knows what it wants to be - and that is dangerous considering the next volume is their last, and not exactly a great time to be on shaky ground in terms of series self-identity. It clumsily shoehorns humorous scenes into more serious sequences and drifting away from what has always been the main focus of the series - that is, Myung-Ee's pursual of Yu-Da and the clash between foxes and rabbits. In fact, until we see Myung-Ee's flashback sequence, it seems like there's more fox in-fighting than any foxes vs rabbits trouble. At least the story is progressing nicely, with many plotlines getting ready to reach their conclusions. I know I'll be looking forward to how the sub-plot between Yu-Da and Ha-Eun, especially given her choice of a new vessel at the end of this volume and how Yu-Da reacts to it. What YoungYou can't get right in terms of a cohesive story, they are certainly getting right in art; the artwork in this book is top-notch, especially during the scenes in the kingdom's past. From the outfits to the gorgeous splash pages, this series continues to be a sight for sore eyes - although I wish the panel structure was cleaner and less cluttered, especially during action scenes when the flow of panels is essential to a scene's impact. I can almost forgive these artistic faults just on the basis of the double-page splash in which YoungYou's love for scenery and era-appropriate costumes really shine through.

In general, this manwha is heading for its conclusion fast and judging by what we see in volume eight, it will be very explosive and exciting in nature. Hopefully this series can keep up this general rise in quality, back to how the manwha was in its early volumes, because I'd hate to see this series end with a whimper and not the pretty bang it deserves. Will Moon Boy actually deliver or will it prove right the haters who claim that Korean comics will never be as good as their Japanese counterparts? Only with the ninth and final volume (to be released this November) will we know for sure.
… (lisätietoja)

Originally posted here at Anime Radius.

For a while now, the Moon Boy series has been moving along at a rather leisurely clip, focused more on personal conflict and romantic drama within the main cast on Earth rather than the actual fox-and-rabbit politics that started the whole series to begin with. Luckily, recent events – especially Ya-Ho’s death and Myung-Ee’s actions – have really kicked off a wave of plot advancements that are leading up to an inevitable showdown between the Earth and Moon factions. Characters are stepping up and taking control of the action, making decisions for the good of either the rabbits or the foxes. After all, even though the series is a romance, it is also very much an action series – there’s a war going on, people! And the war between the two sides is becoming more and more evident with Yu-Da’s declaration of his loyalties at the beginning of the book.

The star of this volume is Myung-Ee, and for the first time in so long she isn’t afraid to make decisions on her own. For a character who can be rather brave and bolshy when she wants to, the strong parts of Myung-Ee’s have only recently been shining through. A problem I’ve always found with her is that she has a tendency to let other characters boss her around and tell her what to do, or just lets others walk all over her. She finally starts standing up for herself this volume, which is good as finally the heroine of Moon Boy will have the inner strength needed to carry this series to the finish. There is also her realization of the true nature of her feelings for Yu-Da during the end of the volume that completely changes the game at hand; I won’t spoil it, but needless to say it makes everything different when it comes to the Yu-Da/Myung-Ee/Sa-Eun love triangle that has recently reared its head thanks to Sa-Eun’s confession.

Sadly, these things cannot keep the book afloat as a stellar read like it should; the series seems to be still unsure on how much of it is comedy or serious. The gag scenes in an otherwise serious volume of developments is a major hindering point for the story at large; it is hard to get into a supposedly humorless scene when the manwha-ka insists on throwing in distracting gags and jokes. When a manwha’s story gets sober in tone, especially after a character death, I expect a drop in jokes – and especially jokes that do nothing to alleviate an overly dark atmosphere. Some of the jokes are funny, I won’t argue that, but do they add anything to the story? Do they keep in with the mood of current events? Not really, and while other series can handle juggling light and dark scenes in one book, it seems that Moon Boy is continually falling short on that front.

One other point: the cast. I cannot for the life of me remember half the cast’s names and I’m pretty good with character names. It’s not that they look the same, it’s that it is too big a cast for such a series. Since the focus is mainly on Myung-Ee and Yu-Da only in recent volumes has attention been truly put on other cast members. For example, this book did a marvelous job of putting the spotlight on Ho-Rang and Ya-Ho’s characters. It’s a shame it took killing Ya-Ho to get a more in-depth look at who she is. With the final battle looming on the horizon, we may not get any more chances to get to know our cast any better than we already do, and that may potentially sink any impact the final volume has when it arrives sometime next year. For a manwha intent on relationships, it is rather weak on keeping its cast in the forefront – a crying shame, since what glimpses we’ve had into cast members’ lives makes me think that they could be much more marvelous additions to the story if they had a valid chance to get known. Still, with two more volumes until series’ end, there’s always room for improvement.

Let’s be honest, Moon Boy will not be winning any manwha awards any time soon. But it is entertaining and charming in its own right, with an interesting story and some decent artwork (the chapter pages and characters’ clothes are always a favorite part of the art in each volume for me). Despite the inherent flaws within this seventh volume, fans of the series will no doubt enjoy the upkick in action and the decision to make Myung-Ee a more active part of the plot, not just a girl who happens to be around the other characters. I look forward to reading volume eight come this fall; it is certainly shaping up to becoming an outstanding series before it concludes. I just wish this had all come sooner.… (lisätietoja)