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[THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS]

It is so difficult for me to truly explain how I feel about this series, especially without spoilers, so please keep that in mind while reading this review. (Spoilers will be toward the end). I have extremely mixed feelings. Though I have given this series a 5/10, I would say that for this series in particular, that means "both good and bad at the same time," and not "completely average."

STORY: 6/10

This story of this manga is pretty simple, and it's definitely not groundbreaking, but it was enjoyable for the most part. I think that this series would've benefited from either being ... longer, or by having the series itself follow a shorter period of time with out characters. Four volumes doesn't give a lot of time to flesh too many things out. As a whole, it definitely felt rushed, especially at the beginning. In fact, our main character has already joined the tea ceremony club by page three. Other than that, I do think that it was an endearing story of two people growing up and figuring themselves out, as well as figuring out what they want out of life and learning how to navigate a relationship together.

ART: 5/10

I would say that the art style for this manga isn't out of the ordinary for a yaoi series, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. It definitely wasn't BAD, it just wasn't really my cup of tea (hah). There were definitely some anatomical issues that irked me, but overall it's a pleasant (if somewhat generic) style. I will say though, I do, for some reason, really like that the mangaka drew characters with defined adam's apples.

CHARACTER: 4/10

The characters themselves were kind of bland, in my opinion. I think they were somewhat likable (some more than others, of course), but they were kind of plain and there was a lack of development, as well as a lot of frustration on my part from certain characters making dumb choices, not thinking about their words or actions, and the lack of communication between them all. I know that there wouldn't be a story if everything went perfectly, but I think the mangaka could've still made thier characters have SOME form of situational awareness. Honestly, I was more invested in the two main character's sisters and their relationship than the main characters themselves.

OVERALL: 5/10

Here's where I'll go more in detail about some spoiler-y stuff. (I would also like to add in for context that I am a queer man). At the end of the day, I would say that I enjoyed this series to a certain extent. However, there was definitely some stuff that rubbed me the wrong way. First, I think the relationship between the two main characters moved both too quickly and not quickly enough at the same time. Firstly, they literally had sex three chapters in, and then by the end of the series the main character is still going "Wait are we dating? Like in a gay way? Am I gay?" (Even though they had even had sex multiple times since the third chapter as well). I know that's a common trope, but it's a really annoying one, in my opinion.

Then there's the way the main character treats their relationship in public. I'm not as familiar with Japan's queer history, but at least from an American perspective, it makes sense given the time this manga was written (2003) that the main character wouldn't be super comfortable with pda. It was a different time.

The thing that doesn't make sense to me, then, is how he blurted out to his sister that he was in a relationship with Hasune with barely a second thought. And going off of that, his sister's reaction was...less than ideal. Not surprising, of course, but it still hit a little. She does *technically* apologize later, but barely. (Also I'd like to note that "gay" is used as a slur in the series, so please be cautious if that may be upsetting to you!)

And then there's the fact that the only *canonically gay* (as in, gay *specifically*), is the flamboyant one. This one isn't a huge deal to me (stereotypes exist for a reason after all, and some people do fit them and that's fine), but with him being the only canonically gay character, it still kinda annoys me.

I will say though, on that note, that I am extremely pleased that there are two canonically bisexual characters. It isn't super often that the word bisexual is explicitly used in media. It was very refreshing, and I like that Hasune and Tokumaru were able to have a little talk about identity like that.

And then more stuff that hit me the wrong way: Tokumaru's interactions with Shunpei later in the series. Especially after Tokumaru's sister's reaction to him dating Hasune, you would think that maybe he would be a bit more perceptive to Shunpei's feelings and would be more understanding and encouraging than dismissive. I know the situation was a little awkward because of the object of Shunpei's affection, but Tokumaru should've understood what he was going through and been more compassionate toward him. How can you literally be in a relationship with another man and then say discouraging things about being gay to someone who clearly looks up to you so much? (As you may be able to tell, this is honestly one of the things that bothered me the most in this series).

Overall I would say that if you're willing to look past these things, it is an enjoyable (if not somewhat basic) story of two people becoming themselves.

Story: 4/10

I think that this series, first and foremost, would have benefited from being longer. There was a cute idea for the plot, but I think it could've been better executed if there was more time TO execute it. For being a mystery / detective series, the cases were all really rushed, and only extremely surface level explanations were ever given for how the crime went down.

The story was so rushed, in fact, that the skip between some panels was so jarring, and it was difficult to follow what was going on. I feel like some important contextual information was missing, just because ... there wasn't enough time in the series to draw it all out properly.

The story itself was also pretty basic. Pretty much every twist is either easy to guess because of how simple the story was, or almost nonsensical because of some of the stretches that were made for the executions of the crimes and detective work.

That being said, I do again think that the story had potential, and I think it could've been a great story, though still basic to a degree, if the series had been stretched out a bit more. I don't think the series needed to go any further than where it ended, I just think each scene needed to be stretched out a bit more.

Also a bit of a side note, some very basic information was inconsistent, but I don't know if it's a fault of the author or the translator. I did read scans of this online, but it seems like the person scanned the official English translation by tokyopop for most (but not all) of it, so I'm not sure where the error occurred. The main character was mentioned at one point to be an aries, and then at another point she was said to be a taurus, and she had three different birth dates listed that I saw. Seeing as astrology is a major plot point, it seems odd to me that more attention wasn't paid to that?

Art: 7/10

Okay, I will admit that I am a bit biased here because I personally really like pretty shoujo art styles, but I did enjoy the art in this manga. It isn't anything TOO fantastic, though, and there are definitely some anatomy issues and issues with panels being cluttered / the sequential timing being off (as discussed in the "story" section). But it definitely is pleasing to look at for the most part, and it's pretty nostalgic as well if you're a fan of 90's-00's shoujo styles.

Character: 6/10

The characters in this series didn't really have much time to be properly fleshed out (again), but most of them are trope-y enough that you can get the gist of their character without too much information from the manga itself. I do think that they did a decent job though considering the limited series length, but I would probably say that the main characters are likeable but average, and pretty much everyone else is pretty forgettable.

Enjoyment: 7/10

While I did have a lot of issues with this series, I do think it would be a good read for either a younger audience, someone who's just looking for some 90's-00's shoujo nostalgia, or if you're just going into the series not expecting too much to begin with.

Conclusion:

This manga felt very very rushed and not fully fleshed out. It never really got any deeper than the surface level plot and characterization that you would expect, but I did enjoy the series nonetheless. If you just want to read a cute shoujo manga, it's definitely worth a shot.