Koisome Momiji

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Koisome Momiji is a pretty standard rom-com that uses lots and lots of cliches you can see everywhere else in this type of manga, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Story 5/10
The story is predictable, and the reasons that the heroines fall in love with the main character are laughable.

Art 9/10
Very good art, characters are detailed and reactions are well drawn.

Character 8/10
Characters follow typical archetypes for this kind of manga, but still manage to be very entertaining. Main character is kind of a textbook example of a rom-com manga though and falls flat.
...
Enjoyment 7/10
Scratched that rom-com itch for me and was entertaining throughout.

Overall 7/10
Short, fun manga if you got some extra time.

tl;dr: A pretty generic romcom in general, but that really shines in execution. 

This is a pretty standard tale of a guy and a number of girls that are in love with or fall in love with him. However, I think it's incredibly well executed. The guy is really simple and innocent, leaving somewhat of a bad first impression, but he does go through some reasonable character development in growing some backbone. What really made him grow on me though was that he responds well to the situations around him regardless of his own inclinations. Sana goes through some pretty obvious character development in going from knowing nothing ... about love to being in love. Nana doesn't go through a lot of growth over the course of the series, but her backstory in how she grew from how she was long ago to how she is in the present was solid enough. Katsuragi also goes through some reasonably solid development in becoming less jaded. All three of them don't have particularly original characters, but I felt they were pretty well written, and how they respond to the situations around them conveyed their emotions and personality really well. This is true in regards to the romance aspect which while somewhat predictable was solid enough. But what was just as important I think was that in addition to all the romantic drama, they all seemed to grow to be really good friends and that worked amazingly well in context. The pacing was great, especially during the second half, with a good balance of lighthearted comedic moments and more serious plot, though that too was pretty laid back. I also really liked how they handled the ending, where they have the standard impactful ending, but then go on to do three chapters of epilogue that work really well to show the aftermath not just for the main characters but even for the side characters, which results in ending on a really positive note and leaving a really good final impression. The art was also really nice, especially in regards to Nana. 

Short romantic-comedy manga have their flaws and of course the have their advantages. The advantages are, it's always refreshing to talk about romance, so romance is one of the best genre to explore and it's always fresh. Flaws are, cliches, ecchis, drama-queen, over-reacting art, over-extended arc, and you will know who's gonna end with whom. Heck, it has more flaw than advantages.

But here i am, writing this review early in the morning. It's 5 am here, in Indonesia.

So my friend about 10 hours before this review gave me this manga. So i read it. One page(Actually it's the second page, but it's still counts because ... that single second page that made me hooked). One page was all this series need to hook me in. It's the art. I don't easily say 2d girls are pretty but this one is a rare gem. Shinomiya Sana standing at the coastline asking you to take her photo made me hooked into this series.

As for the story, well, what can you expect? Like what i've said before, cliches, cliches everywhere. Ecchi too. Still, this series prove to be different. It doesn't have a over-reacting art, doesn't have a drama queen, and this is the most important, it shows that idols are human too. (I didn't mention Shinomiya Sana is an idol? Well now i have.)

I don't blame you if you don't want to read this, because it's pretty understandable. You don't want some cliches, you don't want some mainstream Rom-Com-Ecchi. The last, (this is the most important, almost every rom-com has this) you don't want a series where you have already know how the ending would be.

But still i'm giving it an 8. At 6 am.