meganbmoore (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
meganbmoore) wrote2007-10-17 12:17 pm
meganbmoore) wrote2007-10-17 12:17 pm
Entry tags:
manga: Shin Angyo Onshi
On magicnoire's rec, I have started reading Shin Angyo Onshi, a Japan/Korea collaboration based on the legend of Chun Hyang. Now, the popular, well known version of Chun Hyang is that Chun Hyang, the daughter of a courtesan, fell in love with Mong Ryong, the son of a nobleman. Things are rather dicey because of their social statuses, so Mong Ryong leaves to take the exams to become and Angyo Onshi(basically a travelling court official who makes sure magistrates behave themselves...seeing these guys is like seeing the king) promising to come back. While he's gone, a new lord comes to town and decides to make Chun Hyang his own. She refuses him and he has her arrested, and when she continues to refuse him, he decides to have her executed. On the day of her execution, though, Mong Ryong returns succesful, deals with the new scum lord, and Mong Ryong and Chun Hyang live happily ever after.
The darker, original version, however, isn't quite so fairy tale-like. In it, Mong Ryong does return...having married another woman while away. When Chun Hyang realizes he married someone else, she kills herself. Ancient women just didn't realize that strapping on a steel kneepad and kneeing the jerk is more satisfying...especially when it leavesssss you free to find a better guy.
Shin Angyo Onshi, while not quite based on the original version, looks to the darker roots. Here, the Angyo Onshi aren't allowed to take wives, but that's ok, because Mong Ryong(based on the non-cad version) has a plan. You see, Chun Hyang is a one woman army, and Angyo Onshi are allowed to have a Sando, a peronal bodyguard who travel with them. Gues why he wanted to become an Angyo Onshi? He couldn't marry her anyway because of social status, so why not get them a position where, not only do they get to stay together permanently, but they actually get PAID to do it? Unfortunately, he's failed the exam three times, and the new lord has already kidnapped Chun Hyang and is trying to brainwash her into serving him. In his travels, Mong Ryong stumbles acros a half dead man named Munsu, who he soon learns is an Angyo Onshi himself. You'd think that'd be a good thing, and it is...up until a surprise attack by desert bandits kills Mong Ryong, and Munsu is forced to use MR's body as a shield(don't worry, MR was already very, very dead by then.) Remembering MR's talk about Chun Hyang, Munsu goes off to save her for the kid, only to have her brainwashed self slaughter his troops(after his troops slaughter scum lord's men, of course) only to have her snap out of it just as they're about to kill each other when she sees the headband she gave MR, which Munsu is wearing. With nothing else left in her life, Chun Hyang asks Munsu to let her be his Sando.
So far, the series has mostly introduced us to Munsu and ripped the legend into pieces. But it does so marvelously. We haven't really gotten much of a feel for Chun Hyang, but I love Munsu. He's really not a hero at all, just a guy doing his job, which is to wipe corruption off the face of the planet. He doesn't care about saving people and really has no tolerance at all for people who can't save themselves...the only person he's cared one whit about saving is CH, and that's mostly because he felt guilty about MR's death and the corpse shield bit.
Unfortunately, it's not licensed and doesn't look to be anytime soon, meaning I'm stuck with scanslations. With 14 volumes to catch up on(DLing now.)
This means 3 of the 4 manga I'm currently following scanslations of(Fullmetal Alchemist, W Juliet 2, Shirogane no Karasu and now this) aren't licensed yet. This does not please me, as I'm not a fan of scanslations.
>_<
I believe I just watched a huge chunk of my mini-vacation fly away.
magicnoire's rec, I have started reading Shin Angyo Onshi, a Japan/Korea collaboration based on the legend of Chun Hyang. Now, the popular, well known version of Chun Hyang is that Chun Hyang, the daughter of a courtesan, fell in love with Mong Ryong, the son of a nobleman. Things are rather dicey because of their social statuses, so Mong Ryong leaves to take the exams to become and Angyo Onshi(basically a travelling court official who makes sure magistrates behave themselves...seeing these guys is like seeing the king) promising to come back. While he's gone, a new lord comes to town and decides to make Chun Hyang his own. She refuses him and he has her arrested, and when she continues to refuse him, he decides to have her executed. On the day of her execution, though, Mong Ryong returns succesful, deals with the new scum lord, and Mong Ryong and Chun Hyang live happily ever after.The darker, original version, however, isn't quite so fairy tale-like. In it, Mong Ryong does return...having married another woman while away. When Chun Hyang realizes he married someone else, she kills herself. Ancient women just didn't realize that strapping on a steel kneepad and kneeing the jerk is more satisfying...especially when it leavesssss you free to find a better guy.
Shin Angyo Onshi, while not quite based on the original version, looks to the darker roots. Here, the Angyo Onshi aren't allowed to take wives, but that's ok, because Mong Ryong(based on the non-cad version) has a plan. You see, Chun Hyang is a one woman army, and Angyo Onshi are allowed to have a Sando, a peronal bodyguard who travel with them. Gues why he wanted to become an Angyo Onshi? He couldn't marry her anyway because of social status, so why not get them a position where, not only do they get to stay together permanently, but they actually get PAID to do it? Unfortunately, he's failed the exam three times, and the new lord has already kidnapped Chun Hyang and is trying to brainwash her into serving him. In his travels, Mong Ryong stumbles acros a half dead man named Munsu, who he soon learns is an Angyo Onshi himself. You'd think that'd be a good thing, and it is...up until a surprise attack by desert bandits kills Mong Ryong, and Munsu is forced to use MR's body as a shield(don't worry, MR was already very, very dead by then.) Remembering MR's talk about Chun Hyang, Munsu goes off to save her for the kid, only to have her brainwashed self slaughter his troops(after his troops slaughter scum lord's men, of course) only to have her snap out of it just as they're about to kill each other when she sees the headband she gave MR, which Munsu is wearing. With nothing else left in her life, Chun Hyang asks Munsu to let her be his Sando.
So far, the series has mostly introduced us to Munsu and ripped the legend into pieces. But it does so marvelously. We haven't really gotten much of a feel for Chun Hyang, but I love Munsu. He's really not a hero at all, just a guy doing his job, which is to wipe corruption off the face of the planet. He doesn't care about saving people and really has no tolerance at all for people who can't save themselves...the only person he's cared one whit about saving is CH, and that's mostly because he felt guilty about MR's death and the corpse shield bit.
Unfortunately, it's not licensed and doesn't look to be anytime soon, meaning I'm stuck with scanslations. With 14 volumes to catch up on(DLing now.)
This means 3 of the 4 manga I'm currently following scanslations of(Fullmetal Alchemist, W Juliet 2, Shirogane no Karasu and now this) aren't licensed yet. This does not please me, as I'm not a fan of scanslations.
>_<
I believe I just watched a huge chunk of my mini-vacation fly away.