Hey, this is kind of okay. It’s not perfect, even an aged up faux-delinquent story is still just a faux-delinquent story, but it’s certainly worthwhile if you’re into the genre.
The opening of this is a hell of a downer though. Poor Tomoko is not one to stand up for herself and this volume is large swathes of her being trampled on by her job, her boss, her coworkers, and her mother. At least her dog doesn’t bite her.
Ryohei is rough around the edges, but no points for figuring out that he has the proverbial heart of gold. In a world that doesn’t care about Tomoko, well, he certainly does and he’s happy to insert himself into her field of vision.
I think your enjoyment of this mostly comes down to how much you can endure seeing Tomoko getting dumped on. While things pick up as they go, she’s still not quite there in terms of asserting herself. It’s also her predominant personality trait at the moment.
Outside of the wallowing, she and Ryohei are clearly attracted to one another, but I don’t think that I would quite say that they have chemistry, precisely. Ryohei is mostly a nice guy, but he acts, for lack of a better term, weird at some points.
It makes for a choppier read than intended; the storytelling doesn’t always gel quite how I’d like. Some of it is fun enough, but there’s something missing here that would make it a great book rather than an okay one.
Partly it’s down to the aforementioned chemistry, I suspect. On the one hand, these two get along and bond, sure, but it feels pretty thin. While she eventually comes around, I think the kiss is definitely done a specific way to make things more equal, Tomoko is very wary of Ryohei for quite a while.
It’s an okay romance and, if you like the whole ‘rough guy who’s actually a softie’ angle, this will absolutely fulfill its stated mission. On that basis it’s certainly not offering up anything it can’t provide. Then again, something like Love, That’s An Understatement mops the floor with it.
3.5 stars - a lean 3.5 at that, but we’ll see how it goes next time out. It’s a rocky start, in more ways than one, but I didn’t hate it and there’s enough in it to bring me back for a second volume.