GAKU LITERALLY HAS ZERO REGARD FOR HIBARI’S BOUNDARIES AND HE’S SO TOUCHY WITH HER 😭 THEIR RELATIONSHIP IS DEFINITELY INSTA-LOVEY BUT I LOVE THEM ALREADY 🧎🏻♀️🧎🏻♀️🧎🏻♀️
"I was so sure those were all terrible but I guess I don't give myself enough credit."
Oh my goodness!! The hype was 100% real with this series!
Usually with series I'm not familiar with, I'll scope out spoilers and see if I can read chapter one, but with this one, I decided to take a chance on it as the few non-spoiler posts I had seen I had deeply loved.
It was SOOOOOOO worth the risk as I LOVED this first volume!! I deeply loved seeing Hibari grow as a female lead just in this volume alone because she was extremely relatable! I may not be a graphic designer like she is, but her wanting to not go outside of her comfort zone to be bold or try new things because she's afraid was something I could relate to a lot. Seeing her make even just small steps of trying and realizing it wasn't as scary as thought it was spoke to me and inspired me, but also made me squeal when it came to her and Gaku because…
He is so much fun!! I love how he really is completely different then her, but is pushing her to really live out her full potential in spite of her fear or worries. The way he was encouraging her and giving compliments was so genuine even if it may seem like he's too free-spirited to be THAT genuine.
Also, with that said, I don't know if I exactly thought him to be a player, but I still appreciated the conversation Hibari has with one of Gaku's band members because it makes sure there are no misunderstandings that he is definitely NOT one. It was really really exciting to see Gaku be pretty unhinged and chaotic but also caring and loving towards Hibari.
The ending definitely makes me SUPER excited for what's to come because with all the squealing I did when reading, I was woefully unprepared to feel completely swept off my feet with that closing scene!! EEEEEPPP!!
Definitely recommending this to anyone who is looking for a college romance, polar opposites, and a fun story that has graphic design and music! Wonderful and strong first volume!
Choking on Love. There are certain times that I might as well choke, as referred on the title, because being too cheesy and cringey and just so corny. But there are certain times that I just can't help but smile. Overall, it's quite a good shoujo manga... I think. Fast faced in terms of relationship development. And the guy is too close, I swear, in real life, I'm gonna smack him real good if it were me. I guess it's that kind of shoujo revolving around "risque."
Anyway, beautiful art style!! I'm actually here for the art style, haha!
The plot isn't the most engrossing, and the things the main characters say, do, or think can be a bit embarrassing at times, but the art style is absolutely gorgeous, so I fear I will end up reading all the volumes anyway.
I’m not upset at these university romances that keep popping up, as they have such a different flavour from their high school counterparts sometimes. This one is more interesting than I figured it would be from its description.
There’s a lot of opposites attract to this particular tale, as Hibari accidentally gets tangled up with rock musician/painter Gaku after the latter destroys her laptop on the eve of an important assignment.
As things progress, he happily inserts himself into her life, but it’s not exactly a perfect fit when Hibari is very sensible and straight-laced, while Gaku is often riding whatever he’s focusing on in that particular moment. He’s incredibly stream of consciousness.
Some relationships are built on conflict and that’s definitely where this one puts down its foundation. Their initial encounter at Gaku’s place has them going at it with an ease that suggests they’re already closer than Hibari thinks.
By the time they’ve met twice, they’re already well on the way to a nice healthy mess of a romance. I really like the way that Hibari gets into Gaku’s lifestyle. Her interest and acknowledgement of it make it easier when he’s constantly up in her grill. And he is. Constantly.
Of course, unstarching a shirt isn’t that easy and poor Hibari is not yet suited to handle the entirety of Gaku’s laidback existence. But, part of that is down to her own confidence in herself. It’s very telling that she can’t see the effort she puts into her own work, only that it does better when Gaku helps.
And that lack of confidence further compounds her issues trying to get closer to him. Not that she is, except she totally is, but then Gaku comes on a little too strong for her, but it turns out her assumptions about him are wrong. It’s a whole thing. I did love how she was able to separate her offer to help from her personal feelings, that was a really nice touch.
The relationships are really interesting and, much as I was underwhelmed when the No Hope Rival showed up, Gaku’s reaction to him was so wildly unique that I’m hoping what comes out of it will be more interesting than it first seems.
It’s a cute love story that has a really different vibe than most of these. People second-guess, they make bad assumptions, but they also apologize and learn how to interact better. The budding feelings are a much different flavour than normal and that makes this worth a look.
3.5 stars - I’ll let this sit at a 3 for now. It was good, really set up some fun scenarios, but didn’t quite grab me hard enough for rounding up. I’m definitely happy to come back and see what happens next time though.
overall series rating:4.5 stars i was straight up giggling and kicking my feet. had to dock some points for the insta-love which is why i rounded this down instead of up, but the main couple is so so SO good that i genuinely almost don’t care😭😭 the side characters are really interesting too and i just can’t wait to see where this is going. i am already obsessed with gaku, why does he have to be fictional?😭🤧
I really wanted to like this manga, and to be fair there were things to like: absolutely gorgeous art, a feisty female protagonist, a clearly determined male love interest. Yet, it still felt lacking.
The female protagonist was feisty one minute but unsure the next. It made no sense and made her character progression feel very muddled and her decisions unclear. The love interest was very unpredictable but in a much more interesting way than the protagonist.
I genuinely don’t understand why the mangaka decided to make the characters all artists without obviously having any knowledge as to the different art disciplines. Clearly they did a fantastic job with the art in this manga as it looked exceptional, but that doesn’t mean they know anything about graphic design or oil painting, and it really showed. One of the storylines revolved around the protagonist “designing” the love interest’s band’s poster—and I use the word designing loosely, as did the mangaka. The protagonist basically took the love interest’s pre-existing oil painting (which looked more like an acrylic painting) dribbled some paint across it and thereby ruining it, and then added some calibri text to it. It was laughable to say the least. It really undermined the integrity of the manga to have all the characters standing around raving about the protagonist’s nonexistent graphic design skills after she made something which I could have made in PicCollage at the age of 10. I mean, if all your university degree in graphic design has taught you is how to use the colour red and where to place the text on a poster, then you can go ahead and give your degree right back!
I think this manga has potential, it’s just moving at break-neck speed without laying any proper foundations for individual character progressions as well as relationship progression. And the mangaka needs to get the protagonist to change careers or maybe do some research into good graphic design projects so they can stop showing blurry pieces of paper like they’re trying to hide the good stuff.
This was so cute, and I ended up loving it. Gaku is such an unconventional love interest, and while I feel like I'm still learning his character, he is sincere, chaotic, and unabashedly himself. And that's much of what draws Hibari to him as well. I am pleasantly surprised that we get a mutual confession of sorts by the end of this volume already, but I'm looking forward to seeing this relationship grow. The art is gorgeous too by the way.
Le shojo dans toute sa splendeur. C'était sympa en vrai, j'ai passé un bon moment et j'ai ri. Je lirai sûrement la suite (même si je ne me l'achèterai pas.)
Super refreshing to have a shoujo with college-aged characters in them. Really love the artwork and character designs, as well as the premise for this manga!
Cute college romance. I love the art perspective and how they are both in art related majors but different forms. I enjoy Hibari as the lead, she is smitten but not jumping in the deep end right away having her head about her which I appreciate. Gaku we didnt get alot of personality from so far outside of smooth popular guy but it seems cute enough to be interested in where it goes.
C'était une histoire assez mignonne, mais très basique. Et, ca va un peu trop vite pour moi? Comme d'habitude je préfère les personnages secondaires dans ce genre d'histoire ! Jou et Ari sont adorables, j'ai besoin d'un Jou dans ma vie... ah !