| Pig Bride | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Romantic comedy |
| Author | Huh Kook-hwa |
| Illustrator | Kim Su-jin |
| Publisher | Haksan Publishing |
| English publisher | Yen Press |
| Magazine | Yen Plus |
| Original run | 2009 |
| Collected volumes | 5 |
Pig Bride is a manhwa written and illustrated by KookHwa Huh and SuJin Kim. It is published monthly in Yen Plus.
As an eight year old boy, Si-Joon Lee was tricked into fulfilling a prophecy and marrying the mysterious 'Pig Bride' - a young blonde girl who hides her supposedly disfigured face under a pig's-face mask. When Si-Joon turns sixteen, the Bride reappears and causes havoc, interrupting the blossoming romance between Si-Joon and classmate Doe-Doe.[1]
Contents |
Rebellious and spoiled eight year old Si-Joon Lee is sent to a summer camp in the mountains by his senator father. He runs away and gets lost but is saved when he finds a house in the middle of nowhere. A mysterious woman who lives there reveals to him that he is part of an ancient prophecy and must marry her daughter, Mu-Yeon, a descendant of the Park family of the 'Park Bride' folktale. The daughter is a small girl of Si-Joon's age who hides her face behind a smiling pig mask. Tempted by food Si-Joon agrees to the marriage. That night, Mu-Yeon tells him she will meet him on his sixteenth birthday.
On his sixteenth birthday, Si-Joon is tracked down by his bride and her sister and bodyguard, Mu-Hwa. A Holy Priest who has been serving Si-Joon's family reveals that the marriage must commence and the prophecy must be fulfilled or Si-Joon will die before the year ends. Si-Joon attempts to live his life normally but begins to experience flash-backs involving his past life and Mu-Yeon.
Later on in the series, Doe Doe starts to fall for Ji Oh Yun, Si Joon's best friend and at the end of the series, it is never officially resolved whether Ji Oh like Mu Hwa or Doe Doe. At the end of the last volume, the authors reveal that Mu Yeon became South Korea's first female president, Si Joon was "working behind the scenes", Ji Oh became a doctor, Mu Hwa became the head of Secret Service, and Doe Doe became a banker.
Yen Press licensed Pig Bride for an English-language release in North America and have been serializing it in the manga anthology Yen Plus since August 2009.[2] As of December 2009, three volumes have been published.
| No. | South Korea | North America | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Release date | ISBN | Release date | ISBN | |
| 01 | 25 April 2007[3] | ISBN 9788952998033 | April 2009[1] | ISBN 978-0-7595-2956-4 |
| 02 | 15 September 2007[4] | ISBN 9788925802268 | August 2009[1] | ISBN 978-0-7595-2955-7 |
| 03 | 25 February 2008[5] | ISBN 9788925809687 | December 2009[1] | ISBN 978-0-316-07770-5 |
| 04 | 15 July 2008[6] | ISBN 9788925817194 | April 2010[1] | ISBN 978-0-316-07772-9 |
| 05 | 25 October 2008[7] | ISBN 9788925822396 | July 2010[1] | ISBN 978-0-316-07773-6 |
The series was received negatively by Mangacritic.com where it was listed as fifth on Manga Critic's "The 2009 Manga Hall of Shame Inductees". Mangacritic criticized the series' lack of comedy, art style, and the personality of girls stating the author must hate girls.[8] Kurt Hasseler of Yen Press rebutted Mangacritics review and disagreed on all the points and praised the characters and the art style.[9] Joy Kim of manga life also praised the art style saying the characters were distinctive. She criticized the relationship of the lead couple, Si-Joon Lee and Mu-Yeon Park, saying that Mu-Yeon should not be so sweet and protective of someone who does not return her feelings. Manga life praised the character Ji-Oh Yun as the most interesting character in the series and that his relationship with Mu-Hwa Park is interesting.[10]