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Soredemo Ayumu is a manga that some may criticize for its lack of progression. I believe that a series should be judged as a function of the goals that it sets for itself, how effective it is at achieving those goals, how worthy the goals are in the first place, and comparison to other series with similar goals. Soredemo Ayumu follows in the footsteps of series like Kaguya-sama: Love is War and Teasing Master Takagi where conventional progression is subverted in favor of an emphasis on character interactions. With these types of series there are two goals: getting the other person to confess their ... love first and successfully making the other party feel embarrassed. It is obvious from the start that once the goal is achieved, the story is over (unless there is something to indicate otherwise). So, in lieu of a large amount of romantic progression, we get small bits of romantic progression and a more episodic approach to storytelling. I say all of this to let you know what to expect from the series.

Story: 7/10

Soredemo Ayumu takes a simple premise and executes it beautifully. It is a series in which our protagonist Tanaka Ayumu is in love with his senpai Yaotome Urushi who is a master shouji player and "president" of the shouji "club". Tanaka wants to confess his feelings to Yaotome but has made a pact with himself that he will only do so after he beats her in a game of shouji. As the audience, we get to see Tanaka be completely direct about how much he likes Yaotome without saying "I'm in love with you" while they play shouji together and go through their daily lives. Because of Tanaka's directness, Yaotome has a pretty strong suspicion about his feelings for her and often tries to get him to confess but usually ends up flustered by how smooth Tanaka is.

Art: 7/10

The art in this series is pretty decent. There is not much attention given to backgrounds, but the facial expressions are really well done. The style is pretty simplistic overall which really fits this series.

Characters: 10/10

This is where the series really shines. Unlike many other protagonists in these types of series, Tanaka is very direct and quick on his feet when it comes to flirting, making it seem natural, and not drawing any attention to it himself. Yaotome is adorable when she gets flustered and there are actually moments where she is able to make Tanaka flustered himself. It is basically a role reversal when compared to Teasing Master Takagi except in this case, both characters are very perceptive. It is really refreshing to see how direct Tanaka is about his feelings. He consistently spells it out (i.e. "the men of this world must be lacking to have overlooked your charm" or "you're good at shouji, you're so smart, not to mention super cute and...") without directly saying that he is in love with her. From the audience's perspective it is obvious that Yaotome also has feelings for Tanaka but she is embarrassed and sometimes wonders if he's just flirting to mess with her. The dynamic is a truly fun time. There are also two supporting characters who are Tanaka's friends and it is obvious that they are in love with each other as well. The chapters that focus on the two of them are always wholesome and fun.

Enjoyment: 10/10

If it isn't obvious, I really enjoy this series. It is ongoing and has had a high re-read value for me. It is essentially a similar dynamic to Kaguya and Shirogane from Kaguya-sama: Love is war but less intense in terms of the mind games. Perfect combination of wholesome and funny.

Overall: 9/10

Well executed slice of life romance that draws upon the conventions of a particular niche within those genres and puts its own spin on it. If you are expecting a big overarching narrative you will be disappointed. The character interactions are what drive this series so if you aren't a fan of the characters or the premise, you won't enjoy this series.

My personal rating for this series is a 9/10 but even outside of my personal enjoyment I think this series deserves a 7.5/10 to an 8/10.

I was hesitant to give this series a 10/10 because it isn't flawless (mainly because the pacing can be a bit off-kilter at times and there isn't a ton of time devoted to developing each of the characters introduced). However, I think a 10/10 series is a series that perfectly conveys what it is aiming to and capitalizes on its strengths to do so. The Horizon is a series that I think does just that: its messages and themes are clear all throughout and it is a master of showing and telling with its narrative. It is an existentialist story in every sense of the ... word: it confronts some of the most painful truths of human existence: we have been made to suffer, in many cases inflict suffering on each other, and we all have to face the deaths of friends, loved ones, and ultimately ourselves. The series looks at the ways that we try to overcome this suffering, the meaning that we find in ourselves, others, and the events of the world around us. Every aspect of the series serves to highlight these ideas and prompt the reader to ask themselves how they will confront these harsh truths.

Story: 9/10

The premise of the story is simple enough: There seems to be some kind of massive war going on that has decimate the country (specific location isn't given), two kids (named "the boy" and "the girl") run into each other in the chaos, work together to survive, and become friends. They run into other people along the way and face many challenges. Special attention is paid to specific challenges and characters that the boy and the girl face and they gradually form their own perspective on the world. There is a lot of suffering in this story as we are shown the impact of war on innocent lives (highlighted even more by the fact that we have no clue what caused the war or what parties are involved), disease, and insanity.

Art: 10/10

The art for this series is amazing mainly because the author was incredibly intentional about how he used it. The author often likes to show his ideas rather than say them. As an example, there is this moment where the boy's thoughts are represented as images that are gradually get more abstract to show that his thinking is spiraling. There are also moments where there are no backgrounds for multiple pages so the reader can digest things that have happened and soak in the expressions on the characters face. But sometimes this minimalism is contrasted with the most gorgeous scenes that you would immediately want to make a background for a phone or computer. There is hope in the midst of the hopeless of this story and that is reflected in the art.

Characters: 8/10

The boy and the girl are interesting characters in that we mainly see them reacting to their circumstances than having conversation (although there is an ample amount of inner dialogue and interactions). Their reactions to what's happening to them are realistic and they differ from each other in their responses: The boy seems to have a "delayed" response to trauma where things don't hit him in the moment but he has a kind of dissociation experience until it hits him later. The girl seems to experience everything immediately and breaks down in the moment. Both of these responses make perfect sense and the author does a good job of conveying them.

The other characters that they have experiences with (namely the strange man and the man in the suit) don't get developed as much but I think they are simply supposed to represent different ways of responding to the cruelty of the world. The man in the suit draws on tropes that we have seen before (a person seeking out a gray sense of justice because of injustice done to them) but it is done tastefully and the interesting thing here is how the boy interacts with him.

There could have been more time devoted to developing the new characters after the timeskip, but the integrity of the story wasn't compromised because of the lack of development.

Enjoyment: 10/10

I was engaged throughout the whole series and felt genuine empathy towards the characters. I enjoy stories that explore these kinds of themes and there were many moments that I was blown away by the execution.

Overall: 10/10

The series did a wonderful job exploring its existential themes and using the art, characters, and narrative to that end. It is story that most people who like psychological tragedies will at least enjoy. Although I rate it as a 10/10, I can see how people would see the issues I raised as evidence that it shouldn't have the rating. At any rate, outside of my subjective enjoyment of the series, I think this at least deserves an 8/10.