Yet another fun volume! I’m loving how the story is progressing and how heartfelt it is. The title is also doing well on my Shoujo table at work!

As entertaining and charming as book 1.

For Libraries: YA Suitable. Purchase where book 1 is popular.

This book started a little rough. Quick reminder of book one: There is a beautiful “idol” who is a male popstar type of person and a young lady who absolutely is not going to fall in love with anybody. She does not like the idol culture but by the end of book one, she has done just exactly what she swore not to. The idol swore never to fall in love and always be alone but now our gal is completely infatuated. Book two picks up right at the end of book one. in the beginning, she’s doing all the craziness that obsessed fans do, but she has more access. She calms down throughout the book, and it really does become much more of a love story that puts a smile on a readers face. This isn’t my normal type of Manga but I have become an addict.

So cute! So happy I found this before it was archived. I discovered the first volume through NetGalley, and I've been waiting for more!

I really enjoy this series. With the second volume I was surprised to see it really not go in the direction I thought at all.
I'm glad that they are using the tropes they are using and making sure there is still a story going on (the whole leak press thing and all). I think it's great.

I really enjoyed the first volume of this and have been eagerly awaiting the second and while I’m still enjoying the series overall, the second volume was a little eh for me.

What I did like, was Kouta and how this volume makes him so much more than he first appeared. There’s a lot going on with him, he’s got some deep issues to overcome and I look forward to seeing that happen.

Wasn’t such a fan of the way his bestie held on to those texts for so many years or tried to mess with his new friendship, even if our female lead does come across like a stalker fan a little bit. I mean we know her intentions are good but they don’t but then I guess genuine stalker fans thinks they have good intentions too so there’s that.

Anyway, there are some sweet moments and while I appreciated the backstory to Kouta it was kind of a lot all at once and a drastic difference from the vibe of the first book! Which isn’t a bad thing, it’s just the long flashback dragged a little for me!

The story of young love with a pop-star continues in all of its swoon-worhty glory! I cannot get enough of these two.

*ARC provided by NetGalley in return for an honest review*

I'll admit the first chapter was a little rough to jump back into. But the volume quickly redeemed itself! I found myself absolutely in love with the book, and right back where I was with volume one where I found it to be incredibly fulfilling in terms of character growth and charm. This volume dealt with a lot more darker subjects than the first, but it truly profited from it as well. It's still incredibly unique, and even with the sad chapters you can still find joy in how the characters protect and care for one another.


*Content Warnings: This volume does contain minor vulgar discussion, death of a family member, death of a friend, and showcases the pressures of idol life styles.

Despite being rejected, Sahoko Wakaume refuses to give up on Kouta Kirigaya. Instead she turns into a bit of a stalker, but only for his own good! Well, that is what she keeps telling herself. But what would she do if Kouta Kirigaya changes his mind? We will have to wait for Volume 3 to find out!

Thanks Netgalley for the chance to read this title!

THIS WAS SO ADORABLE. Kouta’s backstory was so sad but I am so happy he is opening up to Sahoko and that we will get to see the relationship between the two of them bloom!

Trigger warning: mother dies from disease when MC H is a young preteen and prior to MC h love interest dies in drunk driver incident.

Again, this surprised me. I wasn't expecting to like the first volume and it somehow got into my cold, shuttered "I can't get invested, I WON'T get invested" in a new manga heart. This one did the same.

I can't put my finger on exactly why this series and this volume of it did it for me, but it did. Though the way it ended, I'm not sure how it will keep going. I am looking forward to finding out though.

Cute shojo, with slightly OTT idol-plot. I definitely recommend taking a look at it. Not typical high-school storyline, which is refreshing.

4, it was different and not too OTT, stars.

My thanks to NetGalley and VIZ Media LLC for an eARC copy of this book to read and review.

Sahoko has realized the truth: she's developed feelings for Kouta and she tells him. He rejects her and runs away, but then readers learn why everyone and no one are his special ones. Sahoko refuses to give up on Kouta because it seems more than anything he needs a friend. It's an interesting exploration of love, stardom, and friendship. It seemed Kouta had developed some feelings toward Sahoko. Will he be able to work through them? Future volumes will likely explain this.

My Special One Volume Two focuses heavily on Kouta’s backstory.

My Special One Volume Two
Written by: Momoko Koda
Publisher: Shueisha Inc.
English Publisher: VIZ Media
Release Date: May 2, 2023

At the end of Volume One, Sahoko confessed her feelings to Kouta, but he turned her down. Even though Sahoko realizes they can’t go back to the way they were, she can’t deny she still has feelings for him. As she’s wondering how to she’ll move forward from here, Sahoko’s mother brings her a magazine she found at the mini-mart with a scandalous article about Kouta’s past.

Just then, Sahoko gets a call from Asuma, one of Kouta’s bandmates. He asks Sahoko if she wants to help Kouta out, and of course she does. Asuma brings him over to Sahoko’s place and asks if Kouta can lie low at her place for a couple of days to avoid the paparazzi and wait for the scandal to die down. Sahoko’s mother agrees.

With what happened between Sahoko and Kouta at the end of the previous volume, this becomes an awkward enough situation. Things become even more awkward when Sahoko has to buy underwear for Kouta and then Kouta accidentally walking in on Sahoko as she’s preparing to take a bath. But when Kouta heads out into the public again, Sohoko becomes his biggest cheerleader both online and in person.

After an interaction between Sahoko and Kouta where Sahoko shows her support and says she believes in the part of himself that he’s shown her up to this point, we get an entire chapter focusing on the backstory that the scandalous article was based on. As we see here, the article got some of the information right, but other details were quite wrong. It’s a tragic backstory, showing how Kouta got into entertainment, as well as how he lost his mother and his female best friend. While the female best friend, who Kouta realized he was in love with, did indeed die tragically, her cause of death had nothing to do with him. But this is the baggage that Kouta is carrying with him, and it’s why he told Sahoko at the end of Volume One that there will never be a special person for him.

After Kouta returns home and catches the flu, Sahoko wants to help Kouta out. She goes to his place, bearing food as a delivery from her family’s restaurant as a cover. To be honest, I found this to be stalkerish behavior. At least we know Sahoko is aware that this can be seen as the actions of a stalker, but she goes ahead with her plan, anyway. Love can make people do stupid things, I guess. But it turns out that Kouta is sicker than he lets on, and he collapses while she’s there, and Sahoko takes in onto herself to care for him. While he’’ feverish and sick, he tells Sahoko the truth about his mother and his female friend, which is something he’s never really done before.

Even though Sahoko has heard the truth about his past, she still wants to be with Kouta and refuses to let him be alone. After that, though, he doesn’t respond to her texts. And during that time of silence, Sahoko has a mishap with her phone and gets a new one, which causes her to lose her contacts.

At the same time Sahoko has her phone mishap, Kouta is wrestling with his feelings for Sahoko. When he tries to text her back and finds her number is out of service, he starts seeing a parallel with what happened with his female friend in the past, and he realizes how he feels. I was actually a little surprised with the final panel in Volume Two, because I didn’t think we’d reach this point quite yet. But if we’ve made it to this plot point already, it’s making me think that My Special One is going to be a short manga series.

Volume Two is a strong continuation of Volume One, but I did notice something that nagged at me by the time I finished reading this volume. Sahoko’s best friend, Yuko, was nowhere to be seen. In some respects, this felt a little odd, since Yuko had an important role in the previous volume. Kouta may not be Yuko’s “bias” in Like Legends, but you’d think we would have gotten at least a brief scene of Yuko saying something to Sahoko about the scandal. Also, as Sahoko got closer to Kouta in this volume, I think it was a missed opportunity to not see Sahoko trying to hide this from Yuko. Even though Yuko may not be a major character in My Special One, her absence was still noticeable.

With this being a shojo manga, it wasn’t surprising to discover that Kouta had a tragic backstory to explain why he acts the way he does. Some of the plot beats, such as Sahoko discovering how sick Kouta truly was and taking care of him, are shojo tropes, but they did feel a little forced at times. But Sahoko and Kouta do develop more a chemistry with each other over the course of Volume Two, and I found myself shipping them by the end of it.

If you read and enjoyed the first volume of My Special One, then you’ll probably appreciate how the story continues in Volume Two.

4.5/5

I didn’t end up crying at 4am in my kitchen (context in my first review), but I did tear up on the bus at 5pm, so I’m thinking this series of Momoko Koda’s will also end up destroying me, but in the best possible way of course.

I have nothing to say but good things. One of the scenes was long but the ending of it paid off. I do hope we get more from some side characters. Overall a great volume focusing on Kouta’s history and Sahoko’s determination.

I love love love the art as always. Koda is so good at drawing ridiculous faces that are so relatable.

I longingly await the next volume.

I was not expecting volume 2, of all possible volumes in a series, to be the one with the double-whammy sad backstory for our male idol. One character death I could of gone, "yeah, okay, that sure is a backstory" but *two* important people died on him in a short amount of time? OOF. No wonder he's keeping his distance! Well played, My Special One. This actually marks a possible different direction the story could go in it's, not just a sweet and goofy romance, story but now it can also be about healing and growth. Let's see if it sticks, because I know which path is going to grab me more.

After realizing she's fallen in love with Kouta, Sahoko realizes she has broken her oath not to get involved or fall in love with boys. After Kouta rejects her, Sahoko decides to support him from afar and tries to put her feelings to the side. When Kouta is suddenly at the mercy of some bad press, Sahoko realizes she doesn't know a thing about him. She does realize that Kouta desperately needs someone to rely on and tell him that he is worthy of love.

A much more emotional and in-depth look at our two main characters. Sahoko gets to know more about Kouta and his troubling past. Meanwhile, we watch Sahoko struggle with her own feelings and trying to repress them for Kouta's sake. I think this volume had an even stronger storyline than the first one. I think this series will have its moments sprinkled with a little sadness and plenty of sweetness.

Shojo manga fans will crave more from Momoko Koda! My Special One volume 2 continues the story of Kouta and Sahoko. Sahoko had sworn off cute boys when she was treated cruelly. Kouta has a tragic past that makes him protect his heart by not allowing anyone to get close to his heart. These two find healing and support in each other.

Kouta finally relies on Sahoko after winning her over in Volume 1 but will he let down his guard and let her in? His friend and co-star in Like Legend, Asuma helps bring the two together and gives Kouta some good advice. This one had me crying tears of joy and sadness for Kouta. I can’t wait for volume 3.

Sahoko and Kouta get to know each other more after Sahoko confessed to Kouta. Kouta is reluctant to respond due to his past and current position as an idol, which gets explained a bit more, but Sahoko is determined to stick by his side. Good development in the second volume, look forward to more in the series.

Thank you NetGalley and Viz Media for access to this arc and the continuation of Sahoko and Kouta's friendship/relationship!

I am very invested in how this series is going to play out! Sahoko and Kouta have an interesting, if somewhat unhealthy lol, friendship and relationship. Sahoko understands that Kouta has been through a lot of sadness in his life, and that has shut him off, but she knows he needs someone to just rely on in his life and just wants him to know he is worthy of love and friendship! This was such a quick read, when I got to the last page and saw that I and reached the end, I literally said, "what the end?! no!!' Luckily it doesn't end on a cliffhanger, just a sweet moment! I can't wait for the next issue!

This was a cute addition to the first volume in the series and followed the development of the relationship between the two main characters. It explained a cliffhanger from the first volume without making the reader wait too long. I will definitely continue reading the series.