This is going to be a really long review and you don't have to read it xD I'm just expressing my personal opinion on this manga. I'll just be reviewing characters and plot.
Characters:- What can I say? I loved each and every character the mangaka showed to me. First off, Yosano. Yosano may seem boring and typical for a shoujo manga but in reality, she is very realistic. She's optimistic and strong-minded. Over time, we see her soft and weak side - the side of her which many denounce as 'stereotypical good-for-nothing shoujo girl'. I swear that that term gets misused so many times. It's as if as soon as a girl shows her feelings, she is automatically a typical shoujo girl. There is a difference between being plain, annoying and a coward and being a realistic, relatable and showing emotion. So yes, Yosano is awesome: she stumbles sometimes but she makes good decisions in the end. As for our two love interests (yes I'm clumping them together sorry) they are in very much contrast with each other, which is a good thing. Shishio is a childish, fun teacher who, though it doesn't seem like it, cares a lot about Yosano and her well being and it's hard to say this as a Shizume shipper, but he really needs to get his priorities straight.
LIKE SERIOUSLY HE REJECTS HER AND THEN TRIES TO HUG AND KISS HER. JUST STOP PLAYING WITH MY SHIZUME FEELS
Mamura is a pure, innocent smol bean enough said. I freaking love him and he obviously cares about Yosano a lot, despite having his habit of being shy around women (it's so cute ^). The side characters are also interesting: well by that I really just mean Yuyuka and Togyuu because nobody else was of much significance.
Plot:-
Here we go. For the most part, I'm just talking about the ending and referring to the whole plot (mainly because people are so darn salty about the ending). And may I point out again that I am a Shizume shipper. Also a Mazume shipper but I ship Shishio x Yosano more. I thought the ending was perfect. It was so satisfying and such a good wrap up. What people who don't like the ending have to understand is that the mangaka wasn't trying to make a perfect ending. I don't want to seem like I know her and what her purpose was but it seems strongly to be that she created an ending which supported the plot of the story. Yosano fell in love with her teacher but got rejected. He started to like her too but couldn't tell her. All of this tension was built up until the 47th chapter - the turning point. Before this, I thought they were going to be canon but it was obvious on that chapter that their love was never going to work out. It was heart-wrenching to read. You get flashbacks of all the good times they had and all of it came crashing down. After this, Yosano tries to get over him and realises slowly that Mamura had always been there. I thought the transition was a little too abrupt, it almost made it seem like she went from one guy to the next. The ending finishes with Shishio finally confessing and then Yosano rejecting him. This chapter was astounding. It shows the true development of Yosano over the manga and how strong she had become. Also with Shishio too, he maturely accepts the fact that he lost Yosano as she races back to Okinawa. There, she is truly happy. She chose the path that didn't cause her pain and agony. Mamura and Yosano were the perfect couple. It was the message of the whole manga. So why do I ship Shizume so much? I have a lot of reasons but I won't list them here in the manga review ahaha
Flaws:-
The love between Yosano and Mamura was so sudden. Out of nowhere, Yosano tells us that she's fallen in love with Mamura. For Shishio, it was built up over time but again, Yosano seems to fall in love with Shishio much too quickly - you could argue that it was just first signs of love and her understanding of why she loved him grew over time. The pacing of the manga was slightly askew and it makes me wonder is Shishio literally having mood swings or something because he goes from showing Yosano all the love in the world to the silent treatment.
OVERALL:- FEELS. FEELS. FEELS. TEARS AND CRYING. HAPPINESS. ONE OF MY FAVES I READ ALL 89 CHAPTERS IN A DAY. TEAM SHISHIOOO
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