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A review by marianaconcha
Jungle Juice, Vol. 1 by Hyeong Eun
3.5
Jungle Juice is a webcomic currently being published on Webtoon and Vol 1. compiles the first 12 episodes of the series. Being an avid webcomic reader for at least half a decade, I was excited to read this one.
The premise of the story is that whoever uses the insecticide "Jungle Juice" to kill a bug is in danger of getting the bug's DNA mixed with their own and becoming a human-insect hybrid. The main character has been hiding his wings for years, thinking he's a freak, when suddenly everything changes and he finds out he's not the only one, joins a human-insect academy and begins his adventure in this new world he didn't know existed.
The art is awesome. I went ahead and the checked the original webcomic for comparison and I really like how it was adapted to the book format, the differences are minimal from what I could see. The characters are also really interesting and you can tell there's still a lot to come. I imagine the story will delve into the side characters back stories and expand on the ways this universe works, which means there's a lot of room for the story to grow.
I've gotta say that having read a lot of webcomics, manga and watched a lot of anime, there wasn't a lot that felt new and distinctive about Jungle Juice to me. Yes, it has an original concept, the whole human-insect thing, but it follows the usual premise of a lot of other shōnen lit - it gave me My Hero Academia vibes, to be honest. Also it seems to suffer a bit from the ever-present exposition syndrome anime and manga have. Sometimes a bit of <i>show, don't tell</i> goes a long way.
That said, I think the fans of the webcomic will love owning this graphic novel and I hope it has a lot of success!
Big thanks to NetGalley, Yen Press and Ize Press for the ARC!
The premise of the story is that whoever uses the insecticide "Jungle Juice" to kill a bug is in danger of getting the bug's DNA mixed with their own and becoming a human-insect hybrid. The main character has been hiding his wings for years, thinking he's a freak, when suddenly everything changes and he finds out he's not the only one, joins a human-insect academy and begins his adventure in this new world he didn't know existed.
The art is awesome. I went ahead and the checked the original webcomic for comparison and I really like how it was adapted to the book format, the differences are minimal from what I could see. The characters are also really interesting and you can tell there's still a lot to come. I imagine the story will delve into the side characters back stories and expand on the ways this universe works, which means there's a lot of room for the story to grow.
I've gotta say that having read a lot of webcomics, manga and watched a lot of anime, there wasn't a lot that felt new and distinctive about Jungle Juice to me. Yes, it has an original concept, the whole human-insect thing, but it follows the usual premise of a lot of other shōnen lit - it gave me My Hero Academia vibes, to be honest. Also it seems to suffer a bit from the ever-present exposition syndrome anime and manga have. Sometimes a bit of <i>show, don't tell</i> goes a long way.
That said, I think the fans of the webcomic will love owning this graphic novel and I hope it has a lot of success!
Big thanks to NetGalley, Yen Press and Ize Press for the ARC!