She was the star, the shining, beautiful, mean star that guided us through the desert, for better or worse. I adored her immensely. I've been reading BL for so many years now I'd almost forgotten how amazing we girls are, ahahah. Indeed, I have a hard time seeing her as the real b-itch here. She was beaten down so many times, she's probably just looking for a pair of safe, comfortable arms to embrace her. Yet, she's proud and sharp as a hawk. She does nothing out of spite because she knows how painful it is, her actions can be read both ways. In a way I think she was the strongest character of them all, although I'm all hands down for Takashi's honesty and pride too. Kanako did run away from "her own reality" at first, but she was willing to fight for her own happiness, she was always consistent. Even in the very end, on the train, she might have admitted defeat - I'm unhappy, she said - but she was still able to hold her pride and smile like the fallen Queen she was, refusing herself to give in to her misery. I really did love her, from beginning to end.
I don't agree when she said Shou and herself were the same. Shou is a downer, a pessimist, a selfish hypocrite, a sulky, spoiled brat. Ahah. I did like him though, perhaps because I'm a little like that myself. Yet, he really pissed me off sometimes, always threatening to go away, incapable of dealing with confrontation: sometimes it got really unbearable and I can't help but blame him for every time the plot dragged and repeated upon itself.
Surprisingly though, I have more mixed feelings about Takashi. Like I said, I loved that he was honest, I liked the fact he didn't gave up on Shou after being turned down so many times -- and I got seriously frustrated at that too, since if it were me I would never, ever, speak to Shou again so long as I lived -- and I liked when he spit a punch across Shou's face, otherwise I'd have done it myself! On the other hand.... I often looked at him as though he was more of a passer-by, like someone for Kanako and Shou to react against. There was this aura about him, this "gay-for-you" feeling that I couldn't shake off, and I don't really believe in that, at least not in the way it was presented here. I think that, seeing as he was the MC (I'd say Kanako was the protagonist but, oh well..), we needed more than a couple of pages of "inside voice" regarding his iffy, doubtful feelings towards Shou. Chapter 11.5 made me all the more happy because we finally got a confession out of him, but then again, even without saying the words, the idea/feeling of it should've come sooner.
And YAY~~
Kanako got married and lived happily ever after <3 I was so, so happy.
Overall, of course, I really loved every character, even Takashi's friend and lil' sister. They all had their moment to shine and they all did so, even Takashi's father (yeah, that's right!). The plot in itself was not much and the art style wasn't that compelling in the beginning, although it grew seriously better chapter after chapter. But these characters truly brought a seemingly cliché of a plot into life.
For Kanako alone I would give this manga a straight 10 out of 10, oh yeah ahahah!
(-30)
