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큐티보이 [Cutie Boy] #1
큐티보이 1
남자의 가치는 미모가 결정한다. 남친 하나가 소원인 한아 앞에 기적처럼 꽃미남이 떨어진다. 거기다 순수하고 착한 성격까지, 근데 이게 왠일? 마냥 사랑스러운 내 남친이 개망나니 광진고 짱? 남자는 얼굴이 전부가 아니란 걸 왜 몰랐던 거지?
162 pages, Paperback
First published March 25, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
April 27, 2011
A laugh-out-loud funny story about a girl who was bullied mercilessly in elementary school by a boy who made fun of her figure (even though she's tall and slim) and who wouldn't let anyone play with her. Years later in high school, she's timid but spirited, and her evil friends easily manipulate her. She's dying for a boyfriend and runs into a gorgeous guy who seems as taken with her as she is with him. He's cute and non-violent, she thinks, but she couldn't be more wrong. He turns out to be the psychotic gang-leader of a local boy's school and has been obsessed with her for years.
I loved it, but I'm not sure how an American reader would like this story without knowing anything about the jjang scene. You see this a lot in manwha, each high school having a jjang or "captain" who is in charge of the other delinquents because of his fighting prowess and can get away with anything. It makes for great stories, but maybe it would seem lame and contrived to first-time readers...
This story REALLY reminded me of Hana Yori Dango. The hero was extremely similar to Tsukasa--violent, easily manipulated, obsessed with the heroine, in denial about his feelings, etc. The events weren't as extreme as some of Mi-Ri's other work though. The villain was fairly evil, but a pretty small fry compared to her evil characters from other works. And the villain's punishment...well, there wasn't much punishment, which disappointed me because usually her bad guys REALLY get what's coming to them.
I loved it, but I'm not sure how an American reader would like this story without knowing anything about the jjang scene. You see this a lot in manwha, each high school having a jjang or "captain" who is in charge of the other delinquents because of his fighting prowess and can get away with anything. It makes for great stories, but maybe it would seem lame and contrived to first-time readers...
This story REALLY reminded me of Hana Yori Dango. The hero was extremely similar to Tsukasa--violent, easily manipulated, obsessed with the heroine, in denial about his feelings, etc. The events weren't as extreme as some of Mi-Ri's other work though. The villain was fairly evil, but a pretty small fry compared to her evil characters from other works. And the villain's punishment...well, there wasn't much punishment, which disappointed me because usually her bad guys REALLY get what's coming to them.
January 16, 2013
[Read this twice already around three years ago. It's one of my favorite manhwas because I can't seem to stop laughing whenever I'm reading it].
Han-ah and Yoo-Min, what a cute couple! ^_^ They can hardly look at each other without blushing. Awww!
Han-ah--having been bullied when she was in her first and second grades--dreams of having a perfect flower-handsome guy for a boyfriend; even having an average-looking guy is enough so long as the guy is not violent. After the long search, she found what she thought was "the one." What would Han-ah do if she finds Yoo-Min's secrets and vice versa? ^_^
Han-ah and Yoo-Min, what a cute couple! ^_^ They can hardly look at each other without blushing. Awww!
Han-ah--having been bullied when she was in her first and second grades--dreams of having a perfect flower-handsome guy for a boyfriend; even having an average-looking guy is enough so long as the guy is not violent. After the long search, she found what she thought was "the one." What would Han-ah do if she finds Yoo-Min's secrets and vice versa? ^_^
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 26, 2023
Cutie Boy is actually quite a fun read. I believe it was one of the very first manhwa (korean comic) I ever read ages ago as a teenager. Despite it being probably almost 10 years since that first read, I've continued to like it. I rate it like a 3.5-4 because it's overall a fun read and it doesn't feature any sexual assault or content of a similar problematic nature (which tends to be very common in Asian media, especially any from like the 2000-2010 era).
As with all my reviews of comics/manga/manhwa, this is an overview of the series as a whole and may contain some spoilers.
If you're unfamiliar with Korean high-school stories, a lot of them are... violent.
Not necessarily in a gory, intense way, but like... everyone throws punches and the teenagers often sort out their social politics more like they're gangsters than teenagers. Groups of boys from rival schools get together, not to play sports or compete academically, but actually beat up one another. Dominance is established less through social warfare and more through straight up bullying and harassment, like ganging up on students from lesser ranked schools to force them out of places a school has deemed their turf or mugging them for their allowance/lunch money.
While most American high school stories focus on inner politics only, with students fighting amongst other students in the singular social climate surrounding that one school, most Korean high school stories focus on large areas with multiple high schools, treating each high school and its student body as players in a larger game. In that sense, the setting is kind of interesting just because for most western readers, the general high school experience is a lot different in this comic than what we're used to.
Cutie Boy, comparatively, isn't as violent as a lot of other high school stories I've seen out of Korea and from Hwang Mi Ri especially (Miunohri to Swan, Vol.1 is an example where it's far more violent), but there's still an element of "let's beat people til they bleed" to the fighting and most of the characters react to things with some degree of violence.
The story focuses on Han Ah, a rather plain and normal high school girl who has become the "captain" of her all-girls high school by the ministrations of her rich, beautiful, manipulative friend, Young Sun, and a small collection of girls who follow Young Sun's orders, despite the fact that Han Ah isn't especially strong or brave and really dislikes violence--she ends up in the role purely because she has a more masculine physique than her peers and has taken self-defense classes.
Also, to clarify, a captain or "jang" refers to the most influential, powerful, high-ranking student who is usually responsible for fighting other schools' captains with a close group of "first group fighters" to ensure the school maintains a good social ranking in the hierarchy.
Han Ah hasn't had an especially great time in life so far, and her everyday life is rather troubled. On top of being boyish and plain, her parents are pretty neglectful (they care more about flirting with one another than paying her any attention), and she's constantly being used and manipulated by her friends. As a child, she was also bullied extensively by a boy in her class, who seemed to have made it his mission to make her life as miserable as possible. The trauma of it is such that even as a teen, she still has nightmares. All Han Ah wants out of life is a beautiful boyfriend to date and fawn over. One of her hobbies, in fact, is collecting pictures of handsome guys and drooling over them while fantasizing about having a cute boyfriend all to herself at last.
The plot gets going when, after a particularly bad day, a beautiful boy who leaps from a window happens to land on top of her while she's out walking the streets. Han Ah mistakenly assumes the boy is a victim trying to escape from bullies who are chasing, so she grabs his hand and helps him lose them. Taken in by his incredibly beautiful face, she suddenly asks him out on a date without thinking and he agrees, much to her delight. Despite the sudden happiness of finally finding a cute guy to date, Han Ah is in for a rude awakening, as not only is her new boyfriend the crazy, violent captain of an infamous all-boys school (the exact type of guy she doesn't like) he's also the little boy who used to make her life a living hell in grade school.
Because the bullying had been so traumatizing, Han Ah effectively blocked out his face and name, so she doesn't recognize him, but, unfortunately for her, he recognizes her and hasn't forgotten anything about their past. The majority of the plot from here on out focuses on their relationship through its various ups and downs.
It's revealed that Han Ah and Yoo Min, the beautiful boy, have quite different interpretations of their shared childhood. They're almost the exact opposite, in fact. Yoo Min looks back so fondly on his time with Han Ah, thinking that his interactions with her were positives stemming from how deeply devoted and in love with her he was, while Han Ah sees everything he did as bullying meant to make her life hell. As it turns out, Yoo Min has always had a weird personality that comes with a warped perception, skewed logic, and a tendency to react with violence and aggression to everything, even when he's actually happy or doesn't mean any harm.
Now, there's a bit of a story telling problem to be had that compromises a chunk of the plot.
When Yoo Min finds out that Han Ah hadn't recognized him and known who he was from the moment she asked him out, he reacts with anger and claims that she'd cheated on him (as children, he'd forced her to a sort of mock wedding wherein they swore to always be faithful to each other, since she was moving away) by not being aware that it was him when she asked him out, hence "cheating" because the boy she asked out could have been anyone. Later on, however, we see Yoo Min be quite upset and frustrated that she ended up hating him like she did when they were children (showing at least some self-awareness on his part that Han Ah wasn't on the same wavelength as him during their childhood courtship) and being upset that she's now fully remembered everything he did to her as kids that she hated.
So what doesn't make sense is that on one hand, he's mad she forgot and was willing to start fresh with him because she hadn't connected the dots that he was her childhood bully, but on the other, he's distraught and frustrated because she remembers and now hates him. Like, dude, you had a clean slate. It was a fresh start. You could have allowed your relationship to flourish and show her your better side before admitting to who you are and taking the opportunity to apologize and reaffirm that you've changed for the better since you last saw her. It's just sort of strange that he forces her to remember him then is sad that she still hates him. He can't have it both ways; she can't remember how horrible he was to her but also not still have negative feelings that would taint her relationship with him now.
The main conflicts involve Han Ah and Yoo Min working towards becoming a proper couple who are dating and in love, since Han Ah is often terrified of Yoo Min and Yoo Min is quick to try to punish and yell at Han Ah, despite how stupidly devoted he is to her underneath all his crass, violent bravado. Like, he's almost naive in how adamantly devoted to Han Ah he is. Han Ah eventually comes to understand his quirks and finds him endearing despite his violent nature and vulgar way of speaking. Once she realizes he's all bark and no bite (at least when it comes to how he treats her) he ends up wrapped around her finger. He tries to act tough and hide his intentions, but he always bends over backward to please Han Ah, even if he seems irritated about it. He's somewhat two-faced in that regard. It's an interesting dynamic, to say the least.
The other bulk of the story focuses on Mi Yoo and Young Sun impacting Yoo Min and Han Ah's relationship; Mi Yoo is an even weirder guy than Yoo Min: he likes Han Ah because she reminds him of a dog, but he actually loves Young Sun and Young Sun, unable to let Han Ah be happier than her, tries to steal away Yoo Min, who resists her advances because he's very odd and really only cares about Han Ah.
For me, the biggest damper on the fun of the read is that a lot of Yoo Min and Han Ah's initial relationship was based on a lot of fear and aggression. Yoo Min even hits Han Ah once after he mistakenly believes she kissed Mi Yoo (it was a set up by Young Sun to drive a wedge between them) and often will hurl insults or yell, even if he doesn't mean it, because he's upset with Han Ah and doesn't have many other outlets for his feelings in general.
I wouldn't call it a perfectly healthy relationship for a long time; once Han Ah kind of figures Yoo Min out and understands how to read him and deal with his quirks, things are better because she's not afraid of him or affected by his cursing and he doesn't hit her again.
It's a rather strange dynamic, which made it fun to read.
Also, with this being a mid-2000s comic there are some instances where things are kind of socially outdated and what not, like when Young Sun counters Han Ah being groped with "wow, why are you touching my friend's flat ass when mine is toned and perky and wonderful?" to make Han Ah feel bad and like she should want to be groped on trains as proof of physical attractiveness. It's a really weird scene and thankfully it's an outlier for the series at the beginning that's quickly done and left behind, but still.
The one thing I want to point out about Cutie Boy is that, despite this being a Hwang Mi-Ri title (a pseudonym made by a publisher to make a lot of comics under with the same style of art and theming) this particular comic was drawn by some pretty competent artists. Some Hwang Mi Ri titles have really stilted and anatomically awkward drawings/poses and even weird faces, but the anatomy in this comic is overall really good and the eyes/faces are a little smaller and better defined than in some other titles.
I think it's worth checking out, definitely!
As with all my reviews of comics/manga/manhwa, this is an overview of the series as a whole and may contain some spoilers.
If you're unfamiliar with Korean high-school stories, a lot of them are... violent.
Not necessarily in a gory, intense way, but like... everyone throws punches and the teenagers often sort out their social politics more like they're gangsters than teenagers. Groups of boys from rival schools get together, not to play sports or compete academically, but actually beat up one another. Dominance is established less through social warfare and more through straight up bullying and harassment, like ganging up on students from lesser ranked schools to force them out of places a school has deemed their turf or mugging them for their allowance/lunch money.
While most American high school stories focus on inner politics only, with students fighting amongst other students in the singular social climate surrounding that one school, most Korean high school stories focus on large areas with multiple high schools, treating each high school and its student body as players in a larger game. In that sense, the setting is kind of interesting just because for most western readers, the general high school experience is a lot different in this comic than what we're used to.
Cutie Boy, comparatively, isn't as violent as a lot of other high school stories I've seen out of Korea and from Hwang Mi Ri especially (Miunohri to Swan, Vol.1 is an example where it's far more violent), but there's still an element of "let's beat people til they bleed" to the fighting and most of the characters react to things with some degree of violence.
The story focuses on Han Ah, a rather plain and normal high school girl who has become the "captain" of her all-girls high school by the ministrations of her rich, beautiful, manipulative friend, Young Sun, and a small collection of girls who follow Young Sun's orders, despite the fact that Han Ah isn't especially strong or brave and really dislikes violence--she ends up in the role purely because she has a more masculine physique than her peers and has taken self-defense classes.
Also, to clarify, a captain or "jang" refers to the most influential, powerful, high-ranking student who is usually responsible for fighting other schools' captains with a close group of "first group fighters" to ensure the school maintains a good social ranking in the hierarchy.
Han Ah hasn't had an especially great time in life so far, and her everyday life is rather troubled. On top of being boyish and plain, her parents are pretty neglectful (they care more about flirting with one another than paying her any attention), and she's constantly being used and manipulated by her friends. As a child, she was also bullied extensively by a boy in her class, who seemed to have made it his mission to make her life as miserable as possible. The trauma of it is such that even as a teen, she still has nightmares. All Han Ah wants out of life is a beautiful boyfriend to date and fawn over. One of her hobbies, in fact, is collecting pictures of handsome guys and drooling over them while fantasizing about having a cute boyfriend all to herself at last.
The plot gets going when, after a particularly bad day, a beautiful boy who leaps from a window happens to land on top of her while she's out walking the streets. Han Ah mistakenly assumes the boy is a victim trying to escape from bullies who are chasing, so she grabs his hand and helps him lose them. Taken in by his incredibly beautiful face, she suddenly asks him out on a date without thinking and he agrees, much to her delight. Despite the sudden happiness of finally finding a cute guy to date, Han Ah is in for a rude awakening, as not only is her new boyfriend the crazy, violent captain of an infamous all-boys school (the exact type of guy she doesn't like) he's also the little boy who used to make her life a living hell in grade school.
Because the bullying had been so traumatizing, Han Ah effectively blocked out his face and name, so she doesn't recognize him, but, unfortunately for her, he recognizes her and hasn't forgotten anything about their past. The majority of the plot from here on out focuses on their relationship through its various ups and downs.
It's revealed that Han Ah and Yoo Min, the beautiful boy, have quite different interpretations of their shared childhood. They're almost the exact opposite, in fact. Yoo Min looks back so fondly on his time with Han Ah, thinking that his interactions with her were positives stemming from how deeply devoted and in love with her he was, while Han Ah sees everything he did as bullying meant to make her life hell. As it turns out, Yoo Min has always had a weird personality that comes with a warped perception, skewed logic, and a tendency to react with violence and aggression to everything, even when he's actually happy or doesn't mean any harm.
Now, there's a bit of a story telling problem to be had that compromises a chunk of the plot.
When Yoo Min finds out that Han Ah hadn't recognized him and known who he was from the moment she asked him out, he reacts with anger and claims that she'd cheated on him (as children, he'd forced her to a sort of mock wedding wherein they swore to always be faithful to each other, since she was moving away) by not being aware that it was him when she asked him out, hence "cheating" because the boy she asked out could have been anyone. Later on, however, we see Yoo Min be quite upset and frustrated that she ended up hating him like she did when they were children (showing at least some self-awareness on his part that Han Ah wasn't on the same wavelength as him during their childhood courtship) and being upset that she's now fully remembered everything he did to her as kids that she hated.
So what doesn't make sense is that on one hand, he's mad she forgot and was willing to start fresh with him because she hadn't connected the dots that he was her childhood bully, but on the other, he's distraught and frustrated because she remembers and now hates him. Like, dude, you had a clean slate. It was a fresh start. You could have allowed your relationship to flourish and show her your better side before admitting to who you are and taking the opportunity to apologize and reaffirm that you've changed for the better since you last saw her. It's just sort of strange that he forces her to remember him then is sad that she still hates him. He can't have it both ways; she can't remember how horrible he was to her but also not still have negative feelings that would taint her relationship with him now.
The main conflicts involve Han Ah and Yoo Min working towards becoming a proper couple who are dating and in love, since Han Ah is often terrified of Yoo Min and Yoo Min is quick to try to punish and yell at Han Ah, despite how stupidly devoted he is to her underneath all his crass, violent bravado. Like, he's almost naive in how adamantly devoted to Han Ah he is. Han Ah eventually comes to understand his quirks and finds him endearing despite his violent nature and vulgar way of speaking. Once she realizes he's all bark and no bite (at least when it comes to how he treats her) he ends up wrapped around her finger. He tries to act tough and hide his intentions, but he always bends over backward to please Han Ah, even if he seems irritated about it. He's somewhat two-faced in that regard. It's an interesting dynamic, to say the least.
The other bulk of the story focuses on Mi Yoo and Young Sun impacting Yoo Min and Han Ah's relationship; Mi Yoo is an even weirder guy than Yoo Min: he likes Han Ah because she reminds him of a dog, but he actually loves Young Sun and Young Sun, unable to let Han Ah be happier than her, tries to steal away Yoo Min, who resists her advances because he's very odd and really only cares about Han Ah.
For me, the biggest damper on the fun of the read is that a lot of Yoo Min and Han Ah's initial relationship was based on a lot of fear and aggression. Yoo Min even hits Han Ah once after he mistakenly believes she kissed Mi Yoo (it was a set up by Young Sun to drive a wedge between them) and often will hurl insults or yell, even if he doesn't mean it, because he's upset with Han Ah and doesn't have many other outlets for his feelings in general.
I wouldn't call it a perfectly healthy relationship for a long time; once Han Ah kind of figures Yoo Min out and understands how to read him and deal with his quirks, things are better because she's not afraid of him or affected by his cursing and he doesn't hit her again.
It's a rather strange dynamic, which made it fun to read.
Also, with this being a mid-2000s comic there are some instances where things are kind of socially outdated and what not, like when Young Sun counters Han Ah being groped with "wow, why are you touching my friend's flat ass when mine is toned and perky and wonderful?" to make Han Ah feel bad and like she should want to be groped on trains as proof of physical attractiveness. It's a really weird scene and thankfully it's an outlier for the series at the beginning that's quickly done and left behind, but still.
The one thing I want to point out about Cutie Boy is that, despite this being a Hwang Mi-Ri title (a pseudonym made by a publisher to make a lot of comics under with the same style of art and theming) this particular comic was drawn by some pretty competent artists. Some Hwang Mi Ri titles have really stilted and anatomically awkward drawings/poses and even weird faces, but the anatomy in this comic is overall really good and the eyes/faces are a little smaller and better defined than in some other titles.
I think it's worth checking out, definitely!
March 26, 2018
Ammetto che i disegni non sono il massimo (un po' vecchia scuola...e a volte poco curati XD) ma la storia sembra divertente e anche un po' strana... la nostra eroina che dovrebbe essere una specie di bulla attaccabrighe in realtà è solo una sfortunata ragazza in cerca del vero amore mentre da dietro le ombre la sua malvagia amica (ma è davvero sua amica? non mi sembra affatto XD) muove i fili....chissà quanto ci metterà a scoprire che il DOLCISSIMO ragazzo su cui ha messo gli occhi altri non è che il suo arcinemico (oltre ad essere un Delinquente con la D maiuscola XD)
March 3, 2022
I like the plot hahah the love interest looks soooo finee
June 29, 2015
see full review @ Katie's Corner
mini manga review is having an 8-volume manga covered this time. Why so? Well, I was too lazy to write a normal one, but I didn’t want to miss the chance to share my experience with this story.
First of all it’s not a manga but a manhwa. (Note to myself, write a small post about these differences) So if you are interested check it out once it’s published. The story is about love… wait, there are gangsters all around, a lot of violence mixed with relationships and true love.
Have you had a bully in the grade school that bullied you for no reason? Well, what s that bully… opps, sorry I nearly spilt the secret. Well, this story has what we call a “normal” school life of Korean high schoolers. Are you ready to have fun while getting to know all characters? You’ll have too much fun, cracking up on the jokes and personalities of every character.
I recommend this story a lot to read after a two-day exam period. It just makes your mind float in a universe of its own.
mini manga review is having an 8-volume manga covered this time. Why so? Well, I was too lazy to write a normal one, but I didn’t want to miss the chance to share my experience with this story.
First of all it’s not a manga but a manhwa. (Note to myself, write a small post about these differences) So if you are interested check it out once it’s published. The story is about love… wait, there are gangsters all around, a lot of violence mixed with relationships and true love.
Have you had a bully in the grade school that bullied you for no reason? Well, what s that bully… opps, sorry I nearly spilt the secret. Well, this story has what we call a “normal” school life of Korean high schoolers. Are you ready to have fun while getting to know all characters? You’ll have too much fun, cracking up on the jokes and personalities of every character.
I recommend this story a lot to read after a two-day exam period. It just makes your mind float in a universe of its own.
February 10, 2014
Hannah adalah seorang ketua Geng dari sekolah putri IL- Hwa yg mendambakan bisa memiliki seorang cowok cute dan tidak menyukai kekerasan. Suatu hari tanpa diduga dia bertemu cowok impiannya bernama Yoo min. Seorang cowok cute dan baik hati. Tanpa Hannah sadari ternyata Yoo min adalah seseorang dari masa lalu yang sering memBully dia pada saat masih duduk di bangku SD. Dan yang lebih mengejutkan lagi, Yoo min adalah ketua geng dari SMU lain yang juga sangat disegani sama seperti Hannah.
karakter ceweknya persis kang hae yo yang ada di CHAT! karya han yu rang.Cuman klo yg ini kyknya jadi ketua geng karna terpaksa dan memang tidak punya latar belakang gengster seperti kang hae yo.Baru baca buku 1 sich jadi blom bisa cerita panjang lebar.
Cowoknya cute sama kyk judulnya.
karakter ceweknya persis kang hae yo yang ada di CHAT! karya han yu rang.Cuman klo yg ini kyknya jadi ketua geng karna terpaksa dan memang tidak punya latar belakang gengster seperti kang hae yo.Baru baca buku 1 sich jadi blom bisa cerita panjang lebar.
Cowoknya cute sama kyk judulnya.
January 31, 2011
READ THIS LONG AGO THOUGHT I RATED IT BUT DIDN"T WHOOPS :-O
February 14, 2011
My first review because this book make me laugh so much that it is really worth your time. Don't analyse anything and enjoy it.
April 16, 2011
Honestly, This manga is one of my favorites. :)) Every page really makes me smile. And how he(The Guy) is so oblivious. ♥
November 20, 2016
Can't get enough of the guy character's innocent idiocy and the tough girl character. Really a fun read.
July 16, 2010
Hahahaha...hahahahaha...*autis mode on*
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews