Well, okay, so maybe I shouldn't even be rating this because I've always hated (okay, maybe not hated, but strongly disliked) Yoshizumi-sensei's works. They were always too shoujoish and her lead characters are waaaaay too ... ANNOYING! (hell, Marmalade Boy is one of the few I dislike less, although that is only thanks to secondary characters like Arimi or Satoshi, because as far as I'm concerned, Miki, Ginta and Yuu can all pretty much go... well, whatever, I'm not a fan).
Still, I read them all. Why? Because her art is so insanely gorgeous and her stories all sound so promising that I can't help thinking she just may surprise me (she almost did with Mint Na Bokura... except I hated Maria... and every guy who fell for her).
And so I read this too. MISTAKE. BIIIIIG MISTAKE.
Now, don't misunderstand. The reason I don't like this manga isn't because the guy was unfaithful or because they didn't get back together - Nana is one of my all time favorites (Shouji <3 <3), and even though he's a right little piece of scum, I still love Sho from Skip Beat!... I mean, cheating and hurting and breaking up are all things that happen in real life, it's normal, and I hate super clichéd manga anyway.
But... The way the whole story was told was just... bad. First of all, it felt incredibly rushed. Of course, still better like this than the same, repetitive, clichéd plot repeating for 8 whole volumes like Random Walk... but still. Even that ending, what was up with that? One page just blurting everything out, you don't actually feel as much of that character development she was trying to push as one would expect. Is Sousuke really sorry? Does Ari even like this Shiroi guy? And the best friend marrying the girlfriend out of pity? That's sad. And what's even sadder is that everybody is so accepting of it.
So, yeah, I think the story is told really badly. As if that weren't enough, the main characters (hell, ALL of the characters. This is probably Yoshizumi's only manga where I haven't found ONE character I liked!! The only candidate would've been Remi but she pretty much disappears soon so you can't really grow attached to her) SUCK!! Ari's so freaking indecisive and submissive! I mean, really! Tell the guy what you want, for God's sake! (hopefully she's gotten a bit better by the end of the manga, but the ending was so rushed it was hard to tell). And Sousuke? I really can't stand him! Hey, I didn't like Shouji cheating on Hachi with Sachiko, but at least he'd FALLEN for her! But Sousuke? His explanation of everything was, "She was about to cry, I didn't have a choice." Hello?!?!? What kind of reasoning is that?? What if she told you to kill your own wife or she'd start crying... would you do that?!?! Oh, really. If he were at least convinced of what he was doing I may have found it more tolerable, but he was just dragged along. Hell, both, the main characters were dragged along. They just passively watched everything happening around them, not making any decisions or anything. Going with the flow.
The chick, forgot her name, she's exactly like Suzu from Marmalade Boy, except Yuu had more backbone that this Sousuke guy. The best friend? Reminded me of Satoshi, I thought I was gonna like him, but I was thoroughly disappointed with the ending. Other than his relationship with Tomoka, I guess he was kinda decent.
Anyway, I thought I'd never be able to find a Yoshizumi manga I liked worse than Random Walk but--- well, okay, maybe I still hate Random Walk a bit more (0 character development there, about 0.5 here; 8 volumes of torture vs 1 volume....) but still. NOT RECOMMENDED.
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