Moon Boy Volume 8 - Mobile Edition

Manga
Moon Boy Volume 8
By Chris Zimmerman
September 13, 2010 - 12:35

Yen Press
Writer(s): Lee YoungYou
Penciller(s): Lee YoungYou
ISBN: 978-0-316-10223-0
$10.99 US

Myung-Ee is your average student, starting a new life in a new high school accept for the fact that she possesses the abnormal trait of eyes that turn red at night. When she encounters Yu-Da-Lee, the two don’t exactly get off to the best of starts, sniping at each other and trading snide remarks. However, Myung-Ee soon discovers that like her, Yu-Da also has eyes that turn red under the moon, sparking a host of abnormal occurrences such as foxes that disguise as humans and rabbit people that come from the moon. As it turns out, the two are caught in a battle between Rabbits and Foxes with Yu-Da being the ultimate prize.

Previously, Myung-Ee had a memory seal placed on her while the war between the Foxes and the Rabbits began to escalate. After breaking the seal, Myung-Ee forms an alliance with Sa-Eun Won, an elite Fox who acts as a guardian to Yu-Da, in an effort to track the boy, having given up on both Foxes and Rabbits. Readers are treated to a flashback sequence that goes a long way in explaining the current plot, tying the character’s pasts together despite the thousands of years that have elapsed.

The artwork is very well done, which is to say it is consistently improving. The layouts are especially creative as the characters spill from one panel to the next. The character designs are about what one would expect from the manhwa medium, with focus on petite bodies, pointed chins and excessive contrast on light and dark.

Volume 8 delivers some interesting revelations that should satisfy readers who have stuck with the series since the beginning. One of the complaints toward the series has been its jarring story, however with all the pieces beginning to come together, Moon Boy looks as if it is well on its way to absolving itself of this criticism. The series is definitely unique from anything else on the racks and while it isn’t always enthralling, it is intriguing to say the least.

Rating: 7.5/10