Sweet and Sensitive

Publisher
ADVmanga
Country of origin
Korea
Year
1999

Manhwa Fans Unite! Sweet and Sensitive GN 1

By David Rasmussen
9th Aug 04

Studio - ADVManga
Age - All Ages
Creator - Park Eun-Ah
ADV Manga credits
Translator - Jiyoon Kim
Lead Translator/Translator Supervisor - Javiar Lopez
ADV Manga Translation Staff - Jason An, Simon Jung & Trisha Eggleston
Publishing Editor - Susan Itin
Assistant Editor - Margaret Scharold
Editorial Assistant - Varsha Bhuchar

NOTE - Notice how this week it's Manhwa Fans Unite and NOT Manga Fans Unite!(?)
That's because this week's selection of reviews are Korean Manhwas titles, hence the name change.

Graphic Novel 1
Ah. The twisted web that modern romance manhwa weave!

Ee Ji is the youngest (girl) of a mostly male household (with the exception of her mother who may be a known woman).

Oldest brother is a corporate office conservative who doesn't have much to do in this book, and half of what he does do seems to just push the love triangle plot forward.

Middle brother is a closet exhibitionist... or just prone to forget the equation towel+underwear+shower since he seems to make appearances naked (which backfires when Ee Ji brings home her beautiful female friend and... eck.)

Youngest brother is the easiest to get along with -- and also prone to push the plot forward.

She has a best friend named Do-Kyung who is the second major power of this title next to Ee Ji (appears in a lot of the book) and is her friend/companion/mentor/etc.

And she's probably the reason why this is a Romance Quad-rangle instead of a triangle, but there's no proof of that -- yet.

And finally there's the two boys in question who form the rest of the quad-rangle.

One a boy from Ee Ji's childhood (back in Elementary School) who she had a crush on, but couldn't confess said crush before he moved away.

The second is an arrogant male who seems to push Ee Ji away yet might be interested in her at the same time... that is, unless, there's more twists to this romance book than first seen.
We hit the ground running, introduce the major players, and set the stage for the twists to come in Graphic Novel 2... But, for now, we get the show underway as the romantic comedy drama unfolds.
And it ends in a bit of a cliffhanger as it seems the focus of our heroine's attentions may already be spoken for -- but by who? Ah, there are two likely candidates... and yes it's as weird as you may think!
Next time the romance gets more twisted and confused, but that's the thing about these titles isn't it?
Let's break it down.

Sweet and Sensitive Breakdown the 1st
What's Hot? Ah. The twisted twists of romance books. This one is particularly engaging and quite a read if I do say so myself. The characters are quite engaging and interesting, the plot is good and well done, the artwork is right on, everything just flows quite well. It's good, and I'm looking forward to seeing where Graphic Novel 2 goes.

What's Not? Nothing. It's good for now.

Moments to Remember? Ee Ji and Do-Kyung's friendship and togetherness seem to dominate the memorable scenes, but the romance also is tops on memorable.

What to Ignore? Maybe me. Yeah. Ignore me because I'm about to rant.
Speaking of rant, don't let me go into a Sakura/Tomoyo tangent because if I could, I would.
I haven't gone into that here -- yet -- but just in case maybe I shouldn't... y'know, just in case.
To sum it all up? For once, for ONCE I would love to pick up a title and get thrown for a curve when the female lead (instead of stereotypically finding a male to fall for) falls in love and into a loving and ultimately rewarding and long term relationship with her female friend.
So far nobody has thrown me that curve yet, still waiting.

Overall? I like it! As romance books goes it's a good one and I liked it from start to end.
Looking forward to seeing where Graphic Novel 2 goes with this story!

-- David Rasmussen 9th Aug 04