Seo Moon Da Mi - They, Too, Love, vol. 01-05

(almost done with the weekend manga writeups)

octopedingenue recently posted some manhwa recs, of which this was one.

Eun Myoryong and Jung Euimoon are the only two members of their school's defunct biology club; Euimoon grows vegetables in the old lab and cooks over Bunsen burners while Myoryong tells morbid fortunes with her tarot cards. They're eventually joined by two other students, the rebellious Banha and gay Chunpa.

There's some love quadrangle stuff going on; Banha likes Euimoon who likes Myoryong who likes Chunpa, but that's not really the focus of the series.

Instead, it seems to be a series of shorts on the students and how odd they are. Some of them are touching, some are just wacky and have frogs. I think I would have liked it much better had I gone in with the expectation of that and not an actual plot, but a reread will be a lot of fun.

What I like the most is how odd everyone is and how different aspects of each character get illuminated in different chapters; it reminded me a lot of Kare Kano even before octopedingenue said so.

Yun JiUn - Time and Again, vol. 01-02

(eta: changed author name and title to reflect the licensed version)

Ok, I think I'm done! Whoo!

Lord Baek Un and his companion/swordsman/servant Ho Yeon go around putting ghosts and other such spirits to rest in Tang Dynasty China, though Baek Un's clients usually find out that they're better off not asking for his help in the first place.

(I didn't realize it was Tang Dynasty China until reading the author's notes, largely because all the places they refer to are Korean. "Wow, Korea of this time period looks an awfully lot like the Tang Dynasty!" I thought. "Oh," I said when I read the notes.)

Some of the stories remind me of early xxxHolic; they're morality tales in which people get what they ask for but not what they want. Baek Un is particularly uninterested in educating people before they talk to him; he'll make a brief attempt to dissuade him, but not much after that. Some other stories don't have Baek Un or Ho Yeon in them at all.

We also get hints at Ho Yeon and Baek Un's Tragic Backstories (I am certain they are tragic); I'm looking forward to getting more.

I sort of wish Baek Un and Ho Yeon were female -- they would be Yuuko and Chae-Ohk from Damo! It would be awesome! But oh well. At least later on, two potentially cool women show up, even though they're side characters.

Definitely going to keep reading this for more Asian mythology and folk tales, especially because the appendices for each volume explain where the author got the stories. And I like the art and am looking forward to Tragic Backstory, especially because I am sure it will explain why Ho Yeon is so loyally devoted to Baek Un.