pluckaduck's manga / #heartwarming(9)

i didnt cry but god, i almost did. for a debut (first) work, it was really well-written, philosophical, heartwarming and touching. the second chapter is about the interconnected stories of multiple individuals, which adds another layer to the emotional impact.

The restaurant owner acts as the mysterious narrator and bystander as he recounts to us various stories about the customers of his shop- the ups and downs of their lives, from the point where they first come into his shop. his role is very passive- he just fills in the info for these stories without moralistic judgment of these individuals. they're mundane, grounded, and relatable, and never fail to be interesting. it's not particularly deep but they are diverse, and the shop serves as the focal point for these individuals from different areas of life to connect over food and stuff, develop friendships and bonds, and share their stories with other customers... overall, this manga is quite soothing and heartwarming.

they are such perfect complements to each other. asahi grounds mitsuki who in turn soothes him with his love and adoration. the kind, knowledgable, and sensitive tsundere x emotive, affectionate ball of sunshine. giving this work any less than 5 or even 4 stars is a crime bc the sheer heartwarming-ness this story emanates is so palpable it makes you optimistic about the good nature of people and envious of an adorable wholesome relationship even if you arent looking for one.

great mana with complex respectful and nuanced depiction of hearing disablities and the developments were great and story was genuinely heartwarming at first but it really frustrating with the lack of communication and stagnant growth of taichi and the ml. it falls for the standard cliche/trope and storytelling of shoujo manga where they suppress their problems until it just boils over in this very dramatic emotional scene. taichi and the ml's relationship was steadily growing (ie. taichi talking about his own childhood and becoming more comfortable with intimacy), but the characters themselves, especially taichi (after he gets the job at sig-n) doesn't grow and his character becomes a caricature. the ml as well. the entirety of ml's reasons can be summed up with "I love/admire him so much but don't want to burden him so I wont tell him my problems" while taichi was just naive and not telling stuff either. I felt this particular arc (volume 3) was misplaced and was just incredibly stagnating. i understand a relationship between a hard-of-hearing and a normal person has relatively more issues than normal one, but that's no excuse for not having a talk to lay bare of their insecurities. like it completely just sets back all their progress. so I do think if the manga just leaned more on the heartwarming/healing aspect instead of creating unnecessary drama for the sake of it, it would be a masterpeice