The story follows the typical “cute teacher romance” route: Orion is gorgeous, and the new math teacher at the local high school. Only naturally, all the girls love him, in particular, the beautiful daughter of a rich gangster, “Princess” Sebin, and Dali Nam, the stereotypical top-of-the-class girl who believes that Orion is her first love, come back to her in the usual shoujo romance fashion. However, Orion’s required mysterious past is actually quite dark, centered around the death of his parents and his beloved elder sister. From the plot alone, this should be a boring manwha, blending in on the bookshelf, but somehow, it’s not. Immediately after finishing the first volume, I berated myself for not picking up the second one while I was at the bookstore, and believe me, tempted by the cover alone, I really wanted to. So many books, so little money.
The artwork varies from caricature to smooth classical poses, but the eyes are where Lee’s strength lies. They convey emotion quite effectively, adding to the admittedly weak plot. You feel for the characters, as they struggle to find love and themselves at a school that punishes individuality. The gangsters with afros and Caribbean accents might send you for a loop, but they bring a refreshing change to the standard yakuza gunmen. The translation of sound effects is a little iffy if you’re used to reading just manga (i.e. this book is set in Korean culture, not Japanese), but I would certainly not allow this to deter you picking up this title.
Net Comics has done a fine job with PINE KISS, with an invocative cover and eight pages of soft watercolor illustrations early in the manga, giving the chapter a dream-like feel. For $9.99, I feel this was a great bargain! I will be picking up the second volume during my next book-shopping trip, and this book has definitely sold me on trying another one of Net Comics’ titles.
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