Aagh...I kept putting this off because the art just isn't to my taste but I finally got over it saying to myself I've read great manga with worse art anyways. I'm so happy happy HAPPY I finally read this!
Just love. While I was reading this, I started enjoying it and appreciating how rare it is to find shoujo mangas like this. There aren't any typical stereotypes that are strictly adhered to even though it seems that way in the beginning.
I kept assuming superficial reasons for the drama which I usually expect nowadays from shoujo manga but the plots actually have depth. There is reason for pain and although
Midori cries a lot. Like a lot. Which might have turned off some people because they automatically think it's a sign of being a wimp or the usual weak crybaby heroine
, you get to really feel for the characters.
As one reviewer said, I too wanted more from the ending. Although many are satisfied with it, I wanted to see Akira one more time or at least a scene with them being lovey-dovey (which I usually don't go for but I so wanted to see it here).
Those that would usually be labeled antagonists aren't made evil for the heck of it, just to add drama which is done soooo many countless times in other manga (ex. evil dad for the sake of having drama or slutty mom just to give a reason for the protagonist's reactions/psych). The threads are tied up really well despite my want for more from the ending.
It's so hard to find shoujo like this nowadays. You do find some but most of the time, the shoujo genre is chuck full of painful cliches, putting off so many readers from really finding the gems.
I assumed so much on this and was proven wrong from the very start.
The drama about the main couple getting together that is usually dragged painfully on in some mangas doesn't happen here. Here, it's more believable. The guy isn't some brooding bastard hesitant to try a relationship and how they develop together is believable, not the hit-over-the-head kind of falling in love.
The depth of the drama was unexpected because I automatically assumed they were going to be shallow misunderstandings. I cheered with the characters, I cried, I laughed, then sobbed a bit more.