Well, it’s rare that I can say this, but I don’t think a single volume of this series put a foot wrong. Certain parts were stronger than others, sure, but overall I was crazy impressed with this.
And it doesn’t overstay its welcome. Yeah, I would read another six volumes of Taira and Azuma, but this being the stopping point lets it go out on that high note. Even if it is treading very familiar ground, the cast that walked that ground was fantastic.
Everything about Tani and Suzuki was super cute, even as they fall victim to a communication misfire when Suzuki realizes that Tani is unintentionally doing what he thinks is best for the two of them rather than following his actual dreams.
Between the both of them working through it, a very heartfelt farewell, and a sweet flashback to the both of them becoming a couple, there are a ton of great moments that show how good they were together.
Similarly, Nishi really changes through her relationship with Yamada, along with letting Yamada have the chance to prove he’s a stand-up guy once again (and that he’s doomed if Nishj ever wants anything).
Seeing Nishi advocate for herself and letting herself disagree with what her mother is trying to plan out for her future was a really important moment for her and probably explains a lot about why Nishi is the way she is too.
And that’s out of the way so I can talk about what I really want to - Taira and Azuma. Perhaps not surprisingly, the two of them don’t end up together. Well, that’s kind of surprising in the sense that it would typically be the sort of thing that comes up in a last volume.
But not every relationship fits the traditional model and I kind of thought this might let me down, yet it absolutely does not. The two of them get as close as they can to saying they like one another without crossing that line and it’s one of the things that feels like an inevitability we just won’t get to see.
I mean, sometimes the implicit is better than the explicit. And I appreciate that, unlike a lot of series, this didn’t treat high school as the only thing and where everything had to happen. Sometimes these things take longer than you’d expect.
Taira’s harried (and constant) overthinking of his every action absolutely left him having a far less satisfying time in high school than he’d hoped for. Except he realizes at the end that maybe it wasn’t so bad; the moment he has with Azuma after graduation is one of the best in the volume.
I will miss this a whole heck of a lot, now that it’s done. It was a bright, bright spot on my reading list that just felt so effortlessly romantic and charming. Plus, it showed so many different couples and did it really well. A completely worthy ending.
5 stars - gone, but not forgotten, and not just because I am watching the anime adaptation. This will absolutely make my re-read list whenever I have time to indulge in such things. A proper treat.
There are several aspects of the manga that I appreciated much. The platonic relationships are very refreshing. For example, Nabe, Azu and Yamada take a biking road trip in the mountains in the summer while Yamada was in a relationship with Nishi. This was a great take on friendships across genders and healthy relationships.
Another would be the character developments of Taira and Azu. Their journeys of finding self-worth was pretty amazing. One realized, over-contemplating on self-worth is self harming, while the other comprehends the need to recognize her self-worth.
However, there were some parts of the story that left me unsatisfied. The main pairing only had relationship development, with barely any character development for either. The ending felt rushed, with a few plot points unresolved. Looking forward to reading more stories like this,.
Anime led me to the manga and I enjoyed every second of it… right up to the final volume. Was it terrible? No, but it fell into the same pit I believe a lot of mangas suffer from. A mediocre or subpar ending.
The story was fantastic. Each character had me super invested. My favourite couple had to be Tairazuma and the portrayal of their development was phenomenal. Is it because I love a slow burn? Perhaps, but objectively, they had the better build up. Nothing against Tanzuki, because I absolutely loved them, but their romance kind of plateaued a bit. Their romance also suffered a bit when they took a back burner to some of the side characters romances. It didn’t feel like Tani grew as a character. He still relied on Suzuki to do the relationship heavy lifting, and then when author started rushing the ending and brought the focus back on them, author realised this and tried to fix it in post. Having Suzuki say how he’s now the one coming to her class so they can walk home together and even at the very end when he mention that he would always love her. All of that felt ham fisted in, compared to the natural way their relationship had been progressing when author was not rushing the story.
Yamaha and Nishi were also quite enjoyable and I wanted to see more of where their story went. 😭😭 We see Nishi finally gaining the confidence in herself (a similar trajectory, but not entirely the same as Taira) and decided to go for what she wanted (literary university degree) and her story just kind of ended there.
Similar to how Tairazuma ended. Just a quick scene of him holding her hand and asking to still see each other past graduation and then a quick embarrassed snippet in karaoke and that’s it. What? Not even a hint in the final pictures to show that they confessed to each other and started a relationship or something? Just nada? After progressively building them up each volume. (Can you tell I have a writ against the author about this couple?) Even Yamada and Nishi. What happened to them? Did their love survive? Did college change their dynamic? How did the conversation between her (Nishi) and her mother turn out when she realised she was doubting her own self?
Listen, I’m not one to want a perfectly wrapped up ending or even a fairytale one where everyone ends up happily ever after. This story follows high schoolers after all. On some level, we expect that many of these romances will not last. Either time, distance, age, or some other factor will cause them to separate over time and they’ll go on to meet spouses who are better suited for them as they grow into who they are and are shaped by their experiences. HOWEVER, it’s your responsibility as a writer (managaka) to properly see the development of your characters through. Especially since you were building them up with such great … development. Separate and apart from all of that, this is, for all intents and purposes- a shojo manga! We are reading this because we want to see the love that you promised we’d be getting from these characters. We fell in love with these characters, their story and their romances, you know? You can’t just not give us the thing you enticed us with in the beginning!!!
Reading the volume right before this and then the final one, I got the sense that author was rushing and kind of wanted to bring it to an end. Everything started to feel like it was being speed run through. I have to question if author got bored and just wanted to get to the final page already. Sometimes that happens in these spaces (there are many a manga ending that was unsatisfactory enough to prove my point to this). Creatives do get bored when they’ve been on the same project for a while and just want to do something new, and maybe this suffered that same fate.
Still, I really enjoyed it. And rushed ending and characters being road run aside, it’s still a great read all around.
Will the anime give us a more conventional closure? How will it handle the epilogue of our beloved characters if it changes the ending? Will we ever see the mysterious Gapacho? Tune in next time on dragon- oh wait. This was the final volume... Regardless, this was most enjoyable. Nostalgic (I did reflect fondly on my own high school days while reading this), and endearing. All characters were likeable and charismatic- even the ones that weren’t sure of themselves. The manga ride might be over, but the anime is only on episode 4, and so I shall continue the watch, knowing that I will enjoy it once more. Just in a different format.
Greatly enjoyed this series and the inter relationships of the characters, but the last two volumes felt rushed with this volume in particular leaving me feeling unsatisfied. Still loved the journey.
enserio así termino??? siento que quedaron tantos temas por explorar y situaciones que resolverrrr Me encanta tanto la historia y sus personajes que este final me deja un vacío, ojalá hubiese algo spinn off para ver que pasó al final pero bueno. no soy fan de los finales abierto y me molesta bastante que lo hayan dejado así
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I'm so sad this series is over but I really enjoyed every volume. For the series, I'd give it a 4 stars. This volume was a 5 stars to me because we got most of the answers we wanted but not too much where things felt picture perfect.
The platonic "will they/won't them" between Azuma and Taira was done so well. Also, Yamada and Nishi have come so far! I love how vocal she's become in their relationship and how easy things seem to go for them (no major drama outside of them blushing a bunch).
Our main couple had me tearing up during so many scenes. I'm a sucker for the high school romance to college "will they/won't they" dilemma. Their communication was top tier and I was pleased with how their arc continued.
This series was truly about connecting polar opposites together in both romantic and platonic ways. I enjoyed the camaraderie they all had between classrooms and how they easily integrated more introverted characters into outings without making them the odd guy out. I'm really going to miss this series. But, now I can watch the anime and get to feel the feels all over.
This really made me miss high school and the simplicity of seeing the same people 5 days a week and just getting to hang (especially during senior year).
Thanks so much to Viz Media for the DRC. I was lucky enough to get DRCs for many of the volumes in this series and it truly kept me up to date and eager for more chapters.
Lower 3 Stars 🌟 The ending was SO rushed. The entire series has been so cute and wholesome and this last volume fell flat because of how rushed it was. Yamada and Nishi 😭 They're like the most wholesome couple ever and the “should we have sex” thing was just kind of shell shocking for me. I came so out of left field it just didn’t fit into the world the author had made for the prior seven volumes. The other volumes focused so heavily on the wholesome aspect that I feel like this scene in particular belongs in a separate series all together. It definitely tipped past my comfort level and made me really sad. (Which is my personal opinion) There is one part where the FMC is asking for her friends for advice. One side character is asked what she would do if it was her “partner” and the FMC thinks “partner?” and that’s the extent of that. (We don’t see any of the side characters' relationship though the volumes other than this little drop.) The whole volume felt so rushed. It made me sad that we couldn't see more about these characters as adults or more of their school life. Overall I really enjoyed this series and I connected well with the characters. It was super wholesome 1-7. If it hadn’t had that one scene I would have had a very different reaction to this whole volume.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Sin embargo... No entanto... Nevertheless... 其れでも...
Hay un problema.
Tairazuma.
El final de Azuma se entiende totalmente por lo que la autora no has contado previamente de que no le daba la importancia debida a ese tipo de relaciones. Y que a fin de cuentas diga así de "igual nunca pasa nada entre nosotros pero estos momentos que compartimos son valiosos en sí mismos y no forzosamente tienen que terminar en una relación de noviazgo para que sean significativos", etc.
Para Taira aplica lo mismo, la autora nos mostró como estaba encerrado dentro de sí mismo (algo no 100% malo porque el sobreanalizar tanto las cosas le ayudaba a dar buenos consejos a los otros personajes) y lo mucho que le costaba conectar con otras personas. Y que no le confesara su sentir a Azuma... Me sabe a poco. Y no necesariamente porque a fuerza tuvieran que terminar juntos... incluso si se le confesara a Azuma y ella le dijera esto que puse arriba respecto a su final y a fin de cuentas "lo rechazara", eso me parecería un final un poco más satisfactorio (para esta pareja, lo demás muy bien).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Damn I can't believe this is over! I wanted more of this! We get right to graduation and all of the couples get their ending chapter, we see all the supporting cast once again, everything more or less gets tied up- there's no real happy ever after everything is nice and sunny, but we've seen how much the characters have grown and how they're ending high school in a much healthier place than they started. And that's mostly because of the friends (and romantic relationships) they made along the way. I like that each of them have this resolution that maybe they're not so different, they're "opposites" but have similar insecurities and ideas that allow them to bond together and understand each other.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5) I am in total shock—I did not realize this was the last volume! To be honest, I still don’t understand why it had to end here. This series and these characters are so fantastic that I have genuinely enjoyed every single volume. I could easily have spent years reading many, many more stories following this group. Kocha Agasawa, you have created a masterpiece. Please consider following their stories into university and beyond! You have created a gem of a group and there is seriously nothing negative to say about this volume or any that came before it, other than the fact that it ended far too soon. I will miss this series and these characters immensely. I’ll definitely be checking out every future work from this mangaka. My heart isn't ready to say goodbye!
I felt really confused by the extra chapters and the ending because I felt like there was no extra thing for the main couple but thinking on it again maybe the bits before the fin page are it??? It just wasn’t super specific like the extras with the other characters. This was cute and I really enjoyed this series despite how I felt about the last volume. I do feel a bit disappointed but now I’m not sure exactly why. I’m not going to keep this I don’t think but I am genuinely enjoying the anime!
4★'s is my overall rating for this series. i wish there were more shoujos like this, less angst, a couple that actually communicates, and an introverted male lead who isn’t written as ‘nonchalant.’ (unlike yamada—the final boss of nonchalant—who talks to another girl every night to play games and is just…clueless about dating. ugh.)
I took away a star because the ending felt rushed, with a few plot points unresolved.
My babies are going to college!!! The art is wonderful as always, each character is so different and unique. They are all a bunch of adorable cutie pie dorks, I love them all. I would have loved a long epilogue of their adult lives but it's fineeeee... I do think I like the 2 side couples the best but I love Miyu's character design the most.
My take away, be kind and friendly and you too can have candy parties.
I cried so hard at the end. I always cry at graduations, and the way the characters' love lives aren't all neatly wrapped up at the end, but the way they were left a little messy feels a lot truer to life. I especially empathized with Tani and Taira in this volume, I also have had a hard time letting the emotions that are raging in my head out, even to those I care about.
I'll miss these characters but I'm glad we were able to go on their journeys with them.
The end! AH! i was not ready for this to be the end! it was really sweet, overcoming the fear and difficulty of a relationship when living so far from each other, but all couples are safe and good and Nishi continues to be adorable when talking about her boyfriend which is just so cute! Though Taira didn't end up with anyone confirmed, i still believe the relationship he does have with Azumi is headed that way!
binged read it in bed until 2 am and cried when they graduated as if im in the friend group irl. where is my epilogue, expanding that one photo from their uni days??? my taira and azuma progress??? past hs friendship to lovers arc???? why did she cut her hair, why did he go back to his natural hair?? where is my justice istg