The end of Hee-So’s 12th love arrives in bitter-sweet fashion. Creative Staff
Story/Art: SangEun Lee
Translation/Adaptation: Natalie Baan
What They Say
Hee-So is back to normal now that Beatrice – her beloved, if erstwhile, cactus – is back in her life! Now she’s determined to make the most of what’s left of her summer vacation with her dear Won-Jun. But on a lovey-dovey date to the aquarium, Won-Jun drops a bombshell on Hee-So: he plans to leave the country… and her… behind! With her world crashing down around her, the heartbroken Hee-So resorts to junk food to fill the great big hole that Won-Jun’s imminent departure has created. But soon she realizes that she’s not as alone as she thinks. There’s been someone by her side all along to pick up the pieces – Beatrice!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Finally able to relax, Won-Jun and Hee-So finally spend some time together, first visiting the aquarium before stopping by a local arcade and then going out for a meal- in short doing the normal things that many couples do. On the way to taking Hee-So home they stop at the bridge that crosses to the part of town where she lives and Hee-So brings up her fond memory of how the dragonflies appear there at the end of summer and Hee-So mentions that she hopes for Won-Jun to see them with her this year. Unfortunately though this isn’t to be as Won-Jun has some startling news for her as their time together is coming to an end.
Won-Jun reveals that he has made the decision to travel with Sae-Bom to America so that she won’t be alone. This proclamation causes Hee-So to flare up as she questions if the point of their date was just to lessen the blow while Won-Jun says he merely wanted to see he smile one last time. In parting he tells her he believes that she is a girl who will be able to seize her happiness herself as he leaves a crying Hee-So alone on the bridge.
Hee-So returns home to find that a sun-stroked Beatrice has been waiting for her for hours as he had heard that that Won-Jun was going to break up with her and he’d rushed over. After Beatrice recovers from his exhaustion as Hee-So had brought him into the house the two talk almost like old times and Hee-So admits that for some reason she just doesn’t have the energy to be as sad or angry as she wants. While she pouts for a bit in the ensuing days when the fateful day of Won-Jun’s leaving arrives she faces it head on at the airport. Even more impressively she shows the maturity to be honest with Sae-Bom that she is in part angry with her that Won-Jun is going to America but that she will always consider the other girl her friend. As the plane leaves tears are shed but it isn’t the end of the world and the days continue on as ever.
With the return of the school year Beatrice starts showing up outside to walk Hee-So home. Her classmates notice this though which lead to more issues as Hee-So tries to come up with stories on how the two know each other which ends in a disaster as she is forced to introduce a classmate to Beatrice. Meanwhile Whie-Young has been observing events and confronts Hee-So about her behavior and he tries to get her to take a hard look at her life and those in it- particularly when it comes to Beatrice. Will it turn out that this young woman finally matured enough to face her feelings and will her next attempt at love finally be her fated one?
In this ninth volume of the series the (current) love of Hee-So’s life will leave with a sense of finality. While in some respects this is where the readers came into the story it is particularly interesting to see the difference that the series events have had on the young woman. She still cries and has a good long pout but her reactions are much different than they were at the introduction of the series. Her parting with Sae-Bom in particular gives an idea as to just how far she has come as she is able to state her feelings toward her friend by not covering up some of the pain and hurt she feels just to make the girl feel better but she also tells Sae-Bom about the feelings of forgiveness and lack of blame she has for Sae-Bom for the outcome to these events. It would have been unthinkable for Hee-So to act this way at the start of the series and this is one of the greatest signs the author has yet shown of the young woman’s maturing.
At the same time with Won-Jun now finally out of the picture Hee-So is forced to come to terms (with some pushing from Whie-Young) with just what the relationship is between her and Beatrice. As Hee-So watches Beatrice interact with a girl who has a crush on him she is going to have to decide just how the two are going to approach their relationship moving forward as the lies she has been spinning have left her in a particularly bad position. With fall in the air will Hee-So finally be able to see what has been in front of her eyes all this time and will love soon blossom anew and this time will her growth be able to make 13 the lucky charm?
*A bit of a note about the copy I Received. Hopefully it was just an oddity from the printer but the review copy had a couple of issues I haven’t seen from a printer in general in a few years (or Yen Press itself ever). A good number of the early pages where miss-cut so that the outside edge of the art work was often cut off the page leading to some art and text issues but the problem also carried over to the binding as a number of the pages where free floating and they came out during reading. The grade for this release packaging assumes that this was a one off situation that I faced as errors happen during manufacturing but if it indeed was a wide spread problem it would have to rate as an “F” simply because pages falling out is unacceptable in a release.
In Summary
The end arrives for Won-Jun and Hee-so and with it brings the potential for chaos as our heroine has to face the end of yet another relationship- this time one she has worked harder than ever to keep. Oddly enough though she seems to be handling it better than could probably be expected- is it just possible that Hee-So is finally growing up and learning how to cope with her feelings. And if so, does that make it the perfect time for someone else in her life to demonstrate just how they feel?
Content Grade: B-
Art Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: A-
Text/Translation Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: November 22nd, 2011
MSRP: $11.99
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