Love in the Mask

This is an absolutely fantastic manga.

It shares a concept of cross dressing and having males falling in love with them, but the concept has been taken to a new level.

This manga will have you wanting more and put in twists you'll never have expected.

WARNING: This manga has some males that have taken their love to a different love. Some say that they have become obsessed, or very possessive. It also involves gangs, abuse, alcoholic abuse, and the yukuza.

Never Written a reviw before, but this one needs one. It has such amazing characters and such a great plot but i was soo disappointed at the end, the story moved soo fast towards the end while at the start it was at a nice pace. OMG i felt like the author needed to finish the story quick. I really wished it would explain a bit more. Can't believe she made the main character like another guy.....and what happened to Chi ho!!! - i felt like he was forgotton i really thought he would end up with the other women! It is an amazing story and i would really recommend it but i gave it a lower score as it was not a really good ending but it was a happy ending :)

Story: 8/10
Han Yu-Rang made the gender bender of the story unique. I haven't seen gender benders done like this, so I was really happy. There's not much to complain about the story itself, yet there's not much to brag about the story either. But it did keep me really interested.

Art: 9/10
This is the first time I'm fully engaged in a manhwa, and the different style it has from manga is very obvious that it took me a while to get used to it. In the end, I still love the art. I didn't give it a 10 because there were times I didn't know which character was which.

Characters: 4/10
As much as I love the story, some of the characters sucks so bad, I couldn't ignore them. The heroine's character was also confusing; I didn't know what Han Yu-Rang wanted her to be portrayed as. Is the heroine supposed to be strong or weak?! Make up your mind! Then the hero could've been better. There were only two (maybe three) people that I actually liked.

Enjoyment: 8/10
Even if there were flaws, I still enjoyed it, always wanting more, more, more, and more. Like I said previously in the Story section, it was interesting. HYR knows how to lead a story in a good direction that will keep her audience interested and at the edge of their seats.

Overall: 7/10
I can't ignore the flaws. If I did, it would've been a nine. I know there are some people who won't mind, and others who actually like the characteristics of the manhwa that I see as flaws. I actually don't mind the imperfections because I'm always going to have a disagreement with anything and everything, but even so, I rated harshly because I feel it's more honest this way. It's also because it could've been better. I'm still satisfied with it and would recommend it. The flaws aren't actually as bad as I make it seem because I didn't even notice it until I was in chapter 100 something.

Anyways, I recommend it!!

This is the best story I've read so far! Koreans keep on impressing me everytime. I'll be waiting for the next korean who'll impress me with a new story!
This story is reallly harsh, it depicts how hard life is really by showing its darkest sides. It made me feel bad too because we always complain about little things, while they are many orphans who couldn't get a chance to taste happiness.
It took me a long time to read it, because it's too long (32volumes), but also because it was too stong for me (lol). Eventhough, I really wanted to know how it's going to end, so I finished it!
There isn't one lead personnage, but at least 4 ones! The writer go in the details so I found it really intersting (32vol on just one person would have been boring :p ).
That's it ^^

How do i say... The story isn't bad, in fact the plot s actually pretty good, something that will sound dramtic and enjoyable if a friend was discribing it to you, however, the set up was not very good. It is a great plot but not well executed.
I originally planned a 6 but taking the good parts like the plot in consideration i guess it is more deserving for a 7. Giving a grade score, 60% would be too low for it and 70% sounds about right, a C.
The art was not very good, the eyes were really large and shimmery looking and the proportions werent great either. The houses were nice though.
Characters were mediocre, they seemed pretty immature in general except for a few and were lacking in some way. There wasn't an immense amount of character development but its there. Most of the gang members seems butthurt which was annoying. Bik Rak was the manga's savior character. Hyung and Yun ha werent bad but Bik outshines them imo.
The biggest flaw with the manhwa was the dialogue. When it wasnt chessy it was boring, when it wasnt those two it didnt make sense, when it wasnt those three it was lame or downright sexist. Some lines sounds pretty sexist and was offensive. A few parts were funny but not as much as i would expect for a comedy manga. Though i cant judge too harshly on it because it may be wrong on the translators part.

The manga is a good gender bender. It has lots of action, drama and romance.
But what I did not like was the fact that Hyun-Bin is a girl, she was beaten almost all the chapters. It is cruel and inhumane to take a woman like that.A woman would never have sufficient physical strength to beat several men at the same time, take both. It was part of the fantasy author

i have read a ton of shoujo manga, but only a few manhwa, especially the black and white one ( which i think better than the color one ). First of all, i wanna tell you that, to be honest, i really want to give this manhwa a 9, but my heart telling me to not, so be it.

The story is about a girl who has to hide her identity and act as a boy for a very long time ( you can read the plot ). The story is great for me, but there are several part that is still lacking and the author also too cruel for me. The bad side of the story which i think several people also think the same as me is the relationship between hyunbin and yunha. I ship both of them till the end and i know that they love each other so much. But, the storyline just keep going over and over for several times between those two. And one more thing that is kinda stupid for me is hyunbin herself, if she had just revealed herself, i dont think the problem will be so complicated.

The character is good, not great. There are a lot of flaw going on in each character. The one i hate the most obviously yae ha, a stupid girl who has a twisted personality. I actually like hyunbin, she is a poor girl and i feel really sorry for her. Yeah its a good character, but they are just good. The love story is also not so cute.

Overall i think its a really worthy manhwa, u need to read it for sure. The reason i give it an 8 despite of 9 is because i dont feel a strong feeling while reading this which i think is the most important thing when u watch something. I only feel kinda sad and my heart moved just a little but. even (SPOILER) when oong died, i still dont feel so sad, i hope he live though.

Let's see.

-Really long, going on circles (I love him, can't reveal, I love him, can't reveal, I love him...). Would have worked way better as 30ch series.

-Art is awful. It is hard to describe, but the art is very crude except for hair.

- Plot is bad and unrealistic, every single character is unlikeable.

Unless you are 12-13 years old and female, I'd stay away from this. There are so many better series.

I absolutely love this manhwa because it really goes in detail of the characters from their childhood to their adulthood. The story is about a girl who is an orphan, but live amongst street gangsters. She conceals the fact that she's a girl so that she can survive. One day she's taken in by a rich family and becomes the family's granddaughter's bodyguard. The owner of the house tells her to conceal the fact that she's a girl to everyone and concentrate on training and protecting the weak granddaughter. Hyunbin is the name that is given to the heroine. She lives her life as a bodyguard for many years and go to high shool with the granddaughter. While there, she meets many different people, and even guys who fall in love with her despite the fact that they all think she's a boy.

The story gets even more interesting because the Hyunbin was taken into the rich family for her use later on when she gets older. She is concealed as the family's grandson and is allowed to be kidnapped by another family, who happens to be a mafia, and the enemy of the original adopted family. She has to contain her secret of being female for 9 years with the mafia, so that they do not know that she's the fake grandson. She also has to give up on her love back at the high school.

The story is really original and interesting.
I love the fact that it has 32 volumes, because I really hate underdeveloped storyline and characters. You'll really regret it if you miss this manhwa.

If you love gender bender and shoujo, this one is definitely for you!

If you're looking for a simple manga without any unnecessary complications, look somewhere else.

Plot (8)
When you read the synopsis first, you may think it's pretty simple, but it totally complicated. The story focuses on the dark side of life: Death, orphanhood, lonliness, crimes and more. You will see unmoral actions (which will influence some of the characters. Even a character who doesn't look hurmful at the beginning, may reveal its darker side).
The story in the beginning pulls to certain direction, and as it goes on, the relationships are changing as well as the feeling of the characters (and even their mental condition).

Characters (8)
In one word: tragic. Most of the characters lost someone who is important to them. You can see the first death in the very first chapter! The death in each of the character's life is going to change their lives forever. There are also the charcters who were unfortunate from an early stage of their lives. The charcters can make you angry and also make you sympathize with them.
Most of the characters go through a change in a certain point, and this will be a point of no return (they will never be as they were before).

Art (9)
There are better, but it's really really good.

Enjoyment (8)
I enjoyed, but in certain points it started to be confusing and really irritating (but maybe the things that made me angry, will make others happy. It's very individual)