13th Boy 7

SangEun Lee – Yen Press – 2011 – 12+ volumes

Every volume of this series just keeps getting better and better. I was most interested in the off-balance love triangle that’s been setting itself up the last couple volumes, and that’s not addressed here. That the story is pursuing a super-unlikely path for these relationships is interesting to me, but after this volume, I don’t think that’s the most interesting.

No. The talking cactus, the character that shouldn’t make any sense but is still super-important, takes center stage in this volume, and I couldn’t be happier. Beatrice has been playing more and more of an active role lately, especially since he disapproves strongly of Won-Jun. Suddenly, in this volume, Beatrice turns human and can’t figure out how to turn back. Strangely, both he and Hee-So take it in stride, but there are… complications when your best friend, formerly a cactus, turns into a good-looking boy that you have to hide in your bedroom.

Actually, my favorite part of this volume was the way that Hee-So really did take this in stride. She bent over backwards to keep Beatrice company, get him food, and think of ways to turn him back into a cactus. Nothing gets her to leave his side, not her favorite food for free, and not even Won-Jun. That boy-crazy Hee-So, who wants nothing more than to be Won-Jun’s everything, breaks a promise to him because she thinks Beatrice is hurt, it says more than the characters ever could about how much Beatrice means to her.

I think the best part is that Hee-So doesn’t realize herself just how important Beatrice is. He is what he is, and he’s been a part of her life for over eight years. His circumstances don’t change that, and any situation that means that Beatrice can’t be close is unacceptable.

The second half of the volume throws another complication into their relationship, and seeing the cheerful Hee-So, who will do anything and everything to get what she wants regardless of what anyone else thinks, reduced to tears and hopelessness over the situation, was most heartbreaking. I can’t believe such a silly comic could be so effective at making be feel bad for its super-selfish main character, but here you go. That’s just how great 13th Boy really is.

As I’m sure I’ve said before, I’m a huge fan of all of these super-girly Korean series that Yen Press publishes. You’re So Cool, Pig Bride, and 13th Boy are probably my favorites, and of those three, 13th Boy is probably the best. I still can’t believe it so seamlessly combines magic and contemporary romance, and that Hee-So is so likable. The next volume just arrived, and I’m really looking forward to it.