The Fall 2024 K-Comics Guide

Finding Camellia

What's It About? 

Camellia is taken from her mother and everything she knows at the young age of twelve and thrust into the role of Camellius Bale, the second son of an aristocratic family. Amid all the secrets and lies, Camellia swears that one day, she will reclaim the name and life that was stolen from her!

Finding Camellia has line art by Tota and color by Bori and Iru. It is adapted from a novel by Jin Soye, with English translation by Manta Comics. This volume was lettered by Rebecca Sze. Published by Ize Press (September 17, 2024).

Finding Camelia is available in print from Ize Press.

Is It Worth Reading?

Although the trend of melodramas packed with hidden identities and concealed secrets didn't start with the Victorians, their sentimental and sensation novels are still my favorite examples of the genre. Coming a close second is Korean melodramas, and Finding Camellia is a pitch-perfect example of why. Based on the novels by Jin Soye, Finding Camellia has it all: the secret child of a nobleman raised in the pleasure district, a jealous wife, a sickly older brother, cross-dressing, backstabbing, and far too many handsome love interests for anyone's good. It's a fairy tale on steroids.

Camellia herself is, of course, the secret child of a marquis. Her mother was a servant who had an affair (consent TBD) and was forced out of the manor, and eventually, she had no choice but to turn to sex work to support herself and her daughter. The marquis' wife Anastasia, who blames Laura the maid for her son Kieran's sickly constitution, couldn't care less about where Laura's living until it occurs to her that Camellia could be a perfect substitute if Kieran died. Although she never says as much, there's also the sense that she feels that taking Lia away from Laura would be all that the other woman deserves, since she “stole” both Anastasia's husband and (in her mind) Kieran's health. Poor Lia is kidnapped at age twelve and forcibly brought to the marquis' estate, where Anastasia gleefully chops off her hair and tells her that from now on she'll be “Camellius.”

Camellia/ius isn't much of a player in her own story yet, but we can see how that will begin to change. Most of the book takes place when she's twelve, and the poor kid is too stunned by everything that's happened to her to do much beyond the attempt to be the child Anastasia wants her to be. Interestingly enough, we can see that the marquis and other members of the household and environs don't think much of how Anastasia is treating her “son,” and Kieran in particular tries to be as kind to Camellia as possible. His friend Claude, the son of a duke, definitely knows that something's off with this new little brother, and I'd put money on him being the eventual love interest although by the end of the book (and a four-year time skip), we also have Prince Wade and Prince Ian, the latter of whom is from a neighboring country. Wade makes no bones about his pansexuality, but Claude's more of a cipher on that front, and he may be suspicious of “Camellius” when it comes to gender.

It's all establishing the setting and players for the plot to come. Fortunately, that in no way takes away from the compulsive readability of the story. It's easy to feel for Camellia, who even four years later is determined to find her mother, and it will be more difficult to maintain the masquerade now that she's been sent to the capital for school. People are coming out of the woodwork who know more about her antecedents than they're saying, and the requisite jealous twit in the form of Claude's would-be fiancée, Marilyn. The art sticks close to the Victorian era in its fashions, and if the story has a couple of points where it feels like we missed something, most of the book doesn't feel like an adaptation, but it's a complete work. This could easily be one of those series where you snap up each volume the second it comes out (or subscribe to the site that serializes it in English, Manta, to read it faster), and it's a must for soapy drama fans.

Here we have your typical otome reverse harem manga, but it's got a crossdressing twist. This manhwa stars Camellia, an uncommonly beautiful girl—and that's the entirety of her personality, so moving on—who is plucked from the brothel where she is living with her mom by a noblewoman with ulterior motives. This noblewoman has no love lost for Camellia; she realizes this girl is the product of one of her husband's affairs. She simply requires a pawn to bolster her family's position, and that means Camellia must live as a boy to pose as the family's second heir. If it doesn't quite make sense why she would have to do this, then shush, don't worry about it!

Suddenly Camellia, er, Camellius, is surrounded by eligible bachelors, all of whom instantly fall in love with whom they believe to be an uncommonly handsome young man. From there, it's your run-of-the-mill otome plot, as Camellia navigates noble intrigue in her new milieu, trying and failing not to draw too much attention with her pretty face. For her part, Camellia simply wants to get back to her mom in the capital. At the end of this volume, she is finally making headway on this goal, but the arrival of yet another handsome face signals that Camellia will instead get sidetracked by a new suitor. Don't these guys have anything better to do? My biggest issue with Camellia and her ensemble is that it's hard to tell if she's attracted to any of them. We know they're attracted to her, but what does Camellia want? She's the protagonist of the story, so why hasn't she been allowed to make any choices about her own life?

I was interested in this manhwa because I thought the crossdressing aspect would give it a fresh perspective. However, I didn't think this was any different from the same storyline as always. If you're an otome genre fan, you'll love this manhwa's beautiful full-color illustrations that set off Camellia's Disney princess eyes and the objective attractiveness of her love interests. For those outside of the genre, I don't see anything special here.