You know, there's a few manga I haven't gotten around to reviewing, mostly because they're Webtoons that I read along with as they updated weekly or sporadically, so I didn't really feel compelled to take screenshots, nor am I wise enough to take bullet point notes while I read because...bottom line I'm just lazy. Haha, so you might end up seeing kind of vague reviews, or none at all on those. I haven't really decided yet.
{Spoilers, but it's a cliche kdrama in manhwa form so}
Think about any kdrama you've ever watch, or anything about the general kdrama that you've ever heard about from anyone around you, specifically the kind with the rich heir and the poor girl...and then kind of turn it into a comedy with some psychologically messed up characters that are both good in some respects, but also trash human beings in terms of others. And then you've got this manhwa. Basically it's about this girl named Strawberry, don't ask me why all of them are like fruits and such I literally have no idea, but I think it's kind of funny and quirky, and her romantic life at Sausage Fest High School. You think I'm joking, but I'm not. Basically, Sausage Fest High was an all-boys school, but some rich lady took over the school and made it into a co-ed school. However, not a lot of girls want to go to an industrial high school probably, so not a lot of girls go there and so most of the girls that end up attending Sausage Fest High are treated like goddesses. Strawberry is one of these girls, so she's treated really special by all the guys at school, except ironically, not by her boyfriend Mandarin. So she cheats on him with Pear, an upperclassman who seems exceptionally rich. Mandarin gets jealous like a petulant child, which he kind of is due to his sick upbringing by his mom who left their family for a wealthy man and tried to abandon Mandarin in an orphanage several times. Not to mention the fact that he was adopted by some random rich girl, Cherry, to be her pet of sorts. And that's why he turned into this lowkey creepy dude that uses emotional manipulation and his pretty face to get his way. I enjoy characters that have justification as to why they're so messed up in the head, but at the same time he still disturbs me. I dunno, I just have a lot of personal anger towards emotionally manipulative people in general.
Anyways, back to the plot. So Mandarin gets jealous and cross-dresses as Cherry in order to make Pear fall in love with him so that Mandarin can steal back Strawberry. However, in the process, Strawberry grows closer to the boy-phobic Walnut Kang, the true heir to a huge corporation and overall rich golden boy. And you can probably see where this is going, with Strawberry and Walnut falling in love. And then Walnut's sent to America because apparently that's where rich kids go to become more cultured, which in America's current state I think is pretty questionable, but that's a whole other topic in and of itself. And then Mandarin tries to win back Strawberry because he thinks that he needs Strawberry in his life to, not exactly maintain balance and maintain the status quo, but more like he needs that stability and kind of mindless idolatry. He was in love with this idea of the old Strawberry who liked him and went along with him, but that wasn't really Strawberry's true nature now or even in the past.
It was pretty much the same story of there being a lot of misunderstandings. Probably the most interesting character was Mandarin, just due to how he reacted to things built on his life of suffering, neglect, and honestly mental abuse. And all of this culminates in a sort of bitter feeling towards Cherry who saved him from a life in an orphanage, but also compounded on his mental instability. So I don't really know how to feel about Cherry because while it seems as though she shows remorse for what she did to Mandarin, at least a little bit when she tells Walnut she can't help him because she can't choose sides between Mandarin who seems to unhealthily need Strawberry in order to be happy and Walnut and Strawberry's romance, it also seems as though she hasn't really fully accepted responsibility for how Mandarin turned out. Like throughout the story she didn't really become a better person, although she did support Strawberry and help the relationship between her and Walnut in some ways.
Overall, this manhwa had a lot left to be desired. At first I thought it was a novel concept with the guy cross-dressing to get his girlfriend back, but it quickly spiraled into something I wasn't really into and didn't really expect or desire in a story. A few times I wanted to quit reading, just because it became too predictable and too ridiculous, however I finished it...because I'm not a quitter. LOL it just really bothers me to start something and never finish it. That's why I have a lot of things that are finished, but are so poorly executed. I should probably work on that. Anyways, I wouldn't really recommend this unless you want a kdrama plot inside a manhwa. I don't really think it's worth your time. It didn't really give me the doki-dokis and I lowkey hate all the characters. Sorry.
LOL she's broken. I was also lowkey shook at his confession.
Me when someone tells me about all my flaws as if I don't already know lel
Their relationship wasn't that great because of their lack of trust and communication, but it sure does make for a great drama
LOL Strawberry describing tests is actually me
When Cherry's like this it makes me respect her character a bit more, but honestly I just get triggered thinking about her and Mandarin.
This was the one time I actually thought Strawberry was a mature and decent human being. Otherwise she was just so naive and blockheaded that it wasn't possible to be anything other than frustrated and annoyed by her.
No comments:
Post a Comment