Thank you to Netgalley for a copy for an honest review.

I really enjoyed reading this and will be picking up a copy as soon it releases. 💕
It was well written and I really enjoyed my time reading it.

Rating 4 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I can see why this Korean drama was popular. This does start out in a confusing manner and I had trouble figuring out what was happening at the beginning. As an educator, I think that this would be a good pick for any high school students who are interested in Korean dramas and sci-fi. Definitely very graphic for anyone younger than high school. I also appreciated the translation notes at the end.

Had watched the K-Drama and loved it, so this I loved as well. The artstyle is lovely, the characters and storyline too.

I have very mixed feelings about this.
First of all, the beginning of the story was very confusing (tbh I still don't understand a few things), but I decided to just keep reading, and I kind of understand the idea now.
The overall plot sounds really fun, and the story can keep going for a long time.
The backstory of the main character and his behaviour are a little boring for me. We've seen this shy, bullied kid who suddenly gets powers too many times; it would be nice to see a different protagonist. Hopefully the next volumes will focus on the other characters; I'm especially interested in the older lady's story.

Overall, I'm glad I gave this story a chance. The beginning is kind of slow, but the action in the second part is much more interesting. I also have to admit that it was my first time reading a manhwa, so it took me a moment to get used to the style.I'm used to less realistic looking characters, but it's a me problem.

It's a 3,5/5* from me.

I love this so much. The concept is so cool. The main character lost his parents at a young age and was in a coma for a hot second. He wasn’t put into the world of counters yet but when one of the counters dies, he becomes part of that world. He can see things normal people can’t see aka the evil energies that have attached themselves to already bad people. The energies are ghost of evil people that hasn’t completely passed thru limbo yet. Counters are people who stop those evil energies before they hurt too many people and grow in power. Each counter has different powers that make them stronger/smarter.

I really like the concept of this story and I am excited to see where it goes and how the main character uses his new powers.

Thank you to NetGalley and Yen Press/Ize Press for the e-book copy!

The Uncanny Counter is about Mun and his encounter with a group called Counters who hunt down rogue spirits. My first experience with this story was through the Korean drama adaptation which I enjoyed. I was curious about the source material and if things were left out of the show. So far from this first volume, I would say not much as it is very close to its adaptation. However, I do like that in the story the ghosts in the afterlife are diverse. Also, I feel the tone in the books is a bit more dark and gritty compared to the drama. Other than that, I enjoyed what I've read so far and I will likely continue with the series to see Mun and the other counter's journey.

Mun So is a second year high school student who has a mobility disability from a childhood car accident, who’s trying to create the next big WEBTOON with his friends and avoid the attention of school bullies. One day, he finds himself pulled into a supernatural struggle where evil spirits have escaped the afterlife, and benevolent spirits partner with humans to recover them and bring them back to the afterlife. If he agrees, he'll have supernatural strength and speed, and his foot will be healed, and he will have a chance to talk with the spirits of his parents, who were killed in the car accident that left him disabled.

This first volume has a lot of world-building to set up, including the notion of the Territory, which is a little bit confusing at first. The Territory is a portion of magical energy that connects the Counters with the Afterlife and strengthens their powers, and it takes all three of Mun's compatriots to explain the concept to him and the reader. I did appreciate the diversity of characters, even if they're mainly in the afterlife since the living characters are in Korea.

The illustrations and coloring are not as polished as other comics. The illustrations themselves are not very detailed, and the coloring is fairly flat without much nuance or details themselves. The story is interesting and original, so this helps overcome the lackluster art.

Ize Press rates this for teen audiences. This story deals with concepts like the afterlife, obviously, as well as violence, bullying, and murder.

Sara's Rating: 8/10
Suitability Level: Grades 9-12

It was great!! I loved the plot and the characters. I hope to reade future volumes of The Uncanny Counter (and watching the kdrama!)

I had no clue this was made into a Kdrama. This story didn't honestly feel like it was Kdrama material. The pacing of this volume is a bit janky, but I'm guessing it was better when it was in webtoon format. The world-building in this story is pretty interesting. But this volume spends so much time telling, and not showing, you get a bit tired of it. I personally didn't care too much for the art style. It felt oddly cartoonish and was jarring with some serious subject matter. It's odd to see a very serious and gory scene drawn in such a silly style. This just wasn't my cup of tea.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

The Uncanny Counter was adapted into a live action, although it’s been sitting in my list for ages.

When I first opened the book, I have to admit, I was a little bit thrown off by the artwork. Similarly to the other story, this one has an interesting style which may not appeal to many. The story is also told in a bit of a childishly comedic manner. Briefly, So Mun is a teenage student who experienced an accident and barely survived. His lives together with his grandparents and has two good friends with whom he spends most of his time. Things take a rather interesting turn once he wakes up in a weird dream and his appearances change. This all happens after a rather mismatched group of both old and young lose a dear friend to an evil spirit they pursue. Throughout this first volume, the reader is introduced to the concept of counter and how the world works, with both the good and the evil spirits.

Overall, a quick enjoyable read. Thank you to Netgalley and Yen Press for the ARC.

"The Uncanny Counter" can be characterized with one word; 'patience.' Readers need to be very patient when picking up this manhwa, and the reward is very satisfying. The story is built in a very unconventional way which may dissuade readers from continuing on to the end. The dialogue at the start is a bit clunky and the progression can only be described as choppy. However, once the building blocks were in place and the story started to materialize I became more and more engrossed in what I was reading. The concept is extremely intriguing (and yes, it is better left a mystery for readers to uncover) and the execution was perfect in setting readers' expectations for the next volume. Readers looking for instant gratification will need to temper expectations when picking up "The Uncanny Counter," but know that the payoff at the end is well worth the wait.

A bit slow in the beginning, but picked up really fast!!! Super action-packed and intense, my gosh! I was not expecting it to grip me right off the bat but I cannot wait to read volume 2!! The characters are super likable, the art style is so fun, and the plot is so intriguing.

I will also point out that I’ve never watched the kdrama, so now I’m really excited to dive into that after I finish reading!

In this fictional world, there’s a place where the souls, before vanishing, go. Some of these souls are bad and escaped to the human world. To save humanity, good spirits gave special powers to comatose people. This is like a deal between spirits and humans. The spirits give them special powers and keep the humans awake, and in exchange the humans help them eradicate the demons. These humans with unique abilities are called counters. However, one of the counters dies and enters Mun’s body, our main character.

Opinion:

I feel like this first volume was good to introduce the story. Remember, that this webtoon was adapted by Netflix in a series. I haven’t watched the series, but I think it was for the best. It let me see the story better, and I wasn’t expecting things that I would already have known if I had watched it. It allowed me to connect better with the story that the webtoon was telling.

Mun’s character gives curiosity. One of the reasons why I was curious about him was because of the form he was possessed. The regular thing was that a spirit enters the body of a comatose person. However, Mun wasn’t in a coma when the light struck him. In this volume, they disregard the topic by linking it with his previous comatose status. Nonetheless, I don’t believe that. I think there’s more than what they’re telling. The other thing that made me curious was Mun’s strength and agility. Judging by the other counter’s reactions it wasn’t normal that a newbie was that strong. That is why I think Mun is an enigma.

The first volume of Uncanny Counter doesn’t give too much information but gives the necessary to keep the story interesting. However, I feel it was need it more action. The scene with the demon was too short. Nonetheless, because this is the first volume I’m sure the next ones would have more action.

I think the concept of this book is very interesting. The idea of the counters and Yung are interesting, but I don’t think it was explained in the best way. I also didn’t particularly like any of the characters, but maybe they get better later in the story.

I believe this first came out as a web comic and I think it probably flowed a bit better in that format. The pacing is a bit weird, but that probably wasn’t as big of an issue when it was broken up into smaller pieces in the comic.

Overall I do think that the idea was interesting, but probably is more enjoyable in the original format and language.

I think this is also a netflix series now? I didn't realize it started off as a webtoon! Not my favorite, but it's definitely still worth a read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read this arc!

I was originally a fan of the K-drama adaptation and that is what drew me into requesting this, in the hopes of getting to see the similarities and differences that had to be changed for the new format. However those differences between the two led me to possibly disliking both formats for how they handled the plot.

In this, I was able to understand more about Yung and Wigen. How they had healed So Mun's leg without just magically erasing his disability, they just reset the clock of things. More things connected in terms of plot progression. But I just couldn't seem to care for these characters like I did in the show. Maybe it's because the time spent reading is shorter than watching the episodes but there was just a disconnect within the story I couldn't get past. Other than that, it seems to be a good beginning for how the rest of the story will go.

3,5 stars

I enjoyed this first volume. The whole concept is very interesting and well-delivered, plus it offers a lot of opportunities for cool scenes and to expand the world and its system. I liked how we get right into the action, even if it is dangerous for So Mun, not having trained and all. I hope we see him training and getting ready for the missions more, because he is the newest counter and needs to be brought to speed, and I enjoy those type of scenes.

Being already familiar with the kdrama helped me whenever information was delivered, because when that happened, I needed to concentrate and slow down my reading, since a lot of details were given at once. That is one of my critiques. I also did not enjoy whenever we saw the bullies and their power dynamics because though I know it is important for the plot, I do not like or care about them and I want to see more of the Counters and So Mun and his friends.

I wonder if we already know all the main aspects of being a Counter, since so much information was given to us already or whether we will discover new things. I know there are still some mysteries to unpack, like what happened to the previous counter and to So Mun's parents, but I hope to learn more about the rest of the gang as well.

The manhwa looks a little bit dated, but as I haven't watched the kdrama yet I was curious to see what the storyline was like. In this volume, you get introduced to the main cast, the set-up, which is a cool one in terms of aesthetics and powering a supernatural action series, and get the flavour of the worldbuilding. There is not an insignificant attention paid to bullying as an issue, and at times it goes dark, but I'm interested now in getting to dip my toes in the larger story.

3 stars!

Overall, I think the plot is interesting but I feel like there needs to be something more? I do like the afterlife and power aspect as well as the supernatural elements!

This comic was fascinating. I loved the premise for it. It’s a unique spin on the afterlife that I haven’t really seen before. I love the powers and how he was able to connect to the afterlife because he was in a coma and that in turn means he will have the means to fight demonic spirits on earth.

This comic is full of action, mysterious and interesting characters, and beautiful artwork. The story is one that has you hooked from beginning to end and it leaves you wanting more.

I found out that this is also a live action K-drama show and I’m curious what I will think of it so, I have added that to my list to watch. I really love this comic version of this. I think the premise and the rules of the world were well explained and the story is easy to follow and super engaging.

Mun is the only survivor of the car crash that killed his parents, but now with his powers he has the chance to save hundreds of lives. I can’t wait to read more and see what happens next in his story in volume 2!