It was entertaining for a bit, but after a while, it's like the author forgot the premise of her manga. Not only the premise, but she forgets about actual plot threads. Remember when the school body oppressed the outnumbered men? That disappeared somewhere between chapter five and nine with no good reason as to why (I said no good reason).
Maybe it was a shallow plot to begin with? After all, it's stated that the 2nd and 3rd years are still 'all girls', so they're somewhat uninvolved. Why? Dunno. Apparently, all the upperclassmen are a slew of unremarkable lowlifes that bow their heads to a gaggle of first-year girls that have been in high school for all of two months.... which brings me to my next point. It's never mentioned when Danjou transfers, but it seems to be summer. If the school year starts in April, we really only have a two month window for the problem to incubate, but the guys that were already there seem to act like they've been in the crags for YEARS. To quote "You have to insert dramatic 'bridge push' ABSOLUTELY OBEY the girls!" . Well, at least for the next three chapters, right?
How about when Maki used to know all kinds of judo, yet in later chapters seems kinda weak, or rather, unwilling to protect herself? Specifically, I'm referring to a chapter were she unceremoniously says that it might be a good idea to have a man in the house. Wait, Mogami rely on a man? Why, what amazing character development! Or so you think... till you hit the back half of the chapter where she turns into a full-blown, clingy damsel in distress. At that point it becomes clear the author was so desperate to write an Aoi story that she subbed in Mogami and thought no one would notice. I did.
Danjou said he'd only give his cell number to one particular person (normally this type of plot hole doesn't bother me, but the author made such a big damn deal out of it...), yet fifteen chapters later we see him chatting it up with someone else, with no prior scene explaining the supposed importance of this number. There was a chapter where this one guy was all fired up to confess to someone... even though he already did five volumes ago. Aoi was handled poorly and was for the most part, lost in the shuffle. So was the doctor while I'm at it. Also, I didn't choose to read this title for the boxing, but on the same coin don't make a HUGE deal that Danjou is an accomplished fighter, have him struggle to establish a boxing club in a school that is 95% female, and then do next to nothing with that plot.
Now, I can go on and on about all the petty crap I mentioned above, but the thing that really irks me is the whole Nami island childhood incident thing. I mean, seriously. There had better be some dead bodies involved for it to be so important. Such over-drama about something that in the end will probably boil down to nothing that affects their current lives (of course the author even forgets this thread for a while). Am I the only one thinking this? Just tell him. He forgot. It happens. Open a dialog and move on. Please. It'd probably save us from eight or nine volumes of filler stories that add no real value to the supposed plot.
And this really needs to be said: there is NO WAY IN HELL two people can coincidentally meet in ALMOST EVERY FLIPPIN' CHAPTER while living in a city the size of TOKYO! My god! It seemed like every time Yamato went somewhere BAM! MAKI! I mean, you can get away with that every once in a while, but lets try to keep it reasonable. Yeah, they live near each other. I live near a lot of people I know too. Do I run into them at every street, shop, restaurant, sporting event, random social gathering, part-time job, hotel, church, bus(stop), train(stop), concert, park, shrine, beach, or hospital that I go to? No. With the way this is going, Yamato could probably blast off to the moon only to "coincidentally" meet his secret stalker. Even while writing this, I'm in the middle of a chapter where Yamato runs into Maki AFTER HE ALREADY RAN INTO HER EARLIER IN THE CHAPTER! Gimme a break!
Anyone else notice that this manga does that annoying thing "Pastel" does? You know, that whole throw a random love interest at the male or female lead, keep that love interest unresolved, and then NEVER include that character ANYWHERE in the story ever again thing? Annoying. "I love you, Danjou!" NOW OFF TO AMERICA I GOOOO!!! Wash. Rinse. Repeat. Is Japan invading America or something? Pastel probably gets away with it because it has phenomenal art. Unfortunately, Open Sesame's art is average at best.
Anyway, read it if you like a shounen that morphs into a shoujo (yeah, it does... maybe not full-blown 'pretty boys with flowers in the background' shoujo, but it's there plot-wise). Although I paint a pretty gloomy picture (it's just so riddled with repeated cliches), it's not the best manga in the world, but it's not the worst either. It must have a reason for lasting twenty volumes.
(As a P.S., I find it HIGHLY annoying that people find Yamato's clumsiness to be acceptable, HE'S SUPPOSED TO BE A BOXER!! Have you ever heard of a championship caliber boxer... THAT TRIPS OVER HIS OWN TWO FEET!? Really!?)
[edit]@KrisKelvin
First off, I like Pastel, or rather it might be more appropriate to say I did like it. It's woefully slow-paced, but it's an endearing title for those who have a truckload of patience and a high tolerance for shounen romance fluff. I personally couldn't stomach anything past Volume 14, when it becomes "The Continuing Story Of The Most Pathetic Couple In The Universe", but to each his own, and I'll never dog anyone for reading it.
NOWHERE in my review did I say Open Sesame is EXACTLY like Pastel. NOWHERE. What I meant was, similar to Pastel, Open Sesame tends to chuck random love interests at the main character, we see this random love interest for a few chapters and then they disappear...mostly unresolved.
Now admittedly, Pastel is far, FAR less guilty than Open Sesame, but still guilty. Hana Hanayama. Where did she go? In volume seven she gunning for Mugi like a rabbit in heat, yet in the next seven volumes, I don't even see her name mentioned. Did she fall off the Earth? Seven volumes is somewhere around two and a half years in real life. Better file a missing persons report.
Murakami and Megumi can be classified as resolved, but they still qualify as out-of-nowhere characters.
Hinako is a pretty big mottza ball that's been hanging for most of the story. The author even said himself that he had no intention of involving her in the story beyond Volume 4. She was only brought back because she was popular. Guess Hana Hanayama wasn't.
Mercifully, Manami at least got a clear and definite answer. And this is just me mentioning Mugi's little harem. If I'm not mistaken, Yuu had a few "one and done" male suitors as well, but I digress. This isn't a review for Pastel after all.
Anyway, that's what I meant.[/edit]
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