FEVER, Volume One
© TOKYOPOP
Grade: B+
Story and art by: Hee Jung Park
Published by: TOKYOPOP
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Price: $9.99
Story and art by: Hee Jung Park
Published by: TOKYOPOP
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Price: $9.99
Manga Review: FEVER, Volume One
By: Nadia OxfordDate: Friday, May 09, 2008
Teenagers have a shallow reputation as a pack of carefree party-mongers, but it's easy for older generations to forget how tumultuous the teenage years can actually be. Hee Jung Park's manhwa, Fever, recalls those uneasy days and couples them well with intrigue. “Fever” refers to a place that may or may not be real, but nothing feels false about it.
The story alternates between two groups of teenagers. A troubled high school student named Hyung-in meets a mysterious stranger after suffering a breakdown that causes her to quit her bully-infested school. After Hyung receives instructions from her new friend about meeting up at a place known only as Fever, the story switches to the perspective of two boys: Ji-Jun, a lovelorn orphan who's rough around the edges, and Ah-In, his best friend. Though more happy-go-lucky than Hyung-in, circumstances guide Ji-Jun to Fever as well.
The storyline is admittedly confusing to follow at times. There's not much break between the alternating characters, so the reader will suddenly be riding with a totally new crowd without warning. This is a manhwa that does benefit from a second read-through.
The additional going-over isn't just useful for story purposes, though. The interaction between Hee Jung Park's characters is engaging, not unlike her other recent US release, Hotel Africa. Each member of the cast has his or her own personality and motivations. Drama is present, but handled well. Abusive families are a cheap sale in manga, manhwa and most teen literature, but Hyung-in's cold family is realistically portrayed without beating the reader over the head with cliches, so to speak. Hyung-in herself is also a sympathetic character for the problems she faces in her school, where bullying is rampant and students are literally numbers instead of names. It's a system under which many students have snapped or lost their will, and still do. Hyung-in also recalls a quiet and harassed friend, Bo-Ram, whom she did not defend on school grounds because she didn't want to be harassed as well. It's an internal conflict everyone faces in their school career.
Hee Jung Park's backgrounds are a little sparse in Fever (unlike in Hotel Africa), though this also fluctuates between the characters. The energetic Ji-Jun is usually shown tearing through cities, parks and his temple home: In contract, Hyung-in's world looks washed out and faded. Towards the end of the volume, there's a sprawling cityscape that's worth seeing.
