Peglo, Cover Art, To the Stars and Back, Webtoon.
To The Stars and Back – Information
Content Warnings
These content warnings do not reflect the contents of the review below; only the literary work itself.
- Bullying
- Trauma, abuse
- Body image / fatmisia / anti-fat prejudice
Spoiler Disclaimer
This recommendation post may contain small plot spoilers for review purposes. Any major spoilers are hidden by default and are able to be revealed via click or tap.
To the Stars and Back – Plot Summary
This cute love story starts out introducing Kang Dae, an unsociable university student who doesn’t really like to be around people much. He has a reserved attitude, and is a bit unfriendly towards others. While smoking outside his apartment, he meets his new next-door neighbor, Bo Seon.
Bo Seon is Kang Dae’s complete opposite. He’s friendly and outgoing, and even ropes Kang Dae into helping him move in!
These two start off a bit roughly considering their extremely different personalities. Kang Dae is a bit more rough around the edges, while Bo Seon is very friendly. It’s clear Bo Seon really enjoys making friends, whereas Kang Dae is a bit more hesitant to be social.
To the Stars and Back follows the daily lives of these two characters, their unique dynamic, and their whimsical interactions as neighbors! Whether they want to or not, these two seem to run into each other often, haha.
This sweet, wholesome love story is written in easy-to-read bite-sized chapters. It allows you to enjoy the characters’ day to day events while also digesting the overall plot a little at a time.
Even though the story takes its time to progress, you’ll probably feel the need to binge this super cute series and see more interactions between Bo Seon and Kang Dae!
Peglo, Cover Art, To the Stars and Back, Webtoon.
Why I’ve Enjoyed To The Stars and Back
Plot:
To the Stars and Back is a pretty relaxed webtoon, with a slice of life style plot and a super cute opposites-attract romance. It’s the perfect easy-to-binge BL comic with some good humor and occasional seriousness to round things out!
I’d say overall the romance is a pleasant slow burn, but things don’t take too long to get going. I do love when authors let relationships develop slowly and naturally, though!
Once the ball gets rolling, this romance is just too cute to resist. It’ll definitely pull your heart strings and have you rooting for happiness between the main two!
Bo Seon and Kang Dae are really cute together and have great chemistry—they just take their time to realize their feelings.
This slower pace gives the smaller interactions or moments their time to shine and be special, so I hope you’ll give it a try even if you don’t usually try slower romances. Plus, you don’t want to miss out on this couple’s adorable chemistry once the romance really comes into the story!
Another obviously great aspect of this webtoon is the LGBTQ+ representation and acceptance of that representation by other characters. This normalized feeling is just so nice to see.
More and more webtoons that contain diversity and inclusion are becoming popular and it’s great to see them reach the featured page of webtoon! If you’d love to read more inclusive romances like this, check out the series Daybreak, too.
Characters:
As mentioned before, the two main characters in To the Stars and Back are very different.
Kang Dae seems a bit cold at first (and that’s kind of his personality in general), but he’s not necessarily going out of his way to be a total jerk. He’s just not super sociable, and can use rather curt language.
Bo Seon, on the other hand, seems much more energetic and friendly. He immediately tries talking to Kang Dae as soon as they meet, and even has sparkles or flowers around his character pretty often during this webtoon. He’s a cutie and I absolutely adored his character.
Despite their sort of obvious characterizations, there is much more to these two than you may think! They have a lot more feelings and motivations underneath their personalities that become unraveled throughout the story, making them a lot more in-depth than at first glance.
Part of this great character-building is highlighted by the fact that we get to see both characters’ points of view. Kang Dae is the primary character of season 1, and we see mostly his point of view until season 2, where it seems to switch to Bo Seon’s view.
Because of this, us readers get to dive deeper into the minds of each character!
Another great aspect of To the Stars and Back is that the characters actually grow both as individuals and as a couple over the course of the story.
For example, even if Kang Dae is not a fan of hanging out with others, he just can’t seem to keep away from Bo Seon. Kang Dae doesn’t magically become more outgoing (maintaining much of his original vibe), but it seems like he gets to become more true to himself and happier as the plot progresses. I really liked this more realistic depiction of how people grow!
Once he begins to open up and change a bit, his character becomes even more fun to see. He’s got some surprising sides to himself, particularly when it comes to romance. He actually really contrasts Bo Seon in this aspect, which made their romance so exciting and fun!
There are also other characters that come into this story and keep things interesting (and the main characters lively). For example, there’s a really fun side couple who are great friends to the main two—they even help them out in multiple scenarios. This 4-person group has a very fun friendship dynamic!
On their own, these two supporting characters are still hilarious and fun. The author draws them wearing matching outfits often, which is such a cute and comedic little touch to their personalities.
Between these four characters, a lot of heartfelt and wholesome moments happen. There’s plenty of romance and comedy, but the author was also really good at throwing in a few tear-inspiring moments, too!
Art:
To the Stars and Back has a very cute, almost sketchbook-like style that is so charming.
It might seem a little simple, but the author often uses some really interesting lighting, plenty of backgrounds, and a lovely color palette. The character designs are fun, and the characters actually wear a variety of clothing, which is such a nice detail.
I really liked the style of this fun webtoon, and always looked forward to seeing the cute doodles included at the end of some of the chapters!
Any Cons?
The cons for this adorable webtoon are minimal. Firstly, readers who don’t like slow burns might not like this webtoon. It’s pretty obvious that there’s feelings between our two main characters, but it seems everyone knows it except the two in question!
It definitely takes time to build up the romantic tension, but as I’ve mentioned before, that’s my favorite genre of romance. However, if you aren’t a fan of waiting, just be mindful that this love takes its time.
Peglo, Cover Art, To the Stars and Back, Webtoon.
Another possible con is that this webtoon has shorter chapters compared to other stories. I personally can enjoy both long and short chapters, but I know some readers dislike webtoons with short chapters.
However, even if you prefer longer chapters, there’s over two hundred chapters of To the Stars and Back that you can binge for a full story, so definitely give this cute romance a read.
Final Thoughts
I really enjoyed To the Stars and Back. It’s very cute, the characters are all fun, the romance is super sweet, and it has a nice overall message about acceptance and loving yourself. The art style is whimsical and fun, too.
Bo Seon and Kang Dae are perfect for each other, and I’ve loved seeing their romance develop! I hope you will as well.
Disclaimer: Any images used for this blog are for illustrative purposes only, are not owned by me, and are under ownership of the artist or publisher.
Images Credit: Peglo, To the Stars and Back. Webtoon, 2022.
