Hadashi de Bara wo Fume
Stepping on Roses

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First, let me say my opinion of this manga when first seeing the cover and the plot summary.

I thought that, " Well, it's gonna be one of those marriage agreement thingy and one's gonna fall inlove w/ his/her partner... since this is shoujo might as well expect it. But, I'm gonna give it a try... just one try, ".

I WAS WRONG. SO WRONG IN SO MANY WAYS.


I never knew this manga had the PYSCHO thingy in it which was so beautifully expressed! The characters portrayed themselves very well. Especially, Nozumo and Soichirou.

At first I was like, " Yep, Nozumo's attitude's gonna be like this, ... " but NO! It was on a total different level! And personally, I didn't like Soichirou's predictable and overly used character at first, but THEN! It was like I was slowly falling inlove with him.


I couldn't even choose between the two of them! Both drawn maturely and professionally.

Sumi's character was very lovely as well. It couldn't go wrong in any way. She was so mature. I looked up to her in every chapter of the manga.



The manga started simple at the beginning and suddenly confusing but confusing in a GOOD way. At the end of the manga, I didn't even expect a plot twist!

My journey reading this manga was full of emotions. Some happy, some sad and some I just don't know how to express.

I was really sad that it ended at Chapter 57. I don't even care if it goes until 500!
I finished this manga in a day and regretted how I only read it until now. This manga is on par with Faster Than a Kiss for me.

I really love this manga and people should give it a try.


And of course, my overall review of this manga is a perfect 100.

To start out with the positive aspects to this manga, what probably pulled me into the story was the way the fashion or clothes are drawn. This is as the story is set in the Meiji era and therefore it is interesting to see both very beautifully drawn traditional Japanese and Western clothing incorporated into the manga. Sumi (lead female character) also clearly comes over as very pretty through the drawing style. Yet sadly these few perks are unable to outweigh the problems which I have found with this manga.

Beginning with the pacing of the story, it truly throws the reader around, which does not ... help at all to try to create an emotional connection between Sumi and the reader, or for that case any other character either. Partially also the pacing's fault is that the character development appears as inconsistent. Characters seem to change, but only to revert back the next instant, something that is obviously confusing. Moreover each character does face their own traumas or radical changes in personality, however these seem poorly expressed, through the fact that it is used, but without great depth to it and just cast aside or ignored when of no use to the plot. This is also what makes the story so predictable from the very beginning, the plot is character driven, but the characters themselves are predictable! It should also be noted if one does make use of psychological profiling of the characters, it should be consistent and "reading in between the lines" should let the reader try to figure out how each character is influenced by an event and why they act in a certain way. The essence of ambiguity and uncertainty to how the antagonists in the story would act, is something that is completely lacking in this story.
These are just some of the spoiler free inconsistencies I would like to mention in the story, as there are many spoiler related things I could add, especially about how there are quite a few occurrences that are just plain out not fitting to the time period. There are many things that can stretch the boundaries of a manga in a good way, but for this manga which is supposed to be rather serious, there are just too many loose ends to be understood as charming.

The most disappointing thing about this manga is especially that it could have so much potential for a more enthralling and gripping plot, as well as characters. If you are looking for a manga that will grip your emotions and keep you internally screaming at the most important moments, then this is certainly not the one. I would not recommend to read this manga, as there are so many better shoujo romance mangas out there, that deserve so much more praise then this one, and have far better developed plots and characters that are able to take hold of the reader without letting go.

Whew, my first ever review. The only reason I'm bothering is because I really hope people won't waste their time with this awful piece of poop.

At first, I thought this story had potential. I've read quite a few manga now where the male lead is mean at first to the female lead before gradually letting his soft side do him in.

However, the amount of abuse in this story is appalling. You think that he's going to admit his feelings, then he treats Sumi like garbage and expects her to understand that it's because he's so into her despite his history of verbal abuse. Of course ... she isn't going to realize his true feelings when he blusters and insults her.

With the supporting characters, too, it's hard to understand their motives at times, and many of them are equally abusive. Maybe the psychosis of a couple of them makes you want to excuse them, but then Sumi just takes the abuse and actually comes back for more. Her naivety is too much to be believable.

Basically, I could not get past the abusive nature of so many of the relations of the characters.

Tl;dr don't waste your time with this manga. The only reason I read to the end was because I had a sort of morbid curiosity for how much worse this manga could get. I honestly don't understand why it has such a high average rating or why so many people enjoy this, it's seriously so awful.