Kyou, Koi wo Hajimemasu

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Why am I still reading this past chapter 11 when it becomes painfully obvious that the mangaka can't decide whether to make the hero a quintinssential martyr or a slick bad boy with an inner goodness that shines through only when the heroine is in distress. Groan, I don't know why!

This story starts out ordinarily enough when a straight laced but feminine and talented girl ends up attending her back up choice of high school but still isn't the top student there. That rank goes to a heartthrobby fellow Kyouta who alternated between teasing (read humiliating) Hibino and assisting her when the situation escalates out ... of control. At first, it's very much a copy of Bokutachi wa shitte shimatta only meaner coz this girl has a callously selfish younger sister and suffers from extremely low self esteem. Eventually she makes friends, but of course end up fallng in love with the molester who apparently makes booty calls for senpais in their classrooms!

But WAIT! Suddenly, it's not enough for the mangaka to just have a normal romance with cutely drawn albeit cliche conflicts, so we're bruptly thrust into this situation where the fiend Kyouta develops a painful past which disallows him to trust Hibino and other women. So while he wants to... well... "make her his woman", he doesn't want a confession, even though he says he'll do "things which she's dreaming of" if she asks him to, because that means she will betray him! Haha, it gets even more comical along the way! I'm guessing more trials and tribulations ensue, but really, you have to be plenty patient with the sluggish plot and the pathetic dialogue to get there.

Plus points... The art is very dreamily gorgeous, for both male and female characters. The story really manages to mortify the reader at times and I wanted to run away from the computer screen sometimes when Hibino was teased or exposed! The few intimate scenes are steamy without being tasteless and many novel mini suplots are portrayed realistically, especially fashion. Also we don't just have a single track minded heroine here, Hibino is very focused on grades but she loves making hairstyles and fashionable clothes and wants to find love as well.

I recommend reading this one when the scanlation group changes hands, coz the one available right now hosts a rather awkward translation and bad quality scans.

This is my first review, for the sole purpose that this manga is HORRIBLE. I can't stand it. After every chapter I keep thinking that maybe something in going to change or some new BETTER drama is going to unfold, but no. Disappointment after disappointment. The beginning isn't actually too bad. Tsubaki is happy-go-lucky at first and cute, and of course then there's the dreadful bullying. You would think that she would have enough character to stand on her own two feet. Wrong. Instead she takes it all like a doormat, and when the playboy/jerkiest guy of all time does ONE nice thing for her, ... she's head over heels. She keeps talking about how he's "helped her all this time" or "saved her" but in reality, he just puts her down, uses her, and even molests her just for a stupid game. she refuses to accept the fact that he's a mega tool. So while the art may be decent typical shoujo art, the story and character development are seriously lacking. For the love of nerdy girls everywhere: don't read Kyou Koi wo Hajimemasu.

This was the worst manga I have ever read. Recently, I've been on a girly romantic manga binge so this seemed right up my alley. Wow, was I in for a shock.

The main male character is a huge dick, no seriously this guy treats his girlfriend horrible.

You might find this spoiler-ish so read at your own discretion,

This poor girl starts out a innocent girl, poor girl gets harassed by her whole class and then somehow falls in lover with the guy that almost rapes her and the one that treats her like absolute garbage. This guy is CONSTANTLY bringing her down.

They take ... a school trip and Tsubaki really wants to not sneak out and stay an extra night because she could lose important recommendations she needs to further her life. This asshole actually makes her feel bad about it and basically guilts her into it.

This girl made it painfully obvious she was not ready for sex but this doucheturd literally makes the moves on her everytime and then somehow HE gets his feelings hurt over it,

This manga was painful. The main girl was a crybaby constantly looking like she was butthurt about something. Constantly apologizing for shit that wasn't even her fault. Plus she almost gets raped THREE TIMES and just shrugs it off. One of the guys even leaves marks on her but she ends up helping him out later on. Come on girl.

Tsubakis sister Sakura, is a damn whore, who's writing this shit? She's 14 and sleeping around. This whole damn family needs help.
You know what forget the family, let's talk about the members in the school. Do these kids have anything better to do than to sleep around with the school whore, aka Kyouta the main male character. These people are literal trash. Why does no one bat an eye that EVERYONES slept with this guy? And Tsubaki is totally fine with it?.


So if you want a crybaby girl, who blames herself for her asshole boyfriends actions, look no further than Tsubaki, if you want a total toolbag main guy, Kyouta is your guys,

Join these two on their everlasting struggle to stay in a relationship over bullshit fights that don't even make any sense. Don't waste your time, please. This was absolute trash

I stumbled upon this one day and started reading it, I don't usually read love mangas but after reading the first chapter I realized that the main character, Tsubaki, reminded me of my girlfriend from junior high. I am no Kouto (the other main, the boy who sweeps her off her feet), but I felt a personal connection to the story as many of you might. A lonely girl who doesn't fit in, but catches the eye of the most handsome guy in school and changes to be with him. I have only read up to chapter 23 because that's all I can find translated. ... I must say that the story seems to be evolving into a good plot though from what I have read. I think this will be a good manga once completed, but all the scans and translated versions I have seen for this manga is sub-par. I still thank the person doing it cause I know I cant, but I would wait for the manga to get father along and maybe a pro translator to pick up this series before I would jump into it. I am still reading it weekly though. Also I am trying not to spoil but pay close attention to Tsubaki's sister in the beginning, I didn't pay much attention to her but she is turning out to be a big part of the plot so I went and reread some of her parts to get a feel for her. I didn't pay attention the first time cause I was so wrapped up with Tsubaki and Kouto. Also I probably misspelled the names, only because I have seen it translated different ways in each chapter lol.

Reading shoujo manga, at one point of time, was almost a hobby of mine, something that I enjoyed tremendously. I could read almost anything and everything that the genre had to offer, irrespective of how good, bad (or downright horrible) that piece of work was. The obsession was relatively short lived though, thanks to the gradual loss of interest in the genre. Through the course of pursuing this guilty pleasure activity, I came across works that could be passed off as decent and those which made me feel like I might punch my computer screen in disgust if I read any further.

Kyou, Koi wo ... Hajimemasu without a doubt falls rightfully in the latter category for me. Yeah, you get the drift; get ready for the rant.

If I have to sum up this manga in one word, then it is ‘atrocious’. It is your clichéd, run of the mill shoujo story without any substance or sensible development; rather it only keeps getting worse with every chapter. Actually, there’re better stories out there with more or less the same setting and plot but this one is so bad that even calling it ‘mediocre’ is unimaginable, in my case at least. Throw in a bunch of shallow, stereotypical characters of the worst sort and you have the recipe for a horrendous piece that is Kyou, Koi wo Hajimemasu.

Speaking of the characters, Tsubaki Hibino, frankly speaking, is one of the most infuriating shoujo manga heroines I have come across. She was somewhat likable in the beginning when she actually had a backbone and didn’t let her guards down before the male lead but that façade of her wears off in the blink of an eye when one morning she wakes up and the realization dawns upon her that she is in fact madly in love with Tsubaki Kyouta, the male protagonist of the story and an equally annoying character who appears to suffer from something called the jerk syndrome. He is your clichéd, school’s heartthrob with a nasty personality and yet girls dig him because he is just so hawt! The other characters, if there are any that is, are more or less bystanders. Oh wait. Did I mention Hibino’s sister? She pulled off her role of the ‘bitchy rival’ in this incredible love story pretty well. I will give her that.

The artwork is the only aspect of this manga I can rate a bit high in comparison to everything else it has to offer. There is the typical shoujo feel to it but it is well done nonetheless.

For some reason, this manga is actually admired by many people which comes as a surprise to me. Well, whatever said and done, I am no one to question their taste. But now that I contemplate, I wonder why I even went through the trouble of reading those 13 chapters. Was I that bored and jobless? Possible. That or I, somewhere deep inside me, was wishing for something good to happen in the story, only to be utterly disappointed as it did not even come close to anything that would make me feel optimistic about it. The bottom line is, Kyou, Koi wo Hajimemasu is by no means worth recommending to anyone who is looking for a decent piece to read. You might pick it up if you wish to pass your time but if you ask me, I would suggest you to look for something else.

-Dissection of the score-
Story: 3 | Art: 6 | Character: 2 | Enjoyment: 2| Overall: 3

[This review is an edited and improvised version of the original review posted on October 16, 2011]

I can understand where everyone is coming from when they write a review about this manga. I wouldn't call it terrible, it's just tasteless. The art was good and the story was decent, but what got me was the characters.
I wasn't too impressed to be honest. The characters kind of annoyed me. Every single character in this manga, especially the heroine.
I think that is what everyone can agree on. The story would've been been better if the characters were better. But don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this story is the worst manga ever made in history (To some people it might be). ... I'm just saying that it could've been better.
Either way, I still found it enjoyable to read to kill time. There are better mangas than this, but then again, this manga is a lot better than others too. So instead of saying the "worst" or the "best", let's leave it at "decently good".

From reading the summary, many of you will probably think that this is another cliche shoujo where the good girl falls for the bad boy, and, in some ways, it is. However, I also felt that Kyou, Koi wi Hajimemasu stands out from other shoujo manga in that it executes some of these cliches smoothly, especially if they are in the "right places."


Story (8):
The story starts of with Tsubaki, an "unfashionable country bumpkin girl from the Showa era" that loves to do hair. She fails to make it to the school of her dreams so she has to settle with a school that is way ... below her standards. There, she meets Kyouta, the long-haired main male who she loathes from the very first day of school - I won't go into more detail to avoid spoiling it.

It starts off very cliche, yes, and some events that happen may be unbelievable but I do not think that those specific scenes overshadow the entire story of two opposite teenagers that happen to find love with each other.

I almost dropped this manga because it annoyed me a lot at the beginning and a few parts in the middle, but I'm glad I read it all the way through.


Art (9):
Normally I don't like big-eyed, cutesy, shoujo heroines, but I feel like this mangaka made her proportions just right. Some scenes were drawn sparkly and beautifully, and I loved that the male character wasn't straight faced ALL the time like in other shoujo manga.


Character (7):
I want to say that both leads pissed me off to no end. For a shoujo heroine, Tsubaki, in my opinion, was actually not as stupid as I thought she would be. Sure, she got herself into compromising situations, but I feel that most of those were out of her hand.

After re-reading the manga a second time, I am glad that I noticed that Tsubaki didn't really change herself for a guy, much like other heroines tend to do. Although certain attitudes and viewpoints change because of falling it love, the decisions that she makes in the manga are things that she wants to do, not because she was forced into it.

Kyouta, on the other hand, also made me mad because I thought that he had the stupidest reason for ....well, you'll see when you get there.

(Possible spoiler?) So glad that he's a very committed boyfriend that didn't "waver" or anything of the sort, even with his playboy past.


Luckily, both of these characters (in my opinion) undergo some really good character development as the story progresses, both in terms of how they treat each other and the people around them. They learn to be more honest and open with their feelings, and I like that both of them had career goals for the future that may or may not have included the other person.

Don't get me wrong, they still create really avoidable misunderstandings, but probably as frequently as you would see in the average couple.

If I were to rate these characters for the latter half of the story, I probably would have given an 8 or a 9, but I have to take into consideration their actions in the beginning of the manga too.


Enjoyment (9)
Despite its cliches, flaws, and stupid moments, I enjoyed this manga a lot. Would I read it again? Yeah, but I'd probably skip over the chapters that I didn't like or the scenes that I felt were unnecessary - there are enough cute scenes in this manga to keep me busy haha.



Overall (8)
Even if my entire review sounds like I'm praising this manga, I don't want to mislead anyone by making it sound better than it really is. It isn't for everyone, and while I am usually a picky reader (almost dropped this one), I feel that everyone should give this a try because the ending is definitely worth it.

I do not understand why this terrible series is so damn popular (though I say the same thing about Twilight too) and just when you think THAT story couldn't be made to be more misogynistic than it is, Kyou, Koi Wo Hajimemasu will unpleasantly surprise you. This is bad as Mayu-f*cking-Shinjo's works. In fact, I will be amazed if the author of this garbage didn't EXCHANGE WRITING NOTES with Shinjo, let alone know her They'd probably be best friends! Yes, I imagine it would go something like this:

Minami Kanan: Hello! I love your work! Your men are so hot. God, asshole rapists sure do ... turn me on!

Mayu Shinjo: Oh yes!! They are the best! RAPE IS LOVE! I love your work as well! Horrible men are beautiful! They are so perfect too...like GODS! They should be the only sex in this world....that's what I've always believed.

Kanan: LOL! I know....women are so STUPID! All they do is cry! They belong in the kitchen for all eternity!!

Shinjo: Like TOTALLY!! I wish I'd been born a man. :(

Yeeeeeah.

Art: The artwork is nothing spectacular. It's much like the mediocre style of shoujo series that remain that: mediocre. But to call this series as a whole "mediocre" is far too much of a compliment.

Character: This is the part that will probably make you bash your head against the wall...if you were holding high expectations. Because shoujo manga in general really does characters right when it tries.

But this manga doesn't try. Not at all. Neither main character is likable. The heroine is a doormat who puts 1+1 together and ends up with "purple". The "love interest" is an abusive jerk who makes the childish "bad boys" of the more family-appropriate shoujo series look like saints, BEFORE their character development. He's perverted, he's a bully, he's mean. I don't mean as in name-calling or playing impish pranks or tsundere-pretending that he doesn't care (when he clearly does)
I mean "MEAN" as in "why hasn't this girl called one of those hotlines that help with domestic abuse yet?"

Now, as you can see, I did not finish this manga. I don't want to....because the ending to chapter 6 disgusted me so much that I don't think anything could possibly save it. NO girl with a brain or an ounce of self-respect would come to the same conclusion the heroine did. Unless she was a complete masochist, perhaps. It's so infuriating that I'd probably throw this book into a wall and then burn it.....had I been reading a physical copy...and thank God I didn't decide to buy this on a whim because I'd be demanding my money back in order to do something more productive with it, like using it to clean up my dog's poop. :(
.......actually that's a brilliant use for this manga for everyone who was unfortunate enough to spend money on it. :'D

Note: Cussing ahead so if you don't like that, don't read.
-----------------------
= Story =
- So... Hibino Tsubaki's and Tsubaki Kyouta's love starts when Hibino cuts Kyouta's hair b/c it's too long and she wanted to get back at him for being rude.
That is a great reason for chopping someone's hair off. Congrats Hibino! You have no common sense and now a bunch of Kyouta fan girls are gonna want to chop off your head and pit it on a stake! :) But seriously, that's how love starts. She fixes his hair by making it shorter, he kisses her and say he'll make her his. Great.
The rest ... of the manga is basically the results of Tsubaki and Tsubaki hooking up. No spoilers there. It's WAY too obvious. Plus it's a Shoujo manga and whenever a guy says "I'll make you my woman," you know they're gonna eventually hook up.
So yeah... the plot is basically every little drama that goes on b/n Tsubaki and Kyouta's fan girls b/c Tsubaki isn't fit for him and those fan girls are just sluts who want to get in his pants.
Oh, plus there's a lot of jealously and shit b/c Tsubaki is one jealous bitch. She cries a lot and has all this emotional conflict in her head which makes me question her mental state [and that line sounds like a broken record now]. So yeah... I absolutely despise this bullshit of a plot. -

= Art =
- For those who have read my previous reviews, you must be thinking, "Why didn't she give it a 9 or 10? It's not old schooled." For starters, I HATE anime/manga characters with huge ass eyes. REALLY?! I understand that it's the mangaka's style and all and I shouldn't be dissing it off, but seriously. Huge ass eyes ARE NOT CUTE. Ex:) Shugo Chara. NOT CUTE AT ALL.
BUT since I can't draw better. It's an 8. -

= Character =
- Hibino Tsubaki is USELESS and DEAD WEIGHT. Seriously, all she does is cry and through tantrums and WANT SEX. WTF?! She's a useless slut apparently. A jealous, useless slut.
Kyouta... well... I can't HATE him, but I can't really like him either. But really, he's still cool. We're all cool. :) Hibino just needs to get out of Kyouta's life. She's a selfish, manga bitch. I wouldn't care if she got run over by a car and died. WAIT. No...
I wouldn't give a shit about her even if she stepped on a lego piece! That's how much I hate her. Really. She's a horrible representation of females. -

= Enjoyment/Overall =
- I obviously hated this manga. I have nothing else to say. It's horrible. -

This being her first relationship (although forced), Tsubaki struggles with her growing feelings as well as the problems that comes with being the girlfriend of a guy who has sex partners rather than girlfriends. Kyouta being the popular bad boy has some mummy issues but works hard to make his relationship with Tsubaki work. To him, she is truly one of a kind.

I feel that the author expressed the feelings of every plain-looking, awkward girl who gets a boyfriend for the first time; the doki-doki moments, the uncertainty, the lack of confidence in her looks and herself. The transformation of Kyouta from bad boy ... to boyfriend was a pleasure to witness because you can tell his feelings are genuine. He makes sincere efforts to make her comfortable about being in a relationship with him. As the manga progresses, we see Tsubaki begin to take initiative towards making their relationship better.

I have read quite a few high-school mangas but not many have made me this excited. The circumstance is pretty typical of a high school shoujo manga but there was an element of truth and risqué that made it more interesting. It wasn’t just innocent kisses; they both found themselves in situations that made them do ‘things’ any normal couple would do in similar situations.

Although I've read a lot of reviews somehow I've never written one myself. I just had to make an exception while reading this manga. This story irritates me so much but for some reason I am unable to stop reading it. It's addicting even though I just want to pull my hair out because of the main character.

This starts nicely with the main character having a brain and some attitude, but somehow slowly(or not even that slowly) she ends up being this ditzy girl who can think of nothing else except for the boy she likes. I want to stop reading after every chapter but ... at the same time I want to continue reading and find out what happens next . I guess I'm a masochist. I like shoujo but I also like characters who have a little more personality than that of a rubber duck.

Overall, this is not a bad story( plus, the art is very enjoyable) and obviously I like it to some extent as I continue reading it. I'm a sucker for these ugly-girl-gets-her-dream-guy- storylines even though I have to vent out once in a while :)

Another Minami Kanan manga? Is it one of those mangas where the guy continuously sexually abuses the girl, first the girl resists and than then the girl's heart goes DOKI-DOKI for the guy and than they "do it?"
No, this manga is a lot better than just that.
The main character, Tsubaki Hibino is actually an interesting character. She's a really hard-worker, she's smart, and a "good girl." She doesn't fit in class and is teased for her old-fashion clothes. I like her.
But the guy, Tsubaki Kyouta is sort of a typical shoujo guy. He goes around, sexually teasing all these girls just for fun. ... But he's a weird character. At some points, he acts like a complete jerk and at other times, he's so sweet and caring.
Hibino and Kyouta's relationship is like a really roller coaster though.It goes up and down so much that it begins to get annoying. The story is decent but there are parts where it's cute and nice. ^_^

I read this a couple of months ago(it should be noted that i read all chapters in a day, It's addicting), and since then I have found myself rereading it more than once, even if it was just some of the chapters.
While I understand what people are saying when they give this a 2/10, because yes, in some ways it deserves that, the fact that I've even reread this I think says that its pretty damn enjoyable.

The story is simple: A studyworm meets a popular badboy and they fall in love, with a lot melodrama happening all over the place. I personally love melodrama, ... but it is of course not for everyone.
The relationship between Tsubaki and Kyota is developed very well and honestly the ACTUAL romance in this manga is some of the best I've seen. It's great, cute, sad at some parts and just overall amazing. You can see that they genuinly love each other and that its true love for them. And it's as realistic as a shojo can get.
There were some things that really made frustated though:
1. There was pretty much no development on the sidecharacters. There was also almost no appearances for them. Sure, Sakura got a bit more mature but thats only natural since this takes place over 3 years. Also Tsubakis best friend(forgot her name), she was always just kinda 'there'. Especially in comparison to characters like the-hairdresser-dude(forgot his name too), and random-love-rival-that-loves-astronomi(and hers) towards the end. It could have been a lot better if they had an bigger impact.
2. (Spoilers ahead:) Something that i always found weird and pretty unrealistic is that Tsubaki gets almost-raped 2 times. Even weirder is that both times, she just brushes it off like its nothing and even becomes friends with one of the guys that molested her. A while ago i found out that its the same mangaka that made honey x honey drops where the main character gets raped multiple times. I guess she has a thing for that.

The characters are pretty good. Some of them are horrible though and others are just kinda funny sometimes, because they do something that would have been OOC but NOPE! I dont know, the characters alright I guess. It works with the story so I don't really have anything to complain about(unless you saw point 2 about Tsubaki acting like nothing happened)

A lot of people are complimenting the art, but honestly, I really hated the way it was drawn. I loved the quality of it however and i could see there went a lot of work into it, but the style in itself i didn't like very much.

Overall, I loved it. Even with all its faults, I enjoyed it a lot. I recommend it, though it's not for everyone. I think the amount of negative reviews says that much. If you wanna read something funny and romantic and are okay with something that is definantly not a 10/10 but would rather focus on enjoyment and put analysis to the side for later, then i definantly recomend Kyou, Koi wo Hajimemasu for you.

The first most important thing to take into account when reading this manga is that character development exists and characters won't always stay how they were in the beginning. This manga began with a really shaky start, an asshole of a ML, insecure but arrogant FL, terrible classmates, etc. but as the story continues, the characters and story develop very well. Problems usually aren't repetitive which proves actual improvement with the character and frustrating situations are quickly resolved. And although a shoujo manga will always have fictional aspects, I believe that the way the FL reacted to each situation was always very realistic: spoilers ahead...

Conflicting ... with other reviewers, I believe that the way Tsubaki reacted to Kyouta's abusive manner was very realistic. Tsubaki was so angry with herself that she was interested in a player that would casually sexually harass her but in reality as Tsubaki was hoping to find love, this smart attractive male who helps her in time of need begins to show this girl with no friends some attenion. Even though he is a complete asshole, it is very realistic that she would fall in love with him and be angry at herself about it. As their relationship develops, it is potrayed that Kyouta's actions are caused from trauma and betrayals, which doesn't justify sexual harrasment, but it clearly changes the route of the story when he is able to face the idea that "not all women are cheaters". After you see a change in Kyouta's character when he seriously views Tsubaki as someone he loves and wants to protect. Tsubaki on the other hand develops through each individual scenario as she is the main character. Anyways, the idea is that this story's shaky start was resolved through character and story development.

It started out with a girl that loved doing hair. With every hairstyle that she tried only on would fit her. And it was a hairstyle that made her look like a country bumpkin. It was BRAIDS, of all things it was BRAIDS into pigtails. The story is truly amazing, because I wouldn’t have made it any better myself. The beginning made me think a little, because this really hyper guy just shows up ad starts screaming her name, but it really wasn’t towards her. It was towards a boy, WITH LONG HAIR! They ended up sitting next to each other in the same class. ... They start to criticize each other until she cuts his hair. Then she gave him a whole new hair cut. This is when he decides to make her his new target.

The story is truly amazing and I wouldn’t want to spoil anything for anyone. All I am saying is that this story is worth reading and you would definitely be amazed of this manga. It gets frustrating at one point, but I think that it just makes it more interesting! In this story, there is love, comedy, fashion, and betrayal. For someone to be betrayed by women and still tries to believe in them is amazing. I know that I couldn’t do that. The one thing is that her sister kind of ruined the story a little; because the little sis betrayed her, without know it. This story will make your heart cry for more and more! The thing is that the main character is a little dense and she makes everyone feel bad towards her boyfriend. But I believe that he truly loves her and through words I can tell. Especially in this manga.

Overall I will rate this story a 9, so close to perfect, but not. I think that this story could use a little bit of adjustments, but still. If the story is changed around, then it wouldn’t have the authors feel to it. It would feel like someone else’s story. I love how the artist makes the story hers and not make it seem like someone else’s. This is a must read for girls! It shows a girl falling in love for the first time, a boy believing again, and a couple that tries everything for one another. This may seem like a bad review, but this story is so amazing, words cant explain, and you should read it, instead of trusting someone elses words.

I will recommend it to girls that are ready for a ride on a rollercoaster called LOVE

I opened an account on this site just to write a review about this manga. This manga literally promotes that if a guy forces himself on you by alienating you from the rest of the group and tortures you mentally till you go out with him, go for it. I am a guy myself and I really hate how this guy just tortures an innocent girl into having sex with him. Then when she refuses, he confuses her with mind games and sob stories about his mother. I have no idea why this is so popular. The main girl is also an idiot. Even her ... little sister is a slut. If any young girls are reading this review, this is not how love works. If you meet a guy like this, freaking stay away from him. He's not worth it. He is not even the "bad boy" type. He is a rapist and blackmailer. If this was any other manga, he would be a villain. The author is seriously messed up in the head to think this was okay.

The beginning blew me away. I was hooked on, and I loved the main character... Then I got to the later chapters. I don't know exactly what happened, but she became the typical shojou girl that is hopeless and against all feminist beliefs. Other than that I sort of like the story.

This is a classic example of a cliche shoujo romance.
It's very formulaic, the formula applied is:
A shy,insecure, big hearted heroine, a rude, playboy hero and their love story.

It's so very generic.
The hero doesn't have the depth that other's like Daisy and Usui have.
The heroine doesn't have the balls and personality like Misaki or Kyouko.

The anime centres on the character's relationship and has little variety.
There's a lot of kissing and frisky stuff going on.
... It's labelled as a coming of age novel but mostly every action is based on the romance.

Then there's the fact that when the characters are, ahem, 'love making' Hibino, the heroine makes such tortured expressions that it is painful to read. I felt embarrassed for her and quite sorry for Kyouta, her boyfriend who has to deal with that kind of negativity in bed.
But well, since he's pretty brainless himself, he probably likes it.

Hibino was actually a source of quite a lot of anger for me. She is just so damn insecure and meek. I hate the fact that girls are portrayed like that.
Sure, there's a thing called giving into your man, when you feel like it but not standing up for yourself AT ALL.
That's just bullshit.
Secondly, she is just so stupid.
I can't even think to sugarcoat it.
She acts stupidly and selfishly and then usually does something to label herself as a selfless martyr.
Nope. Not buying it.

Kyouta's biggest good trait is that he's pretty.
That's also his only good trait.
He doesn't have much of a character and the fact that he makes his own team lose so that his girlfriend's can win is just plain lame.
Call me old-fashioned but I really hate these stupid attempts at romance.
Cheating for your girlfriend is not romantic.
It just proves you both to be wimps.

So basically, it comes down to the fact that this manga lacks any sort of plot or character development.
What it does entail is two mindless characters making out mindlessly.
So if you want a guilty pleasure to burn time, this manga is for you.
If you want to read something substantial or meaningful, run far and fast.

Kyou, Koi wo Hajimemasu is a shojo manga through and through. There were some parts of it that were really good, and some that were kinda bad. Overall, though, this is a good manga that is worth the read if you are into typical shojo mangas.

The story for this manga is plain and simple. It being a traditional high school love story, you get what you anticipate with this one. It can be extremely predictable at times, but realistically, you don't usually read a shojo to be surprised. The story had a good flow and ends well, without leaving any loose ends, like some manga ... and anime often do.

The art is great. The characters are drawn well and the hair is beautifully rendered (which means something in a manga with a plot point around hair and hair styling).

The characters are probably my biggest love/hate part of this story. Hibino has an interesting personality, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. And Kyouta has an odd personality, which also isn't a bad thing. But together, they doubt one another and pointlessly feel certain ways that are completely geared to cause story drama. It can feel repetitive and cause you to care less for both of them at a certain point because it seems like they never learn from their previous mistakes. They are not terrible characters, but with that drama being a huge part of the story arcs, it can make them less enjoyable.

Overall, I did enjoy this manga, regardless of the character flaws. I don't think I would ever read this manga again (mostly due to the length) but I would recommend it to someone who loves drama filled shojo manga with cute main characters.

It's just too long. Loved the first half, it was fast, well-paced but by the second half, I just wanted it to end. Too much drama.

Hibino is a pretty straitlaced, straight A's kind of girl who got into a bad school. The high school wasn't her first choice at all and she actually hates where's she's at, on top of having to share her name with Tsubaki-kun. Hibino goes and cuts Tsubaki's long hair because she's good at cutting hair. What I loved about the first half was that it wasn't just about the side characters falling for the lead couple. It was about Tsubaki ... learning to assert herself and confront even her little sister Sakura, who she believes is cuter than her. She starts wearing her hair the way she actually wants to. When Sakura steals her dress that Tsubaki-kun bought for her, she actually confronts her. Through meeting Tsubaki-kun, she gains friends for the first time. She was actually timid, and aloof before she met him. Before she got into her high school, she did what her mom wanted her to do, which had always been to study hard, attend cram schools after school, get into the best college, regardless of her self-interests. Because that's the right thing to do.

What I liked was seeing that the families are actually there for our lead couple. You don't even see them in shoujo mangas. You hardly ever see the parents of our main leads. Even the way Tsubaki-kun's father, steps in for him when he most needed the support at the end. We can glean that his father steps out of their apartment, now that Tsubaki-kun is old enough to work at part-time and attend cram school and work.

There was character growth. There's Tsubaki having to overcome his feelings of neglect and abandonment from his mother who abandoned not only him, but his family when he was little. Hibino buts into their family drama, through Tsubaki's mom who is desperate to see her son. But they work things out for the better. Then there's Hibino herself. Tsubaki watches her and knows her passion is cutting hair, being a hairstylist. He actually confronts her about future and wants to hear what she wants for her future. Because he's seen her do her work, and work her magic. That was how she got integrated into her class. She cut her classmates' hair during school festivals and everyone praised her for it. She confronts her future, even questioning the goal her mom had set out for her, which was to study hard and get into the good university. I actually saw myself in Hibino's shoes as an Asian American who grew up exactly like Hibino.

Hibino asks, "In ten years from now, would you regret not going to college versus going for your dreams?" "No. I got to do what I wanted to do," her hairstylist sempai responds. For Hibino to actually confront her mom and her mom to come see her at their school festivals, where she got to cut hair, those stand out.

It did drag in the second half, in spite of the excellent character development. I got frustrated by the number of side characters falling for our main couple. Any new side character is a potential love rival and thus Hibino grows insecure, they make up, rinse and repeat. I didn't like the forced drama and the second half had plenty of it. Not enough breathing room. There was too much drama all the time.

This was a smorgasbord of everything you wanted into a shoujo: smut, steamy love scenes, love rivals, jealousy, the kdrama traffic accident, the breakups. There was also a family and heart and love mixed in as well. The parents did the best they could, even Tsubaki's father, who seemed like the bad guy. There was reasoning, a backstory behind him.

Tsubaki-kun is flawed. He's no Kazehaya. He isn't the perfect nice guy. He is actually good to Hibino. Hibino, who's lived the straight-laced life her whole life, who's wanted to please her mother, is actually timid, not good at expressing her feelings or confronting other people from the way she has lived. Tsubaki is straightforward and blunt and always goes out of his way to talk with her. He doesn't want her avoiding him or her having to subdue her feelings. He even stops when she's uncomfortable when they become a couple and get intimate. They balance each other. If it weren't for Tsubaki, Hibino would never have even gone for her dreams. If she dated a Kazehaya, she would've stayed in cram school and gone onto the good university and stayed on the path her mom wanted for her.