Webtoon Spotlight

Spotlight#75: Unordinary

Have you ever decided to embrace the inevitable? If so, you've probably realized that it's finally time to talk about one of webtoon's best and brightest. I was always going to make this spotlight, and I think that I've wasted more than enough time, so let's finally shine the spotlight on Unordinary by uru chan.

Summary

In a world where everyone gets granted a supernatural ability at birth, power corrupts you no matter which side you're on. Be weak, and you'll be nothing more than a slave and victim to the strong. Be strong, and society will mold and judge you into something unrecognizable.

 No other location represents that struggle quite like Wellston Academy, a place where the students can quickly use their highly destructive abilities freely, which makes the life of powerless cripple John Doe a living hell.

 But when the high tiers of Wellston start taking an eagle eye at John, they soon realize that his secrets might be the thing that changes the insurmountable hierarchy forevermore.

Characters

John: Our main character, John, is a living anomaly inside the school of Wellston. Despite his constant bullying, John always holds himself in a dignified manner and never backs down. He prefers to take things easy and be left alone mostly. This has left him with the ability to inspire other people on a path to where their power shouldn't define them. However, this philosophy is also a mask to hide a far more bloody and regretful path.

Seraphina: The strongest woman in all of Wellston, Seraphina originally was a rather uptight individual that relied on protection. However, through meeting John Sera develops a far more relaxed yet righteous view of the world. That said, the pride of her ability is still very much clear as she will not back down from pretty much anyone.

Arlo: The king of Wellston Arlo is Seraphina's exact opposite. He maintains tight control over Wellston and believes that those with power should use them in service of order. However, his order has often led to cracks in the system that he is often blind to. And anyone who fails to uphold that peace will meet severe punishment.

Overview

I honestly don't know where to begin with Unordinary, but I'll try to be focused here. If God of Highschool is Webtoon's DBZ and Tower of God the equivalent of One Piece, then Unordinary is the My Hero Academia of the app. Uru Chan's art isn't the greatest, but it more than makes up for its small limitations through distinct character design. 

Every character in Unordinary has a unique color to their eyes, hair, and word bubbles to easily distinguish people from one another. This helps differentiate the large cast as we see that each one has unique views of the world that have led them to bitter mistakes in the past. For an open mind that continues reading, I would genuinely find it hard-pressed to dislike a single character from the main cast once you truly understand them. 

It also doesn't hurt that the various supernatural abilities grant Uru some rather creative and brutal fight scenes. The series displays a wide variety of strong and weak powers from time manipulation, energy blasts, physical augmentation, and memory recall. However, this still fits with Unordinary's overall themes of the story. Almost every single ability mentioned has been misused as nothing more than terrifying powers used to maim, usurp, and possibly even kill those deemed weak by their users.

Throughout its various seasons, Unordinary continues to build its unique world through the detailed build-up of previous concepts. The school setting of the series was a fantastic move as it quickly becomes apparent that it is supposed to represent the society of the outside world. 

Because it quickly becomes evident that this story's universe is flawed to hell and back due to the obsession with abilities. Low-tiered individuals are forced into constant bullying, harassment, and poverty as they are often picked on by the strong. However, famous high tiers to unruly have often had society place such high standards that they get eventually corrupted. 

The very fact that John is considered a useless cripple by being normal by our means and not being defined by his ability is striking. And it's even worse when the very thought of high tiers trying to save people weaker than them gets opposed by the same government itself. And John's unique perspective in the world quickly influences and weighs on himself and his surroundings.

The seasons have always delved into this idea of classism and unfairness. And if I had to say anything about this webtoon after four years of analysis, I have to say that this is the story of hatred. A tale of how hatred blinds one's faults and how it skews your view of the world. About how hatred is an addicting cycle that can quickly sprout if you are not careful. 

It is a story about how those with the power and voice should use them to help make things better instead of worse. And I think it's only recently where we discovered the climax of this message and how to stop this hatred truly. 

To do that, we need to drop our guard, our hubris that we are insurmountable, to see our similarities and move past our prejudices to make something better. Which is something I think we need in the trying times of 2021 and forever because hatred has never ceased with a closed fist but an open hand.

Epilogue

Overall, Unordinary deserves every single praise it gets as a series. It has remained at the top of its class, and it will continue to be that way until its eventual end. I only hope I can be on the front lines of that spectacle. But for now, let's spin the spotlight temporarily to another webtoon analysis, as I will return here shortly.