Sakurasaku Syndrome

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The plot of this series is very straight forward - A guy is helping his estranged childhood friend by tutoring her to achieve a high enough score on her exams, so that she could go to the top high school in his city where the guy she loves attends, meanwhile holding romantic feelings for her.

So far, this manga has been great. The characterizations are near perfect and there is room for further development. In just six chapters, we come to understand the two main characters very well and we also understand their motives. The main character is very unsocial and sees anything aside from ... achieving high grades as unnecessary, but due to interactions with his childhood friend who he hasn't spoken to in nearly 10 years, he begins to open up again and feel the joys and agonies of youth and an unrequited love. You can feel the main character's problem, because the love rival isn't some douchebag, but a sympathetic and hardworking individual who probably deserves good things as well, so you don't blame the main character for initially holding in his piece about the way he feels for the heroine. Speaking of side characters, there have been a few characters introduced and they're quite easy to understand, as well, like the caring teacher, the friendly girl, the concerned parents etc etc. As you can guess, this is a character driven series, and having good characters is an essential part -- something the mangaka has succeeded in creating.

If you read the first chapter, you'll know if you're going to like/dislike the characters, and you can decide whether this is a series for you.

As far as art goes, I'm very happy with it. There are instances where the mangaka makes the effort to draw the scenery and backgrounds, and he/she does a good job with it - a lot of detail in clothes, the sky, buildings and general background art. I say "he/she" because there is a mixed tone in this manga. The plot is shoujo-esque, but there is an undeniable seinen feel to it. This is not your average shounen romance series with a tsundere, a harem of girls or misunderstandings or any of the annoying crap you'd read in most shounen series.

This is a 9/10 from me, and I normally don't rate shounen manga this high. A definite candidate for my top recommendation list, and the best series I've read that's started in 2013. CHECK IT OUT!

STORY: 6
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There's nothing wrong with the story and I loved it. However, the ending came quicker than I thought. I dived in blind and as I was reading, I thought there would be 50+ chapters. But then it suddenly ends on chapter 19. I don't hate it because of the abrupt ending since the mangaka isn't at fault here, it was the magazine it was being published in. The old magazine collapsed and the new one decided to end it pretty quickly.

Art & Characters: 10
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Art is amazing and I absolutely love the characters. The ending did lower my love for them a little but they ... are still amazing.

Enjoyment: 4
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While I loved the story and the art and the characters, the quick and hasty ending kinda ruined it.

Overall: 6
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I know I bitched about the ending quite a bit in this review but it's not the worst ending ever and ends alright. The story is something I would've loved to see go on longer but sadly it doesn't. Romance in the manga is not bad. Highly recommend!

The simple but sweet story of a boy and a girl. The same formula, but it will always work wonders. Sakurasaku Syndrome takes this premise and executes it in a way similar to that in Your Lie In April. Both mangas carry the same type of male and female leads, although the endings are very different for the characters.

The art style is very nice, with the artist's depiction of faces being extremely well done. The background art was nice, but it was not as good as that for the characters.

In terms of the story, the side characters detracted a bit from the main ... couple with the amount of character development they received compared to the main couple. The comedy was nice, but the ending could have been more conclusive.