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since finishing it, i've viewed megane as the inferior but more popular koume romcom compared to tonari no onee-san. to me, the latter is just a fucking masterpiece, demonstrating extremely realistic, detailed, admirable character growth in just 4 volumes. despite reading the whole thing, personally i did not enjoy megane as much as i thought i would, as i feel it's too melodramatic for a middle school romance at times. the "fluff" everyone looks forward to in this manga became like a miasma of mild cringe (although this may be because i have mild sensitive young man syndrome)

towards the end of it's lifespan i ... lowkey started to detest it to a degree as i literally thought to myself reading the last chapter "dude i am just sick of this" but, personal feelings aside, it truly is good and i respect it for that. all of koume's works give me very visceral reactions good or bad, and i hate to say it but her characters have had spellbinding levels of rental space in my head. 6/10 didnt enjoy it a lot but i respect it. did i reread this at all? no. did i rip this from a 4chan post i made? yeah

i was enlightened by an internet acquaintance of mine of the inner workings of this manga which ruined it for me

everyone in this manga is perfect. there is not a flaw to be seen by anyone here besides inconsequential details that are made fun of by other characters. this manga (without knowing the ending) is INTERESTING because of the idea of a romance on behalf of the sisters towards the brothers. yes, the main reason why i have to spoiler this review: this does not happen.

it's a lingering boner that leans on your shorts that you know is there but try to ignore. you rush ... to the bathroom to deal with it only to have an orgasm cut short by a classmate walking in unexpectedly. yeah, it happened, but not in the way you actually wanted it to happen. post-nut depression proceeds as you monologue to yourself about why watching porn and masturbating is pointless

it's okay i guess

this has the potential to be truly fantastic but it falls short. the paneling is inconsistent, the art is really janky (and suffers from recycling), and the writing is sometimes awkward (although this can be attributed to a miserable scanlation). however, ikeda-kun, like it's titular character, makes up for it in charm. the main characters that the manga revolves around are all interesting and likeable, and ikeda-kun's antics are always interesting and funny. it's nowhere near perfect, but god damnit it has SOUL

it is a bit of a tough read due to the problems i mentioned earlier. but if the author could revisit this in ... the future and iron out the issues im sure this could be greatly improved. it seem like it was heading for a sumire 16-sai route, where the main character (ikeda-kun in this case) mingles in other people's lives as a positive influence which would've been great to see. but any form of reboot is unlikely to happen anyway, so i will accept what we have right now which is still quite nice

an interesting bastard to say the least

look like most fellas reading romance manga i love cute girls so this is right up my alley, but another part of that comes in the form of self-inserting (at least, unconsciously). saito is a character that, if you're like me, will stare you right in the face and make you think about your own perception of relationships

the theme of "perception", and our preconceptions of people's personalities, probably makes up the sole focus of spotlight. i think the idea of a beauty pageant being the centerpiece of a romance manga is a little cringe but it actually works ... great for spotlight, as pageants are entirely based on peoples perceptions of participants, being portrayed as ideal people, and matching them up with each other. saito's relationship with ogawa was founded upon a distorted idea of her personality as some sort of goddess, but this idea slowly unfolds as saito reflects on his own perception of ogawa and other people. avoiding spoilers; a lot of things in spotlight aren't what they actually are, and character development is always in motion as the characters surrounding the pageant realize that their preconceptions of each other are just based on surface-level perceptions

if you're into a not-really-romance that breaks and shits on typical romance tropes, this is probably up your alley

highlights both the best and worst of humanity. you will be constantly swinging between hating and appreciating the main character but his flaws always exist to juxtapose his qualities and attempts to improve for his daughter.

my only actual complaints include the increasingly confusing backstory regarding gokko's origins, and the occasional needlessly edgy events and dialogue. regardless, captivating characters, art, and plotline always make me appreciate gokko even with its flaws. the runtime is perfect; the cutesy SoL chapters focusing on gokko in the beginning gently caress you through the gradual decline into the psychological drama as the story progresses. regardless, you will come out in ... the end appreciating the pain you went through

if you're a fan of morally grey, complex characters and can stomach a small dose of depressing events this is definitely worth a read