Manga Review: The One

The One by Lee Nicky [2005]

Being sick ain't fun. A lot of rest is needed along with drowning yourself in 100plus. Prisoner on my bed, I was turning into pina colada with no rum. I started reading this slice of life, shoujo (girl romance) manga "The One" about how a Taiwanese girl who started her modelling career and became a supermodel in the end. Of course like every "drama" Taiwanese story it involves a lot of sad "pasts", love, love triangle, scandals, some people going mental, a lot of crying and 7 degrees of separation. I read this on my phone using a manga reader app called Manga Rock android apple.

yes I read manga, I know I am not 10 years old anymore

Oh before I go on, you must be wondering why out of the blue I'm blogging about manga. Well, I owed it all to manga for my imagination. I have been reading since I was 10 years old when I stumble upon the manga "Candy Candy" in an Indian bookstore. At that point of time, all manga books in Malaysia were in Chinese! (and I don't know how to read Chinese). I used my imagination, logic and intuition to decipher the emotions, actions, use of lines patterns to read the characters and situations. I did this until I was 15 years old. I guess I owe my crazy mind due to manga reading.

It wasn't until it was translated into Bahasa that I got to understand what on earth is going on (only certain popular manga titles). Then thanks to technology and smart phones, apps were created bridging manga fans across the world together to have ENGLISH translated mangas available for reading. The hard work they put into scanning, translating, proof reading and re-touching the manga quality is amazing.

Back to "The One". Surprisingly this manga made me cried a few times and also laughed like I am a part of the family watching the characters grow. I do recommend this manga for a weekender read, it's not very dark and sad like Nana (another crying manga) but it is very encouraging, teaches woman to be strong and to reach out for our ambitions. It says this is still an ongoing read, but I have come to the last chapter 110 and that seems to be the ending (not telling spoilers) so :) go on and start reading this without need to be left in a cliff hanger (I hate that).

:: The Story ::

Cane Lele was born into the fashion industry. Her mother, Ye Feii, was Taiwan's top model, and her father was also a model, until a tragic airplane crash left Lele without parents. Therefore it is no surprise that Lele hates the industry, thinking it superficial and unnecessary. Raised by her paternal grandmother, Lele reaches seventeen before she is sucked in by her mother’s sister, Ye Feihung, a fashion agent (and former model) who "convinces" the reluctant Lele to pose. Lele is adverse to the whole idea, until she sees a photo shoot of popular American model Angus Lanson, and she begins to see modelling as an art form. When Aunt Feihung's magazine editor invites Angus Lanson to a meeting of all the top fashion ambassadors, Lele is invited along and is curious to meet Angus. She does not know that Angus' twin elder brother, Eros Lanson, is secretly accompanying his brother. This obviously leads to confusion and is the start of a charming story of Lele's goals: Fashion in New York city, becoming a top model, and love?