I-Doll, Vol.1

By Mi-Ae Choi
Tokyopop, 184 pp.
Rating: 13+

Ji-Yoo Lee is caught gambling illegally. Na-rae is busted for a concert brawl. Hyung-Goo Kang is put down for street fighting. One night, three police writeups and a few phone calls later, all three students find themselves caught up in a decidedly different reform program: starting a rock band. The brainchild of their beleaguered principal, the band is supposed to build friendship and civility amongst its participants, but brash attitudes, blood enmity and a few killer right hooks are hardly conducive to great music. Can an obstinate group of delinquents pull together a group? Or perhaps more importantly, can they afford not to?

Oh, the plot indulgence—because community service is clearly too old school for the new breed of delinquency. All willing suspension of disbelief aside, I-Doll proves a moderately enjoyable title that is much better than it looks. Granted, the main leads are hardly groundbreaking, with Na-rae as the obligatory obstinate girl and Ji-Yoo Lee and Nyung-Goo Kang filling out the roles of “troubled prodigy” and “prickly fighter” respectively, but there’s a touch of originality here that pumps some substance into them. The majority of volume one is dedicated to setting up the character dynamics for the next installment, primarily by introducing various side characters with conflicting designs on the leads and, of course, forming the band.

Most surprisingly, the title seems to have an almost shojo bent—something you’d never guess from its dark cover graphic and categorization as “comedy.” The primary speaker is Na-Rae, the resident girl, and a flashback to past trauma in her life coupled with sisterly troubles seems to indicate that her baggage is the first up to be unloaded. Having seen plenty of shojo, the makings of future love polygons seem at hand, which (when coupled with the disproportionate number of attractive males floating around) seem to have all the trappings of a title with a more girl-oriented lead. Conceivably it appeals to a male audience, but the closest parallel is undeniably seoung-jun manhwa.

The art seems to agree with this, as the polygonal sparkles and lighter screentones are out in full force. The art has much in common with other Korean titles, from sharper character angles to its generally unobtrusive vibe. There’s no reason to linger, but the art never detracts. The primary beef should be with Tokyopop’s handling of the title, as the cover design does it no favors. (It’s one of the chapter pages retouched with a rather glaring aqua blue digital brush.) Tokyopop: this title could sell with girls, but not if you hide its nature so thoroughly they’d have to read it to figure that out!

I-Doll may not be a masterpiece of creative wit, but it does engage and entertain on a basic enough level to be worth a read. Tokyopop’s catalogue can be a bit of a downer, making I-Doll stand apart if only because of its perfectly readable, perfectly likeable nature. There’s the promise of more tension and plenty of drama in future volumes as the band progresses on its path to success, and while the ending is predictable already, this doesn’t per se make the journey irredeemable. This may be one to watch—although it would help if they could make sure the right demographic is watching it…

Volume one of I-Doll is available now.