Pig Bride 2

Kookhwa Huh / SuJin Kim – Yen Press – 2009 – 5 volumes

Here’s another series I am well and truly addicted to, though I’ll freely admit it’s mostly because it presses all the right buttons for me.  Cute story, likeable characters, slowly-progressing romance, supernatural elements, past lives… yeah, those are all my types of things.

Mostly, I think I like Mu-Yeon.  She’s the right mix of supernatural and real girl, and the mystery surrounding her face is tantalizing.  I like that Si-Joon more-or-less drops his obsession with seeing her face in this volume, but others pick it up for him.  Doe-Doe seems pretty obsessed, and succeeds in removing the mask at the end of this volume.  I’m sure the view of her face isn’t nearly as extreme as its made out to be, and that what looks like a reveal at the end of this volume will go nowhere, but all the same.  Good stuff.

I also like Mu-Yeon’s confidence when dealing with Doe-Doe.  The fight between them is mostly on Doe-Doe’s side, with Mu-Yeon not even registering her as a threat.  Their conversation was to die for at the end of the volume, though I disliked that Doe-Doe took it where it eventually went.  That’s not very ladylike.

I also enjoy how well-liked Mu-Yeon is by everybody but Si-Joon.  She gets introduced to the greater public in this volume (to be fair, not as Si-Joon’s fiancee, since it’s still not proper for him to have a no-name gir from the country as his wife), and is instantly the darling of all of Si-Joon’s classmates.  Ji-Oh, Si-Joon’s best friend, is also a lot kinder to her than Si-Joon is, and I liked the cute romance that was developing between Ji-Oh and Mu-Yeon’s ninja sister.

To Si-Joon’s credit, again, I love the fair treatment of his character.  He’s certainly rich, and is a little stuck-up, but is acting like a pretty normal person under the strange circumstances.  It makes sense that he would reject Mu-Yeon’s persistent and strange advances, but when it comes down to it, he’s not overly cruel.  He overreacts a lot, but he also has his moments with her that develop the romance.  He’s likable while still being the rich kid, which is quite a feat.  I know he’s written according to plan and there’s not much to marvel in a likable main character, but all the same.  He’s good.

Pig Bride’s just made of good stuff.  The plot is still revolving around Mu-Jeon protecting Si-Joon from an approaching evil while trying to win over his heart and remove her own curse, and I like all the wacky, serious, and supernatural situations that go along with it.  It’s just a well-written girls’ comic, and it’s hard not to enjoy it for what it is.