Tonari no Kashiwagi-san

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Do the main characters look like a perfect, womanly tsundere and a pathetic shy guy? They do? Well they are finally not. Finally, someone dared to make two characters that actually ARE alike in some aspects. The rule of 'opposites attract' is finally out of practice in at least ONE manga! Bring the champagne, we're about to celebrate one of the better girl-ish reads out here, Tonari no Kashiwagi-san!


The idea of having two characters eager to befriend each other is so very simple, so it truly begs a question of why hasn't anyone else thought of that before? The progress of the light plot is ... nice and steady and it isn't cliched as all weeb toons are these days, despite clearly being a classic shoujo rom-com read.

The characters are actually in a solid relationship, so here's a point to that.

Lovingly light humoured.

Definitely not a prefect read but some may find themselves enjoying it a bit more than their animu conscience tells them they should.

I made a review on this manga already but I thought I re-do this because I want people to feel what I am feeling about this manga... One thing: This manga is the true concept of MOE...
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Story: The story is the usual high school genre but I gave the story a 9 because the story is not on the fact of the high school itself but the building of relationship of the guy and the girl... And then another couple comes in which makes the story really interesting at the same time...

Art: I don't know what to say... Perfect? Improbable? Miraculous? The Art in ... this manga is AMAZING. It can't be described in words... This manga has the one of the BEST art i have EVER seen in a manga as of currently...

Character: Original and explicit... The main focus of the characters are mostly the female characters not the male... So pay more attention to the characters of the female than the male... Kashiwagi Kotone-chan is the type where she cannot approach people easily because she is a otaku but not proud of it... And her best friend who is the sharp one and knows everything about Kotone-chan. Let me say, epic character matches :D

Enjoyment: From what I see at the moment, the romance and the mistakes made by the guy protagonist is the main enjoyment to this manga as of currently...

People who have not read this, find time..NO make time... I am writing this review right before my mock exam to tell you how amazing this manga is... You need to read this....

Okay while the art isn't terrible everything else about this story is. The story is boring with the only real tension coming from the hidden identity. Everything else is really slice of life but with no possible twists this story becomes very bland. The love aspect makes me want to gag. The only character that the story even focuses on past the superficial is Kashiwagi and only enough to know that she loves to draw, is socially awkward, and is afraid of being unpopular (despite fact she is only shown to have two friends). The main thing that upsets me is the protagonist. The protagonist ... should be one of the most interesting and developed character in any work. This protagonist is a sycophantic, apologetic, loser. It seems his only purpose is to pine after and support Kashiwagi. In real life this guy would be considered creepy in any format. Either way I read this on a whim because the synopsis seemed interesting but I was wrong. Don't waste your time.

This manga is a waste of time. The art is very well done, but that is the only thing it has going for it. Instead of breaking the review down into several full, developed paragraphs, I'm just going to give each section a couple of sentences, because there really is nothing to review in this.

The story is non-existent. It advances a little bit in the first few chapters, then the main characters make absolutely no progress the final 67 or so chapters. Two of the side character's story progress, but I'm not going to give it credit when the main story arc does nothing ... over the majority of the 70 chapters. I shouldn't have to read garbage after garbage chapter to see a couple of pages of side story advancement. The ending of chapter 70 feels incredibly unsatisfying, and nothing ever really happened.

The art is great: the attention to detail, the facial expressions, just everything. If you want to see expertly drawn characters, just flip through the manga and ignore everything.

The main characters are terrible. The male MC is whiny, and borderline creepy. In real life he wouldn't be friendless because he's an otaku, it would be because he's an idiot who makes people feel uncomfortable. He talks about becoming a better person several times, but up until the most recent (and final?) chapter he is still literally the same whiny creep, with no development. The female lead is also stale. She develops a lot in a few chapters, then never again. While the male MC is creeping on her hardcore, she never really learns what it means to be in love, and she never learns to accept herself for what she is. The entire time she is afraid of being disliked for being an otaku, and losing her friends (though I'd like to reference another reviewer here who cleverly points out she's never shown having more friends than the male MC and her best friend). By the end, I was thinking as creepy as the male MC is, he deserves better than someone who would rather be cold to him in public than revel her otaku status. The side characters actually aren't that bad, especially the side female. The really show development, and are likable, but likewise with the story they don't redeem the manga as you have to read through page after page of garbage to get to anything with them.

The enjoyment is there a couple of times, but because the manga repeats the same few things over and over, anything enjoyable or funny gets old fast. Also, there's several scenes where the male MC is being so weird or creepy, you kinda feel awkward in real life. It's hard to enjoy something when you feel like the guy talking should just shut up, leave everyone alone, or grow up.

Overall, the manga isn't worth reading. It's 70 chapters of mostly nothing with terrible characters. No amount of good art can redeem that.

One of a kind is sometimes used exaggeratedly but this manga truly is like no other both in story and in art style.

Romantic anime and manga are always the same and it's either a secondary story line or the main in an unrealistic ecchi. This manga does it more simple but it is a good change that can make your heart stutter with excitement.

The characters aren't anything special but I fell in love with all of them anyway because they are so life like and relatable , Having the story and characters more life like and real brings out unparalleled beauty.

speaking about unparalleled beauty, the ... art is magnificent in a "cuteness overload" sort of way, it is as advanced as "One-punch Man" while being soft and neat as "Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu".

This manga I like and recommend and it is definitely worth your time, whoever you may be.
Lastly, of course, Salute to Shimotsuki-sensei.

To be honest this is my second time reading this manga this is because the first time i read this back then, it was not yet finished i guess it only have 50-60 chapters available at that time, well putting that aside this aside i finished re-reading this manga(completely) in just two days(The same day and definite time while writing this review), yeah it still took me a lot of time but that's because i still don't want yet to finished reading this manga, yeah that's why it took me two days, but what they say all things must come to an end to ... open a new path for a good start, anyway this is my full review for this manga.

Like almost romance/comedy/slice of life it started with a cliche which is classic and popular for a lot of manga readers out there who are also fan of this Genre. The story revolves around two people a boy(the MC) and a girl(Kashiwagi Kotone The MOE Waifu!!!), a boy who has a little crush(one sided mind you. which is pretty cliche) to his neighbor(the main heroine Kashiwagi Kotone) who eventually became his friend, then they're story start from there.

To be honest the MC is kind of lame(well he really is) which is extremely cliche in romance/comedy genre but with a twist there's no harem tag for this manga but the MC has that kind of attitude just like those normal harem protagonists(yep almost all of them are KY), putting that aside i'm not against about it,in fact it's the opposite i kinda like it(Actually a mixed feeling i like, because it mostly portrays us guys on how afraid we are to make a move to someone we like cause we don't want to ruin what we have to that person and at the same time i dislike it as a reader because i really want the MC to man up and confess his feelings already), yeah yeah most of you would drop it halfway or not gonna pass this one but hey give it a shot i assure you you'll find it cute(MOE is real in this mind you!)

Now you decided to read it, here's a few tips of advice be patient have something sweet beside you( a hot chocolate would work at least for me :D )
cause this will really a heck of a ride, you will have a lot of FacePalm but hey you already read it, might as well finished it. It's worth it guys. The ending is definitely worth so read it. By any chance you've already read a manga similar to I's and Ichigo 100% then this manga will be a treat for you.

Lastly i just want to say that i really enjoyed and love this manga it was one of those manga that i keep looking forward to read the next chapter back then when it was still not completed and now that it's completed i feel kind of sad cause i became really attached to this manga and i'll definitely gonna re-read this again in the near future for Kashiwagi Kotone(My Waifu!!! She's really a Perfect definition of MOE).

PS: Apparently there's a sequel for this manga, Which is titled Tonari no Kashiwagi-san After Days(I still haven't read it yet since it was still not published but i saw a leak already, so yeah waiting for that sequel to come up). Oh boi i feel energized again!!!!(by the time i'm writing this review it's already 4:45 AM). So i guess this is the fresh start, The sequel("Rejoicing").
Well that's all for me, Hope this review helps you to decide whether to read this manga or not and hopefully you do read it, in fact just read it. Treat yourself. well that's all i'm signing out!!! :D

This manga is focused on 4 characters essentially. The MC and the main girl and the secondary friends.

Basically this story is a classic slice of life, school, romance. There is no drama but it doesnt mean the story is not serious. MC is the pathetic cliche otaku and he will quickly fall in love with his classmate, a shy and mysterious popular girl that seems cold because she never talks to anyone. They will learn to be partner and MC will quickly confess (it's important to note that, it's not that much a spoiler, it's just for you know that it's not of those manga ... where MCs are tenses and never admit their feelings). Both lack of communicating skills (rest assured it wont be used to force useless, frustrating and forced drama, just some little misunderstandings quickly solved and not frustrating).

To prevent that and help them, the 2 others characters from above will help. MC's friend (a normal yes life teenager) and girl's friend (an overprotective tsundere).

The romance is virgin's type. Understand by this that you wont see sex, ecchi scenes or a character that will "attack" his/her crush. Thus romance development is not the fastest ever seen but not the slowest. As I already said, it's not the typical shounen where both MCs are tenses and will never admit their feelings like you have everytime in romcom. The characters will act in a cute way to delight their crush.

The characters are not bad. MC is cliche but not tense. He's true regarding his feelings and if he creates a problem he will do everything to solve it. The main girl is cute and naive. She can do a bunch of things to delight MC. The only complaint is that she was too fuzzy with her feelings regarding MC. She was almost unreasonable with MC but it's not that much a problem and actually it can be understandable. Imagine being confessed by someone who talks with you for 2 weeks only.. MC's friend is more insightful about relationship without being a player and finally the girl's friend is the cliche tsundere but she will enable progress between both MC because when there is a problem between them, she wont hesitate to yell on MC to force him to move.

The art is good and modern.

To conclude, this manga is a good romance read if you are not looking for a serious drama or a stupid romcom only focused on comedy. It's cute and light hearted. I rate it 7.5.

I couldn't wait to finish this whole series just so I can rant on the single thing that dragged this series down from a 9 to a 7.

First, the story is simple enough. Pure luck favors the MC when an accident happens that lets him make a connection to the talented, beautiful, and kind FMC. From there, they slowly build their relationship from friends to something more. There are also two side couple stories which really aren't that interesting.

I found all the characters here satisfying, or at the very least, tolerable. Except one. The fucking MC. Yuuto has got to be one of the most ... annoying characters I have EVER read about, and I've read a lot. He is absolutely pathetic and unlikeable. Why? He is the epitome of insecurity. You would think 60 chapters or so where he is constantly affirmed by friends around him as well as the very girl he likes would improve his view of himself little by little. There is no antagonist here whatsoever. Not one single person or even circumstance puts him down as a person. But nope. Until the very end, his droning monologues about how pathetic and insecure he is makes me want to puke. His neverending apologies to his imagined mistakes is severely annoying. His chibi panic mode stopped being funny before the 20th chapter, but you'll be getting that constantly on every single fucking chapter. This is a character that essentially remains unchanged for about 3/4ths of the whole series. The only times he steps up is when the mangaka arbitrarily gives him bursts of confidence when he confesses which is so inconsistent with the attitude the mangaka gave him almost all throughout the series. What are his redeemable qualities? He's a nice guy. That's pretty much it, and he's not even that good at it. He is even unintentionally rude to the FMC and other characters several times. He doesn't excel at anything. In fact, he is pretty much bad at almost EVERYTHING, be it people, communication, studies, handling stress, confidence, amusement rides, decisiveness. Oh, and all his pitifulness carries over to the sequel, so TWO YEARS AFTER THE ENDING, he is still the same laughably pathetic guy that even a friend outright calls him out on it. You think he's gonna change after that? LOL nope.

If it wasn't for the main character, this would have been so much better to me. After finishing this, the mere memory of Yuuto just puts a bad taste in mouth. If you can stomach this pathetic excuse for a character, then kudos to you.

First ever review.

After reading most of the chapters, I can conclude that I do in fact find this manga a meh. It's not too bad. It has plenty of cringy moments, but there is an equal share of sweetness to it. It's one of those mangas you just check off your list and move on, although if you are an otaku you can probably relate to this more.

Story - 6

There's not much to the story. It mostly involves character relationship development so nothing much happens. The progression is normal and the pacing doesn't feel off, so there's not much to worry about it.

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... Art - 6

The art is nothing special. It's more on the moe side of the 'anime art-style' spectrum, but it's okay on the eyes.

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Characters - 8

Now, this score is a different story. First off, it's the average between the two main supporting characters and two main characters. Basically, it's the average for both couples. Now for the division:

Main characters - 5
Main supporting characters - 10

For the main characters, they are a very tiring bunch. The guy is an wimpy otaku airhead who can't keep his thoughts together and always relies on the main supporting characters for help, especially the male supporting character. The girl is a clumsy dandere who draws really well; she has some great reactions though. The only thing they have in common is their otaku interests.

For the main supporting characters, they are the salvation of this piece of work. The guy is confident, and loyal. He takes the initiative and isn't afraid to act when it's necessary. The girl is an overprotective tsundere that cares for her friend a lot and likes to put up a front.

The other supporting characters aren't that all important, but they help give exposition on the character's personalities.

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Overall - 7

It's not too good, not too bad. It's something to check off your manga list. The only thing that saved this manga from being terrible is the main supporting characters.

*possible spoilers*
*possible spoilers*

Personal opinion:
The main supporting characters are the only saving grace of this manga. Their side story romance is much cuter and doesn't feel annoying unlike the main character's. They have a mature take on things (although the tsundere side of the supporting girl gives it some spice) and help the main characters somehow gain their own foothold on things.

Tonari no Kashiwagi-san is a fun slice of life manga.

Story: The story isn't something super good or anything, but it isn't bad either. Although some parts of the main setting were solved rather quickly, the whole slice of life feel to it is still very fun and entertaining.

Art: The are I initially like way back in 2010 when i first began to read it. The art improved as the manga went on, it kept being refined into what it is today, and it's great! I love it. I gave it a 10 because of this.

Character: The characters are pretty interesting, though sometimes the supporting characters ... shine more than the main characters. The main guy is actually very realistic, I really liked how much I could relate to the guy (though some may hate this about him).

I really enjoy every chapter of this manga and am always looking forward to the next chapter. This is a romantic comedy slice of life, so if you have a problem with at least 2 of those, though you probably won't like it.
Highly recommend it though!

Currently only read up to 23 chapters but I'll consider reading more in the future and post about it here..

Story is pretty un-original with the whole secret otaku meets a otaku and blah blah blah fall in love. The art isn't amazing nor is it bad it's pretty much common for manga and it's really nothing special. Characters are the thing I most hate about it. The main male is an absolute idiot and is one of the "weakest/beta" characters I've ever seen,. y'know when it comes to a confession and the girl says "I've never really thought of it that way, I don't even ... see him as a man let alone someone I like like that.." you'd get pretty hurt by that right? But noooo.. He just strolls on up and declares a bunch of non-sense and it's kinda stupid to see him make a fool of himself and it just looks completely unrealistic..

I might update this in the future, probs not..

"If anybody normal saw me from the outside, I think they'd think im boring"

This in essence wraps up the manga for me. The MC to me is flavorless, unimaginative, typical, and most of all, boring. He's so boring to me to the point where in the same chapter where it mentions his name I'd forget it the next page. However, this manga is still pretty good and I think they understood that his character was so damn pitiful and well, boring.

To start, this manga is his character arc, you may think it's mostly about the relationships and though you wouldn't be wrong his character ... arc along with the 3 other main characters are what really drive this show to the finish line. It's him becoming good enough and Sayaka's arc is really one of the best.

There is something I really like though and that's the fact that the interactions are unique. The conflicts as well, there were so many times when I though they'd bring in a love-triangle or some antagonist character but instead it created internal problems between that needed to be solved instead of some uninvited third party, truly enjoyed that.

The ending is a bit lackluster but beyond that the manga has its really good moments and it's truly truly wonderful.

It's no masterpiece but damn was it a fun 80 chapters!