One Volume 1

by Lee Vin

Eumpa Won (One) is an awkward, quiet music student and former child prodigy who is now determined to lead his life as a normal guy. Destiny throws him a curve as he finds himself caught up in an unlikely love triangle. Enter Jenny, the highly acclaimed singer, and Young-Ju, the plain Jane. These seemingly opposite personalities are drawn together by two common bonds ... Their passion for music and their search for true self-identity.

Genres: Manga, Manhwa

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Rick Silva · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the opening volume in a somewhat over-the-top KPop drama set in a "Celebrity High School" in Korea, a school attended by several teen pop stars.

This volume introduces quiet but brilliant title character Eumpa One, teen idol Jenny You, crossdressing rap star Jiwon Jin, boy-band leader Ha Rock, and seemingly quiet music fan Young Ju. There's also a whole supporting cast of music teachers, stage managers, and tiger-moms.

With so many characters to introduce, most of this volume is background, although a plotline involving a teacher stealing Eumpa One's compositions in the guise of assignments comes to the forefront by the end.

The characters have a lot of potential, although several of them are not initially likeable, particularly Jenny You, whose petty antics to sabotage Jiwon Jin's career set her up as possibly more of a villain than was intended. Still Jenny does have some sympathetic moments when the story shifts to her point of view.

Some of the language and discussion around gender identity feels dated, and the attempts to describe current pop music fall a bit flat. A discussion of classic punk rock that references real bands works better than most of the music-related sequences in the story.

This had some potential, and the quirkiness of the characters was intriguing enough to hold my interest.

[アイシャチャン · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a good manhwa ... the first volume was amazing but I can't find the other volumes😢

[Zeta T. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series, which is difficult to find all of due to it's name resembling a number, is one of the rare series I've kept. The drama, is as these comic novels go, is over the top, of course. There is delving into both pop music and alternative and often throughout the series the kind of humour on a gawk-worthy level. There are 11 volumes and things do wrap up well.

[Kristin Fletcher-spear · Rating 2 out of 5]

A little slow to begin & not great artwork.

[Biena Magbitang · Rating 4 out of 5]

Giving this a 4.5. :)

It's fun and very light. I just expected more towards the end, but what did I expect??? This is a series!