Bokura ga Ita
Gaddamn I'm really really glad I read this when I was older. When I was 13 I tried reading like a few chapters but I dropped it cause I didn't like the whole dead ex trope and stuff and just forgot about it. Picked it up again when I saw it at half-priced books and decide to give it a shot. The first half is them in highschool and all the petty highschool drama shoujo stuff you get, but the second half takes a turn and has a time skip of 5 years into the future where Yano (male lead) goes no contact. A lot of people don't like time skips but I'm really glad this one had one. In their highschool days, it technically could've ended like that, with Yano going to his mother's place and him and Nana doing long distance and somehow working out, but it would've felt like something was missing. I feel like the author ahd the plan to make it like this from the beginning, as Yano really healed by the end of the manga. If I read it when I was younger, I don't think I would be able to grasp that and would probably shit on this manga for being too unnecessarily complicated. I could get all deep about this but basically I think it was supposed to be complicated because relationships are complicated. Also there were a lot of banger lessons/quotes in this manga that really resonated especially in the second half. I don't think this is for everyone though. It is a romance, but I def view it as more of a coming of age/yano's healing process after dealing with everyone he's lost in his life. i think the best part of this manga was that I really noticed just how young they were when they got so deep into their relationship. They were just kids who made stupid kid decisions and it affected the outcome of their relationships 5 years into the future. Just again I think it just depends on your perspective and if you'd like it or not. I would've liked it even if nana didn't end up with yano or if she ended up with take or if she ended up with no one. It's just a very sentimental manga
Koishi Tagari no Blue