Wednesday, July 29, 2015

[Webtoon Review]Cheese In The Trap


With the news of its drama adaptation, I began to be curious about the story of the popular Korean webtoon Cheese in the Trap. I love reading mangas with gorgeous and neat drawings so when I found out that there is actually a site where I can read its Chapters (it was actually called Episodes instead) in English I did not hesitated to begin my journey reading it.

See Post: "Where/How to read Cheese in the Trap with English Translation

Cheese in the Trap is written by artist named Soonkki. I find her funny and I totally adore how she draws the characters. The webtoon has big followers in Korea. Of course, this popularity leads the drama people to acquire its right to be adapted.

[WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS COMING!]

The story revolves around the female lead Hong Sul and her love and hate relationship with her "sunbae" (also means senior)  Yoo Jung. Hong Sul's character is an ordinary returning college student in one of the top Korean universities who strives her best to be the first in her department to acquire a scholarship given by the school. She is a very sensitive girl who thinks a lot about her environment and the people around her. She's the type that always talk in her head about what not to and what to do. On the other hand, the male lead Yoo Jung is the embodiment of perfect in the university where Sul attends. He is smart, rich and seen as kind by his classmates and upper/lower classmen. But then, the story will not be an exciting one without conflicts so Yoo Jung's real character is something to be discovered by the readers.

Hong Sul is really oblivious with Yoo Jung at first because she thinks his something so mysterious and one of those people one shouldn't trust fully. There were a lot of instances where she and Yoo Jung can't seem to be a good pair for each other but then, in the latter part of their year in the university Yoo Jung started acting so close with Sul and Sul started to depend on him without her noticing. The underlying question is why did Yoo Jung suddenly got this kind of attitude of wanting to be close with Sul all of a sudden.

I really can connect with Sul's character so much because I myself is also a sensitive person. While reading her thoughts, I was always like, "Oh My Gosh, She's actually me!" That's why I didn't have the problem of reading the story despite of the slow pace. I like that the writer, Soonkki had decided to make the story occur in a college envronment because nowadays stories about highschool life and first love are seriously so mainstream that sometimes I could actually predict what would happen at the end. 

Yoo Jung for me is a love me or hate me character. He is frustrating enough that sometimes I don't even know if I like him for Sul or not. But then, I love how Soonkki had drawn him. He is a "typical flower boy come on and get me character". 

I also love how Soonkki dresses the characters with different styles and clothings. For example, Sul is a tomboy type so she is usually dressed with fitted jeans, chucks and sweatshirts. Yoo Jung on the other hand, dresses sophisticatedly and manly like his character. It makes me imagine them as real life persons. Also, I love how she made the title "Cheese in the Trap" because oftentimes I can see Hong Sul as a person whom always is cornered between something or someone.

The only thing that can be bothering is the first time reading it because there are a lot of past and present pacing in the story that made me somehow lost but then afterwards, I managed to understand what actually was happening to the story. Readers just need a little bit of time to be accustomed with the past and present thoughts of the characters. 

Also, there are lots of over exagerrated characters and plots so beware. Nevertheless, for me its a good read and I can't wait to finish the Chapters that are still left without English translations... (the downside of a non korean webtoon reader tbh) T_T. As the webtoon is still ongoing, no one knows what will be the end of the story except Soonkki the writer herself. 










8 comments:

  1. good review! is there a love triangle?

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    1. You can see one forming between jun, seol and in ho

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  2. Cud u plz tell why he got so interested in sul after she returns ?

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    1. [Sorry for Spoilers] Hi girish! thank you for taking time on reading this post of mine. With your question its still kinda a mystery for me whether Yoo Jung's genuinely attracted to Seol or not but I guess its because he can mostly see himself with Seol. Also, you can see at the early part of the webtoon that Seol kinda an easy target to manipulate so I guess that's when Yoo Jung kinda noticed her. Ahh, anyways read the webtoon and surely you will be more interested, hehe. Yoo Jung is a frsutrating character, so beware :))

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    2. [Spoiler] It actually happened during Seol's first year as a freshman. Jung had always felt that he didn't belong anywhere (because people usually approach when they want something from him), but then he started to notice some similarities between him and Seol, thanks to Kyunghwan and also through his own observation. The turning point was during the preparation for college festival where both Jung and Seol worked for the preparation. Here he confronted Seol about her self-sacrifice attitude that no one will ever notice and then he blacked out. Turns out he was actually sick, and Seol cared for him (buying medicines, opening his shoes, etc). This was also the first time she could look at him closely, and so she started to feel some kind an attraction and all those giddy feelings (whihc she tried hard to suppressed. After caring for him, she also got feverish and lay down. When she was asleep, Jung got awake and noticed her. Then he touched her face, and Seol who was still sleeping hold his hand. Jung tried to let go, but as soon as her hands were about to slip off from his hands, he grabbed it, lightly. It symbolized the sympathy that started to grow in Jung after that hand holding moment, and at the same time, when Seol saw his vulnerability (him getting sick) she also started to feel the sympathy, even if subtle and not realized fully yet. So Jung began to feel sympathy for Seol and then it slowly grow into interest, curiousity, and finally attraction to Seol. Then, after both of them were back from their one year absent, Jung started to get close to Seol. (Here, he already liked her romantically, but Seol was still wary about his sudden change of attitude toward her but eventually falls into his trap xD)
      I'm already at season 4, so I'm sure that Seol is precious to Jung and the only person that he didn't manipulate is actually her. But they often had misunderstanding since both of them still have a hard time to be honest with each other. Even Seol started to resemble Jung in her act, and so does Jung who became more human (lol) after dating her.

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  3. A lot times people cannot relate to Jung is because the story only uncover his wounded soul slowly. Yes, he’s a wounded soul, like a lot of the other main guys in kdramas. We also saw Jung’s mysterious and manipulative side. Sometimes he can be very cold and vicious, even behind the kind gestures and sweet smiles. No other characters is perfect. Jung has his flaws but for all the great stuff he has, why should I not love him?

    There’s also an interesting chat with other CITT lovers on Gabber! http://bit.ly/20yE40L

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  5. I love the webtoon series,I also love the movie but I don't like the ending so am anticipating soonkki's ending of the series.and I hope it's yoo jung and Hong seol cause I love them together. Their relationship shows the importance of communication and expressing their feelings to each other and yoo jung will eventually get much better in the way he relates with others and probably get along with inha and inho. That's my own thought tho. But I really love the webtoon series owing to the fact that I watched the drama first I enjoyed it better.

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