He's Dedicated to Roses

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

He's Dedicated To Roses is an eleven-volume Manhwa by Mi-Ri Hwang, also the author of Cutie Boy and Hot Blooded Woman.

I-Da Choi has life pretty rough, being forced since a young age to be a slave to the daughter of her parent's boss, Mi-Mi. So in order to relieve stress, she dresses up as a boy, Yo-Dah, and goes around calling up gangs so she can beat the shit out of them. Along the way, she makes two friends, Ju-Nah and Shi-Nah, neither of whom mind him keeping his background secret, especially since they've got a few secrets of their own. Then one day, she gets kissed by a complete stranger as I-Da in order to fool said stranger's clingy girlfriend. When she later pays the stranger back, as Yo-Dah, he mistakes her for his dead little brother, Mi-Ru. The next day he starts showing up at her school looking for Choi Yo-Dah, and so a complicated drama commences.

Tropes used in He's Dedicated to Roses include:
  • Aborted Arc: It seemed like Nu-Na was going to play a bigger role, but Ju-Nah very quickly takes care of her and she's hardly heard of again.
  • Alpha Bitch: Mi-Mi, while the trio reoccur as minor villians.
  • Asshole Victim: Anybody Yo-Dah goes after. Also, Mi-Mi.
  • Attempted Rape: Early on, several thugs try this on Mi-Mi, but quit after their boss falls in love with her. near the end, Mi-Mi has those same thugs, with her new boyfriend's help, do the same thing to I-Da. They almost succeed, and were only stopped by the untimely intervention of Na-Ru.
  • Batman Gambit: Na-Ru's grandfather pulls one to try and keep Na-Ru and I-Da apart. It ends up falling through thanks to his secretary, and he accepts the situation very quickly.
  • Bifauxnen: I-Da makes an effeminate but effective boy.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Mi-Mi, who veers into Moral Event Horizon territory near the end.
  • Bully Hunter: Yo-Dah. Shi-Nah even lampshades it after Yo-Dah threatens to beat him up after catching Shi-Nah stalking him.
  • The Casanova: Ju-Nah.
  • Clingy Jealous Girl: Mi-Mi, who crosses the Moral Event Horizon in order to get revenge on Na-Ru for dumping her. Also Nu-Na and an unnamed girlfriend of Na-Ru, but they aren't as bad just because they have much, much less screentime.
  • Defeat Means Friendship: The finale shows that I-Da and the trio have become good friends.
  • Despair Event Horizon: Mi-Mi pretty much breaks after she comes home after being humiliated by her boyfriend, classmates, and maid to see her father being arrested for his shady deals and realizing that Shi-Nah's finally gone through with what he's been threating to do half the series and turned her father in. Which means that essentially, she will have the same fate as I-Da: going from having everything to having nothing. She ends up becoming a shut-in in her uncle's house, refusing to see or talking to anyone. You still can't feel sorry for her, though.
  • Dissonant Serenity: Hok-Yoon hardly even stops smiling, not even when he realizes that Mi-Mi had been using him all along.
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: I-Da has to go through a whole lot in order to get to the finale.
  • Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Mi-Mi and I-Da/Yo-Dah
  • Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Shi-Nah, at first.
  • Humiliation Conga: In the finale, Mi-Mi gets one so bad that she ends up becoming a shut-in, refusing to interact with anyone. Still can't feel sorry for her, though.
  • Important Haircut: I-Da lets her hair down after the Jerkass Has a Point moment, showing everybody that she isn't going to take their crap anymore.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: An unintentional example. After Mi-Mi outs I-Da to the whole class, the leader of the trio crushes I-Da's glasses, saying she doesn't need them. I-Da takes the advice to heart, beats up the classmates who were teasing her, lets down her hair, tells everyone that she's not going to pretend to be somebody she isn't anymore, and that she'll beat the ever-loving crap out of anybody who tries to make her be anything else.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Shi-Nah.
  • Kick the Dog; While Na-Ru is a nice guy, he does some pretty ass-holish things, like abandoning Mi-Mi to be raped by a gang and dumping I-Da and trying to leave the country after he finds out about her true identity.
  • Kick the Son of a Bitch: Let's just say Mi-Mi deserved her fate in the finale and leave it at that.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: Works for both sides. Mi-Mi ends up getting all the crap she inflicted on I-Da and then some, and it's implied that it just gets worse, while I-Da becomes completely free of debt, her parents love her again, she doesn't have to deal with any of the bullies anymore, and gets the guy in the end.
  • Loves My Alter Ego: Pretty much the premise of the entire series is I-Da worrying that Na-Ru will hate her if he finds out she's a girl. Also, the leader of the trio falls for Yo-Dah, and is understandably miffed when he: 1. dumps her for Na-Ru, and 2. turns out to be a girl.
  • Manipulative Bitch: Mi-Mi, due to her use of the Wounded Gazelle Gambit, is an even worse bully than Sae.
  • The Matchmaker: Gang's secretary ships I-Da and Na-Ru, but tries to get Shi-Nah and I-Da together. After Shi-Nah refuses to go through with her plan, she decides to defy her boss and get I-Da and Na-Ru together.
  • Meganekko: I-Da.
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: The leader of the Girl Posse breaks I-Da's glasses, intending to break her - instead, I-Da listens to her advice and takes it to heart, and decides not to put up with everybody's crap anymore.
  • Official Couple: Na-Ru/I-Da
  • Rich Bitch: Every rich woman in the series, but Mi-Mi takes the cake.
  • Burns Are Forever: Hak-Yoon's revenge includes burning Mi-Mi on the forehead so that he'll be able to find her once he's out of juvenile hall. Everybody says afterward that you can't get rid of burns like that.
  • Spanner in the Works: Na-Ru's grandfather's secretary.
  • Stalker with a Crush: Ho-Sup Jung.
  • Sweet on Polly Oliver: Pretty much the entire series' premise.
  • Sweet Polly Oliver: Yo-Dah, minus the "sweet" part.
  • The Glasses Come Off: When I-Da is Yo-Dah. After she's outed, she takes the glasses off permanently.
  • Trauma Conga Line: I-Da through most of the series.
  • Unwitting Pawn: Hak-Yoon. Once he figures this part out, he's pretty pissed, although you couldn't tell from looking at his face.
  • Victorious Childhood Friend: Ju-Nah to Nu-Na.
  • Wholesome Crossdresser: Yo-Dah/I-Da.
  • Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Mi-Mi to poor, poor I-Da.
  • You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Almost everybody except I-Da has technicolor hair.