Wann - 100% Perfect Girl (Eng. trans.)

[oyceter]

So sometimes I hit the jackpot when I randomly pick things up at Borders, and... sometimes I don't.

It started out promising though, referencing a Murakami Haruki story I really like ("On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning"), which is one of the few stories of falling in love at first sight that strangely doesn't drive me absolutely insane.

And it even begins with quotes from the story, only to segue to J. snatching the book out of his secretary's hand, protesting that it's stupid.

Meanwhile, Jay Jin must struggle to keep pursuing her passion, art; her mother tells her there is no money in art, and she must give up her dream to support her brother in his ambition to become a doctor. Amazingly, there is actually some critique of this that almost borders on a critique of sexism as an institution, but not quite.

J. and Jay accidentally bump into each other in a hotel lobby. They spend a lovely day together that's unfortunately ended when he goes into anaphylactic shock, courtesy of a chicken kebab. And then, since he's the prince of a small, rich, French-speaking and completely imaginary European country (actually king, but the manhwaga wants to call him prince just because, and I know this because it says so in the author's asides), he starts a multimillion dollar advertising campaign to look for her.

I think this would be cute and somewhat amusing -- the art is pretty, the random small rich European country royalty bit is cute (though somewhat overdone), and Jay doesn't seem to be too stupid to live. And then the manhwaga decided to throw in your standard "You make me lust for you and therefore I will attempt to force you to have sex with me, oh sorry, I didn't meant it, why are you angry at me now?" storyline.

At which point I nearly threw the book at a wall, except I was in the Borders cafe and didn't want to kill anyone.

Just in case you couldn't tell, I don't recommend this series.

Comments

Please give it a chance: Trust me, you won't regret it

[(Anonymous)]

I felt exactly the same way as you did about this series: I thought it was really mediocre and fell flat. That is, until I got past the 2nd volume (the first volume was kind of bad and the 2nd, only slightly better). Of course, after spending 2 books worth of time, for most series, that would have been pretty much all there was to it -I basically gave up on the series. But recently, my sister started up on the series again and told me that beyond vol. 2, it got insanely good! Naturally, I didn't believe her, but trusted her judgement and gave it a try. So, after the yawnworthy first 2 books which I remembered so well, the plot took an unexpected turn and plunged me into oblivion. I couldn't believe how incredibly passionate and addicting it got, but trust me when I say that everything past vol. 2 is like the most thrilling roller coaster ride. As an avid manga reader, I haven't been so hooked on a series in ages and this one definitely takes the cake -you wouldn't believe the amount of emotions and plot twists the author injects into the series! At least, get past the 2nd volume and then if you still don't like it, then it's fair to give up on it. But please don't until then.

[abbycat900.livejournal.com]

Well, while I do believe the manhwa does come off a little... off, it does get better. J. stays an ass, and Jay is still confused about the whole thing, but it gets better. I know this is an old review, so, if you were to ever think of picking it up again, I'd suggest doing so ^^

[(Anonymous)]

i just finished reading up to the end of volume 9
it gets very interesting volume by volume
best manga story for all the good ones dat ive read.

[oyceter]

Hey, do you mind signing your comments in the future? It's always nice knowing who's commenting so I can get to know them.