Since I was MIA for the past couple of months, I thought I'd include a few other things I read this month. I read many more but I thought these were pretty nice with potential to be better. Otherwise, they still touch on more of a romance route so I guess this month is more the month of romance rather than Shoujo itself hahaha! They were all rather enjoyable in their respects but can get a little heartbreaking. It won't make you cry but these aren't exactly the happiest of stories I guess. I usually like these types of stories though haha.
My ID is Gangnam Beauty by Gi Meng-gi
Genre: Drama, Josei, Romance
Status: Ongoing, 12+ chapters scanlated
If you're unaware of what a Gangnam beauty is, I believe it basically refers to girls who have had copious amounts of plastic surgery done to their face and it probably looks quite obvious as well. I didn't know about this before I read this webtoon but just a heads up that its' a story revolving around a girl who has done lots of plastic surgery to get the face above. She was a girl who was bullied for her ugliness since she was young and because of that, she went through this decision. It touches upon things like beauty standards, beauty inequality and society's focus on beauty that must be natural. It's a Korean webtoon and apparently Gangnam is known for the superficiality of the place and the plastic surgery clinics. So really, it's a story of how important beauty can be in society and I guess just like China and Hong Kong, being a bit on the chubbier side is something to be bullied and laughed at as well since being fat can never equate to being pretty in Asian countries most of the time.
But anyway, enough about generalisations. The story revolves around our heroine trying her best to fit into college life with this new face, but since the only thing that has changed is her face, she is undeniably extremely incapable of having the confidence that people can like her, mostly because of how others have treated her in the past due to her ugliness. She tries hard to get out of her shell but is rudely rejected by a disgusting piece of shit that chased after her thinking she was easy and superficial for being a Gangnam beauty and then rejecting her because he thought someone prettier was interested in him. And let's just say, if he only rejected her, that would have been fine since that means she's saved from his disgusting superficiality but he does other things that are plainly irritable, outrageous and downright disgusting as a person. So yes, there are infuriating characters such as this guy and a natural beauty that has a crappy personality as well, so yes rage meter can get pretty high with this webtoon.
Personally, I think this story is rather interesting because I want to see our heroine grow as a person and learn to accept that it's okay to have had plastic surgery and to just basically live as a person, I want to see her happy. I'm not someone who advocates for plastic surgery but I feel like I can sort of understand. At the end of the day, how can I judge someone when her only dream is to be treated as any average person? It's something so simple but yet couldn't be achieved with the superficiality of her surroundings and most probably entrenched in the society itself. I'm interested in how this one will go. It really shows a difficult situation for our heroine to be in. It's like, if you're ugly, people bully you, if your'e a plastic surgery beauty, people bully you. You really can't win in this world, sigh, and I think this webtoon shows just that.
Weekly Boys' Dating Agency by Bak Shi In
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Slice of Life, Romance
Status: Ongoing, 10+ chapters scanlated
When I first read the title of this webtoon, it sounded so eugh but after I tried it, I found that it was a completely different story from what I was expecting and I'm very glad about that. The story revolves around five boys who all became orphans at the same time because their parents died on a trip together. Due to certain reasons, someone picked them up and got them to all live together in one apartment so they could get along since they're 'similar' in circumstances. Naturally, the boys don't get along and don't want anything to do with each other.
However, this all changes when the guy who is paying for their housing and tuition fees says he'll kick them out if they don't live properly, get along with each other and stray away from romantic endeavours that can cause problems. Here, our MC is the only one who cares about this since he's probably the only realistic one that understands he needs the support to survive and so it's up to him to fix the other four up so he can stay there.
One thing I really like about this webtoon is that the pairings are solidified and there probably won't be any annoying love triangles but instead important character growth that needs to be adopted for all the characters. With the death of their parents, they all spiralled down an unhealthy living style with one spending money like it's paper, one that's practically an alcoholic and player, one that gets into fights every day, one that's in a relationship with a teacher and our MC who I guess lacks the empathy and care a normal person has. Although to be fair, the MC and the fighting one is the most normal but you can see that all of them are deeply hurt by their surroundings, situations and individual circumstances. It's hard to hate them because you can see how deeply affected they are with their parents' passing and I am interested in how they will develop.
Frankly, I'm really liking this because I've always been fond of stories where people learn how to bond and care for each other like a family. It's difficult for them to live together considering their existence to each other reminds themselves that they are alone in this world now but I am really looking forward to how our MC will be able to tie them together along with the female partners of each one that will probably help them. Relationships, emotions and portrayals of characters seem pretty solid for now and art is nice so if you're a person that likes complicated 'family' situations that will eventually work out, try this one~
Transparent Cohabitation by Jungsuh
Genre: Josei, Romance, Psychological, Drama, Supernatural
Status: Ongoing, 14+ chapters scanlated
I really really like this webtoon. It can be a heavy one though. It's about a woman who can see ghosts but lives her life pretending that they don't exist and that she can't see them, until an incident occurs where she got caught off guard and the ghost that lives in her house realised that she can actually see him. Although repulsed at first, she begins to understand that her past traumatic experience with a ghost as a child doesn't mean that all her experiences with a ghost will be like that. She starts to break out of her shell a little bit by accepting him into her life and cohabiting with him but really, it's a difficult relationship to root for considering that he is dead and she isn't.
What makes this one interesting is most probably the different insight to how much of a burden being able to see ghosts can be considering the paramount of stories I've seen have a more optimistic view of saving ghosts. Our heroine's actions on a whim as a child ending up hurting her and the ghost she tried to help so severely that it affects her to this day and makes her scared to involve herself too much with others be it ghosts or people. Having to see that event unfold accompanied with the distinct art that translates well with the story gave a very heavy feeling to the memory and it made me see how soul crushing of an experience it was.
Reading this story makes you feel like you're carrying a baggage yourself haha, but it is also sweet in how the ghost and the heroine are beginning to interact and open themselves to each other. It's not a feel good type of story though. I'd recommend it though because of how interesting it was to see how experiences in the past can impact on people's lives so much, I liked the way it was shown.
Weekly Boys' Dating Agency by Bak Shi In
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Slice of Life, Romance
Status: Ongoing, 10+ chapters scanlated
When I first read the title of this webtoon, it sounded so eugh but after I tried it, I found that it was a completely different story from what I was expecting and I'm very glad about that. The story revolves around five boys who all became orphans at the same time because their parents died on a trip together. Due to certain reasons, someone picked them up and got them to all live together in one apartment so they could get along since they're 'similar' in circumstances. Naturally, the boys don't get along and don't want anything to do with each other.
However, this all changes when the guy who is paying for their housing and tuition fees says he'll kick them out if they don't live properly, get along with each other and stray away from romantic endeavours that can cause problems. Here, our MC is the only one who cares about this since he's probably the only realistic one that understands he needs the support to survive and so it's up to him to fix the other four up so he can stay there.
One thing I really like about this webtoon is that the pairings are solidified and there probably won't be any annoying love triangles but instead important character growth that needs to be adopted for all the characters. With the death of their parents, they all spiralled down an unhealthy living style with one spending money like it's paper, one that's practically an alcoholic and player, one that gets into fights every day, one that's in a relationship with a teacher and our MC who I guess lacks the empathy and care a normal person has. Although to be fair, the MC and the fighting one is the most normal but you can see that all of them are deeply hurt by their surroundings, situations and individual circumstances. It's hard to hate them because you can see how deeply affected they are with their parents' passing and I am interested in how they will develop.
Frankly, I'm really liking this because I've always been fond of stories where people learn how to bond and care for each other like a family. It's difficult for them to live together considering their existence to each other reminds themselves that they are alone in this world now but I am really looking forward to how our MC will be able to tie them together along with the female partners of each one that will probably help them. Relationships, emotions and portrayals of characters seem pretty solid for now and art is nice so if you're a person that likes complicated 'family' situations that will eventually work out, try this one~
Transparent Cohabitation by Jungsuh
Genre: Josei, Romance, Psychological, Drama, Supernatural
Status: Ongoing, 14+ chapters scanlated
I really really like this webtoon. It can be a heavy one though. It's about a woman who can see ghosts but lives her life pretending that they don't exist and that she can't see them, until an incident occurs where she got caught off guard and the ghost that lives in her house realised that she can actually see him. Although repulsed at first, she begins to understand that her past traumatic experience with a ghost as a child doesn't mean that all her experiences with a ghost will be like that. She starts to break out of her shell a little bit by accepting him into her life and cohabiting with him but really, it's a difficult relationship to root for considering that he is dead and she isn't.
What makes this one interesting is most probably the different insight to how much of a burden being able to see ghosts can be considering the paramount of stories I've seen have a more optimistic view of saving ghosts. Our heroine's actions on a whim as a child ending up hurting her and the ghost she tried to help so severely that it affects her to this day and makes her scared to involve herself too much with others be it ghosts or people. Having to see that event unfold accompanied with the distinct art that translates well with the story gave a very heavy feeling to the memory and it made me see how soul crushing of an experience it was.
Reading this story makes you feel like you're carrying a baggage yourself haha, but it is also sweet in how the ghost and the heroine are beginning to interact and open themselves to each other. It's not a feel good type of story though. I'd recommend it though because of how interesting it was to see how experiences in the past can impact on people's lives so much, I liked the way it was shown.
