Reviews for Model, Volume 4

The average rating for Model, Volume 4 based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-01-15 00:00:00 Tim Gordon This review originally appeared on my blog, Books Without Any Pictures: Paranormal shojo manga has quickly become one of my guilty pleasures. I blame the series Model by Lee So-Young. I picked up the first volume at an anime convention last year, and I've been hooked. So hooked that I binge-read the last four books in a single afternoon. In case you don't know anything about the series, the premise is pretty simple. A vampire named Michael invites a young artist named Jae to his home in order to paint his picture. In exchange, she has to let him indulge in some of her blood. When Jae arrives at the mansion, she quickly starts to uncover some of the secrets of its denizens, including the enigmatic housekeeper Eva, and Michael's "son" Ken. The synopses and commentary below contain mild spoilers for previous books. Model Vol. 4 is the most disjointed of the series. It contains several dream sequences that reveal more about the characters' pasts. We get to go back in time and see when Eva and Ken first arrived at Michael's house, and it provides some insight into the relationships between the different characters. We see Ken's confusion as Eva goes from warm mother-figure to her cold housekeeper persona. In between the dream sequences, the love triangle between Michael, Jae, and Ken intensifies. Then the final dream sequence brings us to Jae's childhood, and an encounter she had with a restless ghost. The last dream sequence has some cultural implications that don't translate well in the English version of the story, and that could have used more explanation. And the events in the sequence aren't connected to the rest of the plot. While I enjoyed Model Vol. 4 enough that I immediately picked up the next one and the next one and the next one, it suffered from middle book syndrome, and didn't feel as coherent as the other books in the series.

Review # 2 was written on 2017-08-06 00:00:00 Heidi Bullen I was happy to get more explanation, but then we were told it was all a dream?! Plus, what was that last chapter? I am so confused with this series. I think I'm going to have to reread the entire thing when it's done to see if it makes more sense.