Kim Hee Eun - Dear My Girls, vol. 01-02 (Chi. trans.)
This is a version of Little Women in which the March sisters go to an English boarding school: Meg's a teacher, Jo's the much-squeed-over fencing club president, Amy's pretty much herself, and Beth is a resentful girl jealous of being the ugly duckling among her accomplished sisters.
I am not sure why making Beth resentful and jealous horrifies me in a way that making Triptaka a gun-wielding, foul-mouthed misanthrope does not. Wait, actually, it's probably because I've read enough retellings of Journey to the West to see any changes as playing with the story, whereas I don't think I've ever really seen an adaptation of Little Women that wasn't done straight. On the other hand, I am completely amused by Jo as the gender-bending crush object of all the girls in school and her swooping ponytail. I think the manhwaka took most of the internal conflicts we see with Jo and give them to Beth instead, with less of an emphasis on wanting to be good and more of an emphasis on wanting to rebel.
That said, the manhwaka does know the book very well from her notes, which almost makes the changes odder for me. Also, I cannot tell at all how accurate her representation of clothing and etc. is... I am constantly shocked to see people's knees and calves exposed because their skirts stop a little below their knees, and then it's nothing until the boots start. But! That may just be my own preconceptions about Victorian clothing. And I think the manhwaka moved the time so it's post-Civil-War.
Anyway! This was just a bizarre reading experience for me, since I grew up reading Little Women and am highly unaccustomed to having assorted shirtless bishounen, grumpy clumsy shoujo-manga-heroine Beth, and Utena-like Jo in it. And Laurie has a crush on Beth!
(Also, I am secretly rooting for Amy just because she is such a brat.)
I am not sure why making Beth resentful and jealous horrifies me in a way that making Triptaka a gun-wielding, foul-mouthed misanthrope does not. Wait, actually, it's probably because I've read enough retellings of Journey to the West to see any changes as playing with the story, whereas I don't think I've ever really seen an adaptation of Little Women that wasn't done straight. On the other hand, I am completely amused by Jo as the gender-bending crush object of all the girls in school and her swooping ponytail. I think the manhwaka took most of the internal conflicts we see with Jo and give them to Beth instead, with less of an emphasis on wanting to be good and more of an emphasis on wanting to rebel.
That said, the manhwaka does know the book very well from her notes, which almost makes the changes odder for me. Also, I cannot tell at all how accurate her representation of clothing and etc. is... I am constantly shocked to see people's knees and calves exposed because their skirts stop a little below their knees, and then it's nothing until the boots start. But! That may just be my own preconceptions about Victorian clothing. And I think the manhwaka moved the time so it's post-Civil-War.
Anyway! This was just a bizarre reading experience for me, since I grew up reading Little Women and am highly unaccustomed to having assorted shirtless bishounen, grumpy clumsy shoujo-manga-heroine Beth, and Utena-like Jo in it. And Laurie has a crush on Beth!
(Also, I am secretly rooting for Amy just because she is such a brat.)