Itsuki Shu's manga / #Romance(15)

4.5/10. Sweet story, fun characters at first, average art, romance left a lot to be desired, bad ending. The author wasn't 100% comfortable with the romance idea and it showed. Strong season 1, comedy, slice of life, fluff. Season 2 felt rushed and the ending hastily wrapped up loose threads in an unsatisfying way. Could have had a few more chapters to flesh out the ending. -SPOILERS AHEAD- I don't know if this was an author issue or because we lost chapters, but suddenly the main character jumped from vaguely blushing at the things Jim did to unambiguously liking him after the jump from S1 to S2. Despite my gripes with the story, I really liked Jim. I found him frustrating at first, but came to understand him and relate to his social awkwardness. Ilene was... Ok? Sometimes I loved her. Season 1 Ilene was funny and her reactions were totally believable. Season 2 Ilene seemed juvenile, despite these characters being adults. Adults can also be 'bad' at romance, however, both characters are frustratingly like tweens who can't figure out how to say they like each other. It's unreasonable to assume that Ilene has never been in a relationship or been in love by the age of 27. While there are understandable reasons why Jim would find it difficult to get a girlfriend, Ilene is well adjusted and is initially attracted to her Evangelion looking co-worker (who I also really liked by the end despite the rushed conclusion making his actions unbelievable at this point). One of the draws of a story set with adults is that you can explore the actual relationship of these characters without the boring- will they won't they- plot a huge proportion of shojou manga utilises. I was waiting for Ilene to take the reigns and confess so the good stuff could happen. Then the ending cucked me out of even the token first kiss. It's a real shame there was so much there to explore here- an office romance is interesting. He's her boss; if they got into a relationship the dynamic in the office would change, she'd likely have to move to a different department and the couple could navigate their new workload without the support of one another. Give the office a redemption arc, particularly Evangelion boy. He was already pretty cool, but it would have been nice to see him become friends with Jim more naturally. The internal conflict around whether he should betray his friend or stay loyal to his company would be interesting (Unintentional Love Story is a BL that explores this idea but with a lover. However, it is far from perfect and falls into its own traps and tropes). This is really only a josei because the love interest isn't initially conventionally attractive and we are told they're adults. But this really is just a story aimed at a shojou demographic. The tropes it fits into are the same, Jim (despite being a really sweet guy) is not someone most adults would choose to date. He's a total oblivious idiot in a childish, naive way. Ilene, the adult in the situation, falls in love out of nowhere and has a weird cliche 'we both like the same guy so I'm gonna tell you' moment. When you stop and think- this woman is 27??? This whole thing seems silly. HOWEVER, this doesn't make it all bad. For its audience, teens, this is an alright story with plenty of things to enjoy about the characters and their lives. A story for adults? Nah, this ain't it chief. For a better comedy-romcom for adults, I'd suggest Wotakoi. The characters are superficially similar to this story but better in almost every way. The romance is also a slow burn but in a realistic and (mostly) mature way.

9/10 Absolutely love this story. The whole cast is great, please read it!!!

8/10 Really enjoyable, our main couple are so in sync with eachother and are generally able to intuit the others thoughts and feelings without annoying misunderstandings muddying the waters. I'm genuinely impressed with the relationship between Bina and Lake and was pleasantly surprised by their interactions. There were some minor annoyances like the stereotypical "I don't know what this feeling is" trope. So much of my frustration would be lifted if these characters said that they aren't in love and made an excuse rather than the- "oh, this is an unexplained phenomenon O///O What is this unknown feeling in my chest? :O I feel so warm and uncomfortable inside ". Stop it. When the characters are adults or even teens it makes no sense that they wouldn't understand how love feels. I digress, some other things could bother readers like the way that the conflicts were solved with relative ease. However, for me the draw is our main couple and they make it worth the read. 8/10.

2/10 Wow, this sucks. What an absolute waste of time for everyone involved.

4/10 Pretty boring

8/10 The whole package, wholesome couple, great side characters, nice art. The sex scene was kinda average and not really necessary, although the solo masturbation scene was interesting for the facial expressions.

7/10 I liked this but I wasn't entirely sold on the drama. The story could've used a little bit more breathing room to help us understand the characters feelings. I also didn't really like the tropey dumb protagonist being easily understood because he's so nice and dumb. Just not really my thing. I rated 3* because this is way closer to a 6 than an 8. REREAD - Upon re-read I have realised this is probably better than my first opinion! I think my negative feelings were coloured by how tired I was on naive MCs when they’re supposed to be adults. I do think the MC can be annoying but his naivety is part of his character and intentional in a way that makes him understandable. The newer plots giving him more layers to his personality really leads you to understand why he is the way he is. I do, however, think his boyfriend is kind of annoying now, lol. I hope he matures in the coming volumes.

7.5/10 An uncomfortable look into the mind of a person who has lost a loved one and the guilt of living while they are gone. This story expertly builds tension as you wonder if our main character is really going to die. Even our stoic love interest has no spark for life and those feelings manifest in a way distinct from our heroine. Each character is flawed in believable ways and even if you don't agree with how it ends, you can easily root for everyone's happiness. While I did like this story and saw myself in our suicidal main character, I did have some issues. There isn't enough time given to show our characters experiencing grief. We don't even see the father or the brother grieving at all and the stepmother only gets a couple of pages to express her feelings and regret. I think just a little more breathing room for the family would have been nice. Overall, I enjoyed myself. Good story.

6.5/10 I liked the main character but this one was honestly just ok

4/10 Sein was robbed.