The first few volumes were appealing, but as I read on, I realized that it's just another manga stuffed with cliches, and has the most dreaded one - extremely ditzy shojo girl with the princely shojo guy. I got bored of this manga soon. However, it's not bad and has its merits, but I think this manga is given way too much credit.

I first read this series when I was in school and loved it, but coming back to it again I found it funny in the early chapters and disappointing towards the end. The main character NEVER, Hikari sneaks out to meet another guy and is freakin shocked when Kei gets mad, honestly there should be a point where she is less dense, this isn't a Sazae-san format so there really should be some growth. Also Hikari is supposed to be strong and independent, a woman that Kei recognized as his rival, but she becomes a train wreck EVERY time he is even a little bit mean to her, and apparently her strength counts for nothing because Kei is always saying crap like "you're a girl, you can't do anything." Honestly...

Special A starts off great (seemingly fiery heroine) then goes downhill. Although Hikari is portrayed as a tough student, beyond the first chapters she is sweet, dense, and makes hypocritical decisions (even though she's supposed to be smart). There's little character and relationship development. If there's one step forward, the characters refute it later. The plot drags and repeats itself, and it's a shame that these cute characters hardly get anywhere.

I was really relieved when I got to chapter 99. The only thing I wanted by the end was actual character/relationship development, which didn't happen. It's not a manga that I would recommend.

... Last updated on July 28th, 2009, 10:16am

This series was amazing and is part of the reason why I started to read manga in the first place. This was the first manga series that I ever read and was first introduced to the series by the anime (which was one of the first I had ever watched). Since I loved the series so much, I had to find out more about what happened to the characters. I read this series in 2008 and since then I have still not come across a series that is so endearing to me such as this one. Although I have read other manga that have characters with similar mentalities, Special A still takes the cake.

As the series progresses on, the character drawings become much better and the character development is satisfactory. What makes this series so fantastic is the pure affection Kei has for Hikari. Also, although some of the arcs seem typical of shoujo manga, don't be fooled. Hikari will always surprise you with her outgoing personality. Plus, most of the arcs are fairly unique and blend in perfectly with the circumstances. One of the best parts about the manga is that the ending is very well thought out. Often with long series, the author tends to make the endings feel sort of rushed, but I was so thankful to Minami Maki that she let the ending close with a subtle bang.

Of course, since this was my first manga, my opinion may be biased, but I honestly believe that everyone should read the first few chapters and give it try. Once you get to know the characters, you will see the sides of them that make Special A, well.... special.

... Last updated on August 17th, 2012, 5:22pm

I have to agree at the comment below.
Although this manga is cliche it still manages to give me some laughs on other chapters and make me want kei for my self because he is so perfect imo..

overall i gave this manga a score of 8 because of sometimes cliche situation and repetitive scenario but also this story have adorable characters like kei, hikari, the twins and finn!

... not a great story?
I tried to like this but it didn't work out.
At the beginning, I loved Hikari. Spunky girl with a goal whose tired of being 2nd best against a guy who can remember everything, is good at everything and does... well, everything. But as I continued, she gradually became a lot dense in my eyes and my liking for her as a heroine dropped dramatically. She's as goodhearted as ever but... ehh.

cl123's review said my thoughts best.

wow... i really really love this manga.. even though there's quite many people out there criticized the flawlessness of takishima, i still like him.. he's the ideal time of every girl, i guess... although i have to say, the ending was quite dissapointing, it was a little bit too rush to me.. but rest assure b'coz the entire story was good..
this manga was on my bookmark list for a few months b'coz of some of the reviews i read.. so to anyone that hesitate whether to read it or wait for some time, stop doing that and pick this one up coz u will be taken to a journey.. haha lol, i'm exaggerated..
before that, i must warn u first, the girl is really really dense.. there was time when i read this manga n i just want to knock her head off... and the guy is truly romantic, and possesive.. haha, it crack me to laugh everytime he gets jealous.. so kawaiii!!!!!

I started the manga and kind of liked it, hoping that as I continued to read I would like it more and more, the opposite of that happened though, I began to like it less and less to the point of I couldn’t wait until it was over so I wouldn’t have to read it anymore! And that is a horrible feeling to have while reading a manga…

Plot- The plot is simple, and could have made a cute little story if it hadn’t been drug out for so long! Really, it began to get boring before I had even read halfway into the series! The series really could have been shortened, some side couples that really shouldn’t have been added could have been cut out, they weren’t needed and some seemed to be added only so that everyone got a happy ending. The same plot devices were used again and again, so while the story relied very little on the usual clichés it created its own clichés within the story. The story itself got silly, everyone is SA is superhuman in some way or another, making it unrealistic, and many of the situations were ridiculous. At first I kind of enjoyed the series, but as I read on I became a bit more bored, then a little more bored, and when I was finally in the chapter 75-80 I just wanted it to end, and the only reason I pushed myself to finish it was so I could give complete review.

Characters- The mains are all right in their own ways, Hikari’s dedication and optimistic spirit is very admirable, but she is WAY too dense! Her denseness got quite irritating fast. Kei is… thinking back there isn’t really anything that great about him, if you take Hikari away Kei turns into quite a boring character, his main characteristics are all traits that somehow link back to his liking Hikari, and that isn’t good in a character. And his traits got annoying after a while too, he was way too jealous and aggressive when it comes to his jealousy, and he can be quite controlling. The secondary characters appear and disappear when necessary, they are only there to hinder or help Hikari and Kei’s relationship. There were many couples between the secondary characters but when the story added that, it focused on it, usually for a chapter, and went as far as even excluding the mains for that chapter, making the chapters focused on secondary couples seem apart from the main story line, as if they were One Shot’s added onto the other completely different series. This was helped along by the fact that these couples were only mentioned every now again in those separate chapters and in the main story were hardly even mentioned.

Art- The art was all right, nothing special but not bad either. There are a lot of blocky areas of text in most chapters that are a bit bothersome to read so much at a time, way to much reading. The character designs could have been a bit better to, the more characters were introduced the less I could distinguish between characters, and sometimes the only way I knew which characters were which is if they were called by name, or the informative block’s of text would tell you all you need to know instead of just giving information in the dialog…

Other- I got so bored/annoyed at the main characters; their personalities began to get on my nerves along with their relationship. Hikari and Kei really need to have more trust in their relationship, but I can see why they don’t trust each other because for some reason they so often keep things secret from each other, and usually for no good reason! The same goes for their communication, they need to communicate better, and communicating better doesn’t include having a competition that whoever wins it gets to ask something/order the other person to do something/have a secret that the other person is holding back be told. As the story went on I began to like Hikari and Kei’s relationship less and less and began to like the side couples more and more, to the point I was excited when the chapters came that seemed to have no ties to the main story and in them Hikari and Kei were usually no where to be found or played minor rolls. These chapters, while still seeming strange with the overall story, were quite refreshing because I got a break from the mains! The story fell quite flat, there were so many disjointed arcs during the story that vaguely seemed to be leading up to something a little more interesting than the usual arcs but in the end fell quite flat and left me disappointed by the antagonist and the final ending of the story.
All in all I don’t recommend this manga, sure the first couple chapters might be interesting and fun, and many of the side couples can be interesting as well, reading the manga just for that isn’t worth your time and effort, and you’d be spending your time much more wisely reading a much better manga.

5/10 – Was all right

this is sooooooooooooooooooooo awesome!!!!!!!! >.< takishima and hikari r such a cute couple!!!! its a typical story about a dense girl and a guy that likes her and later on she realizes she likes him too, and blablabla but its really funny and its soooo cute!!!! its uber kawaii!!! it is a must-read and it is sooo good that i am going to collect it. i already have the first 15 volumes!! i need volume 16*__* lol xD but seriously, u have to read it.

... Last updated on April 16th, 2010, 9:10pm

It was okay. Kei was a Gary Stu but it was bearable, Hikari is a Mary Sue and it was INTOLERABLE! Add the fact she was dense I bet she wouldn't be able to notice if Kei's became square-shaped or something. Her character was RIDICULOUS.
On the other hand, I found Tadashi and Akira, Ryuu and Finn, Sakura and Jun, Yahiko (?) and Megumi cute. Their parts, no matter how filler-ish they were, were waaay more interesting than Kei and Hikari's story. Srsly.

The ending was stupid too. ;_;