Kakunaru Ue wa
Now That We Draw

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7.7/10


Lord have mercy, this manga is the epitome of awkward cuteness. The characters provide a nice balance of the usual cliches and a light-hearted vibe. As for the plot, it’s somewhat real, barring the premise itself. However, the manga does lack some exposition in the setting, which is limiting this manga from a tier above.

The characters are initially infuriating and seem one-dimensional, however, they slowly but surely undergo developments revealed through subtle actions. Though the main character himself isn’t the most enjoyable person, with him being the usual “loser, awkward” boy, he does find resolve in a natural manner. The plot also catalyzes his developments ... through a non-handholding direction with rejections, attesting to the slice of life aspect.

Though the characters and plot are quite enjoyable, the manga lacks some setting or exposition; world-building isn’t the most enjoyable read, but it’s better than nothing; besides for the occasional school-related setting, there’s realistically no details that the author has set out and developed, which is quite disappointing.

Despite the main cast being high school (?) students, the manga barely has any mentions of actual school life, rather, it’s used as a background more than anything. Also, the extra details of each character’s school life would provide substantially more depth to each correspondent; for example, there are some chapters where the fmc is being sexualized by the author or background characters, which is incredibly awkward due to the fmc’s age being a mystery. An absolutely disgusting line used by a side character was, not verbatim but close, “I know what I’m going to use as material tonight,” which is absolutely vile considering the character that said it looked no younger than 30.

Initially a shallow, cute manga, it has its awkward or lackluster moments; regardless, it’s a wholesome read. Though the setting itself could use some work, the characters are nicely paced and engaged, making this pretty enjoyable.


Reading Rankings (Portnoy inspired + A Huang-Teizan Original)
10 - God’s penmanship
9 - Must-read. Drop everything else.
8 - Instant bookmark
7 - Entertaining
6 - Good to pass time
5 - Why are you reading this?
4 - Bad.
3 - Typical garbage.
2 - My head hurts.
1 - Retirement is a thought.
0 - “Did they even give you a story?!”

Well at first glance this might seem like some guilty pleasure manga but the more you read it you realised it is a very cute little wholesome romance with a like bit of ecchi on it but if I have to discribed it, I think it is something like the dangers in my heart with Marin kitagawa as the female lead from my dress up darling. Well I'm very much liking the chemistry between the two main characters and it's very cute and wholesome to watch them and the art is gorgeous and very well detailed which i was not expecting for an manga like ... this kind of genre. Well you should at least give this manga two chapters and it's fine it you don't like it by then, you should try something else to your liking.

I’ll eventually write a longer review, but I’ll just write this for now.
This manga is wasted potential. What ruins this manga is the actions of the two main characters and the excessive amount of ecchi content that gets overbearing at times. There will be some impactful scene, then the bottom of a female character will be shown straight after. Ridiculous. The female main character gets on my nerves quite a bit, especially with the cheating-baiting nonsense that happens more than once. Quite frustrating, considering, the manga is meant to be all heartfelt moments with a bit of drama, but then the female main character ... talks good about another man, explaining how he is her “type”. Seriously? Was that all necessary? The flow of the manga is constantly ruined, such a sad state.