Our Secret Alliance
Adorably perfectOur Secret Alliance doesn’t set out to be something special. It’s a basic Korean high-school romance, the kind of frenemies-to-lovers plotline that audiences love. Yet in being ordinary, it is comfortable, its familiar story nostalgically beautiful despite its slightly off-kilter first few episodes.
The art of Our Secret Alliance stands out as the biggest non-standard aspect of the comic, the stylization of characters more reminiscent of old comic panels than that of a modern webtoon. That’s not to say it doesn’t work - there’s a charm to the overindulgence in chibis throughout, and the simpler style lends itself well to the cozy romance of the webtoon. And the romance is cozy indeed, every trope a welcome sight. There’s rain, reluctant partnership, a funny sibling, overprotective parents, a side plot about a suspicious character who turns out to be wholesome. Nothing new, but arranged in such a way that feels warm, like the embrace of a friend you haven’t seen in a while.
The characters, too, are well-developed and written with enough charm to make you fall in love, though perhaps the second leads will capture your attention more than the first. Although each character is an amalgamation of common traits found anywhere and everywhere, they each have their own individual… character that lends them an undeniable depth. You find yourself actually rooting for the relationships, not because that’s the end goal of the webtoon but because, like watching two friends fall in love, you can’t help but root for the people you’re reading about.
There’s not much to say about Our Secret Alliance because there’s not much of Our Secret Alliance - the entire series is only 68 episodes, with a few spin-off episodes about the second leads. Yet in those 68 episodes, Our Secret Alliance establishes itself as a webtoon that you want to come back to, a story that might not be as layered as others but one that holds you tight in a different way.
Images from Webtoon and Reddit