Gadirok: Requiem Chorus

(ADV Manga, 2004-2005)
™ and © 2001 Hwang Jeong-Ho

The setting of this martial-arts drama looks like ancient Chinese or Korean villages, with such background anachronisms as a TV set in an inn. In the midst of a war against rebels, the ruling Hwan-Woong dynasty of the Jew-Shin Empire has just been slaughtered by treacherous General Hae-Mo-Soo, all except for Prince Chi-Woo—who has either been traumatized or enchanted into a babbling cowardly idiot. Loyalist peasant warrior Gat and Lady So-Ah try to protect the Prince from Hae-Mo-Soo’s henchmen, who intend to kill him and blame it on the rebels. The number of such anachronisms as modern military uniforms increases, until Volume 1 ends with an abrupt shift to Chi-Woo driving a sports car in modern Korea.

Historical notes say that Gadirok is based on real events around 250 B.C., when tribes began to coalesce into Korea’s earliest-known kingdoms. There are enough magic and ghosts to show that it is a fantasy involving reincarnation and/or time travel, rather than a straight historical novel. Intriguing but totally confusing.

— Fred Patten

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#1

July, 2004
Cover Price: $9.99
1 copy available for $9.99

Hwang Jeong-Ho