Name in Japanese: フクシマハルカ She is a Japanese shōjo manga artist. She made her manga debut in 1999 in Nakayoshi Magazine with her award-winning manga Sakuranbo Kiss. She considers Otona ni Nuts (Instant Teen: Just Add Nuts) to be her masterpiece.
There’s nothing really to recommend as far as this series goes because...the only scenes of note are the almost-kisses rife with tension. Everything else is easily forgettable, especially if you’ve read shojo manga quite a bit.
Otome and Minami didn't start off as the best of step-siblings but they are finally getting along. New arguments are in store though once both of them start showing romantic interest in others. Neither of them seems to want to give on the other and they have to start asking themselves if their feelings are those of siblings or more.
Cherry Juice is remarkably average. There's nothing glaringly wrong with it, although sometimes scenes jump in a weird and abrupt way and a few elements are left under-explained and therefore random (e.G. the sudden inclusion of Minami's father and other siblings). Even though there isn't much to criticize it for, there are also no particular strong points that would make this work stand out.
The art is cute and good enough but there are plenty of manga out there with a nicer style. The characters are ok but nothing remarkable. The side cast is forgettable and just kind of there. The sibling dynamics aren't as engaging as other step-sibling constellations in similarly themed stories. It was also rather odd how the majority of the cast was encouraging and almost throwing the two main characters at each other. Part of the appeal of step-sibling romances is that it's seen as a bit of a taboo - of course, they aren't blood-related, but it does come with complications and they're pretty much ignored in this story.
There's no harm in giving this manga a try, but for every single aspect of it, you can find a work that's done a better job of it. I feel like I'm giving this a reasonably high rating but that's more due to the lack of bad things rather than the presence of good.
The story is still all over the place and the characters superficial. The two love interests are between a controlling jock and the protagonist's stepbrother who alternates between petulant child and player at any given moment.
Yeah, okay, it's slightly vapid. But the characters are adorable and it remains fairly innocent, just a couple shirts off moments for the guys and bra shots on the girls. Plus, this series wraps up in 4 volumes, making it a nice choice for libraries watching their budget.
This is not a bad manga at all. It's got a nice good sweet lovely pretty story/plot/characters/art going on in the manga. It's the only good/best manga she ever made really. But i flet the step brother/sister daying/in love is way too much. They should have end up with the people they where dating. Eveyone was pushing/forcing them to get together and be a couple it did not seem right/good at all