Sahoko Wakaume, having once been rejected cruelly, dislikes all attractive boys, especially idols; J-pop star Kouta Kirigaya cannot help but try to make those who dislike him change their minds. Thus, when Kouta stops by Sahoko’s family restaurant and quickly realizes that the food is good and Sahoko thinks poorly of him, he has to keep coming back.
My Special One is a new Shoujo Manga series Viz is starting that promises an entertaining hate to love romance between an average girl and a pop star. The art is good without being bogged down by too much text in the speech bubbles. Humor laces the story and in typical Shoujo style the story exaggerates moments to be a bit ridiculous, however refrains from going too far to make the story annoying. It’s a fun read that almost gets cringy in the female lead’s focus on the male lead but seems to sidestep those occurrences at the last moment so that the female lead isn’t completely without character.
It feels like it will be a short series unless they add more characters to interact with. The only one we see is the Sahoko’s friend who doesn’t get developed at all until the end where we meet Kouta’s fellow J-pop star. However, there is still time to begin expanding the story if the author chooses.
Readers who enjoy lighthearted, semi-silly rom-com Shoujo Manga will enjoy this.

I really enjoyed this manga, it was very entertaining and the lead character Sahoko is a very relatable character for anyone to relate too.

I liked everything about this manga and cant wait for volume 2! I loved everything about the main character, and felt that I was living through her, when it came to being a fangirl for example or even her internal thoughts. I loved how the main character vowed to never fall in love with guys and how she curses all handsome men to be bald, I got a good laugh with that. Also the fact that the main love interest is part of a boy band and vows to make her like him is everything! I am excited to see how the main couple go forward and how they are going to influence each other. Overall, this manga is a funny and sweet read that anyone would fall in love with.

Sahoko has sworn off hot boys since she was rejected in front of the whole class years ago. So, when an attractive idol comes in to her family restaurant and just assumes she's a fan Sahoko has an extreme reaction. Now she has an idol in her life trying to convince her to change her bias. Only, Sahoko's resolve against love might not be as strong as she thought.

Cute start, but hopefully the pacing picks up a bit. Promising first volume for a shojo manga.

My Special One Volume One is a shojo manga about an average girl and the handsome pop idol that comes into her life.

My Special One Volume One
Written by: Momoko Koda
Publisher: Shueisha Inc.
English Publisher: VIZ Media
Release Date: February 7, 2023

The main character of My Special One is a high school girl named Sahoko Wakaume, who is determined to not have a boyfriend and wishes the beautiful and arrogant men of the world would become fat and bald. Back in middle school, she had developed a crush on a handsome and popular boy and gave him a love letter to confess her feelings. The boy shared the letter online, and Sahoko saw the boy’s friends making fun of her for writing it. This event hurt her so much that she has decided to never fall in love in order to avoid getting hurt again.

Sahoko’s best friend, Yuko, is a fan of an idol group called Like Legends, and her “bias” member for the group is Kouta Kirigaya. Yuko believes that with how much Sahoko goes on about not wanting a boyfriend or love, it means the deep down she really wants those things.

Sahoko’s family runs a restaurant, and one day, Kouta Kirigaya comes there to have something to eat. Sahoko recognizes him from just seeing him on a television show, and she asks for his autograph. It’s really for Yuko, but she doesn’t say it’s for her friend. Kouta thinks she’s one of his fans, but Sahoko loudly protests that isn’t the case. Kouta makes it his mission to make her one his fans, so he keeps coming back to the restaurant.

But as Sahoko spends time around Kouta, she gets to see that he’s not like the stereotypes she had in her head about how idols and “beautiful boys” are like. These two have various run-ins, which culminate with Kouta helping Sahoko out of a tight spot when she has an encounter with the boy she had a crush on in middle school and his girlfriend. At this point, Sahoko is willing to be friends with Kouta.

After Sahoko sees Like Legends in concert and at a radio show appearance (where Kouta happens to answer a question sent in by Yuko that’s about Sahoko), Sahoko can no longer deny that she’s been falling in love with Kouta.

Sure enough, My Special One is a shojo manga. At least I have to give it some credit for the fact that the series doesn’t start right from page one with the protagonist already being in love with the male lead or falling for him early on in the first volume. It’s not until around the halfway point of Volume One before Sahoko can truly admit to herself that she’s falling for Kouta. After Sahoko realizes how she really feels, she does something surprising at the end of the volume… and Kouta’s response to this was a twist that I hadn’t been expecting.

When it comes to the art, Kouta and his bandmates all have that “bishonen” look you would expect not only from a shojo manga, but from the Japanese idol industry as well. Sahoko looks like an average girl, while Yuko looks like the stereotypical popular teen girl. While the character designs are on the expected side, I think the fact that Yuko, a girl who looks like she could be popular, is friends with Sahoko makes a bit of a statement. Yuko probably could have fit in and become friends with the “cool kids,” but she chose to make friends with Sahoko instead. While this is never blatantly stated in the manga, I think the idea comes through with their character designs.

My Special One Volume One is off to a good start, and I would be more than willing to read future volumes if VIZ Media makes review copies available. I hope that the series continues to utilize the shojo tropes but finds ways to make them feel less like tropes, like it does in this first volume.

If you enjoy shojo manga series featuring high school students and/or idol singers, then you’ll likely find appreciation for My Special One.

This book was just average for me. I also think there was a panel or 2 with some translation errors, but I could have just been misunderstanding what the character was trying to say. I just felt this story was very unrealistic, and while I understand it's fiction - it made it feel very unbelievable to be a slice of life type story. I don't think any pop idol that was this famous would try so hard for 1 fan.

Take a 16 year-old school girl burned revealing her feelings before, mix in a family restaurant and a J-Pop star who like comfort food and you have the premise of this book. Sahoko Wakaume and Kouta Kirigaya do not get off on the right foot at the beginning, but their chemistry changes overt the course of the story. However, their is a twist at the end which sets up the conflict for volume two. So read and enjoy.

I am a sucker for the famous character/average protagonist trope and this did not disappoint. It ended on a cliffhanger that makes the reader excited to continue the story and I can't wait for volume 2! I will definitely continue reading this series.

A great new shoujo to sink your teeth into, since we have had some great ones finish in the last year or so.
In this one, we have a female protagonist who is anti-man. Her friend is Gaga over a particular j-pop star, and said star happens to come into our heroine's place of work.
He becomes determined to get her to like the band, and him, so he keeps coming around. It makes for a fun read, full of laughs and shenanigans!

I reviewed this title for Booklist. Please see Booklist for the complete review and full feedback regarding this title.

What do you do when the boy you had a crush on makes fun of the love letter you sent him on a public forum? You swear off love and wish that all handsome men go bald and become ugly every chance you get, obviously. Sahoko doesn't force her bitter views onto her friends, but she makes no bones about the fact that she is absolutely uninterested in fangirling over JPop idols with them. . . until her best friend's bias, Kouta Kirigaya of the superstar idol group "Like Legend" wanders into her family's diner looking for a home cooked meal. Kouta is friendly and honestly wants to help make others happy through his music, but he's rather out-of-touch with some of the harshness that the world can hold for the average person - rather like Tamaki from "Ouran High School Host Club".

The interaction between the two main characters is delightful, yet not too over the top. It takes Sahoko a while to warm up to Kouta's charm, despite his best efforts to instantly win her over. They both have a difficult time understanding why the other acts the way they do, so seeing the discovery happen between them is believable and well paced. The art is lovely and the panel sequence easy to follow. I've never had the opportunity to read a volume by this manga-ka before, but I am definitely looking forward to reading more.

Recommended for fans of Bisco Hatori, early Matsuri Hino, and Mikiyo Tsuda.

*I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley. This review is my own opinion and is non-compensated.*

The manga story arc of fan (or in this case, non-fan) meets professional celebrity is intriguing and frequently catches me as a reader. This first-in-a-series, though, doesn't manage to carry off the trope as well as Cutie and the Beast by Azumi.

My Special One begins with too much antipathy, too strong a dislike, when Sahoko humiliates the star that shows up in her family's restaurant. Too much antagonism and too sweet a response from Kouta combine to make me uncomfortable with the initial setting of the narrative.

Readers who love this trope may find this a new way to enjoy the manga romance narrative. Thanks to NetGalley and VIZ Media for the chance to read an advance copy.

I definitely found a new favorite I will gladly recommend with My Special One ! Somehow in this volume I feel like we both had the great effect of slow burn will they won't they, but without being uneventful either. And right when I thought it couldn't get better, the antagonistic character from L.L. was added like a cherry on top !
This story is in no way realistic, but it sure will be relatable to a lot of people and when you suspend your disbelief it's a FUN TIME. Thank you for the ARC copy, I can't wait to continue de series!

If you are a fan of idol-themed manga stories such as Idol Dreams, Phantom Idol, or Ossan Idol then you’ll definitely enjoy this new romance series from Shojo Beat. Koda is back with her newest series about an introverted high school girl, Sahoko, who has been burned by love in the past. Because of this, she wants nothing to do with love whatsoever until she meets a top idol, Kouta. What starts out as a friendship between the two quickly develops into a crush as Sahoko starts to crumble under Kouta’s charming resolve. Will she be able to resist his charms, or will she fall deeper into love with the pop singer?

My Special One can best be described as a wholesome romance from its first volume. The narrative focuses a bit more on Sahoko who is so afraid to open herself to others that it prevents her from a lot of things in life. Being that her first crush turned her down really hurt her deeper than she tells herself, and because of this, she sees love as a distraction. It was so cute to read the interactions between her and Kouta as they develop a kindred friendship. Though they are complete opposites they actually get along well and amidst all of the fast-paced banter between them they help each other to bring out their best qualities.

Volume One has a solid pace and by the end of the novel, the story’s frame is set up. We’ll just have to read and see how the romance will develop over time as well as get more background from our main characters. I thought My Special One was lighthearted and fun to read from beginning to end. Only time (and reading more volumes) will tell if this series will stand out among the sea of shojo romances out there (for me). But if you like idol romances (as I said earlier) this is the manga for you!

Super cute and relatable! I really enjoyed reading this manga because everything was relatable. An introverted high school swears off boys and romance because she was humiliated at a younger age. I liked how she was dedicated to her opinions. Now comes an idol and turns everything she knows on its ear. After getting to know him and some self-reflection she decides to give romance a shot! They are cute together and he advises but never pressures her. I can’t wait for the next one.

A cute and fluffy shoujo romance manga, good for tweens and early teens. The main female lead's personal and emotional growth happens quickly within the first volume. I would have loved to see more tension, conflict, and longevity in plot to further contextualize the female lead's decisions towards the end of volume. Overall, would recommend for a fun and sweet shoujo to introduce to the younger teen demographic.

As entertaining as I would expect from this genre. Predictable? Yes. Charming? Yes.

For Libraries: Would undoubtedly find some fans that are looking for more Shojo manga.

Another shojo manga--along a common line and without much new. Cardboard characters.
OK, now that I've been harsh, I can say that I did enjoy this one anyway and, yes, I'd read the next book in the series. There's actually a twist in this first volume that did set it apart somewhat and preps the reader for the next volume.
My middle school girls will enjoy this one.

I don't think I'm the target audience for "My Special One" but the main character changing her views in the first volume felt rushed. It was like characterization whiplash. The art was all right.

This was a cute read! The art was charming, and the premise, while fairly basic at the moment, was a solid enough start to a cute romance. I was a little disappointed our MC cracked on her "no dating" policy so quickly in universe, but her special one seems like a good guy, and I like the dynamic between them. There's not a lot of substance right now, but if you need a bit of a shojo sugar rush, this should suffice!