Sarasah 1
Posted: August 28, 2010 Filed under: Sarasah 8 Comments »Ryu Ryang – Yen Press – 2009 – 5+ volumes
Yikes. This first volume was rotten. I picked this up in an attempt to snag all five volumes of a Korean shoujo series, so I could marathon it. Yen Press has an excellent track record, and I think I’ve enjoyed every one of the Korean series I’ve picked up from them. The reason I wanted all five volumes together is that I find myself wishing for more after marathoning two or three, and five is a wonderful length to read the entirety of a title. But the fact that I hated the first volume doesn’t bode well for the rest. edit: actually, this series is more than five volumes, I found out, so I lose all around.
It sounds like it might be good. A girl is hated so much by the object of her desire he causes her to fall down the steps and die. Because of the strength of her love, she is revived in a past life to try and win the heart of her beloved in that time, since she doesn’t want to return to the present and an utterly broken heart.
The problem is that the main character, Ji-Hae, is just… I don’t know, a criminal stalker and really, really stupid? As shallow as some heroines are, there are very few who I have trouble getting behind. But Ji-Hae is one of the few and proud. Her devotion to her crush, Seung-Hyu? He’s turned her down before. And again. And again. He’s actually turned her down repeatedly over the course of two years. She perseveres, offering unwanted comments on his appearance and how great he is, in addition to gifts and other uncomfortable attention. She’s not shy, either, and seems to do this kind of thing frequently, but is not charismatic enough to pull it off. So what we’re left with is a stalking situation, which culminates on Seung-Hyu’s birthday, complete with embarrassing banner on the front of the school, confetti shower, and a note that says “Forever you are mine, you can’t get away.”
Now, if I had told someone for two years straight that I had no interest whatsoever, I’d have to say that this might be the last straw for me, too. He doesn’t push her down the stairs intentionally, she falls after Seung-Hyu steps aside to avoid a running tackle while she tries to apologize to him. He feels quite bad about it afterwards, but yes, it does kill her.
After this introduction, I’ll be very disappointed if Seung-Hyu falls for her in the end. She really, really doesn’t deserve it.
So. Ji-Hae meets the Gods in the afterlife, who take pity on her and bring her back to life, telling her they’d send her to a point in the past where she could make amends. I took this to mean a point earlier in her school career, since at no point are past lives mentioned. So I was confused for quite a bit when the Ancient Korea stuff started. I didn’t understand that she was supposed to make past Seung-Hyu fall for her in this time period until I read the back cover and re-interpreted the words. Bah.
And she’s no less annoying in the past. She immediately cuts her hair, because long hair is not her style. When she grasps the situation, and that cutting her hair is an abnormal thing to do in the past, rather than trying to blend in and say it was an accident or something, she continues to insist that it’s just who she is. She makes no effort to pass herself off as a regular citizen of the time period, and is thought to be insane by the family of the girl she took over. She also makes a nuisance of herself for several people, ignores all the rules of dress and sticks out even more, and when she finally does meet Seung-Hyu, lies to him immediately in such a way that she is found out in less than twenty pages.
So… why should I care about anything Ji-Hae does? Why am I rooting for her? She does nothing to help herself, and cares little about Seung-Hyu’s feelings. I don’t even feel like reading further to see her fail, because I’m sure she won’t. There is one other person that expresses interest in her, and maybe the plot of the series will be about him turning her into a decent person. I’ve got four more volumes to read, so I hope that’s the case.
I really hated the protagonist in this one, too. Volumes 2-3 are somewhat better, I thought.
I don’t think this series is complete in 5 volumes, though. Yen Press usually writes “final” under the volume number in that case, and vol. 5 of Sarasah is lacking that.
Ooooh, the protagonist sounds dreadful. I agree, I hope she doesn’t get the guy of her dreams. The poor boy shouldn’t be subjected to that. I’m looking forward to your further reviews though (if you have the heart to keep going), to see if any improvements are made, but… I mean, why would she cut her hair AFTER time-traveling? Why was she keeping it long in the present if it wasn’t “who she was”? What a confusing, silly girl.
Oh, and yeah, MangaUpdates is saying the series is 7 volumes and running. It’s also tagged with crossdressing?
When she came to the past, she had her previous incarnation’s long hair and, without a thought to fitting in, promptly lopped it off.
Ohh, got it. That makes more sense. Thanks for explaining! (she’s still a silly girl, sounds like!)
[...] (NBM/ComicsLit). Meanwhile, at Slightly Biased Manga, Connie finally checks out volume one of Sarasah (Yen Press), though she’s not pleased with what she [...]
Michelle: Aw, crap, I did it again. You’re right, it looks like it keeps going after that, thanks for catching it. I just assumed it was one of the 5-volume series I’ve been reading lately.
I was looking around and didn’t see a lot of commentary on Sarasah, so I wondered about the protagonist. I’m glad it gets a little better. I just finished another Fushigi Yugi omnibus though, so I think I’m going to have to give Sarasah a little space since Miaka gets me all wound up in the same way.
Keep reading. That’s the advice I give to everyone with this series as most (if not all, including myself) have the EXACT same problem with the main heroine when it starts off. She really is the LEAST likable heroine you can have this type of series (or any type, really) but I had started the series because of one of the chapters in volume 2 that caught my attention so I gave it another shot. This series is definitely a grower, not only on the reader but for the plot and Jihae as well. The story gets a lot more interesting and Jihae slowly but at a believable pace starts to see how her reckless behavior has consequences. Her whole journey seems to be one of growth and character rather then just “which guy am I going to end up with” (though it’s ALWAYS the first one they fell for) which I see a lot in girls’ comics. I feel like shoujo characters tend to automatically be this likable, friendly girl next door type with forgivable faults and gets what she wants in the end without any real sacrifice or character development but with Jihae being this despicable, annoying brat in the beginning she has a lot of herself to lose to get what she wants and seeing her slow maturation makes it vastly more interesting than had she been likable in the beginning. That’s just what I think. If you haven’t read volumes 2-5 yet, I’d recommend doing so. I was hooked by volume 3 so I’d say that would be the ‘deciding’ factor on whether this series is for you. :-)
Thanks for the insight. I’ve honestly been afraid to pick up more of this series since I so genuinely hated the first. It’s interesting it was chapters from the second volume that gave you the good first impression. To be fair, I’ve read far worse books than this before, and I do have four more volumes of it waiting, so I’m going to give it another try, and start over with a fresh attitude with volume two. Hopefully a more positive mindset will help me get into the rest of the volumes.
I do like Korean series for their generally strong main female characters. While they still tend to be popular, they are a lot more individualistic and willing to be themselves in front of everyone, and are also unapologetic to the romantic interest. Jihae is kind of ridiculous, but I could see myself liking her if she reined her selfishness in a little.