For some reason, I decided to pick this up because I was craving shoujo and decided not to check MU for its ratings and tags first. I thought the Female Lead looked pretty interesting, even if the Male Lead looked too much like a middle-schooler to me.
And then I read it.
And all I can say is: Uuuuuuuuugh. WHYYYyyyyyyyyy
I just had to come back and check the tags. Apparently, despite how accurate the "Appearance Different from Personality" tag is, it doesn't only apply to Luna, the female lead and protagonist (the only protagonist in the entire story IMO, mostly because she's The Underdog). The damn tag applies to every. Single. Damn. Character.
Okay, so that maybe exaggerating it a little bit. But, seriously, there's a reason why Luna looks to be the only protagonist in the story. The Male Lead and obvious love interest (the prince of the school, etc etc,) is one of the worst MLs I've ever encountered in shoujo, AND THAT IS SAYING SOMETHING. That also includes his stupid clique.
I know the whole "Don't like, Don't read" thing, but, I am a masochist apparently. I read this so those who are interested in wanting to know what I think about it, don't have to go through the stress-inducing anger and pain I had to go through.
The Story: Spoilers!!!!
Basically, the story starts out with Luna being judged, and judged badly, because of the way she looks and dresses. This ends up being not. A. Good. Thing. Even adults treat her horribly. We end up sympathising with Luna and her sh*t life.
And when, for the first time in her entire life, she feels like someone has finally seen her and treats her with kindness, it's all snatched away. Oh, and all of this is played off as something comedic. That complete pile of BS is the only thing funny about what happens to her.
Luna is ostracised even worse after being forced into a Pretend Relationship with The Prince. She's hated at every turn, and the only comfort she ends up receiving comes from her original torturer, the male lead himself. All the signs of a Healthy Relationship. If you missed it, that was sarcasm by the way.
Seeing as she has no friends, her parents are away, (there's a scene where the group tries blackmailing her, and emotionally manipulating her) she has no support system to speak of. Despite being the cause of all her pain, because the Male Lead makes her feel special, we're supposed to see it as something romantic.
If you're looking for material with the usual "Beautiful People Who Are Absolutely UGLY on The Inside" trope, wow, buddy, this one's just for you!
To give the characters some depth or something, to lessen the impression that they're all such horrible people maybe? They're all given some deep/sad/tragic backgrounds. Because, of course this excuses your being selfish and treating others like scum.
I ended up reading the rest of the manga just so I could summarise what else happens in it. I might just have sprained my eyes from all the rolling it did. You're welcome.
Luna makes the story tolerable for a while. She shows some backbone now and again. Everything goes downhill from there, after her supposed feelings develop.
The Story: Spoilers!!!!
Luna- misunderstood protagonist, underdog, likeable character until she ends up losing any backbone she might have had in the beginning.
Hikaru- male lead, prince, president of the SC, two-faced demon brat, who doesn't look like he'll get any redeemable traits soon other than some tragic backstory and the occasional "sweet" treatment. He tells her to fail her tests, be an actual "bad girl" just so that the story would look good for his, and his clique's, popularity. I mean, WTH?!?
Konomi- stereotypical shoujo female antagonist, part of the clique. Not gonna call her the B-word because we're basically meant to hate her. She's given absolutely Zero redeeming qualities.
I know this is fiction and it's not meant to be taken seriously. But, gaaaah, this made me so angry.
There were scenes that were meant to "redeem" the characters, specifically the male lead, but it in no way excused what they did and continued to do to the female lead, and neither did it do anything to erase the fact that they all acted like selfish bastards for shallow reasons.
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