Familyman

패밀리맨

7.72(1K votes)

Ranked #1884Popularity #9184

chapters

volumes

Status

Finished

Published

Aug 7, 2009 to May 28, 2010

Authors:Jung, Pil Won

ComedyDrama

Worth Reading? — Global Verdict

7.3/10

Average Review Score

67%

Recommend It

Reviews Worldwide

International Reviews

Ashcom

Recommended

When I viewed the information page of this title, I felt pretty bad because hardly had anybody bothered to read this manhwa and nobody posted a review of this title online. That's why I considered it my responsibility to shed light on this title. Oh, and by the way, this is my first review. Okay, the main protagonist is a local factory worker named Gang-Ho who is a honest person and tries hard to earn some money for the well being of his family. Due to certain mishaps his looses his job and after then, assumes the identity of a television superhero named Gugu man inorder to sustain his family without having them acknowledge his presence and news of his unemployment. The aforementioned statements were an excerpt of the story. This title is quite light hearted and could be enjoyed by the entire family. All the characters exhibit realistic emotions and aren't just some leisurely drawn caricatures. With the progression of the chapters the readers will come across some intense and dramatic situation. All in all, it can be regarded as an emotional roller-coaster ride. The art isn't much detailed but goes hand in hand with the simplicity of the story. All in all I really enjoyed this title a lot.

13 found helpfulOct 15, 2015

Community Discussion

Synopsis

As a caring and diligent father, factory worker Kwon Gang-Ho supports his family with the little that he earns. At his workplace, he is admired by everyone due to his benevolent nature. Meanwhile, in Seoul, Gang-Ho's wife Yeong-Ran looks after their children on her own. Despite struggling to keep the family afloat, she never neglects her kids and puts in all her effort to raise them. When Gang-Ho's carelessness gets him involved in an accident, it leaves his face with severe burn marks. Dismissed from his job afterward, Gang-Ho returns to Seoul. However, since he does not want his family to know about the mishap, he decides to stay at his friend's house for the time being. One day, Gang-Ho encounters his daughter crossing the street. Suddenly, a car speeds forward and almost hits her, but Gang-Ho arrives in the nick of time and rescues her—wearing a mask of the fictional hero "Gugu-man." Following this incident, Gang-Ho starts using the costume of Gugu-man to keep an eye on his family without ever revealing himself. Thus begins the heartwarming tale of a devoted father and his earnest endeavor to protect his family, all while having to face arduous circumstances of his own. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

For a manhwa called familyman there really is not much family connections at all, and the story suffers because of it. We are thrown into the thick of a problem, without prior knowledge of how this family functions or operates, and as the plot progresses it doesn't deepen this aspect at all. And you need this if you want to make a heartfelt story involving a family, you need to understand why you are supposed to care. The tone shifts throw you in for a loop, ranging from very shallow comedy, filled with butt jokes to action moments to dramatic scenes. I am all for diversityin tone but it is done so abruptly and without any buildup that you just get whiplash. At times it feels you have accidentally skipped pages with how the pacing goes, it's as if the author does not know where to take this and is just throwing all the stuff they can think of to the wall. Which ties into my main gripe I have with the story: the absolute absurd amount of melodrama piled onto every chapter. Like, dude, we get it. We truly do get it. This is a sad situation. You do not need to go through these ridiculous stretches to make it seem as if your comic has a heart. I honest to god had to walk away in the last chapters because of how damn hard the author tried to make the audience feel a smidge of sympathy for this family. It is a short read, so it's got that going for it. The art is nice too. But considering the brusque tone shifts, the lackluster plot filled with disasters waiting to happen and the weird pacing, I wouldn't recommend this with good faith to anyone.

RedPerry

Recommended

I was really astonished to see that such a manwha wasn't more popular on MAL, and that there was only one review, so I thought I would add mine. Family Man was a real emotional rollercoaster, between being heart-warming and sad. Gang-Ho is a worker in a plant far away from his family that was fired after an accident that left him with a terrible scar and who can't face his family with such a face, so he wears a costume of a popular superhero to save them without them knowing. His devotion to his family is absolutely wonderful, and was very touching. The webtoon is notvery lengthy, which was quite enjoyable for me. I recommend this manwha. If you want more details, here I go: The characters are, in my opinion, the best part of the manwha. Gang-Ho is the main character but his family is very well developed: I especially loved his wife, who is very strong and does her best with her husband far away. Gang-Ho's son is mentally handicapped, and his daughter is a very lively little girl. The way the children were pictured was interesting, I feel like they had a real personnality when some children in manga have often a more generic personnality. The art was original, but went very well with the story: it is quite simple, which fits with the children and the idea of wearing a superhero costume. At the same time, it contrasts with the difficulties that they all go through. Overall it was a really nice piece.

6 found helpfulNov 13, 2018