May 7, 2014
This is my first review but I wanted to review this manga because it didn't have one yet.
Shinbunbu no Komatsu-San (Bye Bye Lonely) centers mostly around Komatsu Akina and her decision on whether or not to date the very popular Aoi-kun. This story is a one-shot, and based off the simplicity of the name, it very much acts like one.
Story: 6/10
The story in this manga has been overused countless times - a girl who isn't really popular gets asked out by one of the cutest boys in school for seemingly no reason at all. The author didn't really explain why Aoi liked Akina
...
in the first place and that kind of leaves a glaring plot hole that is hard to forget throughout the whole manga. I gave it a 6 for the side stories. Apart from the main conflict, there are a couple of side stories that involve Akina's adventure on the school newspaper. They were actually fairly interesting and original. I think they saved the manga from becoming too cliché at some points.
Art: 9/10
The art is very well done. All of the female characters are very cute and all of the male characters are attractive and have clean designs. A couple of the characters have glasses but they're well done art wise. I gave it a 9 purely because there were A LOT of hearts. There's a heart after almost everything Aoi says. It became kind of annoying to me and took away from the beautiful designs, but that may not be a problem for others.
Characters: 7/10
All of the characters were likable but some of them just didn't have enough reason behind some of the things they were doing. Akina is the typical heroine who is incredibly insecure. That insecurity can sometimes make her a little bit annoying but other than that she's an enjoyable heroine. Aoi is nice, but sometimes it feels like he has no reason for liking Akina other than the author wrote him that way. He treats Akina with respect and doesn't insult her which redeems some of his more obvious shortcomings. The supporting characters play their parts as nicely as you'd expect.
Overall, if you're interested in a cute one-shot, you should definitely read this manga. The story is a little overused but the characters are enjoyable and the art is beautiful to look at. I rated it a 7 critically, but as a reader who reads manga for enjoyment, I'd say it's definitely worth the 30 minutes you'll spend reading it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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