First things first, this is a nice shoujo manga with no shortage of lookalike (this time, purposely lookalike) bishies, and pretty artwork to look at. I don't think it's smutty, though- there's just some nudity, and it's a very far cry from Mayu Shinjo or even Minami Kanan's work. I like the fact that Hikaru has pink hair, too- perfect for an otaku 🙂 . And at least through the first half or so (about two-thirds, I'd say) of the story, the characters are well likeable and Hikaru doesn't seem like a total shoujo pushover IMO.
I seem to be one of the few people here who was actually rooting for Takara all through- his and Hikaru's romance was the most believably written part of the story- they had amazing chemistry, which I felt Arata and Hikaru rather lacked. I was so sad when they had to end it..for me, ArataxHikaru just lacked the intensity and sweetness of TakaraxHikaru, more so since Hikaru kind of became a total limp dishrag after ending it with Takara (kind of believable, since she's a girl with a broken heart, but falling for another guy so fast...nah, doesn't sound credible to me). And I don't feel Takara acted like a jerk, he did what he felt was right (ie give Hikaru up, even if it tore him up inside- and it did), and SHE was the one who asked to have that night together. Which, incidentally, nearly made me cry- the end, where he tells her he loves her, was heartbreaking.
Truthfully, I didn't really like the fact that she ends up with Arata- something about Arata's bad-boy reformation just didn't really work for me. He turned into a complete wimp by the end, IMO (mad amounts of self-sacrifice)- and the pacing of his and Hikaru's story felt a little rushed, especially when Takara and Hikaru sort of had that thing going in the middle..it might have worked better with a few more volumes, or chapters even. But I did like his dog, 'baka Hiyoko'- and some of his and Hikaru's interactions were really funny. Though I feel the big misstep in the story was the fact that Takara-kun was brought back into Hikaru's life at all- it only serves to remind me how in love they were, and to ditch rooting for Arata (which I'd started to do a little of, by then). I think the split-personality storyline sounded cool at first, but in the extra chapter at the end, I actually liked the fact that Arata could unbend enough towards Takara to give him flowers for graduation.
The overwhelming impression at the end of the manga, though (at least IMO) is disappointment for poor Takara, who really and truly does love Hikaru. I wish Ikeyamada-sensei would write him a story of his own as a sort of sequel to this, where he finds another girl whom he loves as much as he loves Hikaru.