Karin and her friends begin preparations for their trip to Okinawa, and Kiriya's past slowly unravels after his father forbids him to go on the trip. Karin and Kiriya's relationship blossoms, but intimacy rises to the surface of their turbulent sea of young love as the pressure to give in torments romance newbie Karin.
Kaho Miyasaka (Japanese: 宮坂香帆) is a Japanese manga artist. Miyasaka is best known for the manga Kare First Love. Her newest manga is called We Came to Know It, which currently consists of 12 volumes.
This is the third installment of Kare First Love, and I’m definitely enjoying this series for its smexy art work and light, engaging storyline. I like how Miyasaka moves the story along slowly but deliberately.
In this book, Karin’s insecurities are revealed while Kiriya struggles with a past he’s reluctant to share. They both go on a trip to Okinawa and there we find out about a tragedy that shaped who Kiriya is today. There trip puts a strain on their relationship for various reasons, so we’ll see if they can move past their struggles.
The artwork is amazing, the dialog is fun and I can’t wait to move on to the next book in the series. Great choice for YA contemporary manga fans.
Well that got rapey fast. Standard manga tropes of guys who "can't stop themselves" and girls who are "scared of sex but try hard to be sexual so they can make him happy." Gross. Her friend was all "any guy who pushes you to have sex is a creep" in vol 2 and I was like YEAH. But in this volume she's like "you've been dating 5 months, why haven't you had sex yet" and I'm just. -_- I'm done here. Bye.
This volume was a 1 step forward, 2 steps back kind of volume. I loved the character progression in opening up between them. Then there had to be a miscommunication fight and stupid Yuka tries to get in the middle of it! Ugh! Ready for them to fix it!
It's been years since I've read this manga books! I still enjoy them as much as i did when i first read them. Somethings could be made better but that's okay :)
Sono stata indecisa fino all’ultimo se dare 3 o 4 stelle, e credo che questa incertezza dica già moltissimo su quanto Lui, il primo amore sia un manga capace di dividere le sensazioni. Perché da un lato ha un inizio che per me era da 5 stelle piene, dall’altro una seconda metà che mi ha fatto storcere il naso più e più volte, fino a farmi scendere la valutazione. I primi volumi sono stati una vera coccola. Mi piaceva tutto: Karin, Kiriya, il loro primo amore acerbo e intenso, e soprattutto il gruppo di amici, che è uno dei punti di forza del manga. L’amicizia tra Karin e Nanri è forse la cosa che ho amato di più: Nanri si dimostra un’amica vera, presente, leale, di quelle che vorresti avere nella vita reale. All’inizio c’è quella leggerezza tipica degli shōjo adolescenziali ben riusciti: piccoli drammi, imbarazzi, incomprensioni gestibili, sentimenti che crescono piano piano. Era tutto molto tenero e autentico. Poi, però, da circa metà opera, qualcosa inizia a crollare. L'autrice, nell'intervista all'interno dell'ultimo volume, rivela che non inizia mai un manga con un finale scritto già in mente. E, devo essere onesta, si vede. Quei piccoli casini adolescenziali diventano drammi esasperati, trascinati avanti per volumi interi. I misunderstanding non sono più realistici o funzionali alla crescita dei personaggi, ma diventano infiniti, pesanti, estenuanti. E soprattutto entra in scena una fissazione sul sesso che, inizialmente, poteva anche funzionare: lui che si trattiene, lei che non si sente pronta, l’imbarazzo… carino. Il problema è che questa dinamica viene ripetuta identica per tipo sei volumi, senza evoluzione, senza dialogo reale, senza maturazione, anzi. E' proprio qui che Kiriya, purtroppo, diventa una red flag spaventosa. Più volte si arrabbia con Karin perché non si sente pronta, le mette pressioni e quasi la obbliga, e arriva praticamente a sfiorare il tradimento andando quasi a letto con un’altra. Questo è stato per me uno spartiacque. Una cosa gravissima, trattata nel modo peggiore possibile. Il fatto che tutto il gruppo lo venga a sapere (Nanri compresa) e che tutti decidano di coprirlo, senza mai dirlo a Karin, è semplicemente inaccettabile. Lì mi è crollato tutto, specialmente la bellissima amicizia nata tra le due. È sbagliato a livello narrativo, emotivo e anche etico. Se almeno questa cosa fosse venuta fuori, se Kiriya avesse dovuto affrontarne le conseguenze, se ci fosse stato un vero confronto, se avesse pregato come un cane il suo perdono… forse avrei potuto rivalutare tutto. Invece no: la cosa viene sepolta, Karin non lo scopre mai, e si va avanti come se nulla fosse successo. Per me, imperdonabile. Stronzo lui e tutti gli altri. Da quel momento in poi, da quei volumi in poi, la relazione perde equilibrio. Kiriya diventa sempre più instabile: sparisce, mente, si arrabbia con Karin senza motivo, la manipola, la tratta male. È vero, ed è giusto dirlo, che la sua fragilità viene poi spiegata: la morte del fratello, il rapporto complicato con i genitori, il suo dolore irrisolto. Ed è anche bello vedere come, grazie a Karin e agli amici, riesca piano piano a stare meglio e a ricostruire un legame con la sua famiglia. Quella parte è ben scritta e umana. Ma questo non cancella ciò che è successo prima, né il suo comportamento instabile, che forse meritava più auto-analisi. E poi c’è Karin. All’inizio mi piaceva molto: silenziosa, un po’ spenta, ma autentica, vera con sé stessa. Col tempo, però, diventa un'altra persona, una lagna continua. Sempre a piangere, sempre a colpevolizzarsi, sempre a fare la crocerossina ogni volta che Kiriya sparisce, mente, la ignora o la manipola. Lo perdona in tre secondi, si contraddice da sola, si fa cento volte le stesse domande. A lungo andare è stato davvero stancante leggere sempre le stesse dinamiche ripetersi senza mai una vera presa di coscienza. Fa quasi sorridere leggere i commenti dell’autrice che dice di ricevere mail su quanto tutte vorrebbero Kiriya come fidanzato… personalmente, ma anche no, grazie. Neanche sotto minaccia. Detto questo, voglio essere onesta fino in fondo: se non ci fosse stata tutta la questione del quasi-tradimento (che per me vale come tale, ma vabbè, opinabile) e del silenzio complice che lo circonda, questo manga avrebbe tranquillamente meritato 4 stelle. Rimane comunque uno shōjo classico, con tanti cliché che io amo, e nonostante tutto ho fatto binge reading senza troppi problemi o pensieri. Proprio per questo mi dispiace ancora di più: perché aveva tutte le carte in regola per essere davvero una lettura leggera e piacevole, pur con temi importanti e delicati. Una storia che parte fortissima, che emoziona, ma che a un certo punto si perde nelle sue stesse scelte narrative. E fa male dirlo, perché all’inizio mi aveva conquistata completamente!
J'aime l'évolution des personnages ou qu'on aborde la sexualité c'est Intéressant car je n'ai pas vu ça dans beaucoup de manga mais la notion du consentement est un peu absente et « se forcer pour qu'il soit heureux » alors qu'elle n'est pas prête à le faire c'est non. Du moins, c'est assez maladroit dans la manière de l'avoir dit et ce que finalement on comprends.
I mean I liked the story of Kiriyas brother and how he is dealing with his death. But later he is so pushy to karin because he wants to "do the thing" She don't want to do it right now. Which is understandable. Thay just got together, give her some time.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I would be honest I don’t like this one just as I didn’t like this many when I was in high school. Because kiriya was pushing to hard on Karin but that don’t mean I didn’t like the story I was happy to finally be able to read it again. On to the next one
Je lisais ça quand j'étais ado, mais franchement il y a des trucs que je trouve limite - genre quand Kiriya insiste pour coucher avec Karin... Et sa jalousie à deux balles. -_-
I am still simply enjoying this series at the moment, even with all its clichéd stereotypical glory. It’s just a good, drama-filled, fun read.
Most of this volume was about the group going to the beach, and S-E-X. S-E-X was a big part of it, if not the main part, really.
So, at the start of the volume, Karin gets a job to help pay for the trip, where she ends up working with Yuka, who seems to be ever present in her life (she’s shows up again at the end of the volume, too). Then Kiriya’s family has a freak out over their trip, and Kiriya’s camera ends up broken while he’s gone, and Karin pays to fix it. Then they finally go on the trip, and we find out that the reason Kiriya’s family was so freaked, and why he’s been so odd, is because his brother used to come there all the time, and it’s where he drowned, trying to save Kiriya. This is a rather big step in their relationship, in a good way, and gives the reader a good amount of insight into Kiriya.
Then there’s the S-E-X bit. So, Kiriya tries to make a move but Karin freaks out over it, then gets drunk on one of their nights there. So, pretty much, nothing happens between them during the trip. Then, when they get back, they have a fight over sex, and how he doesn’t want to wait forever but she’s not ready yet. And, at the end, after their fight, she hears that the guys from his class (maybe including him, she doesn’t know yet) joined Yuka and her friends out.
My biggest problem is the way sex is handled in this. Karin is constantly freaking out over the fact she’s not ready yet, and the fact that that’s so abnormal, and then the fact that Kiriya wants to have sex and doesn’t want to wait forever. First of all, there is nothing wrong with waiting to have sex. You wait however the fuck long you want to wait; you wait until you, yourself, are ready. That’s all there is to it. Then there’s the fact that Kiriya is pushing it so much, which is just him being a dick, really, and nothing else, and he needs to stop that. And Karin needs to get mad about it, which she won’t. The only good way sex is handled in this is by Nanri, who tells Karin that Kiriya shouldn’t push, and if he is then she can find someone else to be with. She also tells Karin that, I guess, it is kind of normal to be having sex already, and she does push Kiriya and Karin together, but I would like to believe that she’s doing it under the impression that Karin does actually want to have sex and is just freaking out over it, which is kind of true. But I also think that she’s just not ready, and so everyone needs to just stop pushing her, and she needs to stop letting them.
That’s my biggest problem with Karin, too, is that she’s so weak. She’s the stereotypical weak, damsel in distress, heroine, and I hate that. I can overlook it here, though, because I’m liking the series.
Oh, another thing: this series is a lot like Mars. I love Mars, and it is very much the stronger of the two series, but this one has its differences—I think a big part is that this one falls into a lot more stereotypical tropes than Mars does. But there are a lot of similarities, including the fact that there is a scene in this volume that is almost identical to one in Mars, which makes me a little uneasy.
Anyway. I’m enjoying this series. I’ve got one more volume at the moment, and plan to get the others very soon, and am looking forward to reading more.
I read the first two series a while back (possibly my high school years) and I remembered I loves it. Picking it up again, I remember why because it's about a girl trying to grow confidence I'm herself by not just being with someone who she really likes, but to be confident that that boy in returns love her just as much, how she can speak out against people using her like Yuka, and not afraid to stick out like her new and good friend Nanri. Books like these makes me wished I had more appreciation to shojo manga when I had been younger.
Edit: I still love the book, but I changed my rating to a 5 star to a 4 star because of Kiriya's behavior at Okinawa. He didn't persist too badly, but he should know how Karin is like. She is only just coming out her shell. He'll, she only got used to kissing, and even that can be too much for her at times.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Rate: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This review is for the whole collection: "Girls reading!". True. "Too sweet!". Also true! "So romantic!". Indeed! "Cliché!" Yep. And yet unique! But the truth is that I got the collection on-line, and after starting the first volume, I couldn't put it down until the last one! Literally. It took me around 6-8 hours to finish. Barely stopped to have lunch.
thinking why the main characters always about damsel in distress, the damsel may and could be in distress, but must she always need her prince to justify herself? well...despite the well-built plot, it is indeed an old plot-ingredients, and am still suck for it, hehe..