It was entertaining for a bit, but after a while, it's like the author forgot the premise of her manga. Not only the premise, but she forgets about actual plot threads. Remember when the school body oppressed the outnumbered men? That disappeared somewhere between chapter five and nine with no good reason as to why (I said no good reason).

Maybe it was a shallow plot to begin with? After all, it's stated that the 2nd and 3rd years are still 'all girls', so they're somewhat uninvolved. Why? Dunno. Apparently, all the upperclassmen are a slew of unremarkable lowlifes that bow their heads to a gaggle of first-year girls that have been in high school for all of two months.... which brings me to my next point. It's never mentioned when Danjou transfers, but it seems to be summer. If the school year starts in April, we really only have a two month window for the problem to incubate, but the guys that were already there seem to act like they've been in the crags for YEARS. To quote "You have to *insert dramatic 'bridge push'* ABSOLUTELY OBEY the girls!" . Well, at least for the next three chapters, right?

How about when Maki used to know all kinds of judo, yet in later chapters seems kinda weak, or rather, unwilling to protect herself? Specifically, I'm referring to a chapter were she unceremoniously says that it might be a good idea to have a man in the house. Wait, Mogami rely on a man? Why, what amazing character development! Or so you think... till you hit the back half of the chapter where she turns into a full-blown, clingy damsel in distress. At that point it becomes clear the author was so desperate to write an Aoi story that she subbed in Mogami and thought no one would notice. I did.

Danjou said he'd only give his cell number to one particular person (normally this type of plot hole doesn't bother me, but the author made such a big damn deal out of it...), yet fifteen chapters later we see him chatting it up with someone else, with no prior scene explaining the supposed importance of this number. There was a chapter where this one guy was all fired up to confess to someone... even though he already did five volumes ago. Aoi was handled poorly and was for the most part, lost in the shuffle. So was the doctor while I'm at it. Also, I didn't choose to read this title for the boxing, but on the same coin don't make a HUGE deal that Danjou is an accomplished fighter, have him struggle to establish a boxing club in a school that is 95% female, and then do next to nothing with that plot.

Now, I can go on and on about all the petty crap I mentioned above, but the thing that really irks me is the whole Nami island childhood incident thing. I mean, seriously. There had better be some dead bodies involved for it to be so important. Such over-drama about something that in the end will probably boil down to nothing that affects their current lives (of course the author even forgets this thread for a while). Am I the only one thinking this? Just tell him. He forgot. It happens. Open a dialog and move on. Please. It'd probably save us from eight or nine volumes of filler stories that add no real value to the supposed plot.

And this really needs to be said: there is NO WAY IN HELL two people can coincidentally meet in ALMOST EVERY FLIPPIN' CHAPTER while living in a city the size of TOKYO! My god! It seemed like every time Yamato went somewhere BAM! MAKI! I mean, you can get away with that every once in a while, but lets try to keep it reasonable. Yeah, they live near each other. I live near a lot of people I know too. Do I run into them at every street, shop, restaurant, sporting event, random social gathering, part-time job, hotel, church, bus(stop), train(stop), concert, park, shrine, beach, or hospital that I go to? No. With the way this is going, Yamato could probably blast off to the moon only to "coincidentally" meet his secret stalker. Even while writing this, I'm in the middle of a chapter where Yamato runs into Maki AFTER HE ALREADY RAN INTO HER EARLIER IN THE CHAPTER! Gimme a break!

Anyone else notice that this manga does that annoying thing "Pastel" does? You know, that whole throw a random love interest at the male or female lead, keep that love interest unresolved, and then NEVER include that character ANYWHERE in the story ever again thing? Annoying. "I love you, Danjou!" NOW OFF TO AMERICA I GOOOO!!! Wash. Rinse. Repeat. Is Japan invading America or something? Pastel probably gets away with it because it has phenomenal art. Unfortunately, Open Sesame's art is average at best.

Anyway, read it if you like a shounen that morphs into a shoujo (yeah, it does... maybe not full-blown 'pretty boys with flowers in the background' shoujo, but it's there plot-wise). Although I paint a pretty gloomy picture (it's just so riddled with repeated cliches), it's not the best manga in the world, but it's not the worst either. It must have a reason for lasting twenty volumes.

(As a P.S., I find it HIGHLY annoying that people find Yamato's clumsiness to be acceptable, HE'S SUPPOSED TO BE A BOXER!! Have you ever heard of a championship caliber boxer... THAT TRIPS OVER HIS OWN TWO FEET!? Really!?)

[edit]@KrisKelvin
First off, I like Pastel, or rather it might be more appropriate to say I did like it. It's woefully slow-paced, but it's an endearing title for those who have a truckload of patience and a high tolerance for shounen romance fluff. I personally couldn't stomach anything past Volume 14, when it becomes "The Continuing Story Of The Most Pathetic Couple In The Universe", but to each his own, and I'll never dog anyone for reading it.

NOWHERE in my review did I say Open Sesame is EXACTLY like Pastel. NOWHERE. What I meant was, similar to Pastel, Open Sesame tends to chuck random love interests at the main character, we see this random love interest for a few chapters and then they disappear...mostly unresolved.

Now admittedly, Pastel is far, FAR less guilty than Open Sesame, but still guilty. Hana Hanayama. Where did she go? In volume seven she gunning for Mugi like a rabbit in heat, yet in the next seven volumes, I don't even see her name mentioned. Did she fall off the Earth? Seven volumes is somewhere around two and a half years in real life. Better file a missing persons report.

Murakami and Megumi can be classified as resolved, but they still qualify as out-of-nowhere characters.

Hinako is a pretty big mottza ball that's been hanging for most of the story. The author even said himself that he had no intention of involving her in the story beyond Volume 4. She was only brought back because she was popular. Guess Hana Hanayama wasn't.

Mercifully, Manami at least got a clear and definite answer. And this is just me mentioning Mugi's little harem. If I'm not mistaken, Yuu had a few "one and done" male suitors as well, but I digress. This isn't a review for Pastel after all.

Anyway, that's what I meant.[/edit]

... Last updated on July 29th, 2011, 6:47pm

A fairly decent series, definitely has its ups and downs. Sometimes it seems like the story is going nowhere while other times it's really predictable. This isn't one of those really dramatic or deep series, it has its own pace that at times seems may make you wonder if it's even worth reading anymore. Although the ending wasn't as satisfying as I'd hoped it wasn't a complete waste of time either. The series wrapped itself up quite nicely enough to redeem itself for the annoying parts here and there.

Overall, it's not bad, if you decide to stick with it it wouldn't be too long till the end. Just don't be expecting some great masterpiece and go with the flow and it's an easy ride to the end.

I really don't get why people are bashing this manga, it's true that it starts out with a strong plot and a "secret" that keeps you wanting to read more and more then somewhere during the middle it seems like the mangaka forgot completely about the plot and decided to have fun with developing the relationships between the different characters (which is in no way a bad thing) its just that it drags for quite a while that you can't stand but want to know the damned "secret" already. But from chapter 55 or something it starts getting back on track with the plot. The plot also seems inconsistent at times, the two leads obviously like each other and get jealous when thy see their counterpart with someone else but then at other instances the plot makes it seem that they never thought about getting together. So I suggest this manga to people who are into romance and have some time to spare. No real deep drama and the whole boxing aspect is not present in this story so for those hoping for a sports manga this is not for you.

... Last updated on March 5th, 2008, 4:50pm

Pretty decent series IMO! I'll give it a 9/10

What a truckload of crap this manga is, filled with hypocritical characters to the core, I reeeeeeeeeeeaaaaally tried my best to hold back my anger while reading this piece of shit of a story to give it a chance to improve, also add to it that I really hate the "girl-unwarrantedly-hits-guy-all-the-time" kind of thing, I hate that, I despise it to my very soul, since everyone knows that the guy cant defend himself from the girl's violence, let me insist, this girl ACTS VIOLENTLY because she wants to go against this guy. Obviously, there must be a reason for her to act that way, but why does it have to be THAT way or with the bullying? Damn, not even the shoujo manga I've read is that bad regarding that matter. It was obvious that this girl liked the guy but acted in that annoying way from the get go.

The MC also is an utter moron, sometimes he appears to have some sense in him and detects stuff but, god... just remembering some scenes upset me.

I really wanted to give this manga a chance, but I couldnt deal with its story telling and most important of all, its characters.

A school that goes coed and the girls have some kind of dictatorship? That sounded interesting where some mangas have developed it well, but in this one the bullying at the start and then the sudden change like nothing even happened is the worst.

Fuck this shit! I dont even remember the last time I've felt so angry while reading something. Manga Updates definitely needs an option besides Complete List that should read "IM NOT FUCKING READING THIS CRAP AGAIN" List.

... Last updated on January 26th, 2017, 8:38pm

I have to agree with several other reviewers, this manga is frustrating. It starts off interesting with the girls oppressing the smaller population of boys at school and then sort of forgets about it. This was unfortunate because it was the best part of the manga, every time that Yamato is trying to do something to raise the status of the boys the girls counterattack to try to keep them down. All of a sudden this changes to them doing stuff together without enough reasons.

Like other people have said Yamato is a boxing champ, but the author makes him clumsy so he breaks things easily and is constantly tripping and falling into some girls chest. Its very contrived, makes no sense (an excellent athlete with poor coordination and body control?) and is an excuse for some minor ecchi moments (the accidental pervert). Also like someone else mentioned Yamato is always conveniently bumping into Maki, so much so that it becomes again contrived and downright annoying. Oh God, what is it with mangaka's and their love of characters who have amnesia and can't remember significant events from childhood? Usually its chalked up to that the character has a bad memory. Ugh, it is so annoying and overused.

I like that the chapters are long, it leaves alot of room for dialogue, character development, and plot advancement. Unfortunately, not much development or advancement occurs. Instead we have to visit the usual and overused common tropes and settings. Pool setting, beach setting, etc, etc. I don't mind the recycling of this standard stuff, but there is very little attempt to make it different and that makes it stale and boring.

The art is so-so. Most of the girls look like each other except for the standard difference in hair style. I'm sorry but this series does not deserve an excellent rating (unless its your first time reading a harem manga), its average at best and sometimes downright poor.

too slow. too much episodic chapters that don't add anything to the story. new characters appearing out of the blue with no connection to the story. the main plot is not progressing at all. even the damn chicken is getting annoying.

Classical plot but still enjoyable !

As stated by other people, the manga starts out interesting. Girls oppressing boys, straightforward protagonist, animosity, mysterious past. Once the oppression issue gets resolved(it doesn't vanish, the balance adjusts, it's not like the situation was healthy anyway) the manga has nothing more to offer.
The animosity between Yamato and Maki evaporates, even though the reason for said animosity comes out much later(and makes not a lot of sense). The pattern of a new female appearing, Yamato doing something(first few times something cool, afterwards just something) and the female has a crush on him, repeats regularly and becomes annoying. Other than that it's a cliche after cliche after cliche.
Again, mysterious past thing does not deliver adequately.
The ending is predictable. Even though it comes out of nowhere(which is infuriating). What is the most cliche and lazy ending for a romance manga?
The art is not so good. Backgrounds are nice, the characters start to feel lifeless after awhile.
If you want a manga with this kind of theme read Katsu!, Cross Game or Rough by Adachi Mitsuru, or IO(that is far from perfect but still much better than open sesame) by Koio Minato.

A lot of people are complaining but realistically, this was a pretty good read. Some people might not enjoy it and sometimes there's side stories that you don't really give a shit about but overall it was pretty good. Some people complain about the ending and without spoiling too much, I think it was the best ending possible with the plot direction that the author took at the end. It is unrealistic at times and sometimes the characters piss you off and as the reader you want to jump into the pages and yell at them for being so stupid, this feeling came up a lot during the three days I spent finishing this manga. It was a fun read but the manga could have been better.