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Quite honestly, I would give this a nine, but I cannot and will not condone plagiarism. Even though it was only a few panels, it was enough to cease all publications and cancel the English release. However, it is very honorable that Suetsugu-sensei did not deny the usage of other manga for Eden no Hana.

I found the story extremely engaging, and really made you want to read even more, which was exactly what the author had intended. At times, though, some of the drama was unnecessary. That is a problem that is commonly found in shoujo manga- Obvious attempts to make you cry can ... be slightly annoying at times. As a person who's cried hundreds of times reading manga, it's hard to phase me after so much experience.

As for the art, I found it beautiful. Without the plagiarism, I would give it a nine, but there are just some things that you can't change. That said, the panels were very well thought out, the character designs are attractive and memorable, and the splashes and the 2-page color spreads were absolutely beautiful, and definitely usable and great for desktop backgrounds or phone lockscreens. Everything was very pretty and nice to look at, and I simply love Suetsugu-sensei's style. Shoujo generally can have either beautiful or ugly art, and this is definitely one of the beautiful examples.

There were a lot of... Questionable changes in Midori's personality over a short time frame. I understand that after Tokio and Hashiba coming into her life, she's bound to change, but that raises the question of- Does it really make sense for the change to happen so quickly? After being traumatized by several permanently scarring events in her life, she's introduced as someone who doesn't like to interact with other people at her school, and doesn't really care about her life or other people in general. A few chapters later, she's able to talk to everyone and SMILE with no issues at all. You may not agree with me, which makes sense, because even I'm not sure if I agree with me, but I feel like the changes were to sudden.

I highly enjoyed this series, as it put me through a lot of conflicting emotions, and really really recommend Eden no Hana to both newcomers to anime and manga and veterans. Shoujo lovers, especially, would be about to tell that this is a diamond in the rough full of you cliche, shitty, shitty characters and storylines.

Overall, it's a beautiful manga that will take you by the hand on a wonderful journey, but also feel conflicted about the whole plagiarism thing and whether to give it a high score. Although I gave it a rather mediocre score of seven, it's probably something I'll remember for a while.

As someone who made the mistake of watching the anime first, I was slightly disappointed at the pacing of the story. Of course, there is always more time to carry things out in an episode due to the fact that things are always given more time in anime, as they are about 21-25 minutes long. However, I think there is a pacing issue that lies within the manga. Aishiteruze Baby is a wonderful franchise that will touch you right in the heart, but also has a few things that make it not as great as it should be. I am itching to talk about the ... pacing and the ending, but there are a few things I need to get out of the way first.

I have no complaints about the art. It is drawn in a very traditional shoujo style, and I'm a huge fan of things like that. There was not a particular angle that Maki-sensei showed that she was worse at. All in all, things are very consistent. Almost too consistent. It was like Maki-sensei was playing it too safe with this manga. That's fine, though, I guess. It's better than authors who try to draw harder things than what's in their power.

Almost all the characters were quite close, or even the closest a character can be to ideal. Only two of them I thought didn't make the story any better. Those two would be Kippei and Kokoro. For Kokoro, I think anyone can guess what I'm going to say. She's an independent girl with a few underlying problems she doesn't quite talk about. However, something about her makes her a little too bland for my liking. Kippei never really talks about why he likes her, and quite frankly, I don't get it. Well, Kokoro aside, Kippei has a few flaws, as well. Or, should I say, he has no flaws at all. That's what makes him a troublesome character. He's your usual white knight. Like Yuzuyu says... If every family had a Kippei, then everyone would be happy. I also want a Kippei for myself. Everyone would. However, it would make it so much more interesting if he had a few flaws in his personality.

I highly enjoyed Aishiteruze Baby. It's a heartwarming story that made me feel happiness, nostalgia, and grief. For a story to do that to me is... Actually not that uncommon, but let's ignore that. Anyway, I really liked it. I have no complaints.

Now, it's finally time for the story and pacing. The idea for the story is not the most original thing someone could come up with, but evidently, it creates results. Especially if the author is someone with Maki-sensei's talent. Oftentimes, other authors using the idea of a person with no experience taking care of a child have no clue where to bring the story, other than your well known Usagi Drop, Amaama to Inazuma, and Barakamon. Other than Aishiteruze Baby and those three, there are countless stories with premises like these. However, you haven't heard of them because the authors probably did not know how to expand upon their story, and make their characters move. It's that simple.

The main issue, however, with this story is pacing. It was as if Maki-sensei was trying to foreshadow, introduce, and solve a problem all in one or two chapters. I would understand if every single one of the chapters were fifty to sixty pages, but each of the chapters are about half that length. Occasionally, if you were to solve a problem in one or two chapters, it still ends up okay, but this is not the case. When you have so much to compact into 30 or so pages, you need to do a lot of explaining with just a few panels. You can't afford to show someone crying and make it take up two and a half pages. That just makes the ending rushed and explaining the problem practically incohesive. To put it simply, Maki-sensei has her priorities upside down.

Lastly, let me talk about the ending. Obviously, there are going to be spoilers in this. Please control yourself if you haven't read the series. After watching the anime, they concluded the story at "Yuzuyu's mother can't pick her up because of her own circumstances". That was completely for a reason. After watching the anime, I felt relieved, and totally satisfied with the ending. However, after reading the manga, I had a bad taste in my mouth for hours. That was likely the least satisfying ending I have ever read. I feel like Maki-sensei tried to add too much, and was given too short of a notice that her manga was cancelled, or something. If so, I don't blame her, but really. Having it end there is almost too cruel. Yuzuyu goes back to her mother, and then... Nothing. It's got to be sad for Kippei. There has to be some healing for both Yuzuyu and her mother, seeing as she chose to completely forget about her after overhearing that she didn't have a mother. Yet, we were given the running and hugging mommy scene, and a letter to Kippei ten years later, and nothing. I know that if Maki-sensei were trying desperately to fit everything in, there's nothing that she could do about it, but then she should have shortened everything else rather than... Well, just reference the above paragraph.

In conclusion... I hate writing conclusions. Goodbye. I am done. Have a nice day.