First off, I absolutely would NOT be hard pressed to find a manga with more romantic misunderstandings. That's not to say TC isn't guilty of dragging things out, just that plenty of romcoms are WAY worse.

And out of the entire cast there are definitely plenty of couples that do consistently develop and explore later stages of their relationships. The ones that start out or become formulaic definitely stick out the longer you read, but just saying the romance element is "thin" I think isn't giving it enough credit. That's highly subjective to begin with, and sure there's plenty of "I just like you" or "he's so nice" - but I think despite that there's still a pretty decent presentation of relatable elements and dynamics in relationships across a broad cast, and even some of the more boring couples would have a few standout moments.

However, yes, there is a point where things start to drag out. I honestly think it's fine to skim through certain parts because of this, since there always going to be some couples you're still interested in seeing even if a few are dragging things down. And it does end well.

And the good thing is the format/tone of this manga makes that pretty easy to compartmentalize things. I don't know WHO made an excuse that it was realistic, but I'd argue the opposite. There are relatable elements, but the actual events occuring are usually explicitly caricaturized. You get a sense for this in the very first chapter, but by the time people are hugging afterimages and communicating in morse code I think that premise is pretty clear. Really I'll tolerate a million failed confessions if it's engaging each time.

The problem is more that the author attempts to have certain storylines span the whole series while at the same time trying to have individual ones be relatively self contained, starting new ones, having them crossover with each other. If you're trying to tie this many stories together without planning it all out ahead of time the pacing of some of them is going to suffer. And it does.

I think if I reviewed it right after a straight read through I'd remember the parts that were annoying more strongly and agree more with your perspective - that it was just a weak formula from the beginning and that I would have tolerated more if it was shorter. But upon rereading there's a lot of genuinely refreshing, original, and endearing stuff from the very beginning, and I'd say that quality never *totally* goes away, it just gets bogged down over its run the way serializations often do.

Ultimately though all this does amount to me agreeing that it should have ended sooner. I actually don't disagree with most your assessment aside from some minor phrasing caveats. The only reason I felt compelled to @ you at all was the "hard pressed" bit. I genuinely think that's an absurd claim.

... Last updated on November 8th, 2019, 7:24pm

It should have finished ages ago, but it went on for too long. It started as a romcom, then the comedy went out of the story somewhere along the line and the romance most of the time was thin to say the least. It would have been more bearable if it was much shorter. Having umpteen almost confession failures is annoying.

To those who say it is realistic, what kinda of school life did you have? You would be hard pressed to find another manga with so many misunderstandings in while trying to tell someone you liked them.

The quality (drama) picked up towards the end and that's why the score is higher than had it stayed the same.

... Last updated on September 12th, 2018, 2:15am

if you are sick and tired of your regular cliche shoujos, this is definitely a must read. as a reviewer mentioned before me, it has EVERYTHING. it has couples of all different stages of relationships and romantic stages. i found some of their issues so completely relatable and understandable.

idk how the author does it but he does an amazing job fleshing out and developing each of these characters even though the cast is HUGE. each of these characters fall off the page and become so real life that you start to care for them, and when they're sad you can't help but feel it too.

A magical combination of awkward but realistic situations, completely off the wall humor at times, and actual romantic development. There's more than a little romance here that stays at the will they/won't they stage, but there's more than a little that DON'T, and in fact start going out. It's incredible! Large series with a large cast and lots to love. Lauded at length in review.

Full review:
https://terrenceswiff.wordpress.com/2016/12/13/tsurezure-children/

It has tons of couples all at different stages of their relationships and romantic stages. There's unrequited love, new couples, those still trying to become a couple, etc. It almost contains all romantic plots you can find in the typical romance manga while being hilarious at the same time! Since it's a 4-koma, it focuses on one couple each chapter and switches to a different one in the next. But it also develops and fleshes out the characters slowly through this method as some pairs are still at the same stage they were ten chapters ago. It's amazing how the author keeps track of all these students as there's a HUGE cast of characters, and if you don't like one couple, you can easily move onwards and follow the pairs you do like. They all have different personalities and some situations can be so incredibly cringey BUT hilarious(such as a certain masked individual or another "hero" who can sweep away the hearts of cats)!
If you're tired of the annoying, no development romance manga read this for the freshest breath of air that can reignite your love for romance stories.