Parasol Doumei
A Parasol Alliance

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“I think not being able to do much actually brings out more fun in working hard.”

This short story begins with our main character, Ten, who is displayed right from the beginning as someone who decides to fight through his shyness and admit his feelings for someone, only to find out that the person he confessed to was the twin sister, Karin. For comedic effect, the twin reacts positively and uses the situation to her advantage, setting the tone for the rest of the dialogue between Karin and Ten. They are both likeable characters despite having no background knowledge provided, and the short story does do ... a pretty good job at expressing them individually as you read through.

Tone is a good overall starting point for reviewing a one-shot like this one. It never tries to do too much, knows what it wants to accomplish, and keeps the same energy throughout the entire story. If you are familiar with the Rom-com genre, you will feel right at home. You'll see mostly light-hearted dialogue with the characters touching on their more serious thoughts as they get more comfortable trying to figure out how to get what they want. Many of us will be able to relate with the difficulty behind figuring out how to share our true feelings, and it gives a good look into the good that may come from choosing to take that leap.

Without spoilers, next up is story and direction. Ten confessed to the twin, Karin, who now makes a game out of the situation by saying that he must dig for info on Karin's crush, Haru, or else she will leak information to Yuzu, Ten's crush instead. Karin admits that she likes Ten's brother, so the two try their best to work together in an attempt to help each other reach the person they truly want to be with. The direction this theme takes changes and explores some deeper truths as they discover what brought them here in the first place. It's short, so you should take this introduction and find the rest out yourself!

Going into art and design, this one-shot is laid out quite well and gives off a timid, yet approachable atmosphere within all of it's panels. The dialogue isn't always shown through typical speech bubbles, so there are a few spots where you have to piece together who's saying what, but for the most part it's clear and to the point. Each characters thoughts and personal feelings are spelled out within the main dialogue very nicely so you don't feel like there is anything missing.

Lastly, this story does leave room for continuation and would fit perfectly if a serialization is given in the future. I wouldn't count on it though as this released in the spring of 2020, however it's still well worth the short read. For now, I will leave you with a statement from Ten that stuck with me the most:

"Doing all of this stuff that you're bad at for the person you like... I think that's awesome."

This is a quick read and I am 75% sure you will like it. It reminds me of Toradora without the annoying stuff. The main character Ten calls Karin a bully, which is similar to Taiga, but she is not quite as abusive as her. Like Ryuuji, Ten likes someone close to Karin, namely her twin sister Yuzu. And then, as the synopsis says, Ten will help Karin win the affection of her crush, Ten's twin brother Haru, as long as she helps him win the affection of her twin sister. That concludes all the similarities between this manga and Toradora.

This is a good hook, ... but it is quite predictable. You will love it for the nice execution nonetheless.

The only problem I have (and this may cause a dislike for 25% of you) is that it is so good that you wish it would continue. It's not complete on its own, so you will feel something akin to blue balls as a reader.