Jul 23, 2022
Holy FUCK I did not expect it to be THIS good!
I had a bit of a rough week going on that messed up my sleep-schedule a bit and last night I decided to browse for a few manga to read to pull an all-nighter on. I think I couldn't have been any happier than to stumble upon this gem while doing so.
Having said that, in light of the fact that there's no review for this one yet, I decided that this is asbolutely one that deserves to have one and have resolved to fill in that role because I want this underrated masterpiece to get
...
even a little more recognition.
Without further ado, let's start this one (TL,DR at the end), there will be very few spoilers and a few comparisons to other manga such as Bloom Into You, but they will be marked as such or hidden away.
STORY (9 - 9.5/10):
This is already an aspect where it stands out in comparison to other yuri manga. While a lot of other manga in this genre focus more on the cute and wholesome side of the characters' relationship without trying to tell much of a story and end up as just ok - good, this one, much like Bloom Into You, manages to tell a story outside of just the romantic relationship of the two main characters and presents it in an outstanding way.
The story is about high school girl Ito Hinata who admires the up-and-coming model and actress Sumika. As fate may have it, one day per complete coincidence she gets to meet said actress randomly on the street and, while getting invited to play an extra in the drama she's filming, realizes that she isn't that ideal person she has admired all this time. What this entails exactly is something I wanna go into in the character portion.
While this isn't exactly an original story I cannot really find any real flaws in it that would deter me from thinking this is perfect, in that manner too it is similar to Bloom Into You.
9 - 9.5/10
CHARACTERS (10/10):
The characters in this story all feel like actual people with real struggles, hardships and development they go through rather than just your typical run-of-the-mill romance anime and manga characters. They are incredibly relatable and their dialogue and relationships just feel natural.
While anything I could say probably wouldn't do justice to how good they actually are, I wanna go into a bit more detail about the few important characters. Next to the usual stuff that their respective role in society has to deal with, all of them also have to deal with a good amount of their own personal struggles that make everyone unique and distinct from another and gives them their own personality.
Ito Hinata:
Our main protagonist is high-school girl Ito and immediately at the beginning of the manga she gets presented a question by her friend Tomoyo about what she would do if the person she admired turned out different from her ideal version of them and she answers she'd probably try to distance herself from them.
When she is presented with that EXACT situation though, she doesn't really get a chance to do so and instead ends up getting pulled into the life of her idol Sumika. Because of a past trauma involving a person she looked up to like a sister being different from what she thought, she lost all her confidence in herself and is now at a complete loss of what she's going to do, especially because after a few meetings Sumika suddenly declares she loves her and she now has to deal with these newfound feelings inside her that she doesn't quite understand how to process.
In the short time this manga had to tell its story, Ito is the thing I'm most impressed about. The reason for that is the fact that the author managed to make her so relatable that you could easily picture yourself being her and that through the development she goes through cuz of meeting Sumika and the other characters in the story turns from this timid girl with no self-confidence into someone who actively takes action and fights for the ones she loves without it ever feeling rushed or not warranted in any way. She's also smart enough to know EXACTLY who to ask which questions and what she should tell others and what not.
IF she actually had a character tag here on MAL, I'd have put her in my favorites immediately after finishing it.
Next we have our idol
Sumika:
She's an actress and model that's been in showbizz for almost her entire life, courtesy of her familial situation, and has to put up a front whenever she's working or interacting with fans. Besides the usual problems that arise in her line of work like the general problems of the showbizz scene and more and more false rumours turning up because of her increasing popularity, she also has to deal with her own personal situation that her mother abandoned her at a very young age, leaving her in the care of her uncle Kazu, and no one in the business looks at her actual self instead of the ideal version of her they conjured up in her head.
When she happens upon Ito, that completely changes and they soon develop a bond which makes her gradually show more and more of her real self to her and they start to support each other in their own personal struggles. Seeing how this all feels incredibly natural and they take their time to flesh out the feelings of each of these two girls, they might actually be among my favorite manga couples yet.
Kazu:
Kazu is the brother of Sumika's mother and after she left has taken in Sumika to live with him and has thus supported her behind the scenes from the time she was a little girl. He's just overall a really nice dude she can rely on and always ask for advice. There's not much else to say than that except for the fact that there's also a nice little surprise in the later chapters about him
Tomoyo and Tatsuki:
Tomoyo and Tatsuki are both school friends of Ito and like to hang out together to talk all kinds of stuff. They're also people that see Ito for who she really is and always support and give her advice and help her out in her daily school life, and they both just have great chemistry between each other and between them and Ito. And I'm sooooo glad they're not reduced to being just a background ship.
Miyana:
Miyana, or as she is lovingly called by her fans "Mya-na", is a coworker in the same agency as Sumika that quit her carrier as a singer in an idol band to become an actress and has to deal with the fact that she stands in Sumika's shadow. I don't want to go much into her, but I do wanna just say this:
I get it, you know, I understand why she is the way she is and why she does what she does, but FUCK HER. I hate her. But for a story like this, she is an absolutely neccessary character and the drama involving her did not feel forced and the way they resolved their issue was really nicely done
As this is my favorite aspect of the manga, I think I got a bit carried away with this portion, so I'll leave to the next ones with a perfect
10/10
ART (9/10):
While obviously not being the best I've seen in manga, not even for its own genre, the art itself is extremely beautiful, especially in the shots where the characters are smiling brightly or otherwise conveying powerful emotions. You always know exactly what the characters are feeling and the way they're brought to life through how they're drawn is quite honestly amazing. Oh and I love the sparkles in the background every time they smile or do something lovey-dovey like kissing.
9/10
ENDING/CONCLUSION (9.5/10):
I am someone that thinks that the conclusion to the story matters just as much as the journey itself, sometimes more sometimes less, and an ending that doesn't fit would ruin an otherwise incredible story.
BOY am I glad that I got just what I wanted with this one.
The ending perfectly resolves the issues at hand that the story presented over the course of its run and leaves you with a sweet and satisfying expression. Personally, and I already mentioned this in my Bloom Into You review (read that one too, I'm quite proud of that), I am a sucker for stories dedicating an entire chapter just for an epilogue to show what the characters are up to after the main story ends. And with this one, we get not only one but TWO entire chapters of just our two main characters' afterstory. Well, granted, one is a bonus chapter and thus decidedly shorter than the rest of the chapters. I don't think I could've been any happier with how this story presented its ending, though unlike BIY I did not quite expect that [REDACTED] would be the one on top, but it does make sense given their personaltities.
9.5/10
ENJOYMENT/EMOTIONAL IMPACT (9.5/10):
A big factor on how I rate stories is how they impact me emotionally and the connection they make me feel to them. This is one that excells in this aspect. Personally, I think Ito is one of the most relatable characters I've seen in a long time. Given that I am an unusually emotional person, I knew that there were probably gonna be a few scenes that would make me tear up, but I didn't quite expect there to be this many, both in terms of happiness and sadness, so that was certainly a really nice surprise. I could easily feel all the things the characters went through and what they felt while doing so, and for that alone, this will always have a special place in my heart.
9.5/10
Overall / TL,DR (9.5/10):
This is the perfect Yuri manga. I honestly wish every Yuri manga would be like this. It's a perfect drama with amazing dialogue and a carefully well-handled relationship between perfectly relatable characters. Probably one of my favorite manga couples ever. It is in a way a spiritual successor to my favorite romance manga, which you can probably already guess from the review is Bloom Into You, given both its themes and the fact that it manages to tell a rather unoriginal tale in such an outstanding manner that it just completely sucks you in without letting you go.
So, if you like Bloom Into You and want to read something similar, or if you just want to fill up that deep, gaping hole it left you with after you finished it, this manga is the one to go with. You won't regret it, and if you do, you can just blame it on me for making you waste your time then, I'll be happy to get roasted for it if it means this manga gets more recognition.
Oh and if you haven't read Bloom Into You yet, I have a question for you:
What the F are you even doing with your life? Go and read it NOW!
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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