The lates chapters got me thinking:

Who of us can not tell, that the old classmate is a girl and she has the hots for Kou (probably tying him down to her)?
This is just too predictable. >_>

So after not making the "two friends love the same guy" a cliched drama thing, the mangaka is really going to go for this drama-setup now? I wonder about that. It would really dissappoint me.

After all this cliche-like setup but still somewhat different storyline got me hooked in the first place.

Last edited by Asani at 5:21 am, Sep 14 2013

chapter 17?

yeah i think so too i hope it wont be like that -but i think it will- i'm bored this type of plots

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You must be new to SAKISAKA Io shoujo mangas lol. Her plots for all her mangas are always the same, and that's why I love em <3. Pretty much there will be some love triangle with kou and the new blonde hair guy, but judging by Sakisaka writing style, futaba will only have eyes for kou lol. So yea your right, it will have a cliche ending. But then again Sakisaka might surprise us with this one lol

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Screams from the haters, got a nice ring to it. I guess every superhero need her theme music...

let's be honest, no matter how cliche it is, at least it's not as annoying as much of the other cliche done in other shoujo manga.
there's always to complain about those in pretty much all shoujo mangas.
but Sakisaka-sensei makes it work by making her situations as realistic as possible...and her characters as realistic as possible. not one character has done something annoying... and let's face it, even if one did, you can't not understand them coz there's always a reason why a person will act the way they do.

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I'll have to say, it's cliche alright but that fact it's actually interesting is why I like it. It's much better than a lot of other cliche shoujo manga. I'm pretty picky when it comes to shoujo since a lot just don't come to my liking.

None of the characters are very annoying, but from ch22, lol, Kou kind of made me mad. And I actually quite like Kikuchi too. It'd be nice to get a surprise ending!

well I even like well done cliche (if its executed so well, you don't care about the predictable result, but the way the plot gets there).

but because this started so promising, I can't help feeling disappointed.

Guess what guys...

Welll.... I'm pretty disappointed. Guess I'll wait till the series finishes up before continue reading.

When you say with experience futaba and kyo will b together I feel better already. Man I was having a blood rush... Damn what is with me and happy endings ... I want all endings to be happy ...

*EVERYTHING UP TO CHAPTER 44 SPOILERS*
The great Jesus Futaba gets called a bitch by some punk named Syun, Kou STILL has the grace of dilapidated fruit mold, and every other character is staying the fuck away from these two so when the shit hits the fan, they get a good view. The horizon looks GREAT.

I mean you'd expect from a shoujo that the main two people are gonna end up together but clearly, this might not be the case. As in this might actually be a shoujo where the girl finds herself with someone better because the guy grew up to become too much of a self-loathing zombie.

First, Io Sakisaka really outdid herself writing characters like Kou and Narumi, and I mean never have I felt so annoyed by any character that she has written. EVER. I know her for writing characters excellently, showing their actions and their motives so precisely in a way that I always end up really liking and empathizing with any character she creates, but these two EMOs are reeeeaaaal pieces of work.

I mean no offense to anyone who has divorced parents with one of them dying eventually, but Narumi uses that as an excuse to cling to Kou and it was desperate and GROSS. At least she ended things with Kou with a backbone, but what she did to Kou was heinous and she should've apologized but she didn't, and worse, Kou didn't ask for it. He was basically silent the whole break up, so uhh, he basically has no fucking idea what he's doing with himself.

Second, Kou is this "everything is my fault" pretty boy that had I not known about his old cute self in middle school, I'd be rooting for rebound Kikuchi. Now Kou just annoys the frickity frack out of me while I STILL cheer for him to win over Futaba because I don't want him to be suicidal. Even though just looking at his face makes me want to punch something. I can't believe what I'm saying lol.

Anyway, about chapter 44's cliffhanger, here's my theory.
Kou messed up so badly, made Futaba feel even WORSE, because he's still suicidal. Even though he supposedly resolved his feelings with his mother, he's still confused about how to live beyond that, so while still devaluing himself, he is living with his idea of "new life" entirely dependent on Futaba. He thinks, because he can't get rid of himself, neither can Futaba. It actually kinda worries me how he sees Futaba as the "center" of his heart/life, and not as an actual person to fall in love with. Like who would want to marry Jesus? Kou just wants Futaba to stay in his life like some religious figure.

Kou needs to love Futaba and support her in a way that she does for him, but I don't think Kou is capable of that. Not until he loves life independently.

Now that Futaba realizes she doesn't want to get rid of her feelings for Kou, there's only a few possibilities:
1. She realizes her feelings for Kou isn't romantic love and continues to date Kikuchi.
a. Kou becomes Narumi.
2. She realizes her feelings for Kou isn't romantic love, but dumps Kikuchi anyway
a. She doesn't date Kou, leaving him the 2nd chance to win her over, and Kou works hard.
b. She doesn't date Kou, Kou never stops whining, and she goes back to Kikuchi after 4 years.
c. She dates Kou. I really don't expect this to happen knowing Sakisaka.

If Futaba realizes her feelings for Kou IS romantic and Kou finds out BEFORE he does ANY work to warrant those feelings, Ao Haru Ride would be the worst most I unsatisfying shoujo I have ever read.

Best possible conclusion: Futaba chooses neither and becomes president of Japan.

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I like 2 a. But I think she does love him.
I dislike the way kikuchi tried to "win" futaba's heart, and I sincerely think futaba is forcing her feelings. So I really think it would be annoyingly bad for them to end together. On the other hand, even if I don't completely agree with you, I think you have some points regarding kou. So I think it would be good if she breaks up with kikuchi and then kou has to work to be worthy of her.

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Ganbare Seishuu! Ganbare Seishuu!

Do you think it'll end soon?

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朝露の少女。

“The longer we live, the more weight we carry in our hearts.”

I'm afraid so
I think that this volume is the last or that it's going to end around volume 14, 55th chapter. I really don't know though. Does anyone know something? Maybe some kind of post on the internet? You know, like what Jun-sensei did for Pandora Hearts, saying it's going to end with volume 23.

I agree with all of this somehow. I'm gonna go on a little tangent and say Kikuchi is currently my favorite character second to Futaba even though he's also the character I hate the most, second to Kou. GAAH he's just bittersweet and I've always thought Kikuchi was being borderline abusive for cornering Futaba into dating him like that, but the way he took his initiative was healthy. Honestly, Kikuchi scares me! He plays too perfectly, an opponent who would keep anyone on their toes.

Kikuchi on his own could be a good match for Futaba (they both work hard), i just don't approve of how their dating life started. Their biggest problem is the fact that Kikuchi presents himself as the rebound. Wouldn't it be interesting if somehow, that bad factor is eliminated because Futaba found a way to date other people without "forgetting about Kou" completely?

Futaba asking to start over with Kikuchi, but with her dating him because she resolved herself to pursue her feelings that grew for him, while becoming a sort of platonic babysitter for Kou after realizing her feelings for Kou are based off responsibility. I feel like that's a healthy alternative for Futaba because Kikuchi does his part well to earning Futaba's affection non-abusively, unlike Kou who feels entitled to them. If Sakisaka executes this right, and I don't doubt she can, I could get behind this. Whether I think it'll make a good story however, is another thing (i think it's kinda (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻).

It's really not looking good for the Kou/Futaba relationship though. Kou and Futaba's romance is still based off nostalgia, and I think it's a weak foundation without newer fresher events to support the romantic feelings. I hated when Kou thought Futaba would come running to save her during the midnight closet scene because it proved how his feelings for her are just as much based off childhood nostalgia as Futaba's is. But like, Futaba actually sees him for who he had become and even HELPS him move on from his depression. It's Kou's turn to return the favor, but isn't that impossible when Kou is stuck seeing Futaba like he did as a kid? The girl who never fails to save him, so he thinks with a spoiled kid's logic and thinks he doesn't have to do anything. I think Futaba will only end up exhausted if she dated him like that.

EVEN SO, even though I have no idea how Kou could possibly change that about him, I really hope Sakisaka surprises me. I really hope Kou gets miraculous character development so Kou can have a healthy romantic relationship with Futaba!

In conclusion, I want Futaba to date Neither of them haha, especially how they both are now. But if Futaba had to end up with one of them, i would want Kou to EARN Futaba's affection first, especially in a manner similar to Kikuchi. For Kou's sake, I hope he figures it out. I'm rooting for him even though I want to punch his face.


Last edited by eternalight at 4:33 pm, Sep 26 2014

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