Writer/Artist: HYBE in collaboration with TOMORROW X TOGETHER
Letterer: Chi Bui
Publisher: IZE Press
Publication Date: November 14, 2023
Rating: Teen
Genre: Webtoon (S. Korea), Fantasy, Action and Adventure
REVIEW RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4 Stars. In an age when magic idols reign supreme, Star One is an unusual, run-of-the-mill, tier-2 idol group. With chief Soule unleashing his new powers, can Star One lastly catch their huge break?
As a part of their trio of latest graphic novels that includes Ok-Pop superstars, Ize Press has launched the primary quantity of HYBE‘s The Star Seekers, a fantasy journey story that includes BTS‘ labelmates TOMORROW x TOGETHER (TXT). In this webtoon-now-graphic novel collection, members of TxT exist in a fantasy world the place magic idols have superhuman skills.
Check out TxT’s “Free Falling” music video beneath to see what The Star Seekers has in retailer for readers:
What is The Star Seekers about?
In The Star Seekers world, there are some pop idols who’ve magical powers, which may vary from stamina enhancements to elemental powers that management water or hearth. The idols with magical skills are thought-about tier-1 superstars and those with no magic are thought-about tier-2. As a tier-2 idol group, Star One’s 5 members—Avys (Huening Kai), Viken (Beomgyu), Soule (Soobin), Eugene (Yeonjun), and Taho (Taehyun)—don’t have any magical skills that they know of.
Star One was ambitiously launched by their firm Uvic Entertainment, closely investing within the group as a result of the corporate thinks Soule can be a assured success, because the son of world-famous magic singer Lote. However, Star One’s debut performances are underwhelming, leaving them caught in tier-2 limbo, questioning if they’ve a future in present enterprise. Although their magic ought to have manifested earlier than they got here of age, they’ve completely none and are thought-about tier-2 idols. As a outcome, Uvic Entertainment has misplaced religion in them and determined to cut back their assist.
However, when successful idol group can’t carry out at a music pageant and Star One is chosen to take their place, their luck begins to alter. After an issue with the audio crew causes a efficiency delay, a hooded determine assaults the viewers and Star One. In desperation to outlive the assaults and reside, Soule manifests magical skills and fights off the hooded determine.
Color, emotion, and magic
The Star Seekers is superbly illustrated all through the amount. HYBE does a fantastic job at displaying moments of desperation, shock, doubt, and extra by way of the character’s facial expressions. The quantity maintains a lighter shade scheme for a lot of the panels, however in moments of battle or disarray, pink and black colours fill the pages to set a darker tone.
However, probably the most gorgeous panels had been when the members had been manifesting their newfound skills. I’ve all the time cherished how earth magic is displayed in fantasy tales, and seeing Viken discover his new energy was extremely lovely.
This quantity had a very good stability of motion, comedic timing, idol performances, and coaching sequences, in contrast to some motion collection that focus an excessive amount of on the battle scenes with no break in all of the preventing. In The Star Seekers, quickly after a fiery combat sequence with a shadowy group known as “The Dragon Slayer Clan” when their supervisor DK practically had them killed, the tempo of the collection begins to decelerate. The boys begin working towards for an upcoming present, and we acquired to see them in idol mode. They additionally put in some bodily coaching to work on their stamina, and their chibi kind was a cute addition.
A typical theme all through the amount was desperation. When the characters manifest their magical skills, they had been typically in life-or-death conditions and determined to outlive. As they’re struggling to outlive, they’ve flashbacks and desperately want they might use magic to avoid wasting themselves and others. It was attention-grabbing seeing how everybody has totally different variations of what desperation seems like and the way it manifests. Magic can have elemental attributes like hearth or water, however it could additionally appear like a cute blue fowl, like the facility Avys manifested.
VERDICT: Recommended. The Star Seekers does a fantastic job of making an interesting fantasy world. The magic on this world is exclusive. It’s enjoyable to see how the character’s personalities can affect their powers. The artwork is gorgeous and does a very good job expressing the character is emotions. The first quantity has a mixture of motion, fantasy, and comedy, so the story felt recent the entire means by way of. If you decide up a bodily copy, the amount has sparkly foil embossing that additionally provides a pleasant contact.
The Star Seekers, Volume 1, is obtainable now from Ize Press and can also be serialized weekly on WEBTOON. Will you be including this to your to-be-read record? Share your ideas in a remark beneath!
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