As much as I like Hatori, she's a total train wreak. To say that Hatori is a bully, stuck up or a villian would be overdoing it. She's not confident, prideful or mean but rather delusional, insecure and naive. Loving Rita who has a girlfriend (Adachi) just makes this one really bad mess because you feel her pain and hopelessness throughout the story. Rita is totally unreceptive of her love and his girlfriend is such a goody-two-shoes to the point of nausea. While Hatori's behavior towards her is more realistic than friction. As for Rita, you'll probably end up despising him.The only spark of hope in this story might be that Hatori may wake up and smell the coffee. On the other hand, for those who absolutely love stories where the protagonist is redundantly kicked in the teeth ( i.e unrequite love, played with and two-timed) this would be an olympian contender, so eat your heart out.

... Last updated on January 11th, 2012, 4:32am

The first thing that really made me start loving this manga was the fact that Hatori is not your average shoujo heroine. She's "the other woman," basically. But instead of a Strobe-Edge-other-woman premise, where the heroine's still a sweetheart... Hatori is the mean, snooty, stuck up girl that always picks on the main character. Except it's HER story.

And, because it humanizes that stereotype of the mean girl bully, this manga is already awesome. But everything else about it is good, too; the art, the realism (Hatori looks like a wreck when she cries, for instance, as opposed to having big bubbly tears streaming down her face prettily), the other characters (Nakajima my queen!!!), the philosophical statements... it's a good one.

Update: so I think this manga got dragged out for a little longer than necessary; and Hatori kind of flip flopped back and forth and back and forth with her feelings in a way that got progressively irritating, but... still, I don't know. I really like the whole idea of "everyone's the heroine of their own story." And taking a character that's almost universally unlikable and making us root for them. But I did kind of... get really frustrated with the lack of consistent emotional growth. It was like one step forward, eighty steps backwards. And I do wish Hatori was able to develop some more positive aspects to balance out her negativity, but... but still. I think this manga had so much potential and it was still a nice read for a while.

... Last updated on July 30th, 2014, 1:46am

LOL this manga is not hilarious as it's sought out to be !
I swear , there are funny times , but it's so sad for the protagonist !
I read translations of most of the manga , and i really can't predict the ending -___- . i don't know who's gonna end with who . but the characters are annoying at times !

that has worries.

This starts off as a funny manga. But the question is whether it would keep it up.
The main problem comes from the second boy character. A walking shoujo cliche that this series that's otherwise had fun turning cliches around for humour is now playing straight. Unless it turns out even the second boy is just going after the other girl, the premise will end up being a bit of a lie.And a lot less funny as well. The manga in general is starting to get confused on whether it'll be more straight or comedy.

This manga has become so frustrating. The start was okay, a clichéd story of a childhood friend who falls in love a little too late. The heroine is a comedic, knuckle-head that the readers will both love and hate. But as the story progress it turns for the worst. This manga reminds me of Tonari no Atashi, a funnier version of that. I hate both the lead guys (in the different mangas), they are both indecisive and unworthy of the lead female. They should just both end up alone. The characters have no sense of self-development at all. Stale as it seems.

The only thing that makes me want to continue reading is the humor that the author puts in. The drawing style is not so bad too.

... Last updated on May 8th, 2011, 10:50am

I unexpectedly like this a lot. It's hilarious and really unlike most shoujos that I read. I really did not expect to like this. It's refreshing and smart. I agree with Criminal Intent on all points. Anyway, I'm really enjoying this right now and hopefully it will develop into a really good series. I have high hopes for this one.

... Last updated on May 24th, 2012, 2:03am

, but as of late it's become a tiresome melodrama.

Like the poster before me stated, this series is actually about the antagonist of typical shoujo romance stories. Hatori is popular, pretty, and the classic "childhood friend". She sees her and Rita's relationship as a shoujo love story, but the problem is it's not that kind of story. Enter Adachi, the plain, dull, "Mary Sue", and she is the archetypal "heroine" in every way.

This series is pretty funny, Hatori's facial expressions are priceless, and she constantly rejects actual reality and injects her own fictional one. Her best friend (Nakajima) is the standard "voice of reason", but it works out well against Hatori's quixotic behavior. It pokes fun at classic genre cliches and even other series (most notably Strobe Edge).

The series does have it's drawbacks though. It constantly loses focus and Hatori's unwillingness to change has become tiresome as of late. Rita's the same way. I like "Kaki P" (Kousuke), he's like the voice of the readers, he points out the glaring motivations behind every character and it seems the Hatori likes him at least on the most basic level.

Still, this manga is young so there's still a lot of story ahead.


EDIT for finale: So happens I decided to return to this series right when the group translated the end.

I binged through all the chaps I missed, and I've gotta say the characters actually came out looking better than I remembered. I especially found a new appreciation for the story of Hatori. I'm glad the mangaka didn't feel the need to pull any punches with her character. She's snooty, arrogant, and abrasive (hell she even made a poor girl cry because she was pissed off), yet you can empathize with her.

Too often do we find ourselves rooting for bland, flavorless, sickeningly sweet heroine (Adachi) and despise the flashy, aggressive, self-assured villainess (Hatori). The mangaka actually quite adeptly turns those conventions on their heads.

Rita actually starts to become a better character as well. He did get annoying for a while, but once he finds his resolve, he's actually a really good guy.

As for the ending, it was really odd. I think the mangaka just ran out of ideas and ended it. All sort of character development is thrown in the toilet for random bits of drama; when there's an apparent silver lining, we're swerved into a weird haphazard finale that ends up being more confusing than rewarding.

I'd still recommend this, based on how rare the idea behind this is. Also, the artwork is top notch. Hatori seriously has the best facial expressions I've seen since GTO.

... Last updated on May 3rd, 2014, 6:55pm

This is really good. Its a refreshing look at the shoujo cliche and its very wise imo. Its also funny (lol the best friend is rather callous) and so pretty.

I find it rather sad though - isn't there anyone for Hatori if Rita likes someone else? How lonely. I am only on chapter 3 though.

I was really surprised by this--and I read a lot of manga and I seldom post a review. The heroine is so cute and so honest with her own feelings; give it a chance! It's really really unique and made my heart throb for hours.

this story is about the girl having heroine complications, thinking that someone may have stolen her heroine position with the male protagonist. and the one that stole it is a girl who just recently confessed lol, a four eyed glasses nerd type of girl. the male protagonist is her childhood friend, so she always reckons that she's definitely the heroine of their story. (shes known everything about him, blah blah) so she reckons no one takes her position since the guy always rejects girls, but accepts this glasses nerd one, who he helped coz of something.. (i forgot the reason lmao) but i don't think he likes her, i think he likes the girl with heroine issues, but it gets harder for them since he's not making any moves on taking her and theres a new hottie swooping her away. xD A. MUST. READ. its like looking at the hilarious point of view of the antagonist, but in this story, shes the heroine! ahahaha. and the guy likes her. but typical heroines are more like the glasses nerd, shy, boring lmao.