Yandere Review - Hot Blooded Woman's Han Seo Jang

Name: Han Seo Jang

Yandere Type: Abusive, Manipulative, Obsessive, Possessive

Role: Antagonist

Here I am with another manhwa with male yandere recommendation!

So there’s another yandere guy I met. He’s called Jang Han Seo from the manga “Hot-Blooded Woman”. He’s abusive. He’s manipulative. He’s possessive. He’s obsessive. He’s cunning. He’s cruel. He’s crazy. And he’s inlove.

Gah, think about every yandere actions you can think about and he’s probably done it. Oh, except the cage-locking thing. He definitely didn’t do that. Although he did try to kidnap the heroine from time to time; and chained her up on the bed; and tied her up on a chair. (Lol. I don’t know which was worse.) But hey, those actions were part of the big (and heartbreaking) plan.

So, what’s the story about?

What is a sweet, soft-spoken girl (Ha Ji Kang) to do when her brothers, having just learned fencing and martial arts, decide to test some moves out on her in order to "tame her" and make her into their "little slave?"

She runs to her knightly friend Te Hu Kang  for protection, of course. However, what happens when, instead of comforting her, he tells her that she is a coward for running away like a puppy who needs constant protection? No, she does not break down and cry like a weak girl. Instead, she resolves to grow stronger. With rigorous training everyday, Ha Ji goes from being a scared girl who cries for help to becoming the Jjang (boss of a gang) of the Doberman gang. 

However, events lead to Ha Ji getting in an accident with a truck. Afterwards, she is reborn into the body of a beautiful, but weak, rich girl Aram Han.

When I first started reading Hot Blooded Woman, I cannot help but notice the very similar drawing style with the manhwa Crazy Girl Shin Bia. I reviewed this manhwa not too long ago because there was a yandere in there called Mu Yeong. And what did I found out? They have the same author, Hwang Mi Ri. I was like, “Thank you for your existence Hwang Mi Ri! You’re adding male yanderes to my list!”

Anyway, if you’re in it for the story,  I’d suggest this manhwa for a good laugh. The heroine is absolutely hilarious, with her lack of common sense and all. I feel sorry for anyone whom she gets involved with. And don’t compare her with your weakling heroines. She’s strong and badass… and a very big eater.

If you’re in it for the yandere, you’ve come in the right place, too! He’s not just a good yandere, he’s rich too! (If I was in the manhwa, I’d relentlessly go after him, even if he’s scary. Ahaha).  And what’s more, I like how we always see him as serious most of the time, yet there is a certain kindness to his character whenever he’s with Ha Ji. Yeah, don’t underestimate the power of love.

So that’s it for my teaser recommendation. The rest of the review will be spoiler-heavy, so if you haven’t read this yet, I suggest you click away.

Since I don’t have much to say (I’m speechless over Han Seo), let’s take a look at some snippets of a review made by Wanderer6:

As for the story:
Lots of dead girls, lots of guys blaming themselves for their deaths, soul-transfering situations, love triangles, hate triangles, almost-rape situations, fighting, cruel stuff.... just the usual.  

Although it was surprising in one way. Almost every manga I have read or every drama I have watched turned dramatically at one point and it became sad or full of misunderstood situations and grief. 

BUT it was my first time reading such a comic story like this which actually turned out to be the cruelest manhwa I have ever read. It's not just full of sorrow, but real cruelty and sadism. Most of the characters carry psychopathic traits. 

At the beggining of the story, all we get is embarrassing situations and lovely scenes. Then, with the introducing of new characters or old ones we don't really know yet, the whole story turns upside down. 

I think that's when you become completely addicted. 

Art:
I especially like the way HMR drew Jang Han Seo, one of the main guys. He can be charming, funny, human-like, beast-like or all these at the same time. 

I also like Ha Ji, the heroine, but I must admit she isn't anything special. All the other characters are stereotyped and really similar to each other. I guess dear Hwang Mi Ri's only capable of drawing 6 or 7 different faces and 3 different body types in each gender. 

Characters(Finally!):
In my humble opinion... No, not in my opinion: This story's main point is DEFINITELY its characters. 

Ha ji, our heroine loves nothing but eating, fighting and eating after and before fighting.(No kidding.) 

So if you expect a girl who becomes cute at a point in the story and can actually behave well or look beautiful, don't be mistaken. Well, she can be stunning in her own way, for some of the characters, but most of all she is just an eating-burping-machine. 

Sin Uoo is your tyipical protagonist, who goes through some serious character development. In the beggining he is that cool-headed sort of guy, who appears confident, but really, he is just unable to say what he’s truly thinking, so when he says "I hate you! You are an ugly bitch.”, he actually means "Marry me, love!”. 

Another main character, who is like the other half of the love(and hate) triangle, is the antagonist of our story. And let’s be honest: Jang Han Seo is the evilest of his kind. For him, love is possessive and jealousy equals destruction. He goes by the saying that "If I can’t have it/her, no one can.” 

He is a complete madman. If I could describe him in any way, it would be by listing the traits of a SOCIOPATH: 

„The greatest weakness of sociopaths is that they don’t have empathy. As a result, they tend to be successful in everything they are doing, since their goals are generally ruthlessly achieved. At the same time sociopaths are often appealing, have a spontaneous personality, and persuasive speaking skills. They get bored quickly, they can’t stand monotony and they need impulses which often go with irresponsibility. They are skilled at lying and manipulating others. They have no remorse, poor emotional life and insensitivity. They are impulsive. They are good at hiding the fact that they only follow their own purposes, and they can lull suspicion.” 

I should add one more thing to this title: don't believe any of them. The characters, I mean. They will fool you... None of them is what you think they are. Ha ji, most of all;) 

Enjoyment:
As I’ve said before, this story is really enjoyable. Even though it can be stupid, or overly dramatized, even cruel, action is always there, with love and fun. What else do we need?
 

Han Seo is definitely one of the most cruel yanderes I have encountered. He’s definitely one of the biggest source of our heroine’s miseries.  And ever since Ha Ji’s first comatose state, he’s been shown to be much more violent and much more deadly. He appears to have a grudge on Te Hu Kang, and later on, we are informed that it’s because he’s been blaming himself for Ha Ji’s condition and he’s passing the blame on Te Hu.

At the first volume, I had this idea that Ha Ji is really stronger than Han Seo. But later on in the series, I was having doubts. So then, we were bombarded with the information that Han Seo actually lost on purpose because he found Ha Ji to be an interesting toy.

Never did Han Seo realized that he’d get in too deep and fell for his own toy.

I like how Myanimelist.net described Han Seo for the first half of the series:

While in havoc, Han Seo encounters Aram (when Ha Ji's soul was in Aram's body). Han Seo couldn't trust what he was facing. The way Aram talked, the way Aram acted and the way Aram thought was exactly same as Ha Ji's. Han Seo did not want to believe that Aram was Ha Ji but Aram was too similar to Ha Ji which kept bringing the incident to Han Seo's mind. About to go crazy, Han Seo attempted to abuse Aram with his gang. At the moment, Ha Ji woke up from her coma (Aram's soul used Ha Ji's body). Han Seo put Aram's case aside and hurried to greet Ha Ji. However, Ha Ji wasn't the one he knew. She was a completely different person. 

 Facing another confusion, Han Seo really decides to mess Aram up. During this, Aram was wounded badly and was taken to a place to be abused by Han Seo. Shouting at Han Seo, Aram (Ha Ji still inside) jumped off the car and was hit by a truck. The real Aram died, as her soul vanish along with her body being killed from the accident. From this point, Han Seo becomes more emotionally unstable after being traumatized even further, thinking he killed Ha Ji twice.

And that ending… I actually felt my heart getting heavier as the climax of the series went on. He wanted to let Ha Ji go badly, but he wanted her to let go first. And those moments when he pretended to have forgotten Ha Ji was emotionally straining. I actually found myself wishing that he’d actually forget. At least he gets to start anew and find another woman that would love him (and possibly more feminine) unlike Ha Ji.

In the epilogue, Han Seo has been shown to be an actor, with Jeong Hyeop Na being his manager. I can’t help but think that Sin Uoo is the reason for this career. Well, he did say Han Seo would make a good actor a few volumes before.

Anyway, regarding Ha Ji… I think I agree with the translator that she is definitely the most wicked one of all. If Sin Uoo’s poker face is “cool”, Han Seo’s poker face is  “irresponsible”, the Ha Ji’s poker face is her “stupidity”.

Yes, that’s right. For the whole series, we are led to believe that the girl is naïve, stupid, and too trusting. But in the last chapter, it is revealed that it wasn’t the case at all. She’s more cunning than anyone. We are also led to believe that Han Seo is the one that wouldn’t let her go, but it is revealed that it was actually Ha Ji who wouldn’t let go.

Here’s what the translators said:

“At first, Jang Han Seo thought that Ha Ji was a stupid girl. But as time passed, he became skeptical about Ha Ji’s endless stupidity. All the things Han Seo has done to her after volume 15 was all because he wanted her to give up on him so that he can give up on her in return. He was not going to give up on her first. He wanted her to give up on him. However, Ha Ji did not want to lose Han Seo. Therefore, she kept on pretending to be stupid and didn’t know anything. 

 When Han Seo felt that he was on boundary of his limit, he executed a carefully made plan to break Ha Ji’s poker face (volume 23). 

 Do you remember that Jeong Hyeop Na once told Ha Ji that she’d never reveal her real face unless someone she cares about is hurt? That’s why Han Seo put Sin Uoo Park on edge: just to get Ha Ji’s poker face broken. 

 … (in the last volume) if Ha Ji has trusted Han Seo like she used to, she would have believed that it was a fake set-up.  Desperation broke her poker face the second time.”

Now you know that Ha Ji isn’t what she seems. Poor Han Seo, he just didn’t want to let go first.

So I think that’s it for my rants? Have you read Hot Blooded Woman? What do you think of it?

P.S. Sin Uoo and Han Seo looks better as grown up guys. 

Another P.S. I want to see Moya one more time.