Manhwa Review: Seven Sundays Volume 1
Seven Sundays Volume 1 should have been a cute, fun, and romantic read, but unfortunately this title stumbles with pacing issues, artificial drama, and vague explanations.
Official Summary
Taeyang never thought he’d run into his first love, Jiwan, again—things didn’t exactly end well after Jiwan ghosted him years ago. So when Taeyang’s heroic firefighter rescue lands him a television appearance at the very station where Jiwan works, Taeyang seizes his chance. But no amount of imagining their reunion could have prepared Taeyang for the revelation that awaits him…Turns out, Jiwan has a kid—named Taeyang, no less! And after Taeyang learns Jiwan’s son is as old as their breakup, all the pieces start to fall into place. Now he knows just what to do: compel Jiwan into giving him seven of his Sundays for seven dates to make up for all that lost time!
Quick Information
Story and Art: Charyeok
Publisher: Ize Press
Published: July 21, 2026
Genre: BL Romance, Comedy, Slice of Life
Tropes: Friends to Lovers, Age Gap, Second Chance Romance
Rating: 18+ Mature
Series Status: Complete
Review
Taeyang and Jiwan grew up near one another and eventually became lovers. Then suddenly Jiwan disappeared leaving Taeyang to wonder what happened. Now older, Taeyang is a firefighter who gets to star in a short documentary series by the company that Jiwan works at. Taeyang accepts the opportunity to finally confront Jiwan searching for answers.
I was drawn to this series by the idea of a second chance romance combined with a single parent trope. Unfortunately after a really interesting opening, things quickly went off the rails with severe pacing issues. When Taeyang and Jiwan meet for the first time after eight years, Jiwan tries to hide his identity in a dinosaur costume, which was a bit of fun but then the story rushed to introduce Jiwan’s son and also the seven dates they will be going on to make up for the use of Taeyang’s name which is Jiwan’s son’s name.
When we are introduced to these characters there is heavily implied history. There are some brief flashbacks, but I feel as though a clearer backstory showing Taeyang and Jiwan’s friendship and how it developed into more would have deepened their connection.
The part that was very confusing for me to follow was the origin of Jiwan’s son. We are treated to a single flashback that gives very vague and very strange implications. As this is just the first volume of this series, perhaps these circumstances are explained more thoroughly later in the story.
Kid!Taeyang is pretty adorable and funny without becoming problematic or distracting to the overall story. Seeing both the Taeyangs hang out and play was one of the most enjoyable parts of this story.
Taeyang is sympathetic to the fact that he’s been carrying a torch for Jiwan and has never been in a relationship since. I wanted to see more of Taeyang’s firefighting responsibilities but that was glossed over pretty quickly after the beginning of the story.
Jiwan, however, doesn't have many likeable traits. He seems to be a bit of a jerk with Taeyang and is stringing him along a bit, going from hot and cold with him depending on the time of day. We’re given another short flashback into Jiwan’s back story to make us sympathetic to him, but it just makes the reader wonder why Jiwan is being a jerk to Taeyang who is only trying to be with him.
Since this is a manhwa, this volume is fully colored inside. The art style is nice and it has its share of very cute moments where that full color really helps bring out the emotions in each character. I thought the cover was very eye-catching.
Despite the cutesy cover, this is an adult BL manhwa and there are several explicit scenes depicted within its pages. This story does have a younger top dynamic so if you are not into that, be warned. There is another man in this story, the baby sitter for kid!Taeyang, who wants to sleep with Jiwan. That bit of the story is very awkward at times and feels forced to have some extra padded drama. There are also times where the age gap is used to compare both Taeyang and kid!Taeyang during sexual scenes that might be uncomfortable to read.
Overall this manhwa has a lot of good tropes and story beats but fails to execute on them in meaningful ways. There are some fun laughs and the art style is nice, but if you are looking for a more cohesive story, Seven Sundays Volume 1 unfortunately doesn’t bring its Sunday best.
A copy of this book was provided for an ARC Reader Review. I am leaving this review voluntarily. Thank you to Yen Press and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this.
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