Well, this manga kinda annoys me. I don't really know why it gets so many 10's...but that' s just me.
Anyways, let's start with the characters. Mayu. Strong, smart, beautiful. Totally great heroine, but completely perfect and nothing really differentiates her from any other perfect girl. No complexes, no birth marks or anything like that, nothing to make her special. She's just perfect, except when she cries and blushes too much. I mean, seriously, how Mayu and the Kou(i think that's his name?) guy kiss in front of takuma? plz. so cheesy and dramatic. It's so typical that yet another guy falls for the heroine. It seems that all typical shoujos have to have a heroine with multiple guys falling for her, but I wouldn't exactly call this typical. The thing is, I like how the author changed Mayu's hairstyle as she grew up. That showed progression, which I think is really important.
Takuma: Weak. He's just weak. But the thing is, if you look at him and compare him to all the other guys in the manga, he looks nothing like weak appearance-wise! I think the author needs to do a better job as depicting him as weak. Oh. But personality-wise is a different story. He is suchhhh a girl personality-wise. 'I don't want to hurt her..' blah blah. That may be sweet, but I wish he wasn't so weak and feminine. and the bleached hair? earrings? I've seriously had enough of shoujo mangas piercing the guy's ears to make him look cool! I don't understand why so many mangas do this to make the guy look cool! Like Takuma said that Mayu would hate him cuz he's changed, I hate it too. It's stupid and immature of him. And his hairSTYLE doesn't change at all! What's with mangakas, keeping the hair the same? At least Mayu changed. Ugh. So unrealistic.
I like how he blushed because of Teru though. Even though he likes Mayu, its only natural to blush. If he didn't, it would be too unrealistic coming from a weak guy like him.
Oh. And the love part. Do they really call this secret unrequited love? fail title. ITS NOT SECRET. AND ITS CERTAINLY NOT UNREQUITED. its so obvious that they like each other, and their love for eachother doesn't grow. It starts with a romantic atmosphere, and it doesn't really grow. If shoujo mangas want romance, they have to show growth. It all started lovey-dovey to me. And the whole 'she'll just be hurt in the end' from her parents, is so CHEEZY AND DRAMATIC. its just like an asian drama filled with drama. The plot? mehh...okay but with a plot you have to have unique characters. Not just characters with different personalities; I mean it has the usual playboy, d-cup bestfriend, nerd, etc. Not very special. AND childhood friends? wow. what's with manga and childhood friends? its screaming cliche. Anyways its better than typical shoujo but not a fantastic manga.
Good parts: It keeps you wanting to read more. It touches your heart slightly, but its just too dramatic for me. Read it when you're bored, but I didn't really cry from this. Recently, the chapters have been getting too stupid for me. And the mangaka killed Teru off too easily. Almost like nothing happened. WAYY too unrealistic. I mean SHE DIED. DEATH. That's big and she isn't mentioned or pitied after it really. The author would've been better off not bringing Teru into the story in the first place.
If you remove the whole 'dying at 20' plot than it would probably be the closest thing to a typical shoujo. Its good, but cmon. Don't hate me for not liking drama, but the author chose to make this dramatic. So don't tell me not to read this dramatic manga if I don't like drama cuz it could've done without it in my opinion.
SPOILER:
(I'm about 99% sure Takuma will die. They don't label it as tragedy for nothing. Plus, if he doesn't die than everything up until now would be a waste and total idiocy.)
yah...I give it a 7. Highest rating for me.
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