Jack Frost (manhwa)
Jack Frost (잭 프로스트) is a 2005 – 2014 manhwa series by Jinho Ko (고진호).
Jack Frost follows the story of Noh-A Joo, the new student at Amityville High School. Things start off rather poorly for Noh-A as she quickly comes to realize that the school is not as it appears. Caught in an interschool war between vampires, monsters, and other creatures, she must quickly learn what her new role is as the "mirror image," and how to handle the weird nurse Jin, the mysterious Jack Frost and his boss, Helmina. [1]
What is known about Amityville: There have been 13 wars/classes, only Jack has survived them all. There are 4 districts North, East, South, West, and north is smallest. The combined population of the 4 districts is equal to a country in the living world. Those who come there are removed from the karmic cycle of death and rebirth, thus death is truly final there with no hope of any reincarnation or afterlife. There have been multiple statements hinting that the mirror image is somehow able to change this.
Not to be confused with the Jack Frost films (any of them) or the demon that goes hee-ho!.
Tropes used in Jack Frost (manhwa) include:
- Absurdly Powerful Student Council: The heads of the four districts.
- Action Girl / Dark Action Girl: Eva, another death god. We're not yet sure if she's evil. Also, Jin.
- Author Appeal: I really can't think of any other reason why Helmina would exist. Also, he seems to adore Noh-A's ass.
- Ax Crazy: Jack. Also, Avid.
- Badass Grandpa: Omu.
- Badass Longcoat: The Devil Thread. IT GROWS BLADES!!!
- Battle in the Center of the Mind: Helmina vs Siegfried. In Jin's mind.
- Blood Knight: Guess who. Hint: *they've* been mentioned already.
- Also Ji-Hon, who also wore the Devil Thread.
- Blood Magic: Noh-A's blood can heal people. She's not thrilled about it.
- Break the Cutie: Why exactly is Noh-A dead in the first place? She committed suicide in life after realizing she was a Doom Magnet and being unable to stand the loneliness and the rumors.
- Butt Monkey: Hansen and Noh-A early on.
- The Chessmaster: Helmina's shaping up to be this. As is her rival Camilla.
- Ethan.
- Cold Sniper: Kay. Also Improbable Aiming Skills.
- Crapsack World: Amityville is the land of the dead, after all.
- Creepy Cool Crosses: Hansen has one on his forehead.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Hansen. Kills 30 vampire zombies by himself.
- Curb Stomp Battle: Is Jack fighting something? It will turn into one of these soon enough.
- Cute Monster Girl: Eva, the death goddess.
- Daddy's Girl: Noh-A. Ethan uses this against her.
- Dead All Along: Everyone. Doesn't change much except for Noh-A.
- Dead Little Sister: Kay, Hansen's younger brother.
- Death Seeker: Hansen, and possibly Helmina. Jack and Ji-Hon consider themselves as such, however, in a rather peculiar way.
- Doom Magnet: Noh-A, which leads to...
- Driven to Suicide: She jumped from a skyscraper.
- Dropped Bridges On Them: Noh-A's parents, friends and random animals on the street that pass her meet horrible fates. One girl's particularly bitter about it.
- Also, Kay and Agathe.
- Eldritch Abomination: Jack, and the other death gods.
- Emotionless Girl: Jin, who may in fact be an android.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Even Ji-hon thinks Camilla was a bit hard on Hansen.
- Expy: Of Hellsing. Don't hold that against it. No, really.
- In-comic, Jack looks a bit like Noh-A's father. Who is dead.
- Eyes Always Shut: A leader from the Kite family. He seems nice enough though.
- Face Heel Turn: Ethan forces Noh-A into one.
- Fashionable Asymmetry: Eva.
- Fan Service: We're frequently treated to shots of Noh-A's panties and pretty much anytime Helmina shows up.
- Fetish Fuel Station Attendant: Helmina. Lampshaded by Hansen and Noh-A.
- Four Is Death: Again, the four districts.
- Frickin' Laser Beams: Jin keeps some in the wall, no less. She has a few others in a bowling ball thing.
- Generic Cuteness: Noh-A, regardless of what she thinks.
- God Is Evil: The Tailor of Amityville. He also made Jack's super spiffy Badass Longcoat. Oookay.
- Good Thing You Can Heal: If Noh-A weren't Nigh Invulnerable and already dead, Jack would have killed her by now.
- Thanks to the Devil Thread, Jack also has this ability.
- The Gunslinger: Jin, previously. Hansen as well.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Surprisingly not Jack, Blood Knight that he is. Ji-Hon.
- Heel Face Mind Screw: Jin. And possibly the inverse as well.
- Heroic BSOD: Hansen, after Kay and Agathe's deaths and again, when facing a newly resurrected Kay.
- Noh-A, when Ethan reveals he has a copy of her father's soul in his grasp and that he will destroy him if she doesn't defect to the East.
- Hidden Depths:Noh-A, Jin and even Jack.
- Hospital Hottie: Jin, the North District school nurse.
- Hot Witch: If Chief Furie isn't joking, Helmina.
- I Have Your Wife: Noh-A, Ethan has your father's soul.
- Immortality and Nigh Invulnerable: As the Mirror Image, Noh-A can no longer die. She's smart enough to realize this is a GOOD thing.
- Immortality Immorality: Omu begins going off the deep end when he gets his hands on the Unicorn's Horn, which theoretically can kill Noh-A and transfer her immortality to him.
- Lady of Black Magic: Helmina.
- Large Ham: You can sometimes tell how much Helmina is enjoying herself.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Noh-A realizes she can't remember how she actually got to Amityville, and was better off that way.
- Last of His Kind: Maru, the last Unicorn.
- Losing Your Head: Noh-A, frequently.
- Avid after Jack beats him.
- MacGuffin Girl: Noh-A, again. Part of the plot is figuring out why she's important and what the world of the dead wants with her.
- Male Gaze: You will not ignore Helmina when she is in panel. This is a fact.
- Meaningful Name: Somehow, Jack has the same name as the ONLY, as he died shortly afterwards doll Noh-A received from her father.
- Meganekko: Helmina.
- Mind Rape: Anyone who is bitten by a vampire must face their greatest fear. Doesn't stop Jack, though.
- More Dakka: When Hansen temporarily runs out of bullets for the zombies, Jin holds them off for awhile with the school's defense system. Which has Frickin' Laser Beams.
- Ms. Exposition: Helmina.
- Ms. Fanservice: Helmina and when she's not around, Noh-A.
- Ninja: The Kite family.
- No Kill Like Overkill: Jack does not understand restraint.
- Obviously Evil: Jack, Hansen, Avid, Camilla, Omu, Ji-Hon...
- Our Vampires Are Different: They survive among other things decapitation.
- Papa Wolf: Noh-A's dad once tosses himself over a cliff to break Noh-A's fall, and apparently fought an Eldritch Abomination to ensure her safety.
- Panty Shot: Noh-A and Eva.
- Pet the Dog: Helmina gets a few in Hansen's backstory. There's also Ji-hon's attitude to Eva.
- Psycho for Hire: Guess.
- Rapunzel Hair: Helmina.
- Refuge in Audacity: Helmina uses Jack to challenge EVERYBODY in the other districts. They're all frightened, except for the other heads of the districts, who are impressed.
- Jack bites Arvid in the neck. He bit a VAMPIRE!
- Replacement Goldfish: Helmina looks just like Agathe, Hansen's lover before she was killed.
- Rule of Cool: But, of course.
- Running Gag: Noh-A's decapitations and pantyshots, Hansen's masochism, Helena's sadism, Jin ignoring the last two.
- Sadistic Choice: Jack receives one in the first book: back off or Avid makes Noh-A a vampire. Played for Black Comedy. Played completely for drama when Ethan holds Noh-A's father's soul hostage unless she joins the East.
- Sempai-Kohai: Or "Sunbei and Hubei." Jack says this to Avid. He is, of course, joking.
- Shadow Pin: The Devil Thread can also do this. It's pretty much a Swiss Army Weapon.
- Shinigami: Jack's official title is Death God.
- Also, Eva's.
- Shoot the Hostage: Rather than let Avid bite Noh-A, Jack slices her head off. Fucking A, Jack.
- Shout-Out: To Hellsing and Sailor Moon, for starters...
- Slasher Smile: Jack does it so much that Noh-A nicknames him "Nasty Smile"/"Smirky."
- The Smart Guy: Jin.
- Smoking Is Cool: Helmina has a kick-ass pipe. It also doubles as her Magic Wand.
- Snow Means Death: Noh-A's father bleeds to death in the snow in front of her.
- Stepford Smiler: Hansen and Noh-A. Type A.
- Tall, Dark and Bishoujo: Helmina, combined with Meganekko. Camilla is a traditional example.
- Tall, Dark and Snarky: Jack, when he's not making nightmare faces.
- Wham! Episode: Chapt. 19:Noh-A committed suicide because she's a Doom Magnet.
- Chapt. 21: Jin is from the South, she was sent to kill Jack and Helmina and Siegfried is her former lover.
- Chapts. 28 and 29: Hansen is the sole survivor of a vampire massacre Camilla initiated to feed Avid. And Kay, his brother who was killed in said massacre, is alive. And pissed.
- Chapt. 37.
- When She Smiles: Noh-A's pretty cute when she smiles.
- Jack's a inversion: When he smiles, he's more frightening than ever. When he frowns, however, he's damn near Bishonen.
- Zombie Apocalypse: Besides suffering Mind Rape, Avid's victims also rise as vampire zombies.
- ↑ In all seriousness though, Jack Frost and Hellsing have strong superficial similarities, but diverge later on.