Manga Review: Strobe Edge

 
I'm about to introduce you to the best romance manga you have ever read. Brace yourself.

*ALREADY FANGIRLING* Okay, calm down. Let's begin.

Strobe Edge is written and illustrated by the talented Sakisaka Io. It began serialization in 2007 and ended in 2010 with a total of 10 volumes. I've just found out there is a live action film adaptation which will be coming out in March 2015 and I am trying to control another fangirl reaction. The manga has been completely scanslated so you can read it in its entirety.

SUMMARY

Kinoshita Ninako is a sweet, kind and caring schoolgirl who is small and looks young but has a strong, honest personality. A chance encounter with a boy on a train has her starting to fall in love for the first time. However, not only is Ichinose Ren the most popular boy at school, he also already has a long-term girlfriend. After he rejects her kindly, she decides she still wants to be his friend and starts to bring out a more relaxed, happy side to Ren than his usual quiet and withdrawn demeanor.

However, Ren's unusual attitude towards Ninako sparks an interest in his friend Andou Takumi, who surprisingly finds himself falling in love with this kind-hearted special young woman. And Takumi, who has so often let Ren be the one to shine, decides he no longer wants to live in Ren's shadow.

TL;DR

This story centers primarily around love, and the love triangle between Ninako, Ren and Andou. There are side stories, but these also concern love, so if romance isn't your thing then this manga may not be for you, however good the story and however well it is drawn.

But if romance is for you, then you will struggle to find a manga to top this one. From the characters to the drawing to the plot, this manga has everything you could ask for. Realism, escapism, heart-warming characters, relationships, and scenes, it's got it all. Ninako is an extremely likable protagonist who cares greatly for the people around her. She is incredibly sweet and occasionally I felt like I just wanted to reach into the manga to pinch her cheeks.

Ren and Andou are also brilliant as love interests, and it's Ren that ultimately captures my heart. I say ultimately, but from the moment I was introduced to him I wondered where I could get one. The fact that these characters don't just materialize into the story, but have important back stories that influence how they currently live their lives is extremely compelling and it brings them to life.

The plot progresses really nicely so that it feels neither too rushed or too slow. As characters shift and change, you really believe them and the mangaka guides us through their emotions so nicely. Although the ending is rather predictable, as is the case with most shoujo manga, I really enjoyed the journey. I can't count how many times I've read this manga, so I give it 2 thumbs, 8 fingers, and 10 toes up.

And now for spoilers...

FULL REVIEW

This is by far the best manga I have read so far, because everything works together so brilliantly. The drawing is great, the plot is fantastic, the progress is believable and no one suddenly goes off the deep and acts out of character. The characters are believable and relatable, the love interests have interesting stories of their own, there is a side story so that you can see that there are other things in this world that matter and happen, not just to the protagonists. The length is great, and it doesn't end abruptly after the characters get together like so many mangas where you see all of the struggle and none of the reciprocal romance. There's just so much good in this manga! I'll try and think of some bad but there's hardly any to me.

I definitely added the speech bubble above... just so you know ^_^

Ninako is a fantastic character because she doesn't do stupid things, and oh what a relief it is. She doesn't follow the usual tropes that other protagonists fall into like dating a guy just because the one she likes is unavailable. "Date me and I'll make you forget all about him." How about no?

You can see that her desire to be Ren's friend is genuine. She doesn't want to weasel her way in to his life and his good books; by falling in love she has come to care about him. And you can see by how she treats her other friends that she is a really good person. Her friends don't feel like convenient characters to show she isn't an outcast, she is just as considerate of them as she is with Ren. She's also considerate on Andou as well, even though she finds that more difficult because he is actively pursuing her. But isn't that a natural reaction when someone you like and treat as a friend declares they're in love with you and won't give up!

Of course this manga does deal with many familiar romance conventions: the love triangle, the popular idol of the school as the love interest, awkward working situations etc etc, and they don't occur in completely new and unusual ways that I've never seen before, but when I read them I feel that they are in a way treated differently as I get a different feel for them.

For example, love interests are sometimes dating other people at the start of a manga but Ren and Mayuka's relationship is different. It's long term, which is slightly unusual, and is based not only on attraction but emotional need. Ren has always felt isolated, and Mayuka opened herself up to him, spent time with him, actually wanted him to be around. Mayuka was dealing with her parents' separation which had rocked her world and she not only needed a sounding board but also something that promised to be constant, and Ren did just that. And so they fell in love. And we are led to believe that they genuinely loved each other and they even say so, which definitely gives them some depth.

Mayuka's relationship with Ren is also fantastic as a comparison to Ninako's. While Ninako's is platonic despite her feelings, we can see how Ninako changes Ren more than Mayuka was able to. While Mayuka provided companionship and the feeling of being wanted, she began to put her work first despite the fact her relationship was important to her.  Ninako on the other hand brings Ren completely out the darkness of isolation, which had been started by Andou years earlier. She enables him to open up to others around him and his classmates begin to see him as more friendly than they realized. And she also represents his equal in terms of a partner. Whatever Ren puts into the relationship she can match with emotions, feelings, attention etc, unlike Mayuka.

SQUEEEEEE! This is one of my favourite drawings of Ren. Isn't he beautiful? I was a goner almost at the beginning, and my friend Sakiko and I would sigh endlessly over him. He's beautiful. Okay. I shall try to limit my discussion of his looks to just this.

Which isn't hard because there is so much more I can say about him. I need to go back and reread exactly why he felt isolated from such a young age, perhaps it was from his parents ignoring him? Anyway, at school, long before he attended the same one as Ninako, he was an isolated fellow without friends because his classmates would misunderstand him or be jealous of his looks and smarts. Then Andou comes along and we see the drawing where Ren feels like he is going to be buried by darkness and isolation around him, and then Andou figuratively reaches out the hand of friendship. It's not a big deal to Andou who is friends with everyone, but it's huge to Ren.

I really like this aspect to the story, it creates an incredibly interesting relationship between Ren and Andou. Yes, they end up competing for the girl but they have a strange relationship whereby they are close, but not close at all. Some of it is due to the incident with Andou's ex-girlfriend, but it's also because they are polar opposites - the social butterfly Andou and the quiet loner Ren. Even so, Andou feels like he lives in Ren's shadow somewhat, whereas Ren believes he lives in Andous. This could be seen as negative, living in someone's shadow, but they don't let jealousy pervade their relationship (at least till Ninako comes along). In fact it can be seen as a complimentary, because they clearly hold each other in high esteem to believe they cast a shadow. It's great that these boys' relationship is thoroughly explored throughout the manga as well. Without it, it just wouldn't have been as good.

Oh Andou. It's odd but all the way through the manga I was completely in line with Ninako's feelings for him. When she was first getting to know him and didn't quite know what to expect with him, I felt that too. When she did her best to protect him and his feelings I felt like I wanted to protect them too. But also the fact that she refused to date him to get over Ren and, as even Andou says near the end, she never came to think of him as anything more than a friend, I felt that too. I also felt heartbroken for Andou when he admitted to himself that Ninako never really "looked" at him (considered him) once, as her feelings were always tied to Ren. It was clearly both something he admired in her, because she was steadfast and unwavering unlike his ex-girlfriend, and hated because it did mean she always looked at Ren instead of him.

The bit where the ex-girlfriend comes down the stairs and promises she's going to chase after him seriously now instead of supporting his new love is a bit convenient. Luckily it's not like she literally appeared out of nowhere at that moment, she had been a part of the plot before, but yeah... convenient so that Andou doesn't become a loose end. In fact I wouldn't have minded if the ex-girlfriend had been left out altogether and that incident between her, Andou and Ren was introduced to us in some other way. Either that or she needed to have been more of a threat to Ren and Ninako than she was. There was a lot of promise for her to be a real threat, but it kind of seemed to tail off.

There we go! Some constructive criticism instead of just I love it I love it I love it!

I have a few favourite moments which I can try and recall. Again, it's been a while. I love the small moment when Ren is listening to music on his headphones and Ninako ends up listening to the other ear bud. I thought it was immensely clever how Ninako's face slowly fades in Ren's mind when Mayuka breaks down in front of him and tells him how much she needs him. I also love when Ren smells the air, realizing it's "half winter half fall," then Ninako does exactly the same out loud behind him.

They are so on the same page. GET MARRIED AND HAVE BABIES ALREADY!

Ahem.

I am now reading Ao Haru Ride, another manga by the same mangaka. The drawing is just as great, the plot, the progress etc etc and I'm so excited about it, although it has not been completely scanslated yet so I am waiting for that. However, as good as it is, it hasn't quite replaced Strobe Edge as my absolutely favourite shoujo manga of all time. It's definitely up there with the best! But I don't think I'll ever find one as good as this.

If you do know of a manga that would compare, please let me know. I'm desperate for some more good ones!

In conclusion, I highly absolutely recommend this manga. I love it to pieces and have read it over many times. I hope you enjoy it as much as me, otherwise I really built this up to be something for nothing ^_^ I hope Sakisaka Io brings out more mangas like this, and that they are scanslated. This was truly a pleasure to read.

Film Review: Gwanghae a.k.a. Masquerade

Gwanghae or Masquerade is a 2012 film directed by Choo Chang-Min and starring Lee Byung-Hun both as King Gwanghae and as Ha-Sun, a lowly commoner. I have literally just finished this movie having watched it over three days in my Korean class and I couldn't not write a review on this amazing film.

SUMMARY

King Gwanghae is the 15th ruler of Korea's Joseon Dynasty and he heads a court full of corrupt and greedy officials, while he himself has lost sight of his people. Fearing that there is a conspiracy to kill him, he has his Chief Secretary find him a body double to replace him on occasion. The Chief Secretary find Ha-Sun, who not only looks exactly like the King but is also able to copy his voice and actions with his talents as an acrobat and entertainer. However, just as Ha-Sun gets used to his occasional role, conspirators manage to poison the real King, and suddenly he has to fulfill and maintain the role while the King is sent away to recover.

What kind of temporary King will Ha-Sun be? How long will he be able to fool not only the court of officials, but also the King's wife, the Queen Consort? And what will he do if he is discovered?

TL;DR

At first, when the movie began and we were introduced to the King maliciously tipping his food onto the head of a terrified servant as the others around quiver in fear, I really wasn't sure what to expect. I thought this might be an intensely serious and informative film that I was going to have to struggle through because, me being me, if something isn't crapping happiness and light (pardon the crude expression) it's not usually my cup of tea.

But that isn't this story. Among difficult and serious scenes there is real comedic value added by the jovial Ha-Sun, especially as he learns the ropes as King. The poop scene was a little stomach churning but my whole class laughed out loud, and we're usually pretty quiet.

The characters were incredibly endearing, even the strict Chief Secretary, although I didn't quite feel for the Queen Consort's plights as I was probably meant to. Also, you don't really get a sense of the real King Gwanghae, which leaves a few open-ended questions at the end. I liked the progress of the plot, which spanned about two weeks and could have felt rushed, but didn't at all. The settings and costumes were beautiful and completely convincing, unlike the drama Sungkyunkwan Scandal where I didn't really believe in the historical setting.

Ha-Sun's relationships with the people who surround him and know of the secret swap is the biggest selling point of all to me, and I can't praise the acting enough for pulling that off so well. Whether comedic or serious, I laughed and cried as these relationships progressed and were tested. The final scene really shows just how important this aspect was in the film.

I would absolutely recommend anyone who loves movies to watch this. You'll need a box of tissues to wipe away the tears of laughter as well as the tears of sadness, but I think that's a testament to just how brilliant this movie is.

And now... to the spoilers!

FULL REVIEW

The FEELS!!! Which is a phrase I hate to use even regarding cliched manga and cheesy dramas but I am still recovering from watching the end of the movie not 30 minutes ago. I can see why this movie topped the box office and remains one of the most successful movies ever in Korea.

I have read that there has been some controversy about how King Gwanghae has been presented in this film, but I am not familiar with Korea's royal history, therefore I will not be providing commentary on the accuracy of the film because I wouldn't be able to do it justice. I will, however, provide commentary on how the plot, characters, acting etc functions as a film. That I can do.

I was surprised by the comedic elements of the film, which for me really started when Ha-Sun is led away to be presented to the King with a sack over his head... which causes him to bump his head and be knocked over several times by the low roof beams. The poop jokes almost did me in, and I had to say goodbye to a half full can of Sprite which no longer seemed appetizing. I've noticed that Korean films and dramas present poop and fart jokes that go beyond what even western films and dramas are prepared to do.

Regardless, I found this film incredibly funny and Lee Byung-Hun sells Ha-Sun amazingly well as a good-hearted fool who turns out not to be quite the fool everyone thought after all. Instead, he becomes the ideal King who cares more about his people than politics, and whose moral fibre is strong enough to actually make good decisions while he has the power of a King to make them.

Now I am very happy to accept Ha-Sun exactly as he is and wouldn't want him written any other way, but I know that others might call him a little one-dimensional as a character. He's too good, there are no real bad sides of him. He is fair and just and caring of everyone, from the people of power to the lowly servants who serve him. He refuses to take the thrown and provide the people with a King they deserve because it would mean taking the life of the actual King, which he could not do in good conscience. Right to the end when he turns back and returns to the dying Captain Do's side, there is nothing selfish about him. Perhaps the scene where he has one of the court officials tortured who had a leading role in an assassination attempt on his life but instead kill the self-sacrificing Sa-Wol provides a momentary nudge into showing that he is not completely above hate, revenge, and cruelty. But the moment is pretty fleeting.

Other than Ha-Sun, I have to say my favourite character in this entire film was Sa-Wol, a servant in the palace and the King's food taster. With every meal her life is put in jeopardy in case someone has poisoned the King's food. At first she appears to be a very minor character, but as the plot progresses she develops a close friendship with the fake King. Their easy smiles and her delight when he does or says something nice to her is unbelievably heart-warming and cute. Ha-Sun comes to care for her enough that with his final Royal order, he tells the Chief Secretary to find Sa-Wol's mother and family and reunite them. Stop winning my heart, Ha-Sun!

This makes her death all the more devastating. Not only is the acting sublime, but the fact that this 15-year-old girl knowingly and purposefully consumes the poison she has been ordered to slip to the King made me want to bawl like a baby. Ha-Sun has never been one for treating servants as below him. He himself is of course also of low birth but pretending to be King should dictate that he at least pretend to act this way. He chooses not to, only doing the minimum necessary to keep up the pretense. Even so, the image of the King dressed in deep red and gold royal garb carrying the dying servant was incredibly powerful. Sa-Wol is too far gone at the end to answer his pleas to tell him who has done this to her, and so her final words are robbed from her, but I couldn't help but feel this was fitting. It was all the more tragic.

The plot would not have made it without the enabling characters Eunuch Jo, the Chief Secretary and Captain Do. Jo is the first to to realize Ha-Sun's good qualities, and helps him to become a positive stand-in for the King by providing him with books to help him understand the laws and what the court officials demand each day. Jo is quiet, patient, and respectful, and in turn the audience has a lot of respect for him.

The Chief Secretary is hard for Ha-Sun to win over for most of the film. He is in regular contact with the actual King and finds Ha-Sun frustrating and at times insolent. This is why the last few scenes where he offers the position of King to Ha-Sun, promising to make it happen if he wants it, are so intense. The Chief Secretary can see just how much Ha-Sun loves the regular people, and how much he will do to protect them. He stand in direct opposition to the Gwanghae who has long since allowed himself to forget the ideals he once held and instead allow corruption to run riot, caring more that concubines share his bed than that his people have enough to eat. The final scene, where he comes to stand at the harbor and watch Ha-Sun sail away to safety shows how far along he has come in appreciating the person the fake King is.

Oh Captain Do. Here is a character that I did not think would win my heart as much as he did. His skills at protecting the King are not given much chance to shine, and so he seems to be a little bit of a bumbling idiot unable to think to budge much from the palace rules. The scene where Ha-Sun wants privacy and kicks his shoe off so that Captain Do has to retrieve it only seeks to reinforce this idea, as Do chases after the escaping King, shoe in hand. It's very funny, but he seems an odd choice in bodyguard.

He provides one of the first challenges to Ha-Sun's position when he realizes that Ha-Sun is too different from the King and confronts him with a sword to his neck. The Queen Consort is able to give Ha-Sun the ability to "prove" he is the real King by mentioning a birth mark she has that only the King knew about, which he had accidentally saw in an earlier scene. The moment that follows between Ha-Sun and Do, where Ha-Sun forgives him and teaches him to value his own life more after Do tries to take his own life for questioning the King is one of my absolute favourites. His sobs may be comedic, but you can see that a sense of loyalty to this King has taken over Do where to the real King there was only a sense of duty.

In the end, Do's death scene rivals Sa-Wol's in terms of feeling and tragedy. He, like her, chooses to sacrifice himself to save Ha-Sun, except he has found out who Ha-Sun actually is. Perhaps on some level Sa-Wol did know, after all she couldn't fail to notice the difference in the King. But anyway, it looks like Captain Do has been ordered by the King to lead Ha-Sun away and then kill him in the woods, but then he draws his sword and tells Ha-Sun to run to the harbor at the end of the road. As he turns back to face the road leading to the palace, down which several riders on horseback are approaching, I began to think that perhaps Captain Do was never ordered to kill him, but knew he would be, and so left with Ha-Sun to give him a head start. When he acknowledges to the rider that Ha-Sun is not the king, "but he is my king" I almost broke down in front of my classmates.

Ha-Sun, as ever a moral, up-standing person, realizes or hears that Captain Do is being attacked and runs back to see him cut down the last of his attackers, but unfortunately Do is fatally wounded himself. Do's bloody hands reaching forward at Ha-Sun's feet, I think in a way that suggests he is kneeling in respect before his "King," before he dies was heartbreaking. In fact my throat hurts now just typing this. Even though I hate that he died, I am happy that he did not die alone, and that he saw that the man he died for had come back for him.

Now I have mentioned in other posts my penchant for romance. Happily this film does include it in the form of the Queen Consort who believes that the King has changed back into the caring man she once knew, unaware that he has been replaced with a body double. I wish there was more to say about the romance, which is usually my favourite relationship, but in the case I must sadly bow out. If the King had been unmarried and the Queen Consort completely cut from the movie, there would have been no difference whatsoever. While I am aware that as a woman her personality is restricted to conform to palace etiquette, even in the quiet private moments we are privy to there is not much personality to speak of. I thought this was a real shame. I couldn't tell you if this is a reflection of Han Hyo-Joo's acting having never seen her act in anything else before, or if it was simply the way the character was written, but yeah, a shame.

I didn't need them to end up together, in fact that would have been a great tragic conclusion where these two people in love recognize they could not be together and one leaves alone while the other remains and stays strong. But meh, we see that she escapes the assassins sent to kill her as the others go to confront the King. We are left hanging as to what happens to her, we don't know if she successfully escapes or is killed or kills herself as she so often threatens to do in this movie, but we also... kind of... don't care. Sorry.

To conclude, I thought this film was absolutely amazing. It was intense, comedic, tragic, and heartwarming all at the same time. The story is not exactly original (there have been plenty of body double plots before) and I can't say how historically accurate this movie is (from some reviews I have read it is suggested that there's reason to say it isn't), but the plot does enough to keep you excited and interested so that you stay to fall in love with the characters. I saw this movie in three separate sittings and the excitement I felt going to class everyday to see the next part and the sadness I felt when we had to stop the movie until the next day should go some way to say how this movie keeps you on the edge of your seat.

I absolutely recommend this as a good watch and I can't wait to look into other movies by this director and these actors.