I think I read this a while ago. I stumble upon it today and took a little look (not much because I'm not into the description or any of the comments here give favourability).

It is coming to an end but everything is pretty cartoonish, simple and childish... till the very end. It feels like I'm transported back to the early 2000s? Clearly I'm not the demographic audience. But to think these kinds of stories still hold up "the test of time"...

I've read a lot of Yoshizumi-sensei's work. Her stories are not always unique but I still enjoy most of them. After a few first volumes, I thought this series was pretty interesting until there was a love triangle.

Sobs. I'm not reading this anymore. Dropped.

... Last updated on August 5th, 2013, 10:06am

The strongest point of sensei's manga is that it is very realistic. However, in this manga, it makes things quite complicated when the heroine love a guy, choose another guy to forget and yet still come back with the first guy.

just like the previous comment, I only read this manga for a slim hope the heroine with the second guy. Man, he's awesome !

Badly-written shoujo mangas have a tendency to feature pathetic, unremarkable females as their heroines and impossibly awesome prince-like men as their heroes. As a badly-written shoujo manga, Chitose etc. is unique in that it features a likeable female lead and a waste of space for a love interest. And therein lies a large part of the problem with this manga.

Chitose is a fairly normal girl, but she has a good head on her shoulders. Most of her reactions to the situations she finds herself in feel pretty realistic. She initially doesn't see any hope for a relationship between her and Yukito, so instead of blushing, crying, and continuing to shamelessly follow him around as many other shoujo heroines would do (all in the name of "treasuring" their "precious first loves"), Chitose makes the attempt to move on and forget about Yukito. Her efforts aren't entirely successful since the mangaka has decided Yukito must be the male lead no matter what, but Chitose gives it a try anyway. In general, I find Chitose to be a character that's easy to relate to (aside from her idiotic actions of moving to Tokyo just to be with a guy she met only once). She is a heroine that I predict most readers will probably like.

Which is why it's such a shame that she is wasted on Yukito. Yukito is utterly uninteresting as a male lead. He doesn't have much of a personality and isn't all that smart or attractive (<--personal opinion, of course). He's also rather self-centered and manipulative. (Not nearly as self-centered and manipulative as his girlfriend, Saaya but close. One can see why they originally made a good couple.) But worst of all, Yukito and Chitose simply have no chemistry whatsoever. Their scenes together are quite bland, for the most part. I'm sure Yukito has his fans, but in my own unscientific poll, I have yet to run into anyone who actually likes him--or more importantly, anyone who finds the romantic development between these two to be at all satisfying.

Chitose herself is the only saving grace of the manga, and would normally be enough for me to recommend this series if the rest of the plot were at least interesting, but it's not. The first story arc with Yukito's past didn't grab me, and the current story arc involving a bratty, trouble-making actor isn't grabbing me either. I'm mostly continuing to follow this series for Chitose, and for the slim, slim hope that she will dump Yukito for Shun. Unlikeable in the beginning, Shun is an incredibly interesting character once you get to know him. He's also quite perceptive, and there's actually a good deal of chemistry between him and Chitose. Unlike with Yukito, Shun is able to push Chitose into arguing with him and into standing up to him. The two actually have a rapport, and when they are together, he makes her into being a stronger character. Too bad that's not the coupling the mangaka wants. (And more importantly, too bad Chitose and Yukito can't have that type of relationship.)

Overall, this is a manga with a few bright spots (Shun + Chitose), but quite a few dark ones as well (Yukito, Saaya, and pretty much all of the rest of the cast, + the plot). I wouldn't say to stay away at all costs, but I don't really recommend this either.