"Just a little bit, I want to be influenced by her. Yuna is amazing."
This manga was filled with some amazing artwork, as always with Io Sakisaka. I found this was not her strongest manga that I've read, and it felt like it lacked that certain spark that made Strobe Edge and Ao Haru Ride so amazing.
The story follows two friends, Yuna and Akari and how their different ideas of love are conflicting, each with their own strong points and not so strong points. Yuna is very dreamlike with love, and believes in things like fate and a 'prince charming'. Akari is more practical, and does not dwell on a romance that will not succeed. The story also involves Akari's brother Rio and Yuna's childhood friend Kazuomi.
I liked that this story has a central idea around love like Io Sakisaka's past work. It's a quality of her manga's that I love. "Who decides whether it's love or not?" I also enjoyed that her work did not stray from that nostalgic sense of youth I always get from her stories. I think the best part of this manga however is the characters. I really relate to Yuna, I was practically Yuna in high school. It's nice to feel like my personality back then was understood and not as uncommon as I had assumed. I feel very in tune with the story since I understand exactly where Yuna is coming from. "I would one day meet my destined person, and this would be all a dream and I wouldn't hurt."
I also like Akari, Rio and Kazuomi, and enjoy how it's a story almost evenly about four characters rather than mainly one. I also like that the four all compliment each other and have different ideas around love and life. Yuna is very shy, introverted and can often act quite awkwardly due to overthinking and a little insecurity, but she is kind and gentle to those close to her. Akari is friendly and down to earth, but due to her practicality can sometimes miss out on opportunities and be left with regret. Rio is very extroverted and confident with his classmates, especially girls, but has a more emotional side once people get to know him. Kazuomi is supportive and loyal, with a friendly attitude, but sometimes his chummy 'mates' type of attitude seems to put a distance between him and others. They're an interesting bunch! Although I was disappointed with how little time Kazuomi got in the first volume, and hope he receives more attention in the second.
I do admit that I felt like as the story continued it slowly lacked more and more story wise. As I said, it lacked some spark. I still enjoyed it though regardless. It was fun and interesting, and I really enjoy the friendship between Yuna and Akari, as well as their character development. But the romance is not captivating me immensely, and I don't feel like the story is as well paced and timed as Strobe Edge or Ao Haru Ride. But I still loved this first volume and cannot wait to see where our characters go from here.
"What do you mean by 'falling'? Doesn't falling in love happen without you even knowing about it!?"