When Hee-So finds herself head over heels with Whie-Jun and things change for her, but after an accident occurs it may mean the end of her most important friendship.
Creative Staff
Story:/Art: SangEun Lee
Translation/Adaptation: Natalie Baan
What They Say
With Won-Jun out of the picture, Hee-So finds herself paying more and more attention to Whie-Young…his dark hair and eyes, his slender frame, the kind heart he tries to conceal…Finally, she confronts him and asks how he feels about her! Hee-So’s getting pulled into Whie-Young’s orbit, but maybe she should keep an eye on her beloved Beatrice! Having learned the truth about Whie-Young’s supernatural powers, Beatrice makes a drastic decision, and-?!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Hee-So’s head is in a bit of a fog as she finds herself defending Whie-Young while Nam-Joo is badmouthing him one lunch period. When Hee-So notices that Whie-Young still hasn’t arrived at school after she ran ahead of him that morning Nam-Joo mentions that a classmate saw Whie-Young walking away from school after Hee-So left him, which prompts to decide to go chasing after him.
After checking a couple places she finds the youth sleeping with his school coat over his head along the bank of the river just as the rain starts to fall in heavy measure, which then forces the pair to take refuge under the nearby bridge to escape the downpour. While there Whie-Young asks her some leading questions about how she would react to him if he had some feelings for her and when he kisses her, her head goes into a spin.
Hee-So then finds she is reverting to her usual behavior as she changes her attitude when in love which further irritates Whie-Young rather than pleases him. Before the two can work out their relationship though a selfish act by Hee-So places her in danger and it forces Whie-Young to use his final act of power to save her. As the youth lies in a state of perpetual sleep Beatrice makes a desperate gamble based on information that he had overheard from Whie-Young’s mom and grandmother to help him but is it too late to change things? And is Beatrice willing to pay the cost anyway when he learns what it could take to save Whie-Young?
The penultimate volume of 13th Boy arrives and it charges in with a feeling that at times almost seems to resemble abandon. To this end the reader gets to see Hee-So and Whie-Young in a one sided sort of relationship as Hee-So has finally fallen completely for Whie-Young even though he still doesn’t feel the same as his heart is still missing. Unfortunately the volume has a bit of a “One step forward, one step back” feel as the volume retreats a good bit out of Hee-So’s head so the reader goes back a step in understanding the young woman’s actions when it comes to her attitude change.
Worse yet, her rather spoiled nature place her in a situation where she loses Whie-Young but lacks the information to know why events happened and fully appreciate just why things have come to where they are. With a critical choice coming in the final volume it feels like that volume is going to have a lot on its plate to do as someone is going to pay a very heavy price and the emotional toll is going to be rather high for Hee-So regardless. Still, there is some growth here so hopefully the final volume can draw the various threads together to bring about an ending that feels satisfactory but as of right now that doesn’t feel like it is going to be a certainty.
In Summary
Suddenly Hee-So finds herself head over heels with a rather reticent Whie-Young who finds he still can’t feel the same way for her even if he wants to. While Hee-So’s behavior change makes life even more difficult for him, a typical moment of Hee-So selfishness goes horribly wrong and suddenly Whie-Young is left in what may turn out to be a permanent sleep state. The solution to everything may lie in the hands of Beatrice but his wavering heart has him making a decision perhaps too late to help- and worse the solution to the latest trials is almost guaranteed to break Hee-So’s heart regardless of the outcome.
Content Grade: B-
Art Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: A-
Text/Translation Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: March 27th, 2012
MSRP: $11.99
