First off, let me just say that I don't read a lot of shoujo manga. And this is, unmistakably, a shoujo manga, with all the qualities that the shoujo genre generally has- sparkles and all. With that being said, this is still pretty dang good. Good, expressive art, for one- I can easily tell all of the characters apart. They all have unique designs, and it's a great departure from the usual cookie-cutter people who just have different hairstyles. There's good backstory to the characters, too, and there are a lot of unique issues brought up and different situations. It's sort of refreshing; it doesn't break out the mold completely, but it does stretch it, which is nice.
The characters are likable, too. Shizuko, the heroine, is a unique character- emotionally dense, but not obnoxious about it, smart, ambitious, hard-working, and cold. She has her cute moments, though, and Haru, the male lead, has his absolutely adorable moments, although he is childish and irritatingly dense. I find that's a trend in shoujo manga... unrealistic emotional denseness (density?).
And that's where my conflict lies, in the emotional aspect. I really enjoy the story and the characters; the romance is sweet, and everything that happens generally tugs on my girlish heartstrings. But gaaaah, some of the events just... arrrrgh! FRUSTRATING!
Since this is a manga that focuses on the romance and lives between the characters, and it's already eleven volumes long, there's obviously some love rivals and conflict thrown in. But honestly... seeing the love rivals makes me think that the two main characters shouldn't even be together, haha. Yamaken, for example, just makes you want to tease him and be his best friend. He's just so lovable, it breaks my heart to see him totally ignored by Shizuko. All the other characters have a lot of care and development put into them, even the side characters like the love rivals and Natsume. It makes me want to shout at Haru to grow some common sense and goshdarn develop already! He's seriously like a little kid- super possessive, dense and confused, aggressive, selfish, irresponsible... and occasionally ridiculously adorable. Occasionally. But, like I was saying, unless the main characters shape up and get on with their relationship and connect better, I can't even root for them. Which sucks. The other character's relationships and love just make me not like the main characters as much! It makes me conflicted, since it's a nice story, but I literally can't stand to read it anymore. It's sort of painful to see Shizuko and Haru's relationship go by in slow mo while other stuff happens. I wish the author would just get them to directly interact and develop! Random things happen, rivals pop up, and the actual relationship between the main characters that got us hooked in the beginning is completely shoved to the side so that the story can get a few more volumes in.... ugh.