"Suki" to Ienai.

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The one feature that pointedly stands out in this story is the kawaiiness of both the leads. Their hair... Ooh so fluffy that I wanted to reach out and run my fingers through them! This of course lends the characters a good degree of personal touch and you sympathise more with their predicament.

Shiina and Kiri are siblings and Kiri while a player-prince in school loves his sister dearly always making her treats and soothing her and giving her rides to school. Only Shiina knows something about him that she shouldn't. That something incites more than brotherly love for Kiri in her and she feels weighed ... down with guilt and shame for such feelings. However, seeing as the newly single Kiri is a commodity all Shiina's friends want a piece of, she's forced to make a decision, whether to reveal her feelings or step out of the way and let her friends confess. Sheesh, that IS a quandry!

I heart the brotherly sisterly relation these two share right at the beginning of the story. Who wouldn't want a brother to dote on them so and brighten their day?! Other than that, the artwork is really sparkly in that Kiri's smile can completely lighten your mood and you smile right back at that bishie! The story progresses at a very realistic pace without being overly shoujo about it and portrays both leads in a very human light in their reactions and inhibitions. Overall I liked every scene regardless of whether it included kisses or not which is rare and in this case fully deserved! If you're feeling low about how meaningless love and affection is, I recommend this tale.

It may be just me, but I have an impression this one-shot is a bit too-- appreciated, I guess, among its readers. So oh, very much "kawaii" and cute, and sweet and whatnot. Time to balance this out with some old fashioned cynicism.

This is a classic story of a forbidden incest which isn't really an incest with an obvious ending to it than only a mastermind COULDN'T predict.

The design is same as in other 1,000,025 one-shot shoujos and you know the one I'm talking about. Don't be shy, come forward and say it with me - useless empty space filler.

The entire thing is illogical ... and dumb and chances are that if you like it, so are you. But lets' not dwell upon that.

It is truly incredibly to me that thing like these are still being released and that there are people actually enjoying such thrashy crap as this one. Kindly, read something of quality and stand up for your poor, poor tastes, they need improvement.

There you have it, balanced out.

"Suki" to Ienai is full of shoujo-goodness that any shoujo fangirl will enjoy. Being one of the first manga I've ever read I thought it was the "goddess" of shoujo manga, but now that I've read too many shoujo to count I realized the storyline is just like every other. But don't get me wrong, the characters and storyline is simply kawaii, therefore making me read it over and over. The story is light and fluffy while being heavy at the same time making this shoujo work, one you would find yourself going back to for oldtimes sakes.

I just completed this adorable little one-shot, and as it took me somewhere in the region of 6 minutes to read through, I can definitely say it was worth the time. Although you shouldn't be expecting a literary epic when you take on "Suki" to Ienai, the timeless tale of unrequitted love perhaps doesn't need much backstory.

As someone in a similar situation (minus the whole brother complex!), I can say that it touched my soul a little, and made me nod with a knowing feeling, "that's exactly how it is", at the suffering of the little sister in the story. That's why I enjoyed it ... as much as I did, likewise anyone who has a crush on someone who is seemingly out of their league will appreciate this one-shot.

But despite this, viewed critically this manga will not stand up to much. The art is very much what you would expect from a clichéd shojo manga, with little flare to it, and many panels are just plain screentones. There is little attention given to detail in the drawing or the plot, this is almost a concept or a girl's thoughts as she is lost in fantasy rather than a story.

However, I'll go easy on it as it is so very short (and rather cute), and settle for a 5. There are most definitely better shojo one-shots out there, but you could do worse than a timid little romance between a young girl and her brother.

Storyline: 3/10

It was as if the writer for this little oneshot took a huge pair of scissors and just snipped every sister-loves-brother tale out there. I know he's adopted, but gasp! I love him! How many times have you heard that tale? Yet other mangas seem to carry this idea out so much beter than Suki ever could, like De Capo, for instance. It's every forbidden relationship you've probably seen, so there's no sense in reading this unless your a major shoujo fan or if you're trying to fil your maga list to the brim. The ending wasn't even unexpected; it wasn't as if I ... expected the girl to fall to her death at the end. Actually, I wish she did fall to her death, because A) That would make for an interesting twist in this oh-so-copied plot, and B) With the main character's death, I wouldn't be reading this right now. What I also didn't understand was her random anger splats, in which she yells at her brother and runs into her room crying soon after. I can't tell if the writer is trying to convey a "Oh my, she loves him so much it hurts!", but it's not done very well, in any event.

Artwork: 4/10

You've got your average big eyed, girl and your average chick stealing, hot guy. Nothing you probably haven't seen before.

Characters: 4/10

Again, the characters reek of copy and paste. The deepest thing the girl says is "I can't say I love you", which I have to admit, made me smile the first time I read it.

Then the phrase was crammed into multiple sentences over the course of the thing, and as Marlin said in Finding Nemo, "Good feeling's gone."

Worth the Read?: Shoujo fans will probably love this little oneshot. I suggest only reading to bump up your manga list, to see if I'm just a grumpy old coot who gave this manga a bad review because I could, or, of course, if you're a fan of this brother/sister repeated storyline.

Shiina has a crush on her brother.

Well, okay, not really. Not her actual blood-related brother, anyway. Kiri, the guy Shiina is angsting over, is adopted and doesn’t know it. However, thanks to a mishap, Shiina stumbled upon the truth about her brother some time ago, and has been in love with him ever sense.

“That’s still kind of awkward” you say? Yeah, it is, but it’s the kind of thing shoujo manga fantasies are made of; our heroine couldn’t be closer to the not-technically-illegal-to-date man of her dreams. So does she tell Kiri the truth, or not risk breaking his heart at the expense of breaking ... her own?

This is the conflict in the one-shot “Suki” to Ienai (I Can’t Say “I Like You.”) and there’s not much more to say about the quick read without giving the entire plot away. The artwork is nice and the writing fills all of those unrealistic, mushy tropes that the genre is either beloved or hated for, depending on who you ask. Overall, it’s a solid, but not outstanding (and still kind of creepy) one-shot for shoujo fans looking for a quick fix.