I don't mean to be extremely critical, but while I liked this manga at first, it very soon died out for me. The two characters are very interesting (although I have to disagree that Suiren is a strong character at all) and I enjoy their quiet nature. However, like how a previous poster has said, their quietness ultimately takes over the story and thus stagnates progress. I honestly cannot fathom their kiss scene because I don't even think they will get there at the pace they are going.
The drawings are amazing, however, and I got caught up with that most of the time. I also like pretty much all the characters except for the assumed "rival," since she pretty much has no foundation or substance to her character or her love. I mean, I don't mind a little crazy in my shoujos, but the one thing I would like to keep realistic is the character's goals, intentions, aspirations, and reasons. For the rival, however, her goals and intentions have little basis and thus makes her a pretty crappy rival, not even mentioning how stupid she can act and how she barely shows up anymore. Basically what I'm saying is that she's a very useless character and it may have been a waste of time to create her at all.
For Suiren and Kawasumi, I am more lenient to this manga mostly because of Kawasumi's character rather than Suiren's. I can see Suiren going down the path of an obsessive chick and as for Kawasumi, his only flaw is that he can be such a ditz sometimes. I mean,
who walks out on a freaking confession from the person you like?!
However, everything else about his character is pretty much perfect and HNNG I love megane guys so go figure. I've seriously never seen a hotter glasses guy. The one thing I agree with aetherwyn on is his character and how he realistically sees the situation. He wants to assume that Suiren likes him, but is afraid he's getting too cocky. He notices that she only talks to him, that from her standpoint she could see him perfectly in the courtyard at lunch. Still, it gets annoying
how many times he runs away from her and avoids her. Seriously. And Suiren even is guiding the relationship. That's totally "trying your hardest," Kawasumi!
Anyhow, this manga started out good with an interesting storyline; however, it went downhill from there. I do like Kawasumi's embarrassment and I don't know, Suiren's kind of neutral for me (we have yet to learn anything about her personality other than that she likes Kawasumi for whatever reason, and...I don't know, her hair can change lengths at her own will? Well at least her expressionless, nonchalant nature is kind of cool...but seriously, Morishita-sensei), but I think the thing that set him apart from other guys was how he didn't pay attention to her at the beginning and basically was uninterested. Then for whatever reason, he started to like her. I think the basis for this manga was weak but the good drawings cover it up. It's truly, truly a lighthearted love story as it advertises itself to be (so therefore we can't predict or expect anything like a traumatizing past or something or anything dramatic--it's safe to expect the manga to keep going at its slow, boresome pace as it is), but it seriously hits the extreme. It's a lighthearted story at its best and at its worst.