i agree with the post below, its starts out as a bit of over the top, almost like a parady of the shojo genre at first (i think this is what ppl disliked, and i think its because they took it a bit too seriously), with an main character who has all the characteristics of a generic shojo heroine except more extreme (which is again pretty funny if you don't take it to seriously)

Its at the 3rd volume stage and still feels like a parody even though the plot follows a typical type progression, and I'm still liking it.

And well yes, she was NEVER ugly.. like at all, and the way ppl treat her is a bit ridiculous but this is a typical shoujo manga guys.. sometimes i'd rather start off with ridiculous stuff to get a feel of what type of ridiculous i'm going to be reading then read something that starts off like a realistic characterization but degrades into a soap opera

Edit: actually I stopped reading this(so maybe you shouldn't waste your time) as it got a bit too much for me, but maybe one day i'll finish it haha

... Last updated on April 22nd, 2014, 10:46am

If this is (or you treat it as) a satirical manga highlighting the popular delusions of many shoujo mangas, then this is absolutely fantastic and spot on. If not, well... it's at least a good cringe-inducing read.

I mean, it's not the best manga in the world, but if anything, I blame it on how quickly it flows together. As a shoujo, it's typical-- "ugly" girl is not so ugly and transforms into someone more adorable. Of course, if she's grown up her whole life thinking she was ugly, her social skills would be terrible and she wouldn't understand basic qualities of friendship /relationships.

*** Consider the rest of this a general, non-specific spoiler***

The "dramatic transformation" isn't all that ridiculous considering her family. Her brother and supposedly parents are "gorgeous." It makes sense that someone related would have the same kind of beauty undertones. If she was actually ugly it'd be a bit unrealistic in truth. While the whole family doesn't have to be identical, it makes sense that she's pretty too.

Along with that, anyone who thinks her self-esteem is too low, you clearly don't understand the situation. If you're raised your entire life thinking you are ugly and therefore worthless, your self esteem would be in the toilet too. Kids today kill themselves for that kind of torment. Now if she had some good friends or something that kept her afloat, yet she still acted like that, I'd be mad. But she has nobody. No one talks to her, she's been "poison mushroom" for as long as she can remember, and she's been told her whole life would be like that. Even at home, her brother legitimately treats her like a slave because she's the black sheep of the family. Even if fixing herself up would make her pretty, as long as she's told she's ugly she'd always think that way.

When Kumada tells her that day to "work harder" it wasn't a message that says "look pretty and everything becomes easy." The point was that he saw her-- not a mushroom, not a shadow, her. He looked at her and talked to her, and that had never happened before in her life. I think Fuwari said "a girl wants to be pretty for one reason" and in shoujo world, it's because they met someone they wanted to be pretty for. It's the same thing except without the love aspect. She was told over and over again that there was nothing she could do about being ugly, (only exception was Fuwari who had a ton of social issues of "her" own) and here was a guy she had barely met telling her she wasn't ugly because she was her, but that she was making herself ugly. Someone out there believed in her and she didn't want to disappoint them.

By telling her to change, he jump started her to pick herself up from all the self-loathing, The old her would never have sought revenge, but she felt empowered. So what if it took a new hair cut and some make up to do it? What teenage girl didn't think at one point a little mascara could make her dreams come true? And of course, she still refers to herself negatively, what you'd expect from someone recovering from crappy self-esteem. And we all get pissy at the "don't leave friends for a boy" but think about friggin real life! Don't tell me that you weren't ridiculously into the first or second person you dated. Most of the time, you don't think you're neglecting a friend, but you do. The friends feel it, not you. It's a two way street, the girlfriend sacrifices bf time and the friend sacrifices bff time. It's an even pull, so why get mad because she ditched once or twice? I can think of tons of times when one of my friends started dating someone new and ended up blowing me off. I understood because we were friends. This chick is clueless with friends and dating so I'd be more put off if she actually knew what to do!

The only thing irritating about this manga is her character development. She needs to realize some stuff a bit quicker, but there are tons of shoujo like that so what makes this one significantly worse? She's cute and learning along side a set of witty 'friends keeping it all interesting to a degree. So yeah, it's a typical shoujo with a silly and awkward main character. Whoopdy doo. Not a horrible evil messaged story that ruins teenage girls.

... Last updated on May 10th, 2013, 1:59pm

If Mairu thought being outwardly 'ugly' was the real and only reason that made one unpopular, she's sadly deluded. Methought, regardless of how polished one's exterior, a person who'd drop an important friend for a man is definitely ugly even if they were popular...

I've never been one for romance, in face I just plain out hate it. When am I going to find a story with an awesome chick (who doesn't look constantly like a slut) who isn't involved in a romance story? Well, my criteria has nothing to do with my review of this manga. I'm at about chapter 14 and I'm liking it. Maybe I haven't read enough manga to be jaded enough to hate this manga like many of the reviewers here, but I love this manga. I usually don't read shojo (hell I normally don't read manga at all) but to me, this manga is fresh.

This manga does not "send a bad message". There never was a message in the first place. This story is meant to be fun and refreshing, and honestly it is.

I love Mairu. She's quite naive, which may or may not be typical (I wouldn't know) but like I said, it's refreshing. What people never do is ACTUALLY put themselves in that characters shoes. As a girl she was never noticed because she was "ugly" (By the way, I never really see 'ugly' characters in a manga) and suddenly she's well liked because of a make over.

Sure this manga might be cliche, but life is full of cliches. Everything 'real' is called cliche. I'm not going to sit and watch/read Naruto simply because it's different. I like it because even though the situations are...unlikely to ever happen, I like how each character reacts to it.

How do I describe this, the female lead is a weak girl, who is crazy for love and seeks for nothing but affection. This is beyond a typical shoujo manga. I don't want to overreact, but I've read into 30+ chapters and still there is no development whatsoever.

Yes, I'm only reading this for him! He's the knight in shining armor. And she won't realize how much she loves him until he's gone or something like that. The manga is kinda bland We'll any shoujo with a 16 year old as a protagonist... really makes me roll my eyes Probably because their maturity level is suppose to be..at that level~ no one is at blame except for me. I'm a sucker for shoujo and romance

YES I DID!

And I have NO regret! This manga is fun, really really fun! I don't know but the mangaka has yet to fail me as this is the second title of her I read... today (haha, hardcore yah)!

I mean it is somehow typical but I can't help feeling different at the same time. At first it can be seen as sending off not-so-good vibe about outer and inner beauties. But really, if you want to be deep, it sends some positive messages out of it too. And let's face it, it is quite realistic about this beauty businesses.

Still, it is a bit early (only early volume 2), So it is not wise to decide anything yet. But I'll hold on. It's pretty fun anyway

I can usually excuse shoujo cliches because shoujo's my guilty pleasure, and I understand that it has many many issues. However. Mairunovich is just flat-out bad because it sends a bad message to younger readers.
Okay, just so we're clear, Mairunovich is bad in general. Terrible characters, terrible plot, terrible premise. One of the worst protagonists (zero self-esteem), and one of the least convincing makeover transformations. Seriously, why can't mangakas just create an ugly character? If the whole point of the manga is that she's ostracized for being ugly, then make her ugly! But that's another issue entirely. Anyways, Mairunovich has zero redeeming qualities except for being good fodder for your shoujo guilty pleasure.
It goes beyond being bad shoujo by just being bad. It teaches girls that it's okay to have terrible self-esteem because some day, you'll get a makeover and be beautiful, and that'll solve most of your problems. In fact, even the male love interest (who's supposed to kind of be the moral center of this manga) says (this is quoted verbatim, by the way), "You should try harder at making yourself beautiful." What kind of advice is this? Really? Dying your hair and doing your makeup is going to solve your problems? This is such a shallow solution. Her real issue is in being a wimp with no self-respect. If the moral center of your story can't even give good advice, then your manga is in trouble.
Also, don't give me that "chill out, it's just a story" crap. The mangaka obviously added this dialogue with the intention of delivering a moral (probably something along the lines of "complaining does nothing; take an active role in your life," but unfortunately, within the context of the manga, the moral's warped into "your life would be better if you tried to be prettier"), so I think it's fair to hold her accountable for her mistakes.
Sorry, this got rant-y, but truly, this is terrible, and you can find very similar shoujo out there (minus the horrible message).

Okay I'm not saying this is the best shoujo manga out there and I highly doubt it ever will get up there, but I do enjoy this. The one thing I don't get is that people don't like that she changed from ugly to pretty, I actually like this. She wanted to change, so she did. This has shoujo glitter farts all over it but I still dig it. I recommend this to anyone who likes cliche stuff though.