The One

The story in "The One" is neither boring nor slow-paced, which makes it very interesting and stimulating to the reader; although the underline theme is "life in the fashion world", it does not fall in the cliché category.

The main character escapes from the typical lead female in anime/manga, which makes the reader curious, because you don't easily predict what the character's next move will be.

The artwork is very good, nothing over the top, but captivating and very pleasant.

This manga turned out to be a surprise for me, I never expected to be this devoted.
Although it's not finished yet, it's interesting to re-read the story because there's always a little detail that you miss, or simply because there's such a fast development that it will seem that everything happened "a long time ago...".

Okay, I admit it, I love The One but when it first came out and I read the beginning I quit of the 5th page. It was only after I have read everything else I wanted to when I decided to pick this up again.

Story: The story isn't that amazingly unique and original in terms of a girl being forced to go into the fashion industry and finding hardships and love on the way, etc. However, this type of story is usually very well received by the general population therefore the story should (and is) quite good. I gave it a 8 to balance out the good with the bad.

Art: Right, at first glance the art kind of turned me off. Maybe its because I don't enjoy the type of eyes and body that the mangaka uses but once you get into the story, it's much easier to ignore and/or grow to like it. I gave this a 10 even though I initially didn't like the art is because when the fashion industry part came in, the art turned absolutely SPLENDID! It's beautiful really and definitely worth a 10.

Character: Cane Lele is probably just like most other manga heroines. She's ditsy, clueless, hates something (in this case the fashion industry), denies that she loves someone (coughcoughyouknow!cough), etc, etc. But even with all the regular cliches, there are some quite enjoy parts to her character. You do end up sympathizing with her and you'll definitely laugh at her remarks and responses. This is simply because most girls (and not being sexist here, guys can read shoujo manga too but the MAJORITY is girls) will react in the same way as her. She's just one of the characters that you'll met along the way and like Lele, you'll also laugh and sympathize or maybe even hate the other characters as well.

Enjoyment: A definite 10. The humor in this manga is one of the best aspects. Lele's stupid clumsiness, Angus's brother-complex, the love hate relationships between Feihung and her "boytoy!" The list goes on and on. You'll laugh, cry and get angry throughout the whole story. That's the sign of a great manga.

Overall: 9. It's great but for something to be OUTSTANDING there has to be more. Right now, I've only read 37 (because it's not been finished translated yet) so I can't say for sure how the story goes after. I heard it's much better. If it is, I'll return to this review and rewrite to give it another shot.

The One is my all time favorite manga since Dazzle... I adore the story and art. Miss Cane is the most amazing character I've ever had the pleasure of reading about. There are many bishie characters that most will enjoy. I recomend this incredible story to everyone unless you can't get over (very very slight) bisexual situations or implied relationships. Either way one of the best mangas I've ever read!!

On the surface, The One starts off like many fashion-based shoujo mangas with a beautiful naive girl somehow finding herself in the throes of the dangerous, alluring and exciting fashion industry. However, somewhere along the line, among the typical tropes in this genre, the readers are introduced to an intense and intriguing story with complex characters who overcome their their tragic dark pasts. Granted, I still have two more chapters to read (at the time of this review) but I feel just that connected and confident in this story line, especially given what it's been thus far.

Story
Lele, our heroine, follows in the footsteps of her famous mother finally giving into the whims of her Aunt who is now a fixture in the fashion industry, first as a model herself and now as an agent. This leads to her meeting an interesting cast of characters to include the other main characters - a pair of gorgeous twin brothers - one an aloof, elusive director and the other a narcissistic supermodel. In the course of her life slowly becoming intertwined with hers, Lele learns of the twins past and helps them to come to gripes with their demons.

I really didn't think that I would enjoy this Manhua after reading the first few chapters. But I quickly found myself reading through, and somewhere down the line (maybe volume 3 or so) I was effectively hooked. I believe it's because Nicky Lee has a way of creating believable characters, weaving bits of their personality, past and growth into each chapter making it feel more natural instead of forced.

Art
I think Nicky Lee's panels really shine during the high fashion moments. When she's drawing top names of the industry (at the time of the manhua's publishing) they really pop. The photo shoots, poses and catwalk scenes feel authentic and exciting. Overall I thought the art was good, but the fashion scenes is what puts it over (in my opinion).

Characters
Now our 3 main characters are pretty well fleshed out. We get a bit of background on the supporting characters but I would've like to learn more - like more about about Eros guardians or Lele's adorably muscle-bound BFF Leo, but I guess focusing too much on them would've delved away from the main storyline too much. Overall, I enjoyed the characters and felt like they all had a specific purpose to the plot, even if that purpose wasn't revealed until later.

to be honest, when i found "The One" im not interested... lol :D in fact, i doubt that it will be a good manhwa, honestly...i seldom enjoying a story about pursuing a dream in showbiz/modeling world... most of the time these kind of story turn out to be not my taste....
but the art is appealing me to at least trying a few chapter, and yeah art is no doubt i guess. And when i get to the mood and the plot, i just can't take my mind from it... the drama is A LOT... but the author is success making the reader keep getting excited.

"The One" is manhwa that I stopped reading few years ago. I dropped it after few volumes thinking that story is kind of slow. Thanks God I came to my senses :)

Story 8/10
I find this manhwa best point is it's story - even tho it lacks originallity. Story is very well based on real time hardships and life events. Combine that with little bit of shoujo aspects and you get the One. Towards the end the One is becoming more and more realistic and less and less shoujo-like.
I would give 10/10 points if there wasn't an ending. Ending is kind of rushed and even tho it explains briefly all the actions of characters it's not what you would expect based on previous chapters.

Art 10/10
Art is absolutley beautifull. You should wait few chapters for mangaka to reach his final design of characters, but after you've reached it than art is absolutley amazing. After all this is manhwa about fashion industry and art is very important for manhwa to be this good.

Character 8/10
Characters are very well developed. Lele Cane is one of best heroines to follow. Why? Because from beggining of the story till the end she is developing. Or you could call that growing up, learning how to face with difficult situations. What I like about her the most is the fact that she doesn't turn back to her "old self". There are many characters in various manga pieces that are showing sign of development but characters suddenly turn back to what they were before... they remain same from beggining towards the end. Lele Cane is totally different than that - she grows from confused kid to a fullfledged persona. Eros and Agnus are also in rang with Lele Cane. But aside from main characters I am kind of dissapointed in supporting ones. There is Lele' s Aunt that's basically the same over entire story, Leo too.

Enjoyment 10/10
10 it is, I will only say that I read entire manhwa in only few days. Brief humor, many wtf moments, and totally unpredictable in various aspects! :) But I wouldn't re-read it so fast, it's kind of read only once manhwa or try again in a few years

Overall 9/10
It's really great manhwa, fun, tense and beautifull. But ending is dissapointing, not because the way it ended but only because it was rushed. Rushed a lot.

This manga is all about fashion, love, failure, success, loss and gains. I think it is unique because it takes some interesting twists and turns that are a bit unexpected. For one thing, the story itself is darker than you would expect in terms of exploring the characters pasts and present. I think that is what makes it a bit unique in comparison to all other fashion and love only type of romance mangas.

The characters develop pretty well throughout the story, there are layers added with each chapter and I like how the relationships develop. It does not start with two people just falling in love. In fact, they have time to develop their relationship. There are moments in the story where they are even separated for long periods of time but instead of taking the cliche route where all they do is think about each other in agony, it actually takes a more natural route where it starts small and grows overtime.

At first the ending seems a bit predictable but it also has elements that take you by surprise. I will say though although it wasn't bad, it did seem a bit rushed on some parts. However, it is not to the point where it destroys the overall story.