Dammit.Dammit, dammit! I really wanted to be above all of this reviews. I was sure I was going to think differently from everyone else, that I'd have some deeper understanding no one else did. But no. I'm just like everyone else and I hated who Miwa ended up with.
However, I can say right now that I didn't hate the ending itself. I'm writing this right after having read the manga, so I didn't stop to think on it. But I think if I or any of you do, we can come to terms with what happened.
Although I cannot rate this a 10 due to some writing issues, it had some really strong points. Let's start with the weak ones first. The translation was really bad. In fact, it was so bad I had a hard time understanding what was being said. I even changed scanlators at one point and it was still awful, even worst than the first, so I ended up giving up and just reading a bad translation.
Then comes the pace. It assumes the readers grasp what is happening before it moves on to the next situation, and not in a good way. It is supposed to be understood that so much time has passed, the Miwa has gone over to Hoshina's house a lot of times, but we only get to see a short window of all of this, and it's not a good characteristic.
Finally, I wanted to read something that would make me cry my eyes out, and that's why I specifically looked for angst. But I would't call this entirely angst. In my opinion, the first three chapters were just outright drama. There is a very thin line between drama and angst. Angst comes from feelings, from internalizing and suffering over that. Drama feels more pushed upon the readers, like some tragedy going on that forces you to care for it. I wouldn't say drama is bad, but it's not what I usually go for. That's what the first three chapters feel like. Although Miwa is suffering, it feels very much like we are supposed to care for him, though we don't even know him. Then we get a glimpse of Katou on the third chapter, and it's very much the same way.
In the middle of chapter four, when things start turning more towards Hoshina, that's when the angst actually begins. It took me a while to realize he was the angsty character. Also, I'm someone who cries very easily and I only did in the last chapter.
The art is also not very much to my liking, and some scenes seem very sloppy.
Now let's get to the good parts.
First are the characters. Curiously enough, Miwa is the least interesting character. He feels like a very common uke to me, if only for some strength of character he has over most other ukes, and some acquired confidence in sex. Other than that, to me he feels very much like that character who's only there to get the wheels turning. But I wouldn't complain about him because it's quite difficult to get that much development in only 5 chapters when there are 3 main characters.
The interesting ones, however, are Katou and Hoshina. The only thing I can say without giving much away is that they both go through deep personal growth as this story goes by.
While Hoshina seems very selfish at first, and maybe that was because he wasn't even actually in love with Miwa up until the middle of the story, he's the bigger man at the end of it. He's the better lover, friend and the most lovable character. Of course we tend to get pulled towards the character who's in the worst spot, but it's very much impossible not to worship him after he's so gentle with Miwa. He might have started out with threats and manipulation, but it's all forgiven by the end.
Katou, on the other hand, is just plain stupid. Like I said, it's very easy to fall in love with the character who's got it worse, so it's easy to hate Katou. I don't, however. I just think he took a very long time and made a lot of mistakes along the way. Then again, who hasn't? What I liked the most about him was that his love for Miwa was actually so, SO deep. Even in such a short story, that became crystal clear for me. He gets a psychological problem because of what he did to Miwa! That's the kind of love that has me believing they will actually be together forever, which doesn't often happen in manga - high school love just feels very flimsy, usually, which is not the case here. Also, although part of why he introduced Hoshina to Miwa was due to his own cowardliness, it also proves a bit that he's a good friend. He wanted to "help his gay friend" by introducing him to someone he could be interested in, and wanted to help Miwa get someone after he didn't have the courage to own up to his feelings.
By the third chapter, I was actually [i]dreading[i/] Miwa would end up with Katou, but I got it after all.
The plot is nothing new, but the way it was developed was absolutely original, and I've never seen anything like it.
I think one of the things that needed a little improvement was the rape thing. I'm not opposed to it (in manga, not real life!), but I think for the story to work with that content, there needs to be a certain depth that just can't be obtained in only 5 chapters. Which is why I understand it doesn't fulfill what I'd like for it to do to the characters involved.
I do think this manga is not for younger audiences. Reading some of the reviews here, I think it's very hard for inexperienced people to understand how life doesn't always go the way we planned, and that's somewhat realistic in this manga. People do have sex with people they don't like, people do hurt each other and make mistakes. We also can't judge others for past actions, but for the person they've become. All the characters grow throughout this manga, and we can't see them with the same eyes as in the first chapter. If I was reading this as the 15-yeard-old fujoshi I was, I'd probably not grasp it entirely either.
Finally, and probably the strongest point about this, is that it's not a forgettable manga. So it's a definite recommendation and not a waste of time. Also, it's gotten me interested in the author (I've never read anything from her before) and what else she has to offer.
(-42)
