18
Jul
2015

Savage Garden

savagegarden1

In 18th century England, Gabriel, an orphan girl from a fallen noble family befriended a young man named Jeremy, who was rumored to be an illegitimate child of a nobleman. After an incident occurred, Gabriel must impersonate her friend Jeremy, taking his place at an all boys academy for nobles, a place that may seem like heaven to others, but really hides a harshness which she would never have imagined.

Candy’s Rating: 8/10

Candy’s Notes: And here my lovely addicts, is the last of one the 4 works by the amazing Hyeon-Sook Lee that I was able to read (UNTIL REALLY?! IS FULLY SCANALATED). I’m honestly saddened by this but well, let’s actually get to the review. It’s an 8, are you shocked? Well you shouldn’t be! Lets go down the checklist of knowns for this amazing mangaka. Forbidden romance, check (homosexuality and classes). Dark ambiance, check, tragic past, DOUBLE CHECK, gorgeous as F art, OH GURL, CHECK,  and to top it all off, a “wtf, where did that come from” ending, CHECK BABY, CHECK!!! Yes, it’s some classic loveliness that I adore, but with a twist. There’s actually quite a bit of comedy in this one. It’s actually kinda disorienting since I read this one after Nobody Knows which is just pure emo and darkness. It was really unexpected. It also shook up and kinda messed with the dark atmosphere the manwha was going for. That’s one of the reasons the score is only an 8. As much as I did love the comedy, it didn’t mix well with the serious atmosphere the rest of the manhwa was trying to pull off, at least in my opinion. The comedy did actually add another level of charm though. it made the characters, just more fun to watch, obviously, so even though I wasn’t super absorbed int he mystery and dark aspect of the story, I was absorbed int he characters actions, reactions and feelings. The characters in this one, felt a bit less human though. I think that’s simply because they were mostly male and things I can’t really relate to. The fact it turned into a harem (a bunch of guys liking the man girl for who knows what reason) is another reason I gave it an 8. I kinda like reasons for the menfolk to fall for the main girl. Here, it’s kinda iffy. I explained it to myself though. All boys school, the smell of estrogen, a slender body, yep, the body is naturally going to react. If you don’t know why your body is reacting in a certain way, you’ll dwell on those feelings. the more you think about someone , the deeper the feelings get. see, I worked it all out LOL. The main couple though, I believe they were just naturally attracted to each other, and I liked that. There was no special reason, no outstanding thing about either of them that the other saw, they simply spent time together and fell for each other. it was actually really cute, but I didn’t exactly like the way the romance was handled.

Romance and ending spoilers
Like really, they like started with little baby crushes, it wasn’t anything really hardcore, at least it wasn’t portrayed like that. All of a sudden at the end, when the time skip happens, both of them are basically living dolls without the other. Like don’t get me wrong, I’m all for “stronger than time” romances, but this one was left field. Like She was originally going to leave him, because she had to, but she was going to nonetheless. he wouldn’t even had confessed if she didn’t stretch out her hand to his, and then BOOM, they can’t be separated. It’s like, what….since when are they like CRAZY MAD IN LOVE. then again, since his brother did die, she was the closest to his heart I guess. Since his time stopped, he really did need her.
It was just an extremely rushed ending. Like REALLY RUSHED! I wish I knew why it was so freaking rushed. Like I know she normally does the shock value end in the last 2 or so chapters, but literally there was a 20 page epilogue that like tried to conclude things, but it was just like WTF! Hoow did this lead to this. Omg don’t even get me started on how they literally didn’t explain at freaking all
Ending spoilers
Why and who shot Euan. Like literally, he’s walking with some girl, accused of an affair, and show. All within like 3 pages. Like wtf, it felt like it was done JUST for the shock value. I expected it but in this case it was soooo unnecessary by the point the manhwa was out. If it was going to happen it should’ve been during the forest scene. Way less awkward there.

Anyway, before I get yelled at for having another super long rant (sorry, I feel a lot of feels for this woman’s work!), let me wrap this one up. Good story, the all boys school gives it certain twist that aren’t in every shoujo manga. The comedy tones down the dark atmosphere, making the mystery aspect and tragic pasts of the characters less prominent. The characters are still all interesting and you do feel a certain attachment with them. You’ll give them reasons if the mangaka didn’t LOL. Gorgeous art, fabulous storytelling, rushed wtf ending. Go, read now, DO IT!


MAL | Read Online | Torrent | Download

Read online links are being switched out

savagegardeninsert

 

Share

SickeninglySweet

Just a tiny creeper with a love for all things sweet and terrifying. Wasting away trying to gorge people to death on my love.

You may also like...

1 Response

  1. Jatz says:

    Very Niceu Candy-chan!

    I’ll be sure to read the four works that you’ve been obsessed by over the last few days!

    Another good rant-I mean review. Look forward to more of your long posts! =)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.