The Star Seekers Volume 1 Review

Star One is an idol group and they’re not at all famous. Its five members: Soule, Eugene, Taho, Viken and Avys, don’t possess any sort of magic and in a world where idols are expected to use magic during their shows, it’s no surprise that nobody cares about them.

Even though they’re signed to an agency, and have worked for years to make it big, they have no results to show. Until one day an opportunity arises. A famous idol group has to pull out of a concert, and Star One are the only ones available to cover, so what better way to let the public get to know them? Everything seems to be going well when an attack aimed at the idols who were originally supposed to perform ends up being aimed at Star One and Soule’s magic awakens to protect his teammates.

From then on, Star One passes from being a tier-two idol band to a tier-one. Their agency even hires a special manager whose job is to awaken all of the members’ powers and train them on how to use them to  the best of their abilities. It’s not an easy feat as people usually develop powers before turning twenty, and the Star One members have already passed that age. Moreover, the enemy belongs to an organisation called the Dragon Slayer Clan and they have targeted the Star One members, believing them to be ‘the boys of destiny’. Now Soule, Eugene, Taho,  Viken and Avys need to learn how to control their powers and fast if they want to survive.

The Star Seekers is a manhwa created and illustrated by South Korean company HYBE, which is a jack-of-all- trades in multiple entertainment fields. HYBE has created a few manhwa based on the K-pop bands it manages, and The Star Seekers is done in collaboration with Tomorrow x Together (TXT).

Our main characters represent the five members in the K-pop band, but in the manhwa they have powers, or a lack thereof, at least at the beginning. It’s not easy for Star One to train so hard and wish for fans, only to be shot down over and over again. When they finally gain their powers, things will start to change for the better. But it’s not easy. Other idols have been using their powers for years, and they’ll need to catch up fast.

Star One idols get attacked multiple times by a secret organisation looking for the boys of destiny. We don’t know yet who they are, but since witnessing the magical awakening of the group members, the Dragon Slayer Clan is sure it’s them, so they keep coming back. If that wasn’t enough, our main characters also have to deal with envy and jealousy. They don’t all get their powers at the same time, but they need to go through traumatic events to develop them. When only one of the five is left powerless, you can imagine how much envy ensues.

If you are a fan of K-pop and fantasy storylines, you’ll probably enjoy this manhwa. However, it wasn’t for me. The storyline is cheesy and clichéd: Soule’s mother is a powerful idol, and the five guys have a lot of bromance going on in this volume. Moreover, the story progresses really fast in just one volume. What it means, we don’t know yet, but the suspense is almost non-existent. Compared to other manhwa, I felt that the illustrations (in full colour throughout) lack detail; three of the main characters look the same and it’s hard to distinguish one from another.

The Star Seekers is written and illustrated by HYBE, and it was first released as a web comic in the English language on Webtoon. The print edition is published by Ize Press, and Volume 2 is slated for release in February 2024.

Our review copy from Ize Press was supplied by Diamond Book Distributors UK.