Monday, August 27, 2007

Manga-a-day: Dokebi Bride Volume 1, 2 & 3



Now it makes much more sense! Yesterday I read Dokebi Bride 3 but was lost because I couldn't remember the plots of the first two volumes. I could only remember that I really liked them, so I was disappointed when I read three and felt lost. This is partially due to my own bad memory and partially because the story itself isn't linear. I find I have a hard time describing these books because they don't fall into a clear genre.

The monsters and demons are certainly scary, and when the artist/author Marley does tension she does it very well. But I wouldn't call this a horror book. There is definitely an element of family drama, the re-integration of Sunbi into her father's settled city family is a major plot line of the book. But I wouldn't call this a slice of life or family drama. There's a strong thread of the absurd running through the book, but it's definitely not a comedy. It surprises me how well the three elements work together.

The first book starts out with Sunbi in the city adjusting to her new family. It's obvious her father isn't comfortable with her, he can hardly look at her. Her stepmother tries to reneg on a promise to let Sunbi keep her dog but Sunbi cuts her down with hardly any effort. Her stepsister initially makes some friendly overtures, but Sunbi is so awkward she just manages to push her away and make another enemy. After this introduction the rest of the volume is a flashback of Sunbi's live in the small fishing village she lived in with her shaman grandmother. The storytelling is a little awkward, especially since it packs so much into one volume.

The second book is in the present. It's a complete horror show. Sunbi is plagued with demons and ghosts that no one else can see. The affect her physically, making her sick. (They make the reader sick too, they're disgusting and horrifically drawn.) Her classmates think she's a snob because she constantly "sleeps" in class and escapes every free moment. Her family doesn't know what to do with her. The one person who talks to Sunbi is the class president Taehoon. And that's more because his hobby is Kirlian (spirit or aura) photographs and he happened to snap some that show mysterious auras around her besides her own. The threads of her mother's past in Seoul are revealed, and it chases after Sunbi like a nightmare. She is nearly consumed by her fears but a coincidently placed monk temporarily shields her.

This sets the stage for volume three, with the monk's shield failing Sunbi is desperate to find some way to protect herself from all the stray spirits in the city. Feeling that there aren't any divine spirits to be found in the city she decides to call on the Dokebi spirits that she hopes live on the hill behind her school. She manages to trick one into being her servant (so she thinks, he has other ideas.) This leads to a little side adventure at Taehoon's family restaurant where she helps the kitchen spirit settle into the newly expanded kitchen.

The first book is full of mystical wonders like dragons, guardian spirits and sea dokebi. The second full of disgusting and horrid stray spirits. The third has a bunch of comedic relief dokebi. Each one has a different mood but the overall story keeps following the same consistent path. The mystery of the first book sets the stage necessary for the horrors of the second book to exist. I just wish that the third book had maintained the tension the second book had built up.

Since I'm reading Dokebi Bride 4 and 5 tomorrow I'll discuss the art then. It'll be interesting to see where the next book goes.

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