I read some chapters from this manga when it first came out, but I dropped it because the ML was too much of a f**kboy. He would so easily agree to have sex or kiss any woman who asked him for "help". He also reminds me of those annoying ML's that fall into the category of "Hero saves the Beauty" and that is exactly what he does to the FL when she calls him one day to ask for help to get a stalker off her back. This manga also reminds me of a Cinderella story [which I despise]. FL is weak hearted with low self esteem, so I wouldn't really call her a "strong female lead". I don't know. Her character just rubs me the wrong way. There's nothing wrong with a FL with low self esteem and I've seen them grow into strong women from other novels and manga's I've read, but the FL in this manga is written poorly. Skip Beat had a low self-esteem FL, but she grew stronger and like-able as the story progressed. Not this FL. I don't despise her, but I also don't like her either. She just stayed on the neutral side to me.
As for the ML, I despised him. Not a likable character. He falls under the cliche smut ML department, reminds me too much of them to be honest. So what would be different from reading this to a smut manga? Not much. Same old story. The author tried to bring smut themes into a shoujo romance book that included topics on high-school students having sex and I applaud her for that, but that was poorly executed due to cliche characters. Not a single character was likable in this story. Ah, wait. Scratch that. Their was one character that I didn't find too bad. "Kai Takemura",
the friend of the ML in middle-school who got bullied.
This guy was the guy that I preferred FL ended up with in the end
! , but sadly that didn't happened. He backed off and decided to stay as friends with FL because he didn't want to hurt the ML feelings as they were friends since middle school.
Now that's a nice guy! He knows his limits and boundaries. ML on the other hand, does not know his limits and boundaries. Especially even before he started dating FL.
After dropping the series, I came back to read spoilers when I saw that this manga had already ended. And I have to say, it didn't get any better. More disappointment.
I was even more annoyed because one of the characters in the series that becomes the friend of the FL later on in the manga had a past relationship with the ML (they had sex out of her request and he FUCKING AGREED even though they were NOT dating). So many red flags with that. I also remember reading a spoiler that said that he kissed another girl to keep bullies off her [which he did the same to the FL to keep a stalker off her, like WTF?!]. I don't know how the fudge was he able "fall-in-love" with the FL after a kiss if he did the same thing to other girls (whom also had similar personalities to the FL, so it was weird that he didn't fall in-love with them too).
Gosh.This felt like a force relationship the author wanted to happen to get the plot in the direction of a "romance" story. sighs This is just poor story telling and character development. "Oh, I like that you are 'unique' after I kissed you"?! Like other woman aren't unique as well? Dude, every living thing was born with a unique set of features and personalities, though some people have similar personalities as they age and try to fit in with society standards. Funny thing is, he dated her because she was "unique" or "different" than the "other" women he's encounter in his life. What difference will it make if he meets another woman he defines as "unique/different" after meeting the FL? He must be BS me.
Even Skip Beat had better character development and plot, though it's still an on-going series and the genre is a bit different. But they both fall under the "romance shoujo" department with similar themes (unpopular FL changing and expressing herself more, ML caused her to view things differently and open up more - basically moral support for FL).
If the ML is like this in the manga during high-school, imagine how it is like after marriage. I don't care if he loves her now, but I can foresee unfaithfulness in this relationship in the future if things drift apart between the two. The ML is too loose. That's all I got to say.
Also, an apology for the crude language and some spoilers given. This manga made me so frustrated with the characters and plot development. I've read other mature romance books and even they're better than this. What kind of man has sex or gives kisses with every female who asks for help when they're not in a relationship?! That's just gross. I know men like this exist in real life and I still find it gross too. No matter what, it's not right and is rude especially if you do it to a girl (like the FL) who's just asking for HELP. Did he have to kiss her to get the stalker off her back? No! He could have just called the F'n police! THAT'S WHAT POLICE ARE FOR! ISN'T THIS MANGA SET IN MODERN SOCIETY?! They have phones, but don't know how to use it! Or is the police so useless there as well that they can't even ask them for help to get a stalker arrested?
I don't recommend reading this series. If you like cliche "playboy who treats every woman with care even if he has a girlfriend he loves because he thinks it's his job to cater to all those woman feelings as he wants to be the 'nice guy'", then be my guest and read it. But if you're like me and don't like stories/manga/etc like this, stay far away from this.
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