I.N.V.U. 5

Kim Kang Won – Tokyopop – 2009 – 5+ volumes

You know, I like this series.  It may have the record for most infrequent volumes in the history of English manga/manhwa releases, but the volumes do keep coming out, and I like Tokyopop a lot for that, especially since it would have been so easy to forget the series after so many years had passed without a new volume.  Has it really been two years since volume 4?  Holy crap, I thought that came out last year.  I am growing too old for my own good.

There’s also the fact that this is awesome, which makes the infrequent volumes… mmm, not worth the wait, but certainly worth reading when they do come out.

The only character that I didn’t immediately recognize was Hajun’s fiancee.  I had completely forgotten he was engaged, actually, though that’s not a fact that will likely escape my notice in the future since much drama happens around his fiancee.  She seems intent on ruining Hali’s life if she continues to be close to Hajun, but, you know… true love and all that.  Hajun and Hali’s relationship gets closer and closer in this volume, and I kind of wonder where it will go from here since this series seems to take their age difference and the fact he’s her teacher pretty seriously.

Hali’s life is already pretty messed up, though.  She has more problems with her mother in this volume, and finally has to move out of the house when her father insists that she quit her new acting job in order to save her mother’s sanity.  Seeing Hali act like herself, and seeing her in ads, seems to destroy her mother’s sanity, and she gets violent in this volume.  Rather than getting the mother professional help, her father seems to think quitting her job is the solution to their problems.  Yeah.

Unfortunately, Sey and Siho weren’t in this volume so much.  Nor were Jae Eun or Simon.  Those four are my favorites, so I was sad to see that at least another year will go by before their stories advance.  Jae Eun does get a hilarious surprise on her last page of the volume, though.

Who else… Rea and Hajin’s brother.  They’ve got a little something going on, maybe, and Rea develops a career contrary to the one she thought she might have.  This seems to be a more positive direction for her, and I’d love to see it go further in the next volume or so.

I.N.V.U. is still great and ridiculously addictive, and I’m thinking about re-reading the earlier volumes when I go back home next week, just so that I can remember.  It’s just the right mix of shoujo drama between a group of friends with different, but interesting, paths in life.  Now how long will it be before we see the continuation?  The conclusion?  Well, I’ll still be here.