Very! Very! Sweet 5

JiSang Shin / Geo – Yen Press – 2009 – 8 volumes

The language barrier continues to be a very interesting element in this series. When Tsuyoshi calls Be-Ri out on her bogus dating of poor Mu-Hyuk (she doesn’t like him, but he’s had a huge crush on her forever, she’s basically using him as a rebound guy), he gives her a list of ten reasons why she shouldn’t date him. He can’t really communicate himself very well, and can’t say the final reason because he’s embarrassed to admit that he may like her, though she misinterprets this as a failure to speak Korean. He also can’t count in Korean, which is kind of funny, too. The language barrier also leads to strange misunderstandings in a conversation held between Be-Ri and Tsuyoshi’s grandparents about arranged marriage. Two very different couples come from that conversation… the language barrier only plays a masking game in the initial scene (most of the table, and the people involved, can’t speak Japanese), but a misunderstanding also plays a part.

The Tsuyoshi/Be-Ri relationship is developing very, very slowly. Be-Ri is committed to doing right by Mu-Hyuk, trying to learn to fall in love with him and patiently nurturing their relationship. Tsuyoshi is obviously smitten, though he isn’t acting overtly on his crush yet. Also, there’s a great scene between San-Ne and Be-Ri’s sister. I’m not sure if it’s a further split or a reconciliation, but it was still powerful stuff, and their relationship on the backburner is an interesting thing to keep in mind.

It’s still pretty typical girls’ comic stuff, and I don’t think the plot or characters would appeal to anybody who wasn’t a fan of shoujo manga, but it’s still a lot of fun so far. Here’s hoping it remains solid for the next three volumes.