Sugarholic 2

Gong GooGoo – Yen Press – 2009 – 5 volumes

My backlog is getting ridiculously large as of late, and my Yen Press series have been suffering the most. This series has the best name, so I decided to start here. I probably should have just waited until next week, when the last volume comes out, and marathoned the whole thing, but I’ve never been the best at planning ahead.

This is pretty standard fare for Korean girls’ comics, but I still love it to death. Jae-Gyu’s bad decisions and selfish ways still have not caught up with her as she angrily sponges off Whie-Hwan for all her day-to-day living needs. At one point, some sinister women get Jae-Gyu drunk and take her to a… “slave auction” where rich men buy women and pay them as much money as it takes to get them to do whatever they want. She is saved by Whie-Hwan, but is neither grateful nor really aware of what he’s done for her. Meanwhile, her best friend is worried about her (for good reason), her brother is about to be thrown out of school for financial troubles, and the rich rock star she used to bully in elementary school is still floating around like a stalker.

Two rich guys vying for the attentions of an unlikable heroine is not a story I would expect to get into, and yet here I am, writing this so that I can move onto the next volume. It’s so hard to be sympathetic to Jae-Gyu, who is too strong-willed for her own good. She’s not at all boy-crazy, which is a point in her favor, and to be fair it’s hard to find a manga with heroines who are this… sharp, but she’s got a different set of negative qualities. She’s just really, really selfish and gives no thought to those around her. An excuse for her behavior might be that she’s supposed to be a country bumpkin, but she fits in with the city dwellers far too well for that excuse to really hold water.

So far, the biggest draw for me is Whie-Hwan, who fits nicely into the handsome and arrogant rich-boy stereotype, but is interesting enough to keep me reading. A connection to an old love affair with a former tutor is revealed, although the reason why he needs Jae-Gyu to be his fake girlfriend is still not clear (or perhaps I’ve forgotten, it’s likely a family issue), and I’m still curious where the Thai boxing angle will eventually go.

The series’ sense of humor is also a big draw. It’s not nearly as slapstick-y as a lot of shoujo manga I’ve read, and has more to do with Jae-Gyu embarrassing herself in front of others with absolutely no shame or reflection on what she’s done. She’s strong enough to do it without needing pity, which is key.

There are a bunch of side characters that are easy to keep straight and are responsible for keeping things interesting. The creepy rock star is developed a bit more here, although he’s still not playing a huge role in the story as of yet. And the forward momentum of the plot is also not clear, other than getting Jae-Gyu to eventually land on her feet.

With a few fun characters and a nice sense of humor, it’s good enough for me to be hooked, but then again, I’m a huge shoujo fan. Others might need a little more to sink their teeth into at this point, but I have high hopes the plot and characters will shape up into something wonderful in the next couple volumes.