nobile's manga / #5*(220)

ch 5

Yuki

Freshman behaves like the perfect boyfriend for exactly one week, if he hasn't fallen in love with that person by then, he breaks up with them and deletes their contact information. Despite all that, none of his exes will say anything bad about him. Curious about what was so special about him, Senior that is widely popular, but whom all girls have broken up with him saying he disappointed them, decides to ask him out. Very interesting premise, as usual the art is just absolutely gorgeous. Couldn't help but love both characters.

Truly awesome story with great characters. Most of these long-er stories tend to start slow, but this one had me hooked from the first chapter. Only thing I could complain about is about the Shine-dude... He was talking with Gideon about how he'd have to lay down his life for Ley/Lena, but I don't think I saw that happening at all...

Wow... Really amazing story, absolutely touching, I found myself unable to stop reading it, even though it was >75 chapters long x) ...Is it me or did Kurosaki look younger near the end, after he was able to fully give and accept his and Teru's love. In that vein, didn't Teru start looking older despite still being in High School (to the point that she and Kurosaki ended up looking like they were the same age, some early 20's)? And to finish that off, The moment Akira cut his hair, he started looking like a teenager or even a preteen!

Even though I wasn't that much on the overly detailed art, the story and narrative were so engaging, even from the first chapter I was already hooked and eager to read the next. If it had been physically possible for me, I would have read this in just one day, sadly half of my day didn't allow me to, so it happened in two. Ignore the 170 chapter count, the chapters are slightly shorter than most (16-20 pages each) and even with that, the story just grabs hold of you so much that you just go through chapters like lightning. There about 3/4 in I made the mistake of forgetting this was based on a real life story and dared consider "even though this thing has been killing off characters left and right, there's no way they're gonna kill off the main character, so it's all good!"... on the last 15 chapters I knew that there was no other way for this to end other than some miraculous fantastical ending that you only see in fluffy stories. The moment that he started seeing Rokka in her wedding dress.... it was just as good as if he had died right then, that's what happened to that other attacker dude that died early on the story (seeing his "future"). But even knowing all that, it still is pretty heart-wrenching as you're reading it happen (and if it's like me where the feeling stays, even after you finish it). I don't know how faithful was the mangaka's storytelling compared to the novel's author but they were DEFINITELY good at making you feel Buntarou's emotions, even as "non-expressive" as he was portrayed to be.

What can I say... I held off reading the last 5 chapters, not wanting this story to end. My seasonal allergies kicked in just as I decided to finish the story at last, I'm completely unable to breathe at this moment. I love the story, all the characters became so dear to me, seeing them say farewell was like saying goodbye to my own friends. I will definitely come back and read this story again, if only I could reconnect the same way with the ones I had to part with once.

I love these characters, Kanoko is absolutely awesome, Tsubaki is cute too... Although after Kanoko, my fav character is Yabuki... :P I really liked that this sequel didn't go along the same path its predecessor had being so heavily episodic. Letting her remain in the same school allowed for more new and recurring characters, bringing in a breath of fresh air to the series. I love the main characters (it really felt like for most of the series, Nadeoko's persona was eerily close to my own life experience), but many of the side characters were the ones that made the story a lot more interesting.

Oh my gosh, even when I didn't want to, it still had me tearing up a bit at the end... bittersweet story about two people who met at 3 different times in their lives and how they influenced and inspired each other to overcome hurdles.