I don't usually write reviews but it's been a really long time since I've found a shoujo manga which gives me all the feels and delivers the story of budding romance and relationship changes in a refreshing way.
Don't get me wrong, there were still plenty of cliches but the vast majority is nicely dealt with.
It's really refreshing. Not to mention interesting on how different the perspectives are on the manga. Here's mine below.
My take on it is this manga is about the feelings and growth of first love, and how relationships and people (of all ages) change as life happens and they discover more about themselves along the way.
I find it curious of mentions about cheating from other reviewers, as personally I didn't see how there was any aspect going on here as:
- They had only truly confessed to each other at the end. And neither was even sure of the other's feelings. Yes, at the beginning she had confessed once, but I view it as a superficial one and I'll get to that later.
- Ninako had never once intentionally or actively interfered in their relationship. I know she still spoke to him and cared about him but it's not like you can coldly cut off a person and just stop being friends or even acquaintances like magic.
In fact, she does avoid him wherever she can, as shown during the Christmas period where she spies him working but chooses not to go ahead. And, in all the times she and Andou were 'double dating' with them, in every scenario she ends up fleeing from them. Literally.
- When she had confessed to him at the start, it was more of her getting the feeling off her chest and into the open and she didn't know he had a gf. And when she does find out, she's merely contented with being on the sidelines. Even Andou had warned her about her feelings reaching a limit point. She being the naive heroine that almost ALL shoujo mangas have, carries on in her pseudo optimistic way.
- Which brings me to this. The way Ren falls for her is slow and it's through her own natural personality and interactions that brought them closer over time. When he finds out his own feelings, he goes out of his way to stick by his gf and avoid Ninako.
- Which, at that point in time, his and Mayuka's relationship were already shown to be long since at a standstill and in retrogression. The author shows in direct contrast the ongoing dynamics in a few important panels.
http://m.mangatown.com/manga/strobe_edge/v02/c007.5/47.html
http://m.mangatown.com/manga/strobe_edge/v02/c007.5/49.html
http://m.mangatown.com/manga/strobe_edge/v02/c007.5/53.html
and
http://m.mangatown.com/manga/strobe_edge/v03/c008/13.html
http://m.mangatown.com/manga/strobe_edge/v03/c008/14.html
I find this to be a complete contrast of their ongoing dynamics. Ren and Mayuka's relationship was a flashback to their past, and their feelings were very real back then. But it always seemed to me that she was dependent on him in a way that hadn't changed all along. Along the way, her priorities for work came first, as shown in another contrast panel of her and Ninako. Mayuka says 'don't leave me' because of her own need for him, while Ninako is referenced to state she will 'leave him alone' because she was thinking more about him rather than herself.
Daiki himself has personally made references to it, stating time and time again on how she depends on Ren a lot over their parents' breakup. In one panel, she comes to notice this and other things, when it stated by him that Ren has 'never shown her his other side'. She only sees him as the mature Ren. The one that doesn't even enjoy sweets. And when Ninako asks to herself if that is what 'boyfriend girlfriend' is like, it kinda makes you wonder really, just how much common ground (and 'less centering on oneself love' in Mayuka's case) plus openness, Mayuka and Ren had in the first place, much less to be walking on the same page with her gradual shift towards work and them simply growing apart as each grew up. (I'd find all the panels but I'm too lazy for it)
I find it refreshing and like how there is no melodrama in the breakup and it is Mayuka herself who comes to terms with their diverging dynamics and priorities, and made her own, long overdue choice.
http://m.mangatown.com/manga/strobe_edge/v05/c019/40.html
http://m.mangatown.com/manga/strobe_edge/v05/c019/41.html
http://m.mangatown.com/manga/strobe_edge/v05/c019/42.html
http://m.mangatown.com/manga/strobe_edge/v05/c019/43.html
http://m.mangatown.com/manga/strobe_edge/v05/c019/44.html
ps. this part was heartbreaking for me too.
In here, you see the opposite. Ren, whom I was led to think was the mature kid, isn't at all as mature as he appears to be. He doesn't know how to deal with his own inner turmoil and gives me the feeling that throughout the end of his relationship with Mayuka, he was the only one constantly reassuring her that he will 'always be there for her' from a promise they made when he was much younger, in middle school and barely recognizing any internal or external changes as they both grew up.
http://m.mangatown.com/manga/strobe_edge/v05/c019/46.html
http://m.mangatown.com/manga/strobe_edge/v05/c019/47.html
http://m.mangatown.com/manga/strobe_edge/v05/c019/48.html
As said by his younger self, she was his 'first love'.
The thing is, first love rarely ever blooms. Even long term marriages don't bloom all the way. And usually it isn't from cheating, but life circumstances. Like when Daiki's dad himself explained why he divorced and that 'his feelings when he had proposed were not false'. And oftenwise, love doesn't bloom on the basis of someone needing another, nor does it bloom even after someone has done so many things to have earned enough medals to deserve to be the lover.
This is shown how again and again, Ninako rejects going out with Daiki and from the beginning to the end, she states continuously how Ren has always been the only one she can see. It's frustrating as hell, not being able to control your feelings in love, and I feel this manga has shown it well. I've seen plenty of others going the cliched route of actually having them go out and the main guy finds himself jealous and throws a hissy fit, then he realizes ka-boom he's in love with the naive MC but his gf finds out and turns into jealous mean bitch.
Granted, I didn't like how Andou was handled at the end and I was shamelessly rooting for him all along. But I did feel the way Ren and Ninako's chemistry and dynamics were going, they made a lovely match. I've never seen him laugh so much with anyone not even his own gf or friends than with her. She on the other hand...I had at one point shipped her with Danchou (is that how you spell it?). And Shachou.
I like how the breakup wasn't a melodramatic one and was due to personal differences, and also that they had closure at the end. I also find that Ninako and Ren 'click' well, in their common interests and perspectives.
On Ren, I feel that he is someone who constantly tries to portray himself as mature and level headed when he's not to appease others and to always do the right thing, as seen when he feels bad even not looking at the girls when his name is called. (I have this headcanon that Ren comes from a family where his dad walked out on his mum and he is used to taking the burden on himself silently to do the right thing, supporting her emotionally and not to inconvenience others. And hold onto promises while having a poor knowledge of his own feelings, which is pointed out quite often by his friends.)
On Andou's ex-girlfriend, they didn't start out well at all. Now that, isn't cheating but it was pretty horrible too.
I'm gonna be in the minority but then again I'm a jaded old soul, but I feel that the author made it turn out that she had liked him back only so that he won't be alone at the end. The way I see it, she hadn't loved him at all (she wouldn't have kissed Ren if she truly did), but grew to and yet, sadly only came to this realization after their breakup. Still, it's nice that she turned out to have genuine feelings for him in the end.
One of the reviews mentioned about stealing boyfriends/girlfriends. I agree that it was bad advice, but I feel the author was likely trying to go about it the realistic way. It does happen, with or without intent, and usually the grounds for it to happen is an already deteriorating relationship. Is it the moral thing? I believe not. Is a relationship ending due to that a moral thing? That depends on the person in question. Was he/she happy in the existing relationship to have made the choice? Did they come off better with their choice?
What could be done better?
I would have liked more of Andou and Ninako but that would really actively play into a love quadrant cliche.
I would have liked it better if Ninako hadn't fallen in love with Ren so fast at the start. But I'm just glad she got to know his actual self later on for the real confession to happen.
Also, if Ninako hadn't needlessly hesitated in her confession over Andou with the fight out of nowhere in bad taste. But yeah, it would have weighed down on her conscience at that moment. Bad timing for a confession after the guy who likes you is seriously and literally beaten down.
tldr:
Overall, I feel that the message delivered was that first love doesn't always bloom.
Love is always changing according to life circumstances, as you grow to maturity, and even as you enter marriage and your priorities and commonalities shift. It's also great in how it shows the blossoming and fading of each romance and how no one really knows what life will bring next, so youth should take things slow in their self-discovery as they grow into adulthood.
Love is indeed messy, and most times we are uncertain of our actions and how we feel and are able to force/limit ourselves to behave the way we want to. It also doesn't mean that you'd end up forever with a first love, and I know of people who did and were happy decades later. I feel this manga has captured the start and end of both beautifully. One panel hits this spot on where Yutaro (center parting guy whatshisname) says that every relationship will meet hurdles and you have 'to decide for yourself whether you want to adjust your hold on the person you love or let go', and points that Ren is facing that now.
One of my favourite panels is when the cafe owner flips through the Maths book and is flabbergasted at the questions. I relate to that completely as a 'useless adult'.
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