Jul 2, 2012
Having just decided to make a MAL account, partially for the purpose of writing this review, please bear with me on the content.
I liked this manga. I really did. The characters were fresh and enjoyable, the story was something I had not seen before, even the stereotypes that were present were at least very well done. Stereotypical characters are stereotypical for a reason: they are usually fun, or easy to relate to, no matter how many times you have seen them. I am sure there are many people besides myself who have had a crush on a childhood friend. I have met a girl with
...
a legitimate tsundere personality, and she was one of the most interesting people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. Saying something is stereotypical should not be grounds for hating it. That being said, it was the freshness of this manga that really drew me in. And then... it was ruined. This manga is not bad, the low score is given for how much potential was wasted, and how the disappointment makes it impossible to continue enjoying reading.
Story: 2
To make a long story short, I felt that the driving forces behind the story were the changes in Shigure and Yukina as the story progressed, and to a lesser extent the changes in Akira and Mami. The other point of the story I enjoyed was the focus on Yukina's phobia and how she would deal with it. The kindergarten teacher arc ruined both of these things for me. In giving the explanation for Yukina's phobia, I felt that it trivialized that aspect of her. Reading Bitter Virgin around this time didn't really help this, simply because seeing trauma dealt with in a semi-serious way and what I considered to be a frivolous way at the same time made the seriousness and the frivolousness more pronounced. Additionally, I felt that the change in the characters in this arc did not match the character development. The characters seemed to change dramatically from interesting, intelligent, and fresh characters into stereotypically foolish characters. When a story is driven by characters, this sort of a change in characters actions and thoughts without sufficient story to back this up can ruin the story.
Art: 7
Never did I think "wow this is beautiful," but I enjoyed how the characters were drawn.
Character: 3
This should probably be more like a 5, but the initial characterization was very interesting and I thought that the development would continue at a believable pace and that Yukina and Shigure would keep their primary draws: their intelligence and independence. Development was slow, and Shigure lost some of his appeal, but nothing warranted outright anger until the aforementioned arc, during which my beliefs were completely shattered.
Enjoyment: 5
I give this a 5 simply because, while it lasted, it was great, but I will probably never be able to enjoy this manga again unless the characters undergo a miraculous reversion to form, which I just do not see happening.
Overall: 4
The moral of this story is that the author was trolling. Get a fresh idea and fresh characters to hook the reader, then fillet and fry their feelings by dramatically changing the characters and making the idea suddenly seem less fresh. If you are like myself and can enjoy the mode of shoujo plots, then I would recommend this to you, as long as you do not have the hope for something different as I did.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
