Yeong-Ja Choe

In Korean, the full name is read Choe Yeong-Ja. This article uses Western naming order for all persons mentioned outside of quotes.

Yeong-Ja Choe (Korean: 최영자; YUNG-ja CHUU; born May 19 2002), is a Korean Manhwa Artist.^[1] They are the current Ultimate Manhwa Artist at Hope's Peak University, and is the first holder of the title.^[2] Choe is most popularly known for creating the manhwa Lycoris, which won a Bucheon Comics Award in 2020 and an Eisner Award for Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia in 2021.^[1][3] Their works span across multiple genres, though most of them additionally feature psychological or thriller elements regardless of what genre they are in.^[1][4]

Early Life

Choe was born in Gwangju, South Korea to Seo-Hyeon and Jun Choe, an employee at a family friend's flower shop and a businessman respectively.^[3] Though few notable things are known about their childhood, Choe has stated that they have loved drawing for as long as they can remember. Additionally, they picked up an interest in anime and comics during their time in middle school, which served as an inspiration for her works later on in life.^[1][3] Choe has stated that due to not making many friends, she has had an abundance of free time for most of her life, and has spent most of this time making drawings and comics.^[1]

Career

Initial Works

Choe's first published work, Dawnbreak, was released online under the pseudonym of 'STARRY' in early 2018.^[1] Though relatively obscure at first, the manhwa received a sudden burst in popularity less than two weeks after its release and was met with critical acclaim by most who had read it.^[3][4] Most avid fans at the time cited Dawnbreak's art as what initially drew them in, claiming that "[one] should read it for the artwork if nothing else", although other aspects of it like its story and characters have also received lots of praise.^[4][5] Despite its success upon release, however, Choe has once stated in an interview in 2020 that in hindsight, she thinks it "really sucked and is kind of overhyped (sic)".^[6][7]

Later that year, Choe would additionally publish Arctica, a manhwa that follows the lives of two researchers living in a research center close to the North Pole.^[1][3][4] Amongst the rest of Choe's work, it's known for its experimentation with psychological thriller elements, and the level of success it received was equal to if not greater than that of Dawnbreak.^[3][4][6]

Candy Rose & Mechanical Heart

Around the spring of 2019, a little less than a month after Arctica's run was over, Choe would create Candy Rose, a comic with the shortest run out of all of Choe's works.^[1][3][4] Despite this, though, it still enjoyed a fair amount of popularity, and most critics state that Candy Rose is when Choe's character writing fully started to come into its own.^[4][6][8]

After releasing Candy Rose, fans of Choe's manhwas only had to wait until late 2019 for them to release Mechanical Heart, their fourth long-running series.^[1][3][4] The series follows the experiences of an abandoned android, who tries to understand humanity but frequently finds herself struggling to do so.^[4] Initial reception to Mechanical Heart was mixed at first, due to the style of storytelling being more surrealist than Choe's previous stories, but many have praised its character writing for being gripping enough to keep readers from feeling entirely polarized.^[3][4] Mechanical Heart was also known for having a cult following in some countries outside of Korea at the time of its release, which marked the first time one of Choe's works had become successful outside of her home country.^[3][6] Some attribute this to its change in storytelling letting it reach a new variety of audiences.^[4][6]

Lycoris & God's Chosen

Following their previous success, Choe would then go on to write Lycoris in 2020, a manhwa about a series of murders that the protagonist, a detective woman, is tasked with solving the mysteries of.^[1][3][4] Most notably, Lycoris is the first manhwa made by Choe that would receive a physical serialization, being published by BIX x COMIX Comics.^[1][3] Sometime later in 2020, Dawnbreak, Candy Rose, Arctica, and Mechanical Heart would all similarly receive physical serializations from BIX x COMIX Comics.^[1][3][4][7]

Thanks to the physical release, even more interest was garnered for Choe's work than before. This led to Lycoris receiving official translations and overseas releases in both Japanese and English in late 2020, a first for Choe's works.^[1][3] The rest of her past works would also be translated later on, over the course of 2021 to 2022.^[1][3][4][9]

Partway through Lycoris's run, Choe decided to release another manhwa titled God's Chosen, which would run concurrently with Lycoris.^[1][3][4] It is known for being the longest of all Choe's works in terms of no. of issues.^[3][4][7] Like her other works, God's Chosen would see itself get a translated release as well, with both the English and Japanese translations for each issue being released two weeks after the issue's original release date.^[1][3][4]

Other Works (2018-2023)

Aside from their most notable work, Choe has also released a handful of shorter manhwas between larger projects, which have never spanned more than five issues.^[3][9] Most prominently out of these releases are Rebel Deals, Silver Spiders, and War of Faith, which all had successes with different online communities.^{[3][4][9][10][11]}

Sometime shortly after the release of Mechanical Heart, some rumors began to circulate about two different girl's love manhwas published online by the same creator, who goes by the pseudonym of VENUS.^[4] Many have drawn comparisons between the artstyle and writing style of VENUS, and the writing and art style of Choe's works, stating that there is simply an uncanny amount of similarity between the two.^[4][12] However, every time Choe has been asked about the subject, whether it's by interviewers or by fans, she's denied that she and VENUS have any sort of connection whatsoever.^{[1][citation needed]}

Acceptance to Hope's Peak University

Ever since the release of Arctica in 2018, Choe's works had garnered the attention of Hope's Peak due to their exceptional blend of storytelling and artwork, along with Choe's dedication to keeping to a consistent release schedule.^[3][4] However, it was not until the concurrent run of Lycoris and Mechanical Heart in 2020 that the university invited them to attend as the Ultimate Manhwa Artist, recognizing their skill in managing two serial works concurrently.^[1][3][4] Choe is now in her third year at Hope's Peak University as of October 1st.^[1][3]

References

Name:	Yeong-Ja Choe
Ultimate:	Manhwa Artist
Age:	21
Birthday:	May 19, 2002
Pronouns:	She/They
Class Number:	126
Nationality:	Korean
Height:	165 cm, 5'5"
Weight:	60 kg, 132 lbs