narutolvr's manga / #shoujo(188)

Mooooooooooore!!!!!!

Loved it! Although it seemed to drag on in some places (most likely because I'm running off an all nighter), it was still a really lovely story about a lot of different personalities coming together and forging meaningful bonds.

Good

How do I say this? This was kind of really awful lol. Don't get me wrong- it was a great setup and decent art, but the actual plot was really bad. It was as if the author wrote each chapter to be the last one, like reading 10 one shots about the same couple in a row. But a 27 page one shot doesn't really give you much time to develop any emotion towards the characters, especially when dealing with such a bombastic topic like a high school yakuza head. Characters were introduced with little to no backstory, the problem was resolved within 10-15 pages, and then the character disappears again. We never actually find out anything about them. The three "love-triangle" characters would have made great story fodder (ex: I was really curious as to why the other Yakuza guy was so attached to the MC; what was his past like that he wanted to be with her so badly?). It just seemed like an effort to force the plot along, rather than letting the character development take the story with it, which is such a waste considering the good setup and characters with so much potential! But this is pretty characteristic of this author, I guess. I'm always just so disappointed because she turns what could be great stories into shallow time-killers. Really wish she'd study a bit more on how to improve suspense so she can hook readers in better... -_-

Odd but not awful. It was pretty bad though, lol.

I'm not sure how I feel about this manga. The plot setup is fun (not original but fun) but it's been done better in several other mangas. The characters seem interesting but, in the end, we don't see much development from them other than the fact that the MC starts to like the male lead. There's potential for a good story but, rather than using different scenes to show how the male's feelings for the MC advanced, the author keeps repeating the same 4 panels of her covering him with the umbrella and telling him to come to her house. Did he actually go to her house, btw? We don't know how he felt ending up in the same class as her (it could have been on purpose since he was "watching her") or how he came to find out about her debt. Even in chapter 4, her rival did an about face instantaneously, but we weren't shown enough background on the rival to support the sudden change of heart. Literally, one page she says she doesn't want to live poor like her mother and the next she's happy that her mother's keepsake was saved. We don't get to see any of the relationship between the girl and her mother to suggest that she actually really cares about her. So it just seems like she changed her mind on a whim rather than out of actual character development. And that's what I mean by shallow; the author plants the seeds of typical shoujo situations, and expects us to go along with it just because it's been done that way before. But without any elaboration on these situations, it's like she's just copy pasting any generic story formula.

Did I never put this in my completed list? Oops! :p. What can I say about this manga to accurately portray my love for it? Words don't seem to do it justice. It's stupendous, just absolutely breathtaking. This series will forever stand in my top 5 because the plot, characters, romance is so well developed it serves as an ideal many mangas strive to achieve. We get to see Yuri grow from a scared girl into a physical and mental badass. The side characters don't lose to the MCs by any means in terms of character complexity and awesomeness. The plot is never forced along- the characters' personalities and interactions drive the plot rather than the other way around. I could sing praises for years but I'd rather go reread it ^^

I hated it because I didn't hate it. Everything about this manga just frustrated me; I disliked Yano from the beginning so having to read 70 chapters devoted to him getting the girl over Takeuchi really killed me! I also disliked the MC who seemed allergic to moving on/how obsessive this manga portrayed love, especially love as a 15/16 year old. I mean, let's be honest- what are the odds that an entire group of teens are still OBSESSED with their first loves 5 years down the line? But I didn't hate the back stories, I just think everything would have been better if Take won instead of Yano. He just had way too much baggage and so ended up being a manipulative boyfriend. Ugh, even thinking it over pisses me off! I'll go read something funny to calm down!

Read this twice and yet somehow it's not on my read list. It was a good story, it started off a bit slow (but enjoyable) and really picked up in the later chapters once we got to look into their pasts a bit. The end left me with a bittersweet feeling- I feel like it gave me all it needed to but I still wanted more. But a great story nonetheless.

Yup, feels really unfinished. I didn't like the 2nd story at all somehow. The first was pretty good and the 3rd was a bit...well I just didn't care for the other girl. Then again, I really dislike characters who refuse to break up because I can never understand what they think they're hanging on to.