The One I Love (manga)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

is a romantic,
slice-of-life Slice of life is a depiction of mundane experiences in art and entertainment. In theater, slice of life refers to naturalism, while in literary parlance it is a narrative technique in which a seemingly arbitrary sequence of events in a character ...
''shōjo'' (targeted towards girls) manga by Clamp, an all-female,
manga artist A is a comic artist who writes and/or illustrates manga. As of 2006, about 3,000 professional manga artists were working in Japan. Most manga artists study at an art college or manga school or take on an apprenticeship with another artist be ...
team consisting of
Satsuki Igarashi is a member of the all-female manga-creating team Clamp. Her duties in the team are Nanase Ohkawa's sounding board, and the character designer of ''Chobits'' and line artist for '' Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle''. Like the other members of Cla ...
,
Mokona is the pen name of the lead artist, colorist, and composition designer of the all-female manga-creating team Clamp. She was formerly known as ; she dropped her last name because it sounded too "immature". Clamp has had a huge impact on the "man ...
,
Tsubaki Nekoi , formerly , is a member of the all-female manga-creating team Clamp. She is the co-director and her duties in the team include applying screentones and correcting manga illustrations. She was also the lead artist (a role that normally falls to ...
, and
Nanase Ohkawa is a member of the all-female manga-creating team CLAMP. She is the director of the team and is primarily responsible for writing the stories and scripts for CLAMP's various works. As part of CLAMP's 15th Anniversary, each of the four members ...
. Appearing as a monthly serial in the Japanese
manga magazine Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is used ...
''Monthly Young Rose'' from December 1993 to June 1995, the twelve stories were collected into a bound volume by
Kadokawa Shoten , formerly , is a Japanese publisher and division of Kadokawa Future Publishing based in Tokyo, Japan. It became an internal division of Kadokawa Corporation on October 1, 2013. Kadokawa publishes manga, light novels, manga anthology magazines su ...
and published in July 1995. ''The One I Love'' contains twelve independent manga stories, each focusing on an aspect of love and accompanied by an essay. Ohkawa wrote the essays while Nekoi illustrated the manga; it was the first time she primarily illustrated a manga by Clamp. Some of the stories draw on the life experiences of the women while others take inspiration from conversations they had with friends. In 2003,
Tokyopop Tokyopop (styled TOKYOPOP; formerly known as Mixx Entertainment) is an American distributor, licensor and publisher of anime, manga, manhwa and Western manga-style works. The German publishing division produces German translations of licensed J ...
licensed ''The One I Love'' for an English-language translation in North America, and published it in October 2004.
Viz Media VIZ Media LLC is an American manga publisher, anime distributor and entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ M ...
republished the manga in February 2015. The manga has also been translated into other languages. Reviewers have identified a few themes in the collection. They had a range of reactions to ''The One I Love'': some considered it heartfelt entertainment, while others reviewed it less positively, as a badly done take on romance.


Plot

Each story of ''The One I Love'' consists of seven pages of manga and an accompanying essay. *: A girl asks to meet her boyfriend in the park after they have had a fight. She wants to apologize, but she does not know what to say. She wears a kimono instead. When she meets her boyfriend, she finds that he is dressed up too; he had the same idea as she did. *: A girl reflects on the word "cute" with her boyfriend. She cannot visualize "cute," so she does not understand why it makes her happy when he says that she is cute. *: A girl has doubts about staying with her boyfriend, who has a very demanding work schedule. In the end, he skips work to visit her, and she decides that their romantic relationship will work out. *: A young woman working at a bakery reflects on a past unsuccessful relationship with a younger man. In the end, a younger bakery worker asks her on a date, and she is hopeful that their romantic relationship will work out. *: A girl working in a design company thinks about her past relationships, and one of her coworkers, whom she does not get along with. When a design job goes wrong and that coworker offers his ideas, she realizes that she is in love with him. *: A girl reflects on her childhood sweetheart, who introduced her to playing the harmonica. *: A girl panics as she decides what to wear to meet her boyfriend. When she is late to meet him, she realizes that her boyfriend always thinks she is pretty no matter what she wears. *: A girl has a dream about her boyfriend ending their relationship, and she is worried that it is a premonition. *: A girl confesses her love on
Valentine's Day Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring one or two early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine and, throu ...
. *: A young woman has doubts about marrying her boyfriend. In the end, she realizes that even if they marry, nothing will change between them. *: A young woman wonders if her long-distance boyfriend is being faithful. In the end, she finds out that he is very dedicated to her. *: A young woman about to be married is nervous about her future. She is worried that she might change, but her husband reassures her that they will change together.


Development

''The One I Love'' was developed by Clamp—the all-female,
manga artist A is a comic artist who writes and/or illustrates manga. As of 2006, about 3,000 professional manga artists were working in Japan. Most manga artists study at an art college or manga school or take on an apprenticeship with another artist be ...
team consisting of
Satsuki Igarashi is a member of the all-female manga-creating team Clamp. Her duties in the team are Nanase Ohkawa's sounding board, and the character designer of ''Chobits'' and line artist for '' Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle''. Like the other members of Cla ...
,
Mokona is the pen name of the lead artist, colorist, and composition designer of the all-female manga-creating team Clamp. She was formerly known as ; she dropped her last name because it sounded too "immature". Clamp has had a huge impact on the "man ...
,
Tsubaki Nekoi , formerly , is a member of the all-female manga-creating team Clamp. She is the co-director and her duties in the team include applying screentones and correcting manga illustrations. She was also the lead artist (a role that normally falls to ...
, and
Nanase Ohkawa is a member of the all-female manga-creating team CLAMP. She is the director of the team and is primarily responsible for writing the stories and scripts for CLAMP's various works. As part of CLAMP's 15th Anniversary, each of the four members ...
. The group decided on the theme of romance after considering the target audience of the
manga magazine Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is used ...
''Monthly Young Rose'', whose editors had asked them for a manga. For ''The One I Love'', Ohkawa wrote the essays, and Nekoi illustrated the manga, the first time she primarily illustrated a series for the group. For costumes, Ohkawa used "Anon non-no Olive" as a reference. Additionally, the preview panels of each story featured different visual motifs, primarily girls and animals. In retrospective, Nekoi self-deprecatingly thought that her illustrations of the female protagonists, including working women, made them resemble
junior high A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...
students. Some of the stories in ''The One I Love'' contain autobiographical elements. "Different" and "Cute" draw on Ohkawa's personal experiences, while "Together" draws on Mokona's. Additionally, "Suddenly" is based on her admiration of manga artist Hagiwara Kuzushi's dedication to his fans. "Normal", "Apart", and "Insecure" were inspired by Ohkawa's conversations with friends, and "I Miss You" has its origins in a conversation with manga artist Okazaki Takeshi, who rarely saw his girlfriend because of his work. "A Younger Man" stems from Ohkawa's conversation with actor Tonesaku Toshihide and his thoughts on men and age in a relationship. In contrast, "Courage" appeared as a Valentine's Day story in the February issue of ''Young Rose''; Clamp rarely had opportunities to create seasonal stories, as the magazine that typically serialized their work did not run seasonal stories.


Release

Written and illustrated by Clamp, the stories of ''The One I Love'' appeared as a monthly serial in ''Monthly Young Rose'' from December 1993 to June 1995.
Kadokawa Shoten , formerly , is a Japanese publisher and division of Kadokawa Future Publishing based in Tokyo, Japan. It became an internal division of Kadokawa Corporation on October 1, 2013. Kadokawa publishes manga, light novels, manga anthology magazines su ...
collected the stories into a bound volume, and published it on July 16, 1995. In 2003, Tokyopop announced that it had licensed ''The One I Love'' for an English-language translation, along with four other manga by Clamp; it published ''The One I Love'' on October 12, 2004. However, on May 31, 2011, Tokyopop shut down its publishing branch in North America, with all of its Japanese manga licenses returned.
Viz Media VIZ Media LLC is an American manga publisher, anime distributor and entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ M ...
digitally republished the manga on February 10, 2015. ''The One I Love'' has also been translated into other languages, including French by
Editions Tonkam Tonkam is a prominent French publisher of manga and was one of the first publishers of manga in French, issuing its first titles in 1994. It was founded by Sylvie Chang and Dominique Véret with the financial assistance of a Parisian bookseller, ...
, and German by
Egmont Manga & Anime Egmont Manga (EMA, formerly ''Egmont Manga & Anime'') is one of the largest publishers of manga in Germany. It was founded in 2000 as a daughter company of Egmont Ehapa, after the manga boom in Germany became apparent around the turn of the mil ...
.


Reception

A reviewer for
Anime News Network Anime News Network (ANN) is a news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, Japanese popular music and other related cultures within North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The website offers reviews and oth ...
, Mikhail Koulikov wrote that readers would have various reactions to ''The One I Love'': he felt that some would regard it as "charming" and others would find it upsetting that the female protagonists were primarily defined by their worry over their relationships. While considering it one of Clamp's minor works, he stated that it was "unusual" for including some colored pages when the majority of manga is printed in black and white; being a
slice-of-life Slice of life is a depiction of mundane experiences in art and entertainment. In theater, slice of life refers to naturalism, while in literary parlance it is a narrative technique in which a seemingly arbitrary sequence of events in a character ...
manga; and featuring Tsubaki Nekoi's art, as prior to the time of his review, most of their works translated into English had been drawn by another member of Clamp. Koulikov wrote that "insecurity and self-doubt" served as the theme of the anthology. Johanna Draper Carlson, a reviewer for ''
Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...
'', wrote that some of the stories were worrisome, particularly one that she felt "justifies having an interest in whatever your boyfriend likes," and contained stereotypes as a result of limited space. She also stated that the essays included generalizations about women and "quickly become redundant." In '' Manga: The Complete Guide'', Mason Templar suggested a possible theme of being one's self in relationships, but felt that it appeared "almost anti-feminist in execution," as only the female characters underwent a change in behavior. Templar rated the series one-and-a-half out of four stars, and criticized it as a naïve take on romance; Templar suggested ''
Cardcaptor Sakura , abbreviated as ''CCS'', is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by the manga group Clamp. Serialized monthly in the ''shōjo'' manga magazine ''Nakayoshi'' from May 1996 to June 2000, it was also published in 12 ''tankōbon'' ...
'', ''
Chobits is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by the Japanese manga collective Clamp. It was serialized in Kodansha's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Young Magazine'' from September 2000 to October 2002, with its chapters collected ...
'', or '' Man of Many Faces'' as better examples of Clamp's romantic manga. A reviewer of the French edition wrote that repetitive nature of the stories detracted from the manga's appeal, and made for a "laborious" reading experience, although the reviewer felt that a "romantic" reader would not mind this. Conversely, another reviewer for Anime News Network, Liann Cooper, wrote that the stories were "incredibly sweet and touching" and were best read a few stories at a time. According to Cooper, ''The One I Love'' would appeal to fans of Clamp or ''shōjo'', manga targeted towards girls.


References

;General *. *. ;Specific


External links


''The One I Love''
at Viz Media's official site

at Clamp's official website via
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
* {{DEFAULTSORT:One I Love, The 1993 manga Kadokawa Shoten manga Manga series Romance anime and manga Shōjo manga Slice of life anime and manga Tokyopop titles Viz Media manga Works by Clamp (manga artists)