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Well, for being a romance story between a 45 year old man (Kondo) and a 17 year old girl (Akira), it didn't come off as creepy as I had thought it'd be. I suppose I don't have much moral qualms with it though since 17 is legal in a lot of places... barely. Anyways, I absolutely adored the art style. It's just so pretty, and well executed. I adore all the facial expressions the some of the characters make. I did think some of the pacing is kind of rushed. I did read the first volume of the manga series before this, and it's a ... lot more slow burn than this. Though given this anime only has 12 episodes, maybe this issue is to be expected. I love how the anime slowly unravels details about the characters. We don't learn that Kondo is a writer until way later in the series, though we can see glimpses of that earlier with his novel collection, and poetic way of speaking. I do like how Kondo and Akira help each other grow. Akira is nervous about her drifting friendship with her friend from track since she quit the team. Kondo has a novelist friend from college that he kind of drifted from. Using his experience with his friend, he consoles her about her friendship, and it's just so nice. One thing about Kondo's character is his insecurities with his age. He wants to write and feel young again, but doesn't feel confident about it. Akira does see his good points and encourages him to write again, which is also heartwarming. The scene where he hugs Akira for the first time made me cry. Like the buildup was perfect. There is also some symbolism with things like birds, umbrellas, keychains, etc. Which I dig. I like subtle things like that. What's interesting is that there is romantic buildup between Kondo and Akira in the first half of the series, then the second half deals with the personal problems of each character. Though as I mentioned earlier, the two help each other through these problems so it's not like their relationship development is totally abandoned. On one hand, I was craving more romance, but on the other, I sort of like this too because it's very sweet.

I don't think I was able to verbalize why I liked this anime so much very well, but I was really invested in it, and loved every minute of it.

I didn't really like this manga much. Really what gets to me is the portrayal of the characters. First off, you have Yashiro. Yes, she is clumsy, cute, and all, but she is also a complete doormat. She has a fear of boys. So the story almost feels like it's about developing her character so she can conquer her fear of boys, and Mikoto says he can help her by kissing her all the time, but that's acknowledged like once so she never truly does. Maybe that doesn't matter too much. Maybe she doesn't need to overcome it for this story. The thing that's frustrating ... is that she doesn't go through any character development at all, so that could've been an opportunity for it. Actually what would've been even better would be if she overcame her doormat status. She just lets Mikoto use blackmail to manipulate her into kissing him, so the whole ordeal with the two of them feels so unconsensual. Making me want to yell at my iphone constantly to tell her to dump his ass or do anything really. It's not romantic. It's kind of gross.

Another frustrating aspect is the lack of consequences for the characters. As I mentioned, Mikoto manipulates her for his personal gain. See he wants to use her lips to keep his dick (gee try reading that sentence out of context). Now, there isn't an issue with him wanting to keep his dick . The issue is that he uses Yashiro to do it with coercive methods. The right thing to do would be to ask her, and if she rejects; leave it. Now character doing immoral things isn't necessarily bad. In fact, it can be a very good thing in storytelling because it's an opportunity to see characters grow from their mistakes, but Mikoto doesn't really do that. He doesn't really face consequences or grow as a character. I mean, he acknowledges what he did was wrong for a brief second then turns into a woman. I guess that could be a consequence, but I don't know. It wasn't truly impactful. Like being a woman isn't the worst thing in the world you know? It's not like being shot in foot or having severed relationships or something. Yes, it's probably uncomfortable, but not a strong enough consequence. What would've really been more impactful would be if someone told him off. Like Yashiro for instance. She could've called out his bullshit, dumped his ass, and give him the cold shoulder. We would see him suffer with the isolation. We would see him realize in that isolation that he had hurt her. Yashiro lashing at him would've been an eye-opening moment for him, and he would think "holy shit what did I do?!". Then we would've seen him work to gain her trust again, and their relationship would grow immensely, and he would get character development. Both of them would have actually.

Now there are two other characters. Honestly, they are kind of just there to cause some kind of drama in their relationship. Other than that, it kind of feels like they are taking up space. Firstly, you have Maria. The reason she was there was because Mikoto was motivated to be boy because of her I guess. She is greedy, and wants a harem of girls. Can't say I don't get her, though remember the thing I said about consequences? Well she doesn't get any either. She drugs and kidnaps Yashiro and Eris because she wants to keep Mikoto as a girl since girls are hot, and she'd be a good addition to the harem. After the whole ordeal, this event is sort brushed off. The characters are like "whatever" or have completely forgotten it, and that's frustrating because she should've received some kind of consequence for that, right?

Finally, as for Eris...I actually sort of like her. Though again, she doesn't seem to have much purpose outside of adding drama to the Yashiro/Mikoto relationship. She is a foreignor who has a hard time adapting to Japan. This is demonstrated with her introducing herself to the classmates in a Haruhi Suzumiya style, which weirds them out. Then she is convinced that kissing is how friends show affection, but other than that, they don't touch on it that much. I do feel they could've touched on it more, but eh. Either way she needed a bit more depth to her character. There isn't much outside of tsundere, temporary outsider, and crush on Yashiro. The crush on Yashiro seems to take up a lot of her character, which is slightly sad because they could've added more I think. It seems her crush is on Yashiro is only there for a)fanservice b)drama. It would've been nice if there was more to this relationship then "oh she cute" and yuri kisses. That definitely could've added more depth to Eris' character. She acts like a jerk when she is about to blackmail Yashiro and Mikoto by exposing their kissing to the school because she is jealous that Mikoto stole her spotlight. She doesn't face much consequences, and is forgiven easily like the other characters though what she did in comparison to Mikoto and Maria way less morally reprehensible, so I can easily brush this off. I do like how she gracefully lets Yashiro go to be with Mikoto Somehow it was kind of sweet, and made her the least shitty character in my eyes.

Another issue I have is the transformation of Mikoto into a full woman. She laments that she is weak and can't protect Yashiro. It annoys me because women are fully capable of defending themselves. Yes, they are generally physically weaker than men, but even then, they can defend themselves. They can hit the gym, they can take self defense classes, they can carry knives or pepper spray. So the fact that the author was kind of implying that women can't defend themselves rubs me the wrong way. Actually, there was a bit of a missed opportunity regarding the transformation. Mikoto could've used this opportunity to empathize with Yashiro's fear of men, thus helping their relationship grow, but they didn't do that so whoops.

Additionally, some of the things feel too contrived. Like Mikoto conveniently having a disease that makes him turn into a girl if he kisses a girl when he is young, he has to keep kissing that same girl constantly, his parents conveniently die so he can't find out how to be a permanent guy, and he happens to find out where Yashiro goes to school? Very coincidental, but perhaps someone can write this off as manga logic or whatever.

So what about things I like about the manga? I do enjoy the artstyle. It isn't really super stylistic or impressive enough to write home about, but it's pleasant to look at. It's simple, but I think it suits the light romance it's going for. The girls are all cute. I like Eris' design the most. It's the most unique. I love her twintails, and eyes. The eyes are drawn differently than the others. It fits a lot with that foreign aspect of her character. I also like Maria's design. Her short hair is really pretty, her breasts, and whatnot do make her look mature. Reminds me a lot of Meiko, my favorite vocaloid. I also liked some of the expressions of the characters. They were exageratted and funny. I like that. Some of the moments with Yashiro and Mikoto are kind of sweet. I like how the author makes Mikoto standing up for Yashiro a running theme of their relationship. An almost integral part of it. Though this is soured by the aforementioned manipulation of Mikoto anyways. Overall, I wouldn't recommend this manga. While I'm not super familiar with romance manga, there has to be better written ones out there.