Our new ordinary; an unORDINARY review

Hello universe,

Like the rest of my fellow Webtoon readers I am constantly in search of new series to read. Thanks to @urdudethetrumpeter I was lead to the #3 top series original unORDINARY by uru-chan. I had originally seen it, read the bio and done a classic douche move and judged the comic by its’ cover. But upon reading the first couple of episodes I found that unORDINARY has secured its place at #3 for a reason.

Just a quick disclaimer folks, all images, characters, plot developments and the story line of unORDINARY belong to uru-chan. And if you haven’t read unORDINARY there will be some spoilers. I have read up to episode 150, so I may not have all the facts, but this review will be based on what I’ve read. And yes I am going to keep reading.

UnORDINARY is a superhero comic which was first posted on Webtoon on May 24th 2016. The first published episode was a prologue for the story. It begins with a character (readers will recognize our johnny boy) telling about a book his father wrote about superheroes and non-superheroes (The powerful and the cripples). The superhero in the book used his power for good to help others. After that little intro tile appears we have the lovable cake scene, which perfectly displays the schools' social system; only the best take the cake (Literally).

@uru.chan, November 18th 2017.

Wellston Private High School is a school for children with abilities. Like superheroes from X-men or MARVEL, people having abilities is a normal thing. Except unlike the DC and MARVEL the people without powers are the weird ones, the outcasts, the cripples. There is a social system in place with the most powerful being at the top, in the position of Ace, King, Queen and Jack. (Ace can be Queen or King as well) and then other high-ties (Powerful ability students), then mid-tier (Average power students) and Low-tiers and cripples.

John is an ordinary boy, in an ordinary school. Well that's what he likes to tell himself. In reality John is an unordinary boy in an unordinary school, because as mentioned Wellington Private High School is a place for people with abilities and, as John will point out many times throughout the season, he has no ability.

Throughout the series John is bullied, beaten to a pulp, antagonized and consistently optimistic. This gives out a strong message to readers. He may be on the bottom of the social ladder, which generally causes him to become a punching bag for the high-tiers and mid-tiers to take out their anger on, but John always fights back, and if anyone is in an unfair fight John won't hesitate to help.

Uru_chan's art style is nothing short of detailed and at times hilarious. There are numerous panels which just crack me up, example episode 6, panel 13. Uru_chan's representation of John having left the infirmary, which is where he spends the majority of his school days it seems, is just an underutilized squiggle which is meant to be John, but the way it's implanted into the story just makes it all the more hilarious. When a character is activating or using his/her powers their eyes glow which is an easy and identifiable trait.

@uru.chan, August 29th 2019, Season finale

UnORDINARY focuses mainly on John, a teenage boy with a million secrets. Interestingly it's normally quite difficult for me to get into the head space of a male character, but with John I find because of his optimism, determination and relatable experiences he's just an easy character to understand. That may be just me though. Though unORDINARY may be focusing on John's journey there are numerous other characters to fall in love with and look forward to panels about.

There are two main groups or individuals which can normally be found together in an episode; Isen, Remi and Blyke (Below left to right) are three lovable serious, powerful goofballs. Blyke and Remi hold the position of Queen and Jack (Remi being Queen). When Remi decides to become a superhero and find EMBER for vengence on behalf of her brother's death, Isen and Blyke have her back in, well not in a heartbeat, but after a few minuets. They are supportive of one another and just loveable characters. They will stand up for what's right. Isen works on, and later runs the Wellston Private High School newspaper, he isn't afraid to find the truth. Though when it comes to the Shadow King, or his friends Isen won't publish, for their safety and his.

@uru.chan May 25th 2018

Another lovable duo is Seraphina and John (Below), two people of opposite abilities, or so it seems. When John first transfers to Wellston Private State High School *I'm just going to call it Wellston High from now on* but when he first arrives Seraphina is caught up in other people's expectations and pressures. She never has a moment to herself and feels the need to be the best.

Seraphina's ability gives her the position of being Wellston High's Ace, and also Queen (Before Remi). As Seraphina and John are forced to work together on an assignment they discover they the other is stubborn as a mule. As they work together more and more, John begins to break down Seraphina's walls, and opens her eyes to the world outside of other people's expectations. After the project is finished Seraphina and John continue to hand out as friends, and slowly Seraphina develops an IDGAF attitude. She cuts & dyes her hair, quits the school's ridiculous Queen position (Explanation as to why Remi is queen) and hang out with John for all of Wellston High to see.

@uru.chan, March 25th 2017

At the time of Seraphina's suspension Episode 29 to 35 John changes drastically, our boy stops greasing back his hair, and lets it floof in all its glory. But he also becomes allot darker in personality and attitude. Asslo, oops I mean Arlo, Wellston High's King (Who I secretly think has a thing for Seraphina. That or he hates how she left his precious hierarchy.)Arlo forces John out of his comfort zone which causes John to become allot like how he was before back in Boston.

Upon cornering John and betraying his trust Arlo unleashes the Shadow King upon Wellston High, an anonymous and powerful person who is determined to destroy Arlo's system. When Seraphina comes back after her suspension she immediately notices something is off about John, though she doesn't push him about it. But it's obvious even to my oblivious eyes that John has changes, and apart from his hair style, I don't think it's for the better.

The first few episodes are relatively short, but progressively get longer, becoming a four-minuet read instead of a two-and-a-half. Personally I prefer the longer reads, and I'm sure my fellow impatient readers will agree. The only downside to the episodes getting longer is when my phone decides to be a dink and removes all my progress in reading, so I have to scroll for like three seconds to find where I was (yes I know I'm impatient).

Overall I would rate unORDINARY at 8.1, there are only a few things which I personally don't like about the series, one being whenever a characters' stats appear in a panel ,generally the writing is a bit hard to see. (example below) Generally the colors are a bit too faint for my eyes and I have to either zoom, squint or just not read the labels which can be a bit of a downer on an episode.

@uru.chan, January 15th 2020

There isn't much else about the series which I personally don't like, just at times it can be a bit slow and I loose interest in the story.

Uru_chan's unORDINARY is a well designed (for the most part) and easy to follow story, I haven't read as much as I would like to, but rest assures unORDINARY super-fans, I will be reading it.

If you have any books or Webtoons you would like me to read & review, contact me at theshadowgirl16@gmail.com or down in the comment section below. I'd love to hear form you.

Until next week folks, stay foxy.

The Shadow Girl, Fading Out xx