Alright, this manga series actually made me create an account for this webside to write the following comment. I will try to talk about the manga without direct situations, but it will be a rather big spoiler nevertheless.
The series starts promising, with a clear 2 main character plot a little bit more focused on the perspective of the female protagonist. The structure in which the story is told is only more or less linear, but makes very good use of flashbacks to show what the other characters knew and felt beforehand. It is a bit like Memento that the plot falls into places after several chapters sometimes, even if the original szene is already done for a while. Full points on story telling and art from my side.
With a good, but maybe a tad bit slow start the series is a great read as soon the author gives dept not only to the second Main Character, but also to the side characters. With flashbacks we get insight in their motivations and much more important: In their own a bit screwed but normal perspectives on the world. This is where the manga shines, as he uses the plot to portray the emotional world of anyone not ending up in a happy relationship. I tried listing the different motives that were familiar to me in this series, but to cut it short: It very well displays the tension and feelings between appearance and inner perspective, love and selflove, desires and admiration and more general the different prospects on love. The high point of this series in my opinion is chapter 13 where we get a good understanding of the inner life of one of the important side characters.
Afterwards it goes downhill. It doesn't end up being a bad series, but I have to admit that I stopped by chapter 29, picked it up again to read to chapter 33, just to see that it got even worse. On the one hand the tension build up can't be kept for such a long time. I wish for a good, a bad or just a realistic end, but no avail. Some might find it to be realistic, but it falls into the typical japanes plotholes. Newly introduced problems feel a bit artificial, as talking could resolve them easely or there are a bit far fetched, because japanese dating culture is a bit strange, when seen from the west. While a struggle with depression or two-timing might be an appropriate thing to end/follow along on one character developement, but on all of them? I've read that japanese had a different connotation or cultural imbeddedment for fucking around, but that's a bit much even for a liberal western big city boy. I started to find the actions incomprehensible and cringeworthy - a rather big change from the initial good start and storytelling.
I've been in several situations displayed in this manga myself and at a certain point you have to stand up and open yourself, talk about it and if shit is not going to work out, get up and leave. I still give this manga a grand total of 8 points for making me stirred up quite a bit, which could be considered an archievement.
(-176)
