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You're So Cool #1
You're So Cool, Volume 1
Everyone dreams about Seung-Ha, the perfect prince, the shining star of the school. Chasing after the perfect prince is definitely not easy. For Nan-Wo, Seung-Ha was just a dream far, far away. However, sometimes dreams exist to come true! But when Nan-Wo's dream comes true, it comes at an expensive price. Who knew the perfect prince was actually a big jerk?!
200 pages, Paperback
First published February 25, 2007
About the author
Lee Young-Hee
16 books11 followersRefers to herself as "202" in her manwha notes. Debuted with The Young Prince in June 2000. Computer illiterate and a machine dummy. A helpless being that can't escape from this fate. Loves the rain. Her online site hosts her Fan Club "Hwa" (Flower).
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 13 reviews
December 4, 2021
Clocking in at six volumes, You're So Cool is a mid 2000s romance manhwa that focuses on two high school students and how a good girl changes a bad boy for the better through her comedic, clumsy sincerity.
Nan Woo is a pretty standard heroine--she's a bit tomboyish and not especially feminine, but underneath her androgyny, proneness to hitting her head, and adorably short temper, she's a loyal, loving individual--while Seung Ha is a flip of the traditional princely love interest: it's all a front, hiding a boy who is much fiercer, meaner, and immature than his mask would suggest.
Although Seung Ha initially isn't the kindest to Nan Woo and seems to just be entertaining himself at her expense, she breaks down his barriers and finds his true self, exposing the fact that his reluctance to love her back ties back to childhood traumas and a bad home life.
While I will say there are a lot of issues with the story, I found the heavy focus on Seung Ha's flaws and growth to be refreshing. The story, ultimately, is more about him than Nan Woo, who doesn't really have any growth: she was already a loving, free, honest person. Her journey is in finding love and fighting for the sake of the person she loves. If I had to pinpoint something, I suppose it would be that Nan Woo learns to see deeper into a person beyond the surface; i.e. recognize Seung Ha's deeper complexities and his flaws as a person, though she ultimately doesn't struggle much with accepting these things.
The overall tone of the manhwa is quite comedic, despite it having several instances of heavier themes, especially towards the end as we learn more about Seung Ha. It's nothing especially graphic, however.
I overall liked the relationship between the two leads, despite the romance not being that traditional. They don't kiss until almost the end, but one can feel greatly that their relationship focuses firstly on them talking and being around each other more than physical attraction. Mostly, they bicker and have moments of comedy, which allows you to get a sense that their feelings grow organically and aren't just shoehorned in so the author can draw lots of flowery kisses.
Alongside this romance, however, the author also focuses a lot on the BL relationship between Nan Woo's uncle and another man, which definitely cut the series in a weird way because we go from two high schoolers trying to figure out their first real love to two adult men being all "no homo but..." I'm personally not much into BL, so I skimmed these parts, but remember this came from Korea in the early 2000s so its approach to homosexuality is... a bit odd. The author has another series that's strictly BL as far as I can tell, so perhaps this was their compromise for having a hetero romance? Who can say.
Also, at one point, the mom, who has a flat chest and is often mistaken for a man because of her looks and boisterous, rowdy personality, is accused of being a tr*nsvestite, which is an outdated term and not super well received these days, but again, time period. The fact that the author had the mom and the uncle buck gender roles so completely is kind of nice on its own.
Oh, and, the mom does sort of suggest that Nan Woo take advantage of Seung Ha while he's sick and medicated which is uh... yikes. Nothing happens but just the casual mention of assaulting one's partner to like "hook" them is not a great look.
The art is also that usual mix you see in Korean comics; the faces can be gorgeous, but then the author draws bodies with arms that are horribly love with huge hands, creating a very weird effect. For this author, I think their BL comic past is showing, as "yaoi hands" were common enough at this point to get a term poking fun at the fact that so many authors were drawing skewed anatomy like that. I mostly noticed the odd proportions in the single page artwork that the author drew decoratively; the comic itself didn't suffer from unusually proportioned bodies all that often.
I'd say that, overlooking the things that date it and aren't super okay, it's still quite a nice little read for the fact that it went in a very different direction for its leads and their relationship. I found myself satisfied in the end. I've read it a few times in my life and even considered buying the entire series in English, since Yen Press had released them at some point.
Nan Woo is a pretty standard heroine--she's a bit tomboyish and not especially feminine, but underneath her androgyny, proneness to hitting her head, and adorably short temper, she's a loyal, loving individual--while Seung Ha is a flip of the traditional princely love interest: it's all a front, hiding a boy who is much fiercer, meaner, and immature than his mask would suggest.
Although Seung Ha initially isn't the kindest to Nan Woo and seems to just be entertaining himself at her expense, she breaks down his barriers and finds his true self, exposing the fact that his reluctance to love her back ties back to childhood traumas and a bad home life.
While I will say there are a lot of issues with the story, I found the heavy focus on Seung Ha's flaws and growth to be refreshing. The story, ultimately, is more about him than Nan Woo, who doesn't really have any growth: she was already a loving, free, honest person. Her journey is in finding love and fighting for the sake of the person she loves. If I had to pinpoint something, I suppose it would be that Nan Woo learns to see deeper into a person beyond the surface; i.e. recognize Seung Ha's deeper complexities and his flaws as a person, though she ultimately doesn't struggle much with accepting these things.
The overall tone of the manhwa is quite comedic, despite it having several instances of heavier themes, especially towards the end as we learn more about Seung Ha. It's nothing especially graphic, however.
I overall liked the relationship between the two leads, despite the romance not being that traditional. They don't kiss until almost the end, but one can feel greatly that their relationship focuses firstly on them talking and being around each other more than physical attraction. Mostly, they bicker and have moments of comedy, which allows you to get a sense that their feelings grow organically and aren't just shoehorned in so the author can draw lots of flowery kisses.
Alongside this romance, however, the author also focuses a lot on the BL relationship between Nan Woo's uncle and another man, which definitely cut the series in a weird way because we go from two high schoolers trying to figure out their first real love to two adult men being all "no homo but..." I'm personally not much into BL, so I skimmed these parts, but remember this came from Korea in the early 2000s so its approach to homosexuality is... a bit odd. The author has another series that's strictly BL as far as I can tell, so perhaps this was their compromise for having a hetero romance? Who can say.
Also, at one point, the mom, who has a flat chest and is often mistaken for a man because of her looks and boisterous, rowdy personality, is accused of being a tr*nsvestite, which is an outdated term and not super well received these days, but again, time period. The fact that the author had the mom and the uncle buck gender roles so completely is kind of nice on its own.
Oh, and, the mom does sort of suggest that Nan Woo take advantage of Seung Ha while he's sick and medicated which is uh... yikes. Nothing happens but just the casual mention of assaulting one's partner to like "hook" them is not a great look.
The art is also that usual mix you see in Korean comics; the faces can be gorgeous, but then the author draws bodies with arms that are horribly love with huge hands, creating a very weird effect. For this author, I think their BL comic past is showing, as "yaoi hands" were common enough at this point to get a term poking fun at the fact that so many authors were drawing skewed anatomy like that. I mostly noticed the odd proportions in the single page artwork that the author drew decoratively; the comic itself didn't suffer from unusually proportioned bodies all that often.
I'd say that, overlooking the things that date it and aren't super okay, it's still quite a nice little read for the fact that it went in a very different direction for its leads and their relationship. I found myself satisfied in the end. I've read it a few times in my life and even considered buying the entire series in English, since Yen Press had released them at some point.
January 16, 2020
☆2 stars☆
tl;dr: I didn’t like this, it’s just wasn’t for me, but I can see other people liking this.
I liked the protagonist, she was very fun and had a good personality, but the male lead really killed this for me. I didn’t know what I was getting into before I read this, so I was just as surprised as the MC when it turned out he was actually a two-faced jerk. Man, he really annoyed me, he was just a douche for no reason, so blatantly rude when out of his facade. He was also dressed like such a stereotypical bad boy, it was actually kind of hilarious.
Some actions the characters did were so stupid, too, so that bothered me as well.
The art had some wonky anatomy, but it was ok for the most part.
It could be funny at times though, I’ll give it that.
It’s probably my fault for not liking this though, maybe I should’ve gotten a clear description of the story instead of just going in blind.
I do think other people can enjoy this though, I just didn’t. I’m not sure if I’ll read the other volumes.
Pros (for me): Good female lead, it’s not boring (was kind of engaging 😳), had its funny moments
Cons(for me): Stupid actions, terrible male lead with a bad personality, the art could use improvements.
tl;dr: I didn’t like this, it’s just wasn’t for me, but I can see other people liking this.
I liked the protagonist, she was very fun and had a good personality, but the male lead really killed this for me. I didn’t know what I was getting into before I read this, so I was just as surprised as the MC when it turned out he was actually a two-faced jerk. Man, he really annoyed me, he was just a douche for no reason, so blatantly rude when out of his facade. He was also dressed like such a stereotypical bad boy, it was actually kind of hilarious.
Some actions the characters did were so stupid, too, so that bothered me as well.
The art had some wonky anatomy, but it was ok for the most part.
It could be funny at times though, I’ll give it that.
It’s probably my fault for not liking this though, maybe I should’ve gotten a clear description of the story instead of just going in blind.
I do think other people can enjoy this though, I just didn’t. I’m not sure if I’ll read the other volumes.
Pros (for me): Good female lead, it’s not boring (was kind of engaging 😳), had its funny moments
Cons(for me): Stupid actions, terrible male lead with a bad personality, the art could use improvements.
December 11, 2019
It was a very interesting book with an even more interesting plot twist
August 24, 2017
This manhwa is just like any other romance/high school story that has common or overused plot. Despite of its flaw, I really enjoyed reading this 1st volume of this manhwa.
October 10, 2017
la Lee é sempre la mia autrice preferita overall e Nan-u sono praticamente io versione manga (anche se mi somiglia più moto di the summit che é il mio alter ego). Dolcissimi jae-i e dong-wo. Ricordatevi gente che prima della Malec, nascosti da questa parte c'erano questi due u.u comunque levatevi che il vero mito é la madre di Nan-u 😂 comunque una storia che potrebbe risultare scontata per trama.... se non fosse scritta dalla Lee che é unica, io odio le storie liceali, ma questa la adoro tanto da avere i volumi sia in italiano che in coreano, appena li trovo li prenderò anche in giapponese 😂
January 2, 2018
I rather liked this series, though as a rule I prefer manga to manwha. Good artwork and a trope that hit the right buttons for me. Recommended!
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December 2, 2019amazing
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 16, 2008
I really enjoyed it. The girl in this made me laugh she is funny. Nan-wo has a crush on the Seung-ha who everyone likes. He is the top in his school for everything. Him and Nan-wo start bumping into each other and he asks her out. Of course Seung-ha is totally different that what everyone thinks.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 25, 2012
I could definitely identify with the main girl. She was spunky, cute, and fun...and then falls in love with someone "cool." Not in the nice way at all! The nice preppy guy ends up masquerading as a hardcore...bad boy. With family problems on both side, and a cousin who has yet to completely embrace his gay side...it was a great whirlwind adventure!
August 13, 2012
Kocak dan menghibur, plus ada fanservis buat fujoshi-tachi...
July 27, 2015
Ahh...I watched the Korean movie that this is based on. It's so good! Bad boy falls in love with good girl! Love it!
September 20, 2017
I love manga where one of the leads is not what they seem. The girl is also really funny. :)
Displaying 1 - 12 of 13 reviews