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Sep 9, 2024
A 9/10 rating and mixed!?! Yeah, this is a weird one. I absolutely adore and personally love this manga but I honestly can not say "read it!! It is such a good series!!". Why?
This series is pretty much kept alive solely by its characters. The author is going for a hyper realistic approach in how the characters are written and acting but almost every character introduced is a manga level overachiever, just like both main characters.
There is almost no cringy tropes due to the romance coming second. First and foremost are always character development and events to bring forth said development, tons and tons
...
of it.
This is where this series will lose most readers and the reason why I can not broadly recommend it- it feels like nothing important happens, ever. There is no urgency and it always ends up with everyone, as mentioned, overachieving when anything happens at all.
The hyper realistic approach works average at best, even if I personally like how this particular manga reads. It gets stale. It is so incredibly normal and mundane at times and, as seldom as it does, whenever something interesting does happen it is brushed aside after 1-2 panels of baiting and we get a skip to immediately after. It is frustrating more often than not. Major relationship progress inbound? 2 panels of blush+handholding and we skip to the next morning of them being pretty much 10 feet apart at all times.
This ties into the romance which also is kept "realistic". Well, I did type that there is almost no annoying tropes but the giga beta MC trope is pushed to the MAX. I personally can deal with it due to there being incredibly satisfying payoff but I can easily see casual readers heavily bashing/hating MC and his relationship with FMC.
As for their dynamic, also in tandem with the overall romance, it is a delight. They are one of the couples I love most in manga at this point in time but, and this is a rather big but, the author is putting on the breaks far too often and in 90% of important bonding and growth moments. They share their most intimate moment yet and what happens? We get a timeskip to the next day where she is standing as far away from him at most times and keeping contact with him to a minimum- no, not because of being bashful or embarrassed. That just is how she is and how they function. Again, I can see this repeating multiple times be insanely frustrating to any reader that is not as invested.
Last thing, timeskips. I just mentioned an example of one but there are dozens throughout only 35 chapters. It is a deliberate choice and most of them are done better than in 90% of other manga but some of them are harsh and unnecessarily long. It feels like some very important moments are missing.
Also, one or two are these "we didn't meet for 5+ months and didn't have any contact at all but it never is really cleared up what happened in that time frame" timeskips that are super popular right now. I hate them and think they are dogshit writing that take away from and insult the main characters every single time. Tbh, I see them as a mistake by any author every single time and just move past it. Happens to the best of us.
But I still love it. There is a different kind of love in this one that is just nowhere to be found nowadays. It sounds stupid and corny but true love in manga hardly ever happens.
But this one scratches that itch. No disgusting love rivals that act borderline criminal, fully devoid of morale. No emotional cheating. No swaying for the sake of it. No need to give agency to tool characters. It just is two people living. Struggling. Overcoming. Fretting. Enjoying. Growing.
I genuinely love them and the author for telling a story that just is told way too rarely these days.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Sep 8, 2024
I have been reading this for a while now and the series as a whole developed into a full on disappointment. Recent Ran possibly being the weakest part (more below) together with the story falling flat and most interesting aspects being dropped and shoved aside suddenly.
As the other reviews being "mixed" might indicate, there is some rather divisive themes and writing in this one.
It starts off as a not so usual shoujo with an actual real delinquent (incredibly rare) turning into Ran's brother. There is not many usual tropes and characters are complex, it is pretty hecking interesting and enjoayble.. until it just isn't
...
anything of the aforementioned anymore.
It turns into a below average generic manga with the FMC being completely changed into a sad husk of her former self. Spoiler: She now sucks. She is useless. She is clueless. She is weak. She is quite honestly the most disgusting depiction of a selfish damsel shoujo female lead.
All these more complex and deep themes and characters just went "fuck it", and the story devolves into this 100% drama soap opera cringe trope/cliche galore formulaic shoujo abomination. It now is !SHOUJO!. That's it. Just !SHOUJO!, nothing else. Drama for the sake of drama, baby.
The sibling/borderline romantic relationship also was brushed aside by the whole cast pretty much- it actually went something like "haha lol u guys did something like THAT as siblings? crazy, lol, anyways..". It now is a fleeting thought coming up every now and then, baiting fake importance and urgency. It was picked up and dropped across 5 panels like 4 times already. No need to act like the author had any deeper thoughts about it other than ~fetish~.
As for the characters, most of them are consistently good. Well, almost everyone but Ran. Ran in recent chapters (THERE WAS NO ACTUAL CHARACTER PROGRESS/DEVELOPMENT BTW!!! it was more of a one chapter to another change) is NOT a "depiction of social anxiety" as another review mentioned. She also isn't "awkward" or "incapable of speaking to others". She is in a way a master manipulator, playing around with, leashing and dragging along two horny high schoolers for such a long time. I honestly do not get how anyone could characterize her as such.
Ran now is first and foremost selfish. A glutton. She wants it all and lies as she breathes to achieve just that. She is of incredibly weak and shallow mind. Ran is holier-than-thou. A self proclaimed savior. One that promises the world but give an inch.
She altogether is in many ways a relatable and real depiction of a high schooler and I would call her a damn good character.. if she wasn't exaggerated times infinite with her wildly inconsistent and overly plot convenient behavior and feelings. It makes you question if the author meant for her to have been diagnosed bipolar or a pathological liar. It unironically would've worked beautifully in this particular work.
But, as it stands, she just is a poorly thought out tool that is filled to the brim with just about any asspull to be conveniently called upon when time is ripe. It just never feels like the real FMC Ran is standing there from like ch20 onwards.
Yeah, sure, you can look at this as a whole and go "sure, this a bog-standard shoujo and a ~6 would be fair" BUT the first ~18(?)chapters were so incredibly good, it is a shame that this series as a whole was slimmed down to almost less than bones.
Tbh, there is an insane amount of sibling/step-sibling/sibling dynamic works that are worth your time and just plain better than this.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Aug 30, 2024
The first ~20 chapters are bait. This is vile. It clearly is supposed to be a harsher theme hidden behind that wacky and fun facade but this is just a bad taste lame fetish hentai.
The other reviews that rated the manga after ~7-8 chapters call it "wholesome and cute" or a "good story".
I am 35 chapters deep now and this is all factually and objectively wrong. This series as a whole is NTR. That is the whole story. "Alien girls evil and chocolate strong + NTR" is the whole story. But there is no depth in said NTR. Is it wacky and fun? Sure. But
...
it is not complex or wholesome and cute.
Another review mentions the "MC and his girlfriends" living together and it being "fun and wholesome". EVERY character is hentai style mindbroken NTRd. EVERY female char, no matter who you ship. MC is also not the MC anymore. The hentai protag is.
This is NOT for you if are looking for fun, romance, wholesomeness, cuteness, an actual story or.. well anything beyond the usual mindbreak NTR hentai.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Aug 23, 2024
It seems the age of trying to normalize actual heavy emotional cheating and playing around with feelings of others by bait and switch-sacrificing a whole work is upon us.
This is probably the 4th or 5th (shoujo-)work I have read in the past ~3 months that had recently released chapters do just that. Tbh, I am pretty apathetic towards these themes, even NTR BUT, big but, this is just like 99% of the other works abusing the female lead character to do the aforementioned.
Abuse the character? Yes. She was established for 19 chapters to be the "S" (sadist) in their established relationship. Randomly, after 19
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fucking chapters she is, without any writing, instantly fully force changed to act fully out of character to enable another male character. Eww. The case here is pretty fucking egregious, she is now completely 100% acting out of character, not being S anymore for a pretty dang disgusting reason and acting wholly against her established character and relationship.
Her whole character is ruined. No coming back. If there was a book called "some of the worst writing in history" this would be one of the first chapters. A prime example.
Thing is, this manga was pretty mid anyways. The only things it had going were art + being somewhat consistent. Absolute insanity to just throw one of the two pillars making this not complete dogshit out of the window.
19 chapters of average but consistent establishing of characters and "story"telling thrown out in 2 panels? Holy cow! I would award this work if I could! The golden turd should suffice.
Welp, I fully agree with hazuki_ii's review (the only other one at the time of writing) and understand where they are coming from. I, sadly, only looked for reviews AFTER reading up to chapter 21. HUGE mistake.
Can not recommend. Yes, Shoujo loves to have the female lead sway and let other guys into their heads but this manga is part of a whole other genre. It takes things 10x further which in itself could be fine, too, but the way the author gets there is just so abysmally embarrassingly terribly bad.
It is NOT enjoyable as a casual read. It is NOT enjoyable as a massive Shoujo reader. It is NOT enjoyable when into the S&M theme (this work is pretty disrespectful in that regard). It is a work to push an agenda. It inherently can not be and is not enjoyable.
Reviewer’s Rating: 1
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Aug 16, 2024
Fully agree with @Ramms_73's review. This is one of the new age Shoujos where random (mostly male) stranger characters are given incredible amounts of agency all to push forward the independent and strong female lead! Ugh.
Here, just like in most of these cases, it is done by having her realize what she really wants by heavily engaging with another male cast member and really being talked into by a stranger that should never be allowed to give this important of advice. But she got there, I guess...
From here it spirals into the most generic of its type. The stranger is let into her heart
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instantly and incredibly deep at that- they seem to be just as important as the boyfriend even after only interacting ~twice. I would call it unhealthy but not rare at all, it is a staple of the aforementioned type of Shoujo.
Some emotionally cheating on her part? So open and spicy. Any interaction with another male cast member? Better compliment them and send super positive signals to make them fall, too! Neglecting the boyfriend? Willingly flirting along in front of her boyfriend to get stuff for free? She is in her right to do so, it is empowering and she is only teasing!! Him being not really jealous but actually irked by it but is not allowed exclaim it? Classic. Manly. Love to see him jelly uwu.
This all climaxes in the aforementioned agency given to the stranger being used as a tool to insta progress the female lead, possibly one of the worst ways to go about it IMO. It is pretty egregious and disgusting in this here case, tbh.
Her character is changed once and then twice to explain everything happening and it just as quickly, two chapters later, will be reversed again and be of no importance. Whatever. It is the usual case of FL being randomly declared braindead and put into a permanent state of being drunk to enable the stranger having this much impact and creating such a relationship with them- otherwise it could never happen simply due to her established character. This shit happens so often and I won't lie, it is as interesting as it is bizarre and dogshit.
I personally do not enjoy this type of Shoujo. The setup is cute and enjoyable and it gets better again in later chapters but what is shown in these ~5 chapters is a very particular style of storytelling. It is hard to put into words what it comes across at.
The best possible description I could come up with is that this is exactly how a hardcore radical feminist would write their female lead and story+boyfriend in tandem with her. Meh.
You were looking forward to a deep and complex work? Leave. You want a wholesome story with consistent characters that stay true to themselves until the end or at least act in a human way? Leave. You want a good Shoujo? Also leave.
Tbh, only stay if you have nothing better to do and are down to go through what is the worst kind of force changing a character to do some pretty cringe stuff to artificially "progress" something that could've been done as a main focus across 20+ very enjoyable chapters. It is weak to say the least.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Aug 14, 2024
The usual. Starts strong. Around 20-30 really good chapters with slow but actual progress and enjoyable characters and events. As soon as out of ideas/editor calls -> Female lead willingly (fully out of character) goes along with forced HEAVY! NTR-bait to get the outcome everyone wanted.
I genuinely thought this was not Shoujo and I could not find anything on if it is but seems like it wants to be? And the worst kind at that?
Not like the author set up a million other and better ways to get there! It had to be the easy way out, the most formulaic writing, even if
...
cheapest and weakest. Fuck my life. And the whole rest of the manga is soured.
Chapters 40+43 are an insult to the readers. I thought due to how the past 38 chapters went and how the cast is set up and established, that the way to dating would be.. different. Nah. Full stop, she is completely changed in chapter 40, turns into the worst type of writing a damsel in distress and lets the hottie manhandle her Andrew Tate style (sadly not exaggerated).
Embarrassing. Now, again, as per usual with THIS kind of Shoujo one needs to ask for the whole remainder of the series "will she let herself be swept away again when another hottie pursues her?" "Is her love genuine?" (I honestly think not) "She was even ready to leave with hottie again ch43 p8 last panel" "Why did she let this all happen/want it?".
These are actual questions I would loooove to ask the author. But they won't be able to answer any of them. They did this shit for the sake of doing it. That fact alone makes this trash to me.
Do you enjoy reading along for tens of chapters, get to learn about established characters and relationships to then randomly with zero setup and writing be kicked in the balls? This is your cup of tea. Get that bread. Even if it now is full of holes and starting to spoil.
You want your main couple to be consistent to the very end and to have actual development involving dramatic events (NOT cheap forced NTR-bait) or just any writing at all to make something very important happen then do not waste your time. I am dropping this as of chapter 43, it just can not ever be redeemed. The damage is done and major at that.
I need to be honest, it was so out there that I did have a laugh even these chapters but what happens just is so utterly stupid and unenjoyable, I can not wholeheartedly recommend this to anyone.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Jul 20, 2024
Fair 3. I read that this is pretty heavily altered from the novel (cba looking it up, this adaption is pretty bad mostly) but from what I was able to make out, it is a whole different genre/approach and not my cup of tea either. Gonna make this quick.
tl;dr: Fun for ~7 chapters. MC turns into actual side-char after ch16 and worst char is suddenly main focus. Everything established (feelings) is thrown out, all women act differently and 80% of interactions are cringe NTR-bait-jokes of ALL women falling for the new male MC. Maou is fully ruined ch20+21. Every female cast member is ready to
...
jump ship instantly. The prior MC is now a support with barely any impact apart from pushing the new MC. It is bizarre.
It starts off generic but fun. The characters are quirky, what is happening is mostly enjoyable and the usual shallow isekai story-/worldbuilding speedrun is starting. It stays that way for ~7 chapters.
A whole character, a "redemption-arc" and start of development are forced into one singular chapter. Whiplash. The character is supposed to be annoying but is then instantly redeemed but it just is not working. It ends up NOT being the case of "well done author, I hate him!", it is "what dogshit convenient writing and what a weak unnecessary character that ruins everything around when appearing".
The reader then immediately is bombarded with new characters and some questionable writing around prior cast members happens. A whole lot of nothing mostly, soooo, whatever. Even the series itself brushed over it.
Skip ahead to the end of the next arc and the MC-switch happens. It is so fucking weird seeing your main focus switch to another character that is infinitely worse but instantly acknowledged by the whole cast and gets an infinite amount of free powerups and character improvements while being the main member of continuous NTR-bait "jokes" that are just not funny, poor taste, out of place and timed weirdly all while being completely forced every single time.
Maou also is a whole different character (in chapters 20+21). She is randomly fully changed only to force the NTR-"bait" "jokes" ("bait" because her new character just goes plain too far and it is written disgustingly poor taste to make her seem like she is fully detached from former-MC apart from him being her "master" and her being 100% ready to cheat (after what was established before)).
There is no genuine love/romance in this manga anymore. 2 major established characters have to swoon and borderline fall for the new MC after doing the most mundane noob stuff that just has to be accompanied by the most conveniently asspulled "character growth" that has to be acknowledged x10 by EVERY female. This is some revolutionary stuff right here.
The series completely lost me. Everything from the beginning, gone. Almost all characters, no exception, are trashy (unironically, trailer trash levels) now. What happens is lame. And there is no direction from here on out. There is no genuine romance, no true harem, no comedy, no intense fights, no intrigue, no story/world to build upon, no real antagonist. Nothing.
I can wholeheartedly call this adaption a failure. Can't say anything about the source. I would feel bad if this was done to my work, tho. Makes me wonder just how involved the author truly is.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Jun 4, 2024
Long story short: cute delinquent x nerd/loner romance turns into full on hollywood yakuza level evil and the wholesome romance turns into a disgusting and uncomfortable shitshow with her as some succubus queen.
First off, about the delinquent stuff. It is beliebeable and enjoyable high school delinquency for around ~40ish chapters. It then turns into some intense thriller about him having to defend her from getting possibly home invaded and raped, needing to have eyes on her 24/7 while taking a beating every now and then. No, I am not joking. It keeps repeating this pattern over and over until around chapter ~90, pretty much right
...
before the manga ends.
All characters suddenly turn into evil versions of themselves, revealing more and more fucked up stuff they did in their past (they still are high schoolers, don't forget..). It reads so insanely out there stupid at times. This ties into the romance.
The romance is pretty sweet, well, was sweet when the manga started off. It turns generic pretty fast, nothing unusual for this type of manga. Their dynamic was more than worth it. No biggie, until it is a huge biggie.
She starts her "transformation" into a social butterfly pretty early for this type of manga. It takes some uncomfortable turns early on but there always is something about it that made some, even if not much, sense.
Around the time all characters go rogue, the FL reaches the climax of her succubus-fication. What does that mean? She is a whole different character. Every male character has the hots for her even if the author wants to make us believe that they ~love~ someone else. Not only that, most of them heavily lust for her multiple times, some going as far as forcing themselves onto her over and over- with no repercussion, classic. By now she is not only desensitized, she actively is flirting with everyone that is coming onto her, playful, direct, passive aggressive, it does not matter. She plays along with every male approaching her.
It is that way until the end. Sadly. For every wholesome cute couple moment there is one or two where she is having some fun time with someone else. A true delight.
The art keeps getting worse, starting off nice and detailed and being absolute bare bone minimum like a 4-koma towards the end. I actually questioned if there was another artist doing the art later on but didn't find anything on that.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Jun 1, 2024
To start, I read the webnovel before the manga started releasing and it was... okay. This manga is a disappointment through and through. About 80% of content is the same, some worldbuilding and minor events were changed/cut completely (as of ch43). Sadly, some of the worst writing was not cut (volume 4, more on that below). Because of some of these changes and overly simplifying everything, the manga ends up rather incoherent and with terrible pacing issues.
The art certainly doesn't help. Most panels are empty, including only shots of characters involved. It occasionally becomes messy to a point where it is impossible to know where
...
they are, if they moved somewhere, how much time passed and to properly follow who is saying/doing what and what they are feeling all the while.
Also, some of the facial expressions are really out of place and random at times. They sometimes end up REALLY different from what I envisioned when reading the novel and the manga/what the dialogue felt like in tandem to how a character was established (worst offender most of volume 4).
Now, as for the mentioned volume 4 and why it simply is plain dogshit bad- it is full of holes when it comes to plot and characters and it contains all aforementioned problems x10. The overall writing is abysmal throughout chapters 16-21. Everything is forced for some godforsaken reason but it has zero lasting impact on him or her or the world around them, I genuinely am interested in what the author released this whole volume for.
It contains zero character development, the plot isn't pushed forward and you only end up loathing the Elf for something that read like a cheap fanfic.
There is a full disconnect and the "major" character of this volume is disposed of and never again appears while the main pairs relationship continues to organically progress which it would have done even without whatever this was. Epic fail.
I will not spoil what happens but it is some creepy subliminal (actual-)NTR that climaxes in some uncomfortably overexaggerated sexual panels involving another male and her blushing multiple times (her facial expressions and her almost nude appearance being sexualized even more than usual make it infinitely worse) while flirting up said male for the most stupid forced reason when she absolutely hated and loathed his whole existence just moments before he did one thing for her.
It is a rather quick ordeal but how she treats kissing and nudity when with MC and how she behaved towards the random loser here make it read like netorase.
It completely 100% goes against her until this time established character and actively jeopardizes her relationship with the MC... until it doesn't- it just is never truly acknowledged, she won't tell him and doesn't consider it physical + emotional cheating.
None of it had to happen, btw. What she did to the stranger was unnecessary, he was alive and able to speak. The author made her do it for whatever reason but it just ended up with her doing this stuff multiple times as some reward while her actual love interest was around, hence the netorase.
From here on it turns into the usual generic piece of literature. There is nothing interesting going on anymore and it turns from "us two on the island" into "the whole world lusts after her but we are chilling with new people interrupting us every 2 chapters".
Comments on various platforms share most of my feelings. The romance falls flat, everything is inconsistent, the volume 4 NTR"bait" and everything out of character happening in it is absolute dogshit, the art is barebone, overall poor and gets worse at times.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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May 15, 2024
Info: the other reviewer goes by comico releases. Online rips are up to 103 so that checks out. I would be at ~ch120. I am reading manga releases (47 just released).
First off, I feel rather strong about this manga and have a strong opinion on what (sadly) happened towards the later chapters. That is due to me actually paying (LOL!, I know) and waiting for releases, even through the long hiatus.
Quick summary: starts off generic but strong, gets better by the chapter until Miyata is "introduced", downward trends until ~ chapter 90+ where it writing wise (story, characters, consistency) turns dogshit bad. I wouldn't call
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Kaori fully ruined as a character but what is done to her around ch42 (I think? The talk with her mom etc.) is abysmally inconsistenly embarrassingly terrible writing and made me question the author's knowledge about their own work and overall writing skills.
Now, I couldn't disagree more with the (at this time) only other review by CyberpunkBoyToy.
Yes, it is a typical Shoujo. It has all the tropes, cliche and formulaic story + character writing. I would call that aspect generic and even weak at times- it does take away from its strong points and originality more often than not. It boils down to the manga not knowing when to shoujo how hard.
The characters, they are (not Miyata) pretty complex and have a nice depth while staying believeable high schoolers... until they don't. One is able to make assumptions such as "equal investment" or "mutually enjoy each other" but the author can decide, on a whim with no proper writing to make it happen, to fully change a characters feelings (Kaori ch42+).
The ML is the only consistent character but the weak overall writing punishes him for it and his "consistency" feels more like he was forgotten, e.g. things that weren't a problem before and rather one of his strongest points turn into something that is hugely disliked by Kaori. It is incredibly stupid and frustrating, yeah.
As for the talk about the FL having "romantic and sexual agency" or her being equal, that just factually is not the case. She has moments of clarity and actual agency where she is that perfect and strong FL but most often is the usual run-of-the-mill damsel in distress meek weak shoujo-princess that lets herself be manhandled by any male stronger than a raccoon. It does become jarring at times. And yes, she actually does cry and swoon over another cute boy. It is dogshit writing and I still shudder when remembering how poorly forced written that all was.
Sad reality is that authors can't just let a FL be strong. Editors exist.
Also, another fact is that the boy does most of the heavy lifting and has to go out of his way to solo progress or even save the relationship. She initially does seem "equally invested" and to be "mutually enjoying" the relationship but her (sudden without writing to easy into it) changes in character show something completely different later on. It does go a bit too far in that regard until the whole thing ends up going past believeable but endearing high school feelings of 2 people. It strangely ends up reading like age gap romance with the boy being a mature young adult and her the selfish, egoistic, useless and mentally unstable emotional cheater. Something not unusual in Shoujo but the whole vibe from that point onwards (right around the talk with her mom) is just so uncomfortably weird.
The rest is a bit out there, too. It isn't too erotic or much better than most other series. It just isn't. It went ahead and tried to be something that it isn't and failed miserably.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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