There are many cliches used for comedic effect and yet somehow the more I read it the more I like this manwha. It makes me like something I normally would not like or think little of, and to me that is a special quality. Most of the characters have bad personalities and yet the manwhaka adds just enough extra touches to make them sympathetic and charming. Even in the most absurd situations, the feelings of the characters are still heartwarming.

At this point I've read through chapter 5 and I think this is where I am beginning to like it. I was somewhat bothered in the beginning because this manwha combines what I think are cliches specific to korea, (somehow jjangs are everywhere, people get offended by the slightest hint of disrespect while at the same time regarding anyone but themselves as trash, idolization of popular kids to astronomical degrees, [particularly shown by the fanclubs,] ridiculous amounts of angst caused only by pride and indecision, and many more, but the more I read, the more I realize that they are so over the top that the author has used them for comedy and to poke fun at how prevalent the cliches have become.

Cliches like those cause me to generally avoid manwha, but here it seems like the author throws them into a big pot and lets them stew and somehow what comes out is delicious and hilarious. After five chapters the only conclusion I can come to is that it is a satire, and each page reinforces that assumption.

This manwha uses a lot of the things I like about manwha and a bit of good storytelling to make fun of all the things I hate about manwha. Although some of the general situations may not be original, I think they are used only as much as is inevitable in order to parody them. With that taken into account I think the characters still have original personalities, and that "their story" itself feels original and not formulaic.

You can always tell when you're reading a manwha, and not a manga. The girl main character with long wavy hair, and huge sparkling eyes. The love interest with a pointy chin that could stab someone's heart and big sparkly eyes as well. Then of course, you can't help but notice that everyone seems to be involved with some kind of gang, or bullying - and the fanclubs.

And that's when you notice Don't Touch Me! is a parody of all those other manwha's out there that are exactly like that - but take themselves far too serious. In later chapters, it now deconstructs the tropes found in this manwha, which makes for an interesting read. So the earlier chapters are parody, and can probably make you laugh a few times, and the later chapters will try to deconstruct these parodies and give a real world spin to them.

The Manwha is about a girl named Mirang, who as a little kid, always used to bully a boy who was friends with her brother. Because he took her brother's time away from her, she hated him, and bullied him. She hit him, threw rocks at him - awful stuff. But the boy named Won would always say it didn't irritate him, it didn't bother him, it didn't hurt - and that pissed her off. Later on she moves away, and comes back 7 years later, where she sees he has grown up way taller than she has. She notes he has a weird looking face, when previously he had a cute face and she promptly starts to make fun of him again, even hitting him again. Won again says it doesn't irritate him, and Mirang faithfully noted that even though he grew up, he was still the same Won - and she liked it.

The heart of the story is about Won's face. Won apparently grew up looking hotter than the hottest guy on earth. This made people (men and women alike) fawn over him, and get into fights over who would approach him first, or date him, or touch him etc. Eventually they all decided to never touch Won, so that they could all stop fighting, and the fanclubs were born. Because everyone started to avoid him, Won begins to think his face is ugly, and decides to cover up half his face with a scarf to not make people so uncomfortable around him.

Funny thing is, Mirang will gleefully note his face makes her laugh, something she considers a great compliment because her ideal man is a comedian who makes her laugh - but to Won it's like a stab at his worst insecurity; his face is so ugly it makes her laugh. That's where most of the humour comes from.

Don't Touch Me is about Mirang liking Won and trying to get him to like her back as well, while the plot will deal with Won's pretty face and his overly obsessed fanclub with him. In later chapters this gets deconstructed and adds just the tiniest bit of realism to it.

It's a funny story, a parody really, with likable characters and charm to it. It's not to be taken serious, and it doesn't pretend to be anything different - which is why I like it. Give it a try and read the first 10 or so chapters, if you found you still don't like it, then it's not for you.

... Last updated on March 16th, 2011, 5:09pm

At first i thought the girl might be one of those fragile-pretty-faced girls but then she isn't! which is good and the guy is suuuppppeerrr dense but its fun like that and i swear they're one awesome funny pair! XDD

Lots of the comments that I've read have said that it's cliche, but I didn't get bored with any of it! Where else can you laugh like this? Where else is that silly shoujo love sequence replaced with, "your mine cuz I licked you first" and "Doesn't it hurt, doesn't it hurt, isn't it annoying?"
or a fight is won because someone threatens to bleed on someone else?
Read this again at least to ch.5 to see that this is an amazing parody

... Last updated on January 13th, 2010, 7:32am

GIVE IT ABOUT 4-5 CHAPTERS AND YOU ARE GOING TO FALL IN LOVE.

At first i hated the girl character and how its so typical shojo-ish.
BUT was i wrong or what. The development gets interesting and its so funny later on.

The main guy, Won, has to be the cutest (but dumbest) guy ever.
The things he do is *squeeels*

Well the main girl character does have a princess-like personality...BUT she also has the face to boot it, so its cool.

Try and you won't regret it.

Actually, it's not so much a cliche, it's more accurate to say that this is a parody! The characters are so purposely outrageous, it's absolutely hilarious! The main female protagonist (vain idiot) is like a cross between a spoiled princess and a rabid dog, the main male (clueless idiot) is apparently so good-looking that even guys and teachers fought over him, and then there's the legion of rabid fangirls (petty idiots) who fail miserably on picking on the main girl.

And even the girl herself says it: "It's like a manhwa! Even if the girl is ugly or not worth much, as long as she's the main character, there will be lots of guys around her!" *cue mental image of lots of guys prancing around her*

It's like a cheap laugh, but for me, who cares as long as it's this funny? I'm not sure how it will develop after the first volume, but so far it's a darn fun read.

In the beginning it started by parodying the "manwha heroine gets shitloads of bishies" trope by juxtaposing it with the actual heroine's unlovable personality and character. When she was kissing the guy to make her love interest jealous, and getting off to guys fighting over her, I already had begun to hope she'd end up alone.

However she still gets 3 guys falling for her. Even when the author tried to even things out by making a girl and guy confess to the leads simultaneously; the male lead rejects by saying "no, you're not [female lead]", however, his counterpart says "I'm glad you're my friend" to the guy and remains friends (essentially keeping a backup boyfriend).

If you think about it, it's almost satire in that apparently manwha writers physically cannot write a story without circlejerking around the female lead, even if the premise of their manwha was designed explicitly to undercut that (with some role reversal, etc).

... Last updated on September 19th, 2016, 12:06am

If you only read the first few chapters, then you will think this manhwa as ordinary or very cliche. It's how the main character develops in the latter volumes that makes this series original. I also was irritated by the main character after only reading the first volume. However, the events in the second and beyond made this series worth the read.

see my title.

But indeed, it was hilarious. And I laughed at our heroine's tragedies. I'm so bad... but yeah, it got tiring after a while.

I can't say I loved this manwha. I kept saying "okay, I'll give it *one* more chance, just one more chapter, and if it still sucks, I'll quit". and it kept bewildering me with the awfulness, but i kept reading, all the way to the end. I kind of had the idea that it was a parody/deconstruction of manwha/manga tropes (and then reading the comments here solidified that idea), but just because it's a parody doesn't mean I have to enjoy it. I mean, "Papillon" is a parody of sorts, but it has a completely different tone.

Ultimately, I have to say that "Don't Touch Me" isn't really amazing or anything, but dang did I find it hard to put down!