Although this could really be classified as cliche shoujo, this manga did have its bits. I found it to be more mature than lots of shoujo manga in more ways than just the art style. I found the drama and conflict between the characters convincing, especially in Yuki's case.
Despite his love for Akemi being really distasteful and obviously unhealthy, I found it to be really interesting. This manga somewhat reminded me of Bokura Ga Ita in this sense as both main guys get caught up in drama between his friends and end up inflicting pain upon themselves, feeling that they are the source of pain for others. They are selfish (in that Yuki wanted to pursue Akemi no matter what) but also selfless (telling Sachi off because he is afraid of hurting her, knowing the type of person he is very well).
I found Yuki to be noble nonetheless and in response to one of the reviews about feeling that Yuki and Sachi's meeting was forced...I mean, I really feel like that is a true portrayal of how high school love works, especially for people who are trying to find someone and who has never been in a relationship before. I thought this story was sweet in its portrayal of a girl falling in love for the first time, especially with a guy more experienced than her (another similarity to BGI), and I felt that her struggle to overcome an unhealthy obsession (let's admit it, that's what it was) was very convincing.
However, of course, Sachi doesn't ever get over it no matter how much Akahoshi gives her all the proper treatment and attention. I mean, it is literally someone throwing themselves at you saying "here, use me to get over your ex boyfriend." Realistically, I've never seen shit like that go down and it's usually "wtf, you never loved me?" (Akemi/Yuuhei's case for a little bit), but that really annoyed me. The manga was taking a really mature direction of learning how to move on from your first love/failure of realizing your love to things just...working out, no matter how disturbed Sachi was.
I loved Akahoshi, though. He was probably the best character for me as he was hot, really fucking nice, and the only character in the manga that had more than two brain cells. I loved his maturity and the way he
talked to Sachi about Yuki and talked to Yuki about getting over his love. I felt like that's how things should have done down for Sachi, but instead her constant bickering thoughts dribbled down to the same shit she said in the first few chapters...which now that I think of it, is pretty disappointing.
I suppose in terms of character development, this manga kind of blows. I mean,
things were looking bright every time Sachi said "I'm never seeing you again," but this never held true ever and Sachi ultimately never got over Yuki. Another thing that bothered me was her revelation in regards to Akahoshi's treatment of her, believing that he isn't what she needed (someone to catch her) as she needed someone to "teach her how to stand up." While that looks good in theory, it is such a shitty mindset. I mean, Yuki is essentially "teaching her how to stand up" by herself by pushing her down every time. That...is awful. And I'm sick of stories about learning life lessons through mistakes. This manga gave the promise of an innocent girl walking through and surviving the realm of love. This, to me, did not mean naive perseverance for the sake of an asshole, but I don't know...some mature development.
Anyway, this all reinforces the fact of why this manga is considered a cliche shoujo anyways. I appreciated Sachi's efforts as well as Akahoshi, Yuki, and Yuuhei's, but in the end, somehow
I just couldn't get over how everyone was able to just "forget" (although they explicitly said they learned from not forgetting, it is essentially forgetting in Sachi and Yuki's case) the emotions and turmoil they experienced just a few months ago and essentially end up picking the "second best choice." I was not convinced at all that somehow after months of contemplating, Yuki suddenly like loves Sachi now. I understand how Akahoshi gives up Sachi to Yuki, seeing that he is observant etc, but that just shows that Akahoshi is unable to think of ways to improve himself...and while Yuki may have unknowingly liked Sachi all along and needed Akemi as closure from some unfinished middle school business, his behavior after their break up is unjustified. Ah, whatever...
Sucks to suck? I'm also not even going to bring up Akemi who never seemed to get any reprimand (other than from herself) for her actions. Points weigh mostly on Akahoshi...
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