Hun
Wilds high, it has a history of 42 years as a fighting specialist all girls private high school meant solely for the elite. The place Wilds-League is held, the most popular event in the country, the only place in the world where teenage girls have brutal fights with their lives. This year has been changed into a mixed gender school. The only male student- Song Jae Gu, has been granted a full 3-year scholarship regardless of grades. Being someone who had to spend every moment working or taking care of his two younger brothers, he accepted. However, the scholarship was granted with the sole condition he does not leave. But after meeting Queen, the bloody champion of Wild's-League, drenching her in coffee, calling her a "Monster" and getting caught while she was taking a shower... that could prove fatal.
Alternative names
소녀 the Wild's
소녀더와일즈
Girl the Wild's
Status
Ongoing
Manga reader sites (free)
Rosy's scrawlings on Girls Of The Wild's
I have to say, I love this manhwa. It is sweet and quite funny and there's plenty of characters to identify with and place your imagination behind. It is a piece aimed at women readers but there isn't much to stop anyone from giving it a whirl, be they tomboys to boys, and liking it. And because of this, and the reversed fairytale quality, I found Girls Of The Wild's rather charming. Far more so than the usual fairytale.
Girls Of The Wild's is about a boy, Song Jae Gu, who's been bullied, lost his father, been abandoned by his mother, is raising his two younger siblings and working for a living. He can't afford school so he takes a scholarship at The Wild's, a move he soon believes unwise. The reason he believes so is that he's the only boy in newly 'co-ed' school and the girls do not know what to do with him. The Wild's also just happens to be a school that fostered extremely good fighters, holds bloody fighting competitions and focuses on building the strength and abilities of its female students. So Song Jae Gu quickly finds himself to be the least 'masculine' of everyone present at the school and on the receiving end of an entire school's worth of female attention. Song Jae Gu essentially takes on the role of the girl in this school. He has to have a change room and toilets specially made for him after the girls started changing in class about him (his response: "Kyaa!"), he can't fight and is daunted by violence, he's protected by strong fighters who happen to be outgoing and tomboyish female fighters and he's taught how to stand up for himself and fight by those more capable in this realm. Typically, in stories at least, the role of Song Jae Gu is what a girl would experience entering an all boys school, complete with an intense culture shock. Added to this is his life of toil, which is very much like Cinderella's role minus the older family members, and the fact that the main contender of several love interests is an girl from an enormously rich and powerful family, representing the prince.
But here's where everything becomes less defined and more thoughtful. Song Jae Gu is physically strong and capable once he allows himself to learn. There are other males in the story who are constantly bandying on about uppity females, female strength and their supposed inability to fight well. The prince figure is also a girl initially brought up to be a boy but released from her heir duties once a boy was born and allowed to take on some girlish attributes like long hair, shyness and the wearing of skirts and dresses. Never mind that she's the best fighter at the school by far. The culture shock experienced by Song Jae Gu also highlights just how girls behave when by themselves rather than being a distorted picture of how boys behave when alone. All this and more lets you read and ponder gender roles and the actual range of natures within each gender and just where you yourself would fit. Most people aren't nearly as clearly defined in their gender as represented in most stories, particularly fairy tales, but Girls Of The Wild's is a story that would allow almost any reader to find their place, position and opinion on their own, through agreeing or disagreeing with a variety of characters own place, position and opinion.
To add to this is the beautiful and sweet artwork of Zhena. I've encountered her art before in Nineteen-Twenty One (which I also recommend but haven't written on yet) and it is art that creates a feeling of warmth and play. The art draws you in and creates a smooth flow of the story that's inescapable. It is filled with vibrant colours, the liveliness of movement and a delicacy that serves to highlight the more intellectual attributes of the story. Rarely will you see a martial arts manga or manhwa so brilliantly and cleanly portrayed, or one that will leave you feeling calm and happy.
Girls Of The Wild's is about a boy, Song Jae Gu, who's been bullied, lost his father, been abandoned by his mother, is raising his two younger siblings and working for a living. He can't afford school so he takes a scholarship at The Wild's, a move he soon believes unwise. The reason he believes so is that he's the only boy in newly 'co-ed' school and the girls do not know what to do with him. The Wild's also just happens to be a school that fostered extremely good fighters, holds bloody fighting competitions and focuses on building the strength and abilities of its female students. So Song Jae Gu quickly finds himself to be the least 'masculine' of everyone present at the school and on the receiving end of an entire school's worth of female attention. Song Jae Gu essentially takes on the role of the girl in this school. He has to have a change room and toilets specially made for him after the girls started changing in class about him (his response: "Kyaa!"), he can't fight and is daunted by violence, he's protected by strong fighters who happen to be outgoing and tomboyish female fighters and he's taught how to stand up for himself and fight by those more capable in this realm. Typically, in stories at least, the role of Song Jae Gu is what a girl would experience entering an all boys school, complete with an intense culture shock. Added to this is his life of toil, which is very much like Cinderella's role minus the older family members, and the fact that the main contender of several love interests is an girl from an enormously rich and powerful family, representing the prince.
But here's where everything becomes less defined and more thoughtful. Song Jae Gu is physically strong and capable once he allows himself to learn. There are other males in the story who are constantly bandying on about uppity females, female strength and their supposed inability to fight well. The prince figure is also a girl initially brought up to be a boy but released from her heir duties once a boy was born and allowed to take on some girlish attributes like long hair, shyness and the wearing of skirts and dresses. Never mind that she's the best fighter at the school by far. The culture shock experienced by Song Jae Gu also highlights just how girls behave when by themselves rather than being a distorted picture of how boys behave when alone. All this and more lets you read and ponder gender roles and the actual range of natures within each gender and just where you yourself would fit. Most people aren't nearly as clearly defined in their gender as represented in most stories, particularly fairy tales, but Girls Of The Wild's is a story that would allow almost any reader to find their place, position and opinion on their own, through agreeing or disagreeing with a variety of characters own place, position and opinion.
To add to this is the beautiful and sweet artwork of Zhena. I've encountered her art before in Nineteen-Twenty One (which I also recommend but haven't written on yet) and it is art that creates a feeling of warmth and play. The art draws you in and creates a smooth flow of the story that's inescapable. It is filled with vibrant colours, the liveliness of movement and a delicacy that serves to highlight the more intellectual attributes of the story. Rarely will you see a martial arts manga or manhwa so brilliantly and cleanly portrayed, or one that will leave you feeling calm and happy.
I'd recommend this manhwa to: women and girls for the most part but anyone interested in gender roles, bloody martial arts, fairy tales and complicated romances.
Notes on manga reader sites
The quality of manga readers can vary. The uploads are often done cheaply or as a serious hobby by a collective. Be aware that sometimes licence hasn't been given but the sites noted above, Manga Fox in particular, are extremely careful about adding and pulling mangas according to license agreements. So you shouldn't have to worry too much about the material being pirated. There are also translated works and non-translated. Amongst the translated works you will find that the quality of translation may vary according to the skills of the translators. Usually the works are perfectly readable anyway, with only a few added or dropped words or a word in the incorrect tense or with/out plurals. But sometimes the text becomes gobbledygook. In which case, either seek another version or give up and buy an official copy once a printed translation comes out. The other issue of note is you may need to expand the screen to read the text easily as sometimes the scans are minimised a little.
I find that if a page doesn't download properly or some other issue occurs (too slow or someone ordered the pages incorrectly etc.) with one reader then skipping across to another reader and picking up where I was is quite easy and rarely annoying.
Otherwise, enjoy and watch out you don't get too addicted you forget about the necessary things in life.
The quality of manga readers can vary. The uploads are often done cheaply or as a serious hobby by a collective. Be aware that sometimes licence hasn't been given but the sites noted above, Manga Fox in particular, are extremely careful about adding and pulling mangas according to license agreements. So you shouldn't have to worry too much about the material being pirated. There are also translated works and non-translated. Amongst the translated works you will find that the quality of translation may vary according to the skills of the translators. Usually the works are perfectly readable anyway, with only a few added or dropped words or a word in the incorrect tense or with/out plurals. But sometimes the text becomes gobbledygook. In which case, either seek another version or give up and buy an official copy once a printed translation comes out. The other issue of note is you may need to expand the screen to read the text easily as sometimes the scans are minimised a little.
I find that if a page doesn't download properly or some other issue occurs (too slow or someone ordered the pages incorrectly etc.) with one reader then skipping across to another reader and picking up where I was is quite easy and rarely annoying.
Otherwise, enjoy and watch out you don't get too addicted you forget about the necessary things in life.
No comments:
Post a Comment