Fever 2

Again, I really enjoy Hee Jung Park a lot, and I’m a little sad her stuff came out right when the Tokyopop axe fell.  That being said, I do like Martin & John and Hotel Africa much more than I like Fever.  But my problem with Fever is probably more that it needs a closer read than I’ve given it.  It’s got a lot of characters with a lot of different stuff going on, and at least two different main plots running alongside one another.  I was a little lost since it had been so long since reading the first volume, and I was intrigued enough to give it a re-read after I finished this.

The main theme of Fever is teenagers finding themselves.  What the two main characters (one female, one male) have in common is that they stay at a sort of school/commune-type place called “Fever,” and are supported by their friends while they try to sort themselves out or reinvent themselves.

The main plot from last time, with the main female character, Hyung-In, loosing her friend and getting fed up with the pressure at school, sort of fizzles in this volume since Hyung-In manages to move into Fever and sort of loosen up around all the new people.  Most of what goes on here for her seems to be setting up character relationships to build more story on, so there’s not a whole lot of payoff on her side of the story just yet.

The male main character, Ji-Jun, has a weird time of it here.  His story last time was a bit more interesting, but it’s hard to argue with the entertainment value of him beating up a famous rapper after the rapper pees on his shoes.  There’s a little less of the stuff between he and Ah-In, which is sort of what I liked in the first volume, but instead he gets dumped by one girl and picked up by another who warns him to keep apart from Ah-In.  As a bonus, there is a really nice scene between the two boys at the end of the volume.

It’s got a lot of nice, in-depth character stuff going on.  Ji-Jun and Hyung-In are separate but together, and it’s interesting (if a little hard to keep track of) some of the characters that move between both their lives.  All the characters are quite unique, with their own strengths and weaknesses, and I would love to see them all developing their individual personalities.  I do hope that Tokyopop can pick these Hee Jung Park series back up at some point.