SUMMARY
Baek Ma Ri has a secret she has worked her whole life to keep; she's a vampire. A peace treaty between vampires and humans has been in place for 300 years, but the fear of vampires is so deeply rooted in society they do everything they can to keep their identities a secret. Ma Ri herself has been deeply traumatized by the discrimination she has faced ever since she was a child. Now, she has finally settled into a new school and is determined to graduate without incident by self-isolating herself from her classmates. But as always, things don't quite go as planned, especially when she surprisingly piques the interest of the popular and distant Jung Jae Min.
TL;DR
This is actually a Korean webtoon by Seok Woo which means that it is structured differently to a manga and it is also in colour, which made a nice change! I made the mistake of thinking that each page was the size of a manga page and got thoroughly confused by the story which seemed to jump all over the place before realizing that each page is actually a lot longer, so keep scrolling!
I was very impressed by this manwha/webtoon (I think I'll call it a webtoon for here on out). The pace was fantastic, it didn't feel like some parts dragged on forever while some were skipped over. The characters themselves were brilliantly varied and flawed. Rather than simple straightforward flaws like jealousy and laziness, the flaws were much more complex and realistic, especially seen in Ma Ri's friend Soo Ri.
Additionally, this story isn't only about turbulent romance and friendships. There are much bigger things at stake. The balance in this story between romance, friendship, discrimination and bullying, and societal values is truly excellent. None are neglected to favour a particular storyline and this is what makes the webtoon stand out from other mangas and manwhas I've been reading lately. It's rare to not only sympathise with a character but also empathise with them too. I came away from reading this thinking "wow, I want to talk about this with someone". And I may need to reread it sometime soon to go over the finer details I may have missed the first time around. Anyone else do that?
And now, Jeeves, take the reader to the spoilers!
Ma Ri herself is a great protagonist, but if I was being picky, I'd say she is a little too nice. Obviously she tries to keep people at a distance for protection, but even then she has a "sacrificial lamb" "I'll do anything to save you in the end" thing going on which is less realistic and so commonly done in mangas. However, her non-discriminatory idealism, interesting reactions to situations, and true teenage girl in love behaviour goes a long with me. And once Jae Min stops the weirdness we see in the first few chapters (the circumstances continuously constructed to get Jae Min interested in Ma Ri are a bit of a stretch) and gets on with trying to win her over, he really wins me over too, especially as he becomes more and more complex as a love interest as the webtoon progresses. Their romance is also incredibly endearing and sweet, which, as a romance lover, is one of my main priorities for a good manga.
Pace is also a huge deal for me because a lot of shoujo manga has characters falling in love or making huge changes overnight, which is fine if you want a quick romance fix, but is not so great for really enjoying a storyline. I also loved how there was a balance of different storylines for Ma Ri. The usual tactic of artists is usually to focus on other characters briefly for additional storylines, but Ma Ri is the sole focus and has enough depth as a character that she can produce multiple storylines herself. There's her relationship with Jae Min, the developing friendships she has with her friends, mismatched values with Han Si Hoo, dealing with prejudice from acquaintances and society, responses to vampire/human events that happen outside her immediate world, her relationship with her constantly moving family, SO MANY PLOTLINES that all work together so that you aren't overwhelmed and add to Ma Ri's character.
I briefly mentioned character flaws above, and what immediately comes to mind is Woo Mi's reaction to seeing Si Hoo drink Chae Rin's blood. Although she knows that Ma Ri is a great person, it becomes hard to wipe that image from her mind and it starts to affect her relationship, more so when an apparent "attack" on a human becomes news and Ma Ri eventually is exposed. Rather than the usual "you're my friend no matter what" selfless trope, she begins to sink into a very human and realistic reaction: fear. I know I'd be terrified if I'd been in her place, considering I'm so incredibly squeamish. She can't help but let it affect her.
I loved how slowly they revealed Jae Min's hatred of vampires. It didn't even occur to me until they were dating that we didn't actually have any clue how he felt about them, and I thought it could go either way. Their relationship after her reveal seemed true to that of a teenager. Do I try and persuade them? Should I be mean because I'm hurt? Do I give them the cold shoulder? I'm pretty sure both of them did all three at one time or another.
I also think that self-realization is incredibly hard and is usually taken for granted in mangas. You know, when it suddenly occurs to the character that what they did or thought was wrong? Usually it's out of the blue and they just realize it for themselves, but it takes a big person to do that and not all of us have that ability. For Jae Min, it's seeing his behaviour towards Ma Ri being done by other people right in front of his eyes. Just like Woo Mi, even though he knew Ma Ri wouldn't hurt a fly, it didn't manage to negate years worth of hatred towards vampires. Finally, when he sees her being viciously bullied and attacked when she did nothing to provoke it and does not reciprocate their attacks, he is able to sort his feelings out.
Although the part where he drinks the sachet of blood in front of his classmates is a bit weird. Something of a throwback to his weirdness in the beginning chapters, me thinks.
I didn't really have a problem with Soo Ri doing a 180 on how she feels about Ma Ri and vampires, and the fact that she never doubts her like Jae Min and Woo Mi do, because of Ma Ri's extreme act to save her. She saved her life, and yes she had vampire healing powers, but with all the blood I don't think it meant that she didn't feel the pain of being crushed under heavy pylons, or the pain of being healed again, and we know vampires can die and aren't immortal so there was a possibility she actually could have died. I think Soo Ri knew all this, and it clicked for her that Ma Ri's distant behaviour before the event was because she was deeply hurt by their prejudiced comments about vampires, and in spite of this saved her anyway.
Man I loved Orange Marmalade. They really need to make an anime from this. It's practically drawn and coloured in already!
Anyway, definitely one of my top recommendations!
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