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THE BL for non-BL fans? Is that acceptable to say? I am not really an authority but I definitely think this series is great and could possibly be a gateway to the genre. Highly recommended to ALL!

This is a wholesome, non-ecchi, exceptionally well-drawn series that hits you hard and often with magnificent panels of a cute girl (not really a spoiler: who is actually a cute boy) being cute and expressive about his unrequited love. It does a great job of creating emotional high points and is wholesome feel-good light romance all the way through. While the focus is definitely ... on showcasing cute boy's girlish attractiveness, as he's almost always in cross-dress clothing, cute boy is honest with his thinking, so there's no issue of gay erasure or cute boy being forced into a role he's not comfortable with.

Minor criticisms would be that the secondary characters are not that fleshed out given the length of the series and there are a lot of throwaway chapters whose purpose is just to showcase some new clothing or cute blushing or pouting panels in a very fan-service way. There are a lot of tropey delays in hindering progress of the romance as well, but that will be no suprise for any RomCom or Romance reader. The world is also a bit of a utopia with everyone cheering on the main couple and problems not arising or being easily overcome, in line with the feel-good nature of the series.

The setting and the premise is good. The step-sister angle provides some natural dramatic tension. The translation is also good. The romance is slow burn (not really a positive or negative for that). Where it is weak is in the tone and voicing of the story and in the believability of the characters.

Too often, it feels like the author is just using the characters to convey his LN/YA-level deep thoughts, rather than telling a story. Ironically, the characters themselves acknowledge the same thing. The most recent translated chapter (Vol 11, Ch. 7) gives a good example: ... "It may seem like we are talking about something pretty deep, but it's actually quite simple when you think about it." This type of thought-expression, where characters are philosophizing or documenting their thought processes, is prevalent throughout the series and can get very cringe at times. To me, it conveys a pretentiousness from the author that damages the credibility and believability of the characters as real teenagers. I've seen others bring up the realism of the series when defending the slow progress, but these characters speak like obvious creations, not real people at all.

A little further along in the same most recently translated chapter (Vol 11, Ch. 7) is a good example of the level of feels that the romance provides: '"Can I touch you?", "Yeah, it's okay... Can I touch you too?", "Yeah". Our conversation was almost business-like, which I suppose was typical for us in its own way.' The level of detachment the main couple has for each other makes it feel like the reader is a voyeur over a strange relationship between two autistic people rather than vicariously experiencing a romance. So overall this is a 4 or 5 out of 10 for me. It's an easy read but it's pretty long. If you're only happy reading solid 7+ series, just stick with the anime or manga and save yourself some time.