Sarasah, which starts off as the story of Ji-Hae and the romantic obsession for an aloof and decidedly disinterested classmate that compels her to travel back in time to put right a misstep from their past lives (while disguised as a boy, naturally), widens its scope in these two volumes to include hidden motivations and political agendas.
The incorporation of these elements into the story is a vast improvement, as it gives Ja-Yun (the past life equivalent of Ji-Hae’s modern love) more of a personality, fleshes out the character of Bub-Min (a nobleman who knows Ji-Hae’s true gender), and gives Ji-Hae something to think about besides boys. Both Ja-Yun and Bub-Min are using her for their own purposes, and therefore take some of the focus away from Ji-Hae, whom I still can’t like, despite some improvement in her behavior.
Ryu Ryang’s art continues to be attractive, and the introduction of Misa-Heul, leader of the hwa-rang group to which Ja-Yun belongs, adds another bishounen to the cast. And even though spindly boys with bee-stung lips are not my personal preference, I can’t deny that the cover of this volume, which features Ja-Yun in all his aqua-haired glory, beguiles me with its prettiness.
After reading the first volume, I didn’t have much interest in continuing with this series. Now, though, I am at least marginally intrigued about where this story could be headed.
Review copy for volume three provided by the publisher. Review originally published at Manga Recon.
I’m in absolute agreement. Volume one left me wondering if I should bother, but now I’m totally interested. I love political intrigue!
Also, did we figure out how Ja-Yun figured out Ji-Hae was a female? There are editing errors in the 3 books that make it confusing and difficult to know who knows she’s a she and when. But I totally missed the moment Ja-Yun figured her out…unless it never happened.
Must start working on my own review of the first 3 volumes.
I had the same question about Ja-Yun! He refers to Ji-Hae as both he and she, and I was unsure whether he knew until he finally used her name. I don’t remember enough of v1 to know whether something happened between them then that allowed him to figure it out.