Pig Bride

Pig Bride
Genre
Author Huh Kook-hwa
Illustrator Kim Su-jin
Publisher South Korea Haksan Publishing
English publisher United States Canada Yen Press
Magazine South Korea Party (파티)[1]
United States Canada Yen Plus
Collected volumes 5

Pig Bride (Hangul: 정체불명 새색시) is a manhwa written and illustrated by Huh Kook-hwa (허국화) and Kim Su-jin (김수진).[2] The story follows Si-Joon Lee, who was tricked as an eight-year-old boy, into fulfilling a prophecy and marrying the mysterious "Pig Bride" - a young blonde girl who hides her supposedly disfigured face under a pig-faced mask. When Si-Joon turns sixteen, the Bride reappears and causes havoc, interrupting the blossoming romance between Si-Joon and classmate Doe-Doe.

The series was released in five volumes between 2007 and 2008 in South Korea by Haksan Publishing and later localized by Yen Press for North American distribution. Yen Press also serialized Pig Bride in Yen Plus, a manga anthology. Yen Press's localization kept the Korean onomatopoeia and sound effects and used Anglicization followed by the English translation. Reception of the initial volumes was mixed and the entire series was reviewed negatively by Manga Critic's Katherine Dacey as one of the worst manga of 2009. The artwork and styling received mixed praise, but the manhwa-style artwork was noted to be a divisive aspect for readers.

Plot

Rebellious and spoiled eight-year-old Si-Joon Lee is sent to a summer camp in the mountains by his senator father. He escapes and finds himself lost, but is saved when he finds a house in the middle of nowhere. A mysterious woman who lives there reveals to him that he is part of an ancient prophecy and must marry her daughter, Mu-Yeon, a descendant of the Park family of the 'Park Bride' folktale. The daughter is a small girl of Si-Joon's age who hides her face behind a smiling pig mask. Tempted by food, Si-Joon agrees to the marriage. That night, Mu-Yeon tells him she will meet him on his sixteenth birthday. True to her words, on his sixteenth birthday, she appears before Si-Joon with her sister and bodyguard, Mu-Hwa. A holy priest who serves Si-Joon's family reveals that the marriage must commence and the prophecy must be fulfilled or Si-Joon will die before the year ends. Si-Joon attempts to live his life normally, but begins to experience flashbacks involving his past life and Mu-Yeon. The last volume's epilogue reveals that Mu-Yeon became South Korea's first female president, Si-Joon continues to "work behind the scenes", Ji-Oh became a doctor, Mu-Hwa became the head of Secret Service, and Doe Doe became a banker.[3]

Production

Huh had difficulty in designing the Pig Girl's mask and attempted several different designs which were rejected before arriving at the chosen mask, but cannot imagine Mu-Yeon wearing any other mask now.[4] Yen Press licensed Pig Bride for an English-language release in North America and began serializing it in the manga anthology Yen Plus.[5] The final issue of Yen Plus in July 2010 contained the conclusion to Pig Bride.[6] The English localization process included Korean onomatopoeia and sound effects with the anglicized word followed by the English translations. Signage and text is commonly written with English translations in or near the panel it appears instead of replacing the original text.[4]

Volume list

No.South Korea release dateSouth Korea ISBNNorth America release dateNorth America ISBN
01 April 25, 2007[7]ISBN 9788952998033April 2009[8]ISBN 9780759529564
02 September 15, 2007[9]ISBN 9788925802268August 2009[8]ISBN 9780759529557
03 February 25, 2008[10]ISBN 9788925809687December 2009[8]ISBN 9780316077705
04 July 15, 2008[11]ISBN 9788925817194April 2010[8]ISBN 9780316077729
05 October 25, 2008[12]ISBN 9788925822396July 2010[8]ISBN 9780316077736

Reception

Joy Kim of Manga Life also praised the art style saying the characters were distinctive. She criticized the relationship of the lead couple, Si-Joon Lee and Mu-Yeon Park, saying that Mu-Yeon should not be so sweet and protective of someone who does not return her feelings. Kim praised the character Ji-Oh Yun as the most interesting character in the series and that his relationship with Mu-Hwa Park is interesting.[13][14] Melinda Beasi of Manga Bookshelf reviewed the first volume and concluded that despite being "somewhat muddled, the visual storytelling is not. The art is clean, lovely, and easy to follow, with a nicely restrained use of elaborate backgrounds and imaginative panel layouts. The character designs are pretty, distinct, and occasionally even creepy, as with Mu-Yeon's eternally smiling mask. The overall look is undeniably "manhwa" – a draw for some and a turn-off for others."[15] Erin Jones of Mania.com noted the distinct and typical romance story in the first volume, but found the first volume enjoyable and noted that the interactions of the "Pig Girl" are what will drive the series despite the volume ending without strong development of the characters.[16] A review of volume two by Pop Culture Shock gave it a "B+" despite confusion caused by the plot and "vagueness on the villain front, Pig Bride is still a very entertaining tale."[17]

The series was received negatively by Katherine Dacey of Mangacritic.com where it was listed as fifth on Manga Critic's "The 2009 Manga Hall of Shame Inductees". Dacey criticized the series' lack of comedy, art style, and the personality of girls stating the author must hate girls.[18] Kurt Hassler of Yen Press rebutted Mangacritics review and disagreed and praised the characters and the art style.[19] Hassler's response to the review led to Dacey modifying her review to specify it was not hatred of women, but of the characters.[18] Hassler also highlighted a quote from a review by Julie Opipari of Manga Maniac Cafe, a personal website, which stated, "The art alone makes this title worthy of a read, with its fine lines, elegant details, and overall attractiveness…the vision revealed inside this book is gorgeous. Dramatic and comedic scenes are played out with equal effectiveness, making the visuals a joy to behold."[19]

References

  1. ↑ 만화가 꿈꾸는 세상! 학산문화사 : 파티 지난호 보기 (in Korean). Haksan Publishing. Retrieved May 20, 2015.
  2. ↑ 정체불명 새색시. 1. Kyobo (in Korean). Retrieved 2015-05-15.
  3. ↑ Huh Kook-hwa (2010). Pig Bride Volume 5. Yen Press. pp. Post.
  4. 1 2 Pig Bride - Volume 5. Yen Press. 2010. ISBN 978-0-316-07773-6.
  5. ↑ "Monthly Manga Anthology Coming in Summer 2008". Yen Press. November 29, 2007. Retrieved January 22, 2010.
  6. ↑ "So long, farewell, until we go online~". Yen Press. July 19, 2010. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
  7. ↑ 정체불명 새색시. 1 (in Korean). Retrieved December 22, 2011.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 "Pig Bride". Yen Press. Retrieved February 20, 2010.
  9. ↑ 정체불명 새색시. 2 (in Korean). Retrieved December 22, 2011.
  10. ↑ 정체불명 새색시. 3 (in Korean). Retrieved December 22, 2011.
  11. ↑ 정체불명 새색시. 4 (in Korean). Retrieved December 22, 2011.
  12. ↑ 정체불명 새색시. 5 (in Korean). Retrieved December 22, 2011.
  13. ↑ Joy Kim (April 2009). "Pig Bride v1". Manga Life. Silver Bullet Comics. Archived from the original on April 26, 2009. Retrieved February 21, 2010.
  14. ↑ Kim, Joy. "Huh and Kim: Pig Bride, vol. 1". JoyKim.net.
  15. ↑ Beasi, Melinda (May 30, 2010). "Pig Bride, Vol. 1". Manga Bookshelf. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
  16. ↑ Jones, Erin (October 16, 2009). "Pig Bride Vol. #01". Mania.com. Demand Media. Archived from the original on August 26, 2014. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
  17. ↑ Smith, Michelle (July 27, 2009). "Manga Minis, 7/27/09". Pop Culture Shock. Archived from the original on August 3, 2009. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
  18. 1 2 "The 2009 Manga Hall of Shame Inductees". Mangacritic.com. December 22, 2009. Archived from the original on December 29, 2010. Retrieved February 21, 2010.
  19. 1 2 Kurt Hassler (December 23, 2009). "Reviewing the Review…". Yen Press. Retrieved February 21, 2010.
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