Moon Boy 4 by Lee YoungYou: C-

From the back cover:
Myung-Ee succeeds in enraging the student council—especially Sa-Eun—by confronting them about Yu-Da. But when the Black Rabbit is kidnapped during the school festival, she finds herself transported to a strange place… with none other than Sa-Eun! As an attack from an unexpected assailant forces the two enemies into a corner, will they be able to put their differences aside and fight for their lives together?!

Review:
Ugh. School festival. If I never read another school festival chapter ever again, it’ll be too soon. This one is especially stupid, since it’s a transparent attempt to get the two male leads in drag.

There are more problems than just that, however.
1. The character Mok-Hee is utterly useless. He’s ostensibly an accomplished spy but does nothing except ogle women. I gather this is supposed to be funny, but it’s just really, really stupid.

2. The story is beginning to show internal inconsistencies. In an earlier volume, it was mentioned that Yu-Da’s transformation from happy-go-lucky (the personality imprinted upon him by the fox tribe elders) and his true self takes a long time. Now he can seemingly switch back and forth with ease, and there’s some throwaway line about how the spell on him lifted when he turned seventeen. Also, all we had ever heard about Yu-Da’s precious liver was that it would be at its most effective (in its immortality-granting powers) when he reaches adulthood. Suddenly, a new reason for the wait is introduced: now his liver is supposedly “deathly poisonous” until fully developed.

3. Towards the end there’s a fight scene and I have absolutely no idea what is going on.

This is the first volume published by Yen Press and they’ve done a good job replicating Ice Kunion’s packaging. Too bad the cover image is so garish. I can’t even begin to describe it; we’d need James Lileks for the job.

The only slightly good scene is when Myung-Ee confronts the foxes about what they’re doing to Yu-Da, since he is supposedly their friend. Any merits are completely obliterated by the sudden, laughably bad crying jag her words elicit from one of the foxes, however.

I had hoped this series would get better as it went along, but now it seems it’s on the opposite path.

Review copy provided by the publisher.