One Response to “Harlequin comics: The Apartment (Korean) (Korean Edition)”

1. The Kimi-Chan Experience on 9月 7th, 2010 5:29 PM

   Review by The Kimi-Chan Experience for Harlequin comics: The Apartment (Korean) (Korean Edition)
   Rating:
   Storywise, the premise is quite cute. Hilary’s father died when she was young, and she and her mother were left alone in the world. Clinging to her daughter, the mother has become rather overprotective, to the point where Hilary feels suffocated and resentful. She is looking forward to moving out into a new city where she has just gotten a job as a muscian with the Philharmonic. Her mother is worrying, but as an older couple managing the flat live nearby, feels somewhat reassured. Hilary however gets the surprise of her life when she discovers that not only have the landlords gone on holiday, but the husband and wife obviously have communication issues. The wife has signed the lease over to Hilary, but the husband has signed the lease over to Shaun Cochran, who recently left military service. With nowhere for either to go until the landlords return home and sort out the problem (and refund deposit funds), they must try to share the space without getting on each other’s nerves, and heaven help if Hilary’s mother finds out!

   Can they do it? She is cultured, refined, and a bit snobbish, not to mention a clean freak, while Shaun is down to earth, friendly, a fitness fan, and messy.Like oil and water, they don’t seem to mix. But opposites attract, so when the time comes, can Shaun just walk away, and will Hilary let him? You got it, it is a tale of “living together and not doing anything but steal a kiss”, with almost teen aged angst over proper behaviour and fears over what mother might think despite the protagonist being 23 years old and in her own home in another city. If it seems old fashioned, it probably is, but as this is for the teen/young adult market, the lack of heavy sexual overtones is to be expected. It is completely free of innuenedo, fade to blacks, or any other “raciness”, so much so that the more morally or religiously conservative adult could also pick this up for a contented read without worry.

   Art wise, it is pleasant enough. It has an old school feel, reminding me of popular shojo titles from the 1980′s. This is not to say that it is dated and unattractive. Far from it. What does let it down though is presentation. Digital editions always look better than print editions as they are crisp with clean white backgrounds. So why do the lines look a bit sloppy? It is as if someone scanned in the drawings without sharpening the images for clarity. Even worse is the odd way the word balloons occasionally point or the placement of thought prose. One can easily tell who the words belong to, but they look slightly off, as if they were put in in a hurry and not gone through a final edit. This impression is reinforced by the occasional glaring typo left in place, making this look like an almost professional, but not quite, debut submission by an extremely talented amateur mangaka. This is not the case however, it is simply bad editing, for which I’ll deduct a star. Still, for the price and given the target audience, it is not a bad buy. In fact, read on a portable device, it is a light, fun, sweet read suitable for reading on a journey or during a holiday, without breaking the bank.

   ***I would like to thank Harlequin and their partner Digital Manga Publishing for providing me with this review copy.***

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