The feelings we all most endure is a slice of life drama about seven college students who come together to work on a school project. The story explores each of these girls' lives and motivations, and how their working together affects their characters. At least, it tries to. With seven characters being the focus, you'd expect them to be more than just standard cliche's, and see them as people with their good points and flaws. However, that unfortunately, is not the case, and you will remember these characters more for their one note niche's or their negatives rather than anything else. Maasa will be the eccentric stoic wearing weird shirts. Remi will be the playgirl who sleeps with other girls, even if she knows the other girl is emotionally vulnerable and/or currently seeing someone else. Meru is the vain trendy girl, who eats whenever she gets upset. Asuna is the nymphomaniac who can't stop thinking about sex. Fue can't stop falling asleep for more than a few minutes. Sachi you will remember more for her negatives, and Ruki is the story's punching bag.
No meaningful character development occurs. 1. They either continue to act the same way as before, 2. the clingy characters will simply switch to a new person to gain affection and self-validation, 3. characters that were once the victims in a previous bad relationship become the aggressors, and 4. characters trying to become independent instead lose their self-esteem and become unhealthily dependent on their love interest, because love is unreasonable (nothing new in this author works).
1. Remi, Asuna, Maasa and Fue
2. Meru
3. Sachi
4. Ruki
By the second half, the story gradually loses any sense of direction. In an attempt to be "realistic", certain characters get engaged in questionable acts and act in detriment to the happy ending that's supposed to be the climax. Instead of the resolution between two certain characters feeling earned, the poor execution and actions of the characters make it weak, forced and even contradictory, and leaves unfortunate implications to their future and an audience alienating message in general. That it's okay to be extremely selfish and hurt the person that cares and loves you, as long as you accept their feelings at the end, and that person will still unconditionally love you, because they are a slave to their feelings (again not new with this author). Imagine if it was guy in place of the one in question in that scene, and the implications become worse.
Also, I can't finish this review without talking about a certain other character: Remi. As said before, she is a playgirl that will sleep with other girls even if they are in other relationships or emotionally vulnerable. She is tied to everything in the story in someway, and is a main catalyst to having two of the girls awaken to their "epiphanies", and had their characters go into a morally questionable direction, and has affected their future relationships in a negative way. What's worse is the she is never called out on any of this, suffer any consequences, and the narrative goes the extra mile to justify her actions, because the other girls' changes were needed to move the story along. Remi is not a character; she is a plot device to move the story created by the author, a Mary Sue of the worst kind.
Generally in stories like this, the characters being flawed is a staple. You're hoping the characters address them in a believable way that matches the main objective. And no one is above being criticized, and subject to have consequences for their actions. The author doesn't do this. Throughout the story, while some major character issues get addressed, and some leave lasting consequences as relationships are broken, others get hand-waved and even get portrayed as necessary for character development. It's inconsistent, as the same rules don't apply to every character. I wouldn't have had much of a problem if this was treated as a bittersweet or even tragic ending, but no, it's portrayed to be a happy one, and the reader is supposed to be happy for all these girls, despite how they got to it.
(-56)
(+87)
