I'm really glad I tried this series out - I find it very unique and refreshing for a shojo! The basic premise of "rich-guy-meets-commoner-girl" is so overdone in manga that I was expecting the characters to follow their usual archetypes. Boy was I wrong! Hana, our heroine, is a bold, spunky high schooler with a sharp tongue. I find her hilarious and endearing for all the times she shoots down Takane's arrogant delusions. It's nice to see a shojo heroine who doesn't go weak in the knees every time the male MC says something.
Takane is equally endearing in my opinion. In most manga's featuring a rich lead guy, they are smug and arrogant (which Takane is) but also usually dark/brooding/mysterious/lady-killer. That character trope gets really old really fast. But Takane is non of those things! He's conceited and pompous, yes, but he's also a total doofus and goofball who is fixated on constantly trying to one-up a 16-year old girl. Despite his age, he usually comes across as very innocent and naive, not for lack of trying to sound cool though. But he does have his moments where he really IS cool - which is good for fangirls/boys. 🙂
I believe that their current relationship (up to chapter 21) is reminiscent of the old saying that "the loser in love is the one that falls first."
The way I see it now, both of them have feelings for one another but are confused by their competitive relationship. Hana hates losing, so admitting that she likes Takane would probably feel like she lost their one-upping game. Takane obviously has feelings for her, as depicted through his overprotective attitude and constant need to be with her, but he seems too prideful to acknowledge these feelings himself.
I think one of my favorite things about this series is how it turns typical shojo cliche's on their heads. That is not to say that they don't exist in this series (because well then it wouldn't be a shojo, would it?), but most of the time the author uses comedy to casually dismiss any dramatic cliche. I would strongly recommend reading this if you're bored of the usual shojo tropes and looking for an authentic funny story about two tsundere's who can't help but poke each other's buttons.
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