Seol Hui
Title: Seol Hui
Type: Manhwa
Artist(s): KANG Kyung Ok
Status in Home Country: Ongoing - 6 Volumes
Scanslation Status: Ongoing, Vol 6 Ch 2+
Scan Groups: JanimeS
Genre(s): Drama, Romance, Shoujo, Supernatural, Josei
Summary: Alisa's lived on an island her entire life. She's the adopted child of a rich, old man. When he dies, he leaves her 10% of his money, donates 85% of it to charity, and leaves the remaining 5% to his 3 ex-wives and their children. Obviously, the families are annoyed, after all, the millionaire hasn't even seen Alisa in 10 years! As she comes for the first time off of her island, they plot to get her money in any way possible.
Review: This is categorized as shoujo, but it feels more like a josei. It's about a 21 year old (or not) growing up isolated by herself on an island w/ nothing but satellite tv and the internet. When her adopted stepfather croaks and leaves her 10% (roughly in the billions of dollars still) of his fortune she is finally able to leave the island. However, her stepfather's extended family of former wives, step children, and biological children are up in arms and will try to rest Alisa's fortune from even it means murder.
The first arc is mostly about Alisa dealing w/ the former wife, and getting friendly w/ one of the step children who is a famous American actor. He ends up falling for her, but Alisa wants to pursue the man she's been dreaming about nightly.
The story is a bit supernatural because Alisa can't be killed by normal means and she may in fact be immortal. Her past is never really revealed, and she thoroughly believes in reincarnation, so it's possible she is either a reincarnation or truly an undying immortal. Unlike typical shoujo heroines, Alisa is very savvy about people's characters and the world despite having grown up on the island. She's a very strong, independent, and intelligent heroine. I always enjoy heroines that aren't ruled by cliché love stories, and then turn weak or stupid at love.
The second arc of the story is a bit off kilter. In the first arc, there's a lot of appearances and POV chapters from the actor enamored w/ Alisa. However, in the second arc, Alisa doesn't appear until much later and the chapters are all from the POV of a girl in Korea. It almost felt like this arc was a misplaced story from another series. Alisa ends up showing up, but it's a very strange intrusive feeling. Because up to now, we're now reading of an extremely poor girl working through college, and secretly in love w/ her childhood best friend. Suddenly, Alisa shows up and not only does she suddenly go by the name of "Seol Hui", she demands to live w/ said girl and believes that the childhood friend is the man of her dreams. WTF? As the main heroine of the first arc, I really liked Alisa. But Alisa in the second arc is a real annoying witch. I felt a lot of sympathy towards the girl, and I was actually hoping the childhood friend would ignore Alisa and go for his friend instead.
Overall, I enjoyed the first arc, but Alisa shoving herself on a guy who may have feelings for someone else lost lots of brownie points for me. In addition, her zeal in the reincarnation belief felt a bit ridiculous. Despite Alisa’s belief in the reincarnation, I felt that she was a better fit w/ the actor from the first arc since so much coverage was done on him from his POV. It felt too much like she was trying to steal someone else’s man in the second arc. The first arc was less about romance, while it appears the second arc was all about romance from stalker girl friends, unrequited crushes, reincarnated loves, and etc. Typical shoujo love crap. Bleh.
Rate: 6/10