Mmmh... I felt that this story was very interesting because it was about the personal growths of everyone in it and how their various interactions and personalities affected how they evolved. And also, how they managed to face all the obstacles with the help of others.

Also, it was fun as it was mainly from the viewpoint of a character who has the drive and determination to succeed. I wouldn't say that she had everything easy but rather, through her hard work, stubbornness and belief in herself, she managed to overcome life's obstacles instead of being bogged down by everything else.

And I was really glad that there wasn't too much romance or drama in this story because love conflicts usually don't play out that well, if you're trying to aim for a serious and "not too dramatic" approach towards a storyline. There was, of course, a bit of romantic tension but it was just enough to propel the storyline and not enough to drag it down.

Also, I think one of the points the author was trying to illustrate through Kina was that sometimes, it doesn't pay to sacrifice everything for a person and that you don't always get what you want because love isn't always about "how long you've been there", "the amount of sacrifices" but "how well you connect" and "how much of the person you're actually looking at".

That said, it was quite well-done and interesting. My only issue was that there just weren't enough of the "scenes from plays" being shown but that's okay because it's all from the viewpoint of a director, no?

... Last updated on March 8th, 2010, 2:09pm

IMOH, this manga is plain average, heroine is dull and the romance is bleh, but my biggest disappointment were in the fact how the author have dealt with yuu's career. everything work for her like magic, and some problems were solve in very unconvincing way(yuu's stolen story), and the manga-ka did not bother to illustrate the plays for us reader to feel that yuu really deserve her success. and lastly reading the summary i thought that I'll be reading story of a career woman not some pathetic woman making the guy the central of her life and dreams.

overall i think it has a very natural, sort of flowing feel to it. the romance is very natural, and there is no overly dramatic moments or problems. it seems that yuu rises quickly, but it still feels alright in my opinion because there is subtle time skips, and the special something that she puts into her plays. i love her enthusiasm and love for theatre, and how she rarely lets someone bring her down. her attitude is refreshing.

now, for the downfalls..



i'm sure i could think of more, but.. oh well.. i agree with much of what PrincessVera said, but i wouldn't judge it that harshly. ;P

i thought the artwork was gorgeous, and yuu was drawn very pretty. the lead guys were also nice to look at. the kabuki guy was also very pretty..

it seemed like one of those mangas such as cat street, but shortened. so i'd say it's worth your time. not as brilliant, due to the shortness, but a decently satisfying read. take the most harsh critisms and the greatest praise for this manga, and you'll get what you're in for. :]

This series is a very normal old-style shoujo: a girl (Yuu) follows a dream and finds love (Touya) along the way. It's fun, uplifting, and cute. That being said, although it's a fun read, I don't get much out of it. You don't get the appeal of a character who is or grows into a mature, experienced adult woman. I went to school in literature and writing and have a successful career now... and I can't relate to any of her struggles!

The biggest problem is that Yuu does not have a single significant failure. The story is about the progression of her career, not of her personality or relationships. Too bad there is never a significant obstacle to her career. Bumps in the road and nails in her tire don't give her flat tires or even bended bumpers, they just slow her down for a moment. It's a drama about drama which lacks drama:



Her directing always goes well. She becomes famous after a very few plays. If the story's about her career, she shouldn't become an instant star, even if she knows famous people. This manga is missing TIME.

Closer to the end, the script she wrote with memories of her grandmother makes vague references to childhood memories, but we are never shown anything. Her victory feels hollow because you only see her winning without seeing anything of the great story or strong feelings she put into them. We are TOLD she put her feelings into them, and we are TOLD she struggles with scripts, but we never SEE that. We don't even know anything about the plot of most of the things she writes, with one exception: The great story of 'Hana', I think it's called, with the showgirl ghost and the salarywoman, sounds fun. I wish we had seen a little more of it. Then we could understand why the play was so alluring and fascinating. All of the plays in this series are given about a page to show scenes from them.

This is my problem with the whole thing. Unlike other series about girls following their dreams, i.e. Glass Mask or Ingenuo, there is absolutely no detail put into the intricacies of the girls' chosen professions. As a result, the manga spends a lot of time telling about how tough things are without showing us the true difficulty. Similarly, we never see the wonderful things about the theater life, either.

The ending is disappointing for so many reasons:
And to top this off, the entire play which Yuu (and I) have been waiting for since the beginning of the manga lasts for what... a page? Two pages? And we don't even know what they did during practice! It's like the author wanted to write a drama about theater without knowing anything that actually goes into making theater! The manga is about a scriptwriter, but we never see stories! If this were a drama about dance, we'd be shown pages of astounding dance moves. If it were photography, we'd be shown scenery or touching Kodak moments. And so on.

A less important point is the clumsiness of the love issue. The second 'love interest' was introduced much too late. As a result, the love complications of Kina (the childhood friend)->Touya and the Kabuki guy->Yuu are never fully realized and the addition of these complications is pointless. The plotline with Kina and Touya's brother is never explained and you are left wondering what happened there and why Kina gave up so easily.

At the end,

If I do have a moment of praise, it's that there's not too much unnecessary drama between Yuu and Touya. Their relationship grows and they share and eventually work hard together. I can accept the unnaturalness of a normal girl falling in love with a star because this is shoujo manga, after all...

... Last updated on January 8th, 2013, 7:08pm

I suppose that I'll have a bit of a bias when I write this, especially because I QCed quite a bit of the beginning.

It's a manga that follows a girl's trials and tribulations. It's a light read. There are no life-ending plots, everything becomes a success in the end, it's much more of a comedy than a drama. However, as a musician, I can definitely relate to the struggles that make the success beautiful. And the nature of the struggles are captured very well and very accurately. The mangaka does a good job in keeping everyone entertained.

Yes, the art isn't that great. But the story is about the development of Yuu's career, not even that of her character. I would say because of that, the story is unique.

I've been reading this manga since almost near the beginning. I discovered it one day when going around mangafox and trying to find a good manga to read. I was bored, and I just decided to click and check it out. The summary was meh to me - I didn't really think I would find anything interesting about it. The drawing style too, was different from what I was used to, seeing as I tend to gravitate to check out what popular manga there are and the like.

Back then, there were only about a few chapters up or so, but when I finished about what I think was five chapters, I was already hooked. The characters didn't just jump in your faces and demand PAY ATTENTION TO ME - it was something else entirely. Subtle and wonderfully, they came into what I came to accept as realistic. I loved the flow of the story, and I was glad to see that romance wasn't really a set focus on it.

This story is about Yuu's ambition, what she goes through - everything is possible, how she sees things. Yuu made a little warm thing in my heart because she's just so likeable. I loved her characterization and her design, as well as how she reacted and her personality. She didn't react too demure, but she didn't act too reserved either - which is a good thing, I think.

The other characters too were awesome.

I strongly recommend it.

I like how the story is processing. It's true that the first volume was a bit on the boring side but it really advances and develops nicely. The drawings may need some warming up but I really like it. It kind of reminds me of Mars because the heroine looks alike . The more I read it, the more I like it. It's just so different from the other mangas that I read..

edit- WOAA where I left off... I thought there would be one more volume or so until the finale. But I had to wait for 4 more chapters until the finale Didn't see that coming.. it was SUCH great manga...^_^

... Last updated on March 20th, 2010, 8:38pm

.............because it does not need nasty characters to make the plot thrive, the drama isn't hyped with sound effects and the main girl, though has two hunks on her tow, doesnt have more than that..sure, there are the cliches but - then this would be an amazing manga indeed! The mangaka knows her business, does not pretend that she knows everything and excessively blast the manga with dramatic imagery, she succeeds to impress even an experienced eye to enjoy the manga and be caught on...I rarely read manga nowadays getting tired of all the cliches and lack of new ideas- but this has brought me back to the manga world...

I love Glass Mask and thus would not think another acting manga would be as good, but this is amazing. I love the simplistic drawing style, and the innocence of the main character. What I love the most is the realism of the whole manga. It could be something that really happened. Nothing is forced and the progression is very natural. You know how sometimes it just seems ludicrous how the female lead is liked by more than one guy? Well here it seems completely normal. You can see how things change and you can tell what's going to happen, but it's so natural and so normal that you end up believing the whole bit. There's no extra emotions, no grand gestures. However, somewhere along the way it got addicting... very addicting... File this under the MUST READ category.

... Last updated on November 17th, 2009, 10:49am

the art reminds me so much of Itazura na Kiss that I almost thought it was previously made by the same mangaka. But alas, its not. The story is captivating though it takes a bit of time. I hope they are able to finish scanlating the whole project.