“It’s painful. Was it the apple I ate this morning?
I wonder if it was a poisoned apple.”

You like him. He’s confused and has a girlfriend, who’s gorgeous and a model. The model girlfriend has a brother who is your best friend and loves you. Oh, what a tangled web we weave. (I’ve been wanting to use that line all week!)

A girl who falls for a mysterious boy. A boy who loves his best friend A school where teachers are borderline extinct. All these things we will see in this manga and a lot of others out there making it pretty unoriginal in summary. Characters that are unpredictable and make their own history will make this manga as original as it can be while still keeping it’s charm as a slice of life.

I wasn’t going to review this one due to the fact that it’s a bit cliché at times but then the heroine did/said something that made me go WOW, not meaning World Of Warcraft but wow, as an exclamation of surprise in my part. The girl didn’t settle or played a guy’s feelings just to forget “the one” she actually liked. For someone who seemed childish and impulsive she acted surprisingly grown up and honest with herself. Making her a really exceptional heroine.

Ninako acts the way she looks, which is carefree and happy, just like a child. Never having been in love, she asks her friends what it feels like and after hearing them. comes up with the conclusion that it feels like a eating food gone wrong. One meeting, one guy, one train and a broken charm later she won’t have to wonder what love feels like anymore.

The story develops rather fast and slow at the same. There’s a moment where a character questions their love by asking how can she like someone she barely even knows anything about. It was at that time I realized this manga was indeed rare in it’s story and yet simple as can be. Love does take time,. Not a lot in some cases, but for it to be true love, it has been my experience that knowing more than their name will be a deciding factor. For me, all bets are off when they smile though, to each their own.
We see the ups and down and the moving on of a relationship and all of it with such delicacy you don’t notice until it’s over (the manga not the relationship). The beautifulness of first love, growing together and changing. Something I tend to forget when I’m submerged in romance shojo manga is that first love, though great and wondrous, it’s not always eternal. We all change and sometimes at a different pace and we end up growing apart.

As a reader there is very few thing that are worse than not knowing the characters you want to understand. Luckily for us, that isn’t the case here making it a really sweet ride.
All information comes thoroughly and systematically for our pleasure. We get to know the characters and judge for ourselves their choices based on their story. As the pages pass not only does the story flow beautifully but we see how the characters we have grown to love, change and grow up.
Ninako is never frustrating or plain. She is sweet, caring and funny and warms her way into the coldest of hearts while still being klutzy and a crier. She surprised me as I mentioned above, she is as Ren calls her, “weird.” She doesn’t do what you’d expect, most of the time I think she even surprises herself (so to speak).

I’d be lying if I said that my favorite character was the protagonist.
Ren is mysterious and good looking and that alone would have made him predictable had the mangaka not given him an edge and a serious and tenacious personality. All that and he was still caring and thoughtful. But Andou was so great of a character I was actually rooting for him more than Ren (sometimes) just because he had “that role” that you know will not end well but you love him so much you hope it changes. His character comes alive and he ends up reminding you of all the other great guys who didn’t get the girl (by the way that is by no means a spoiler just a fact).

The art is nothing overwhelmingly amazing. Ninako looks fragile and petite and it’s emphasized more when she opens her mouth, fitting into her role. Ren reminded me a little of Kimi ni Todoke‘s Kazehaya. It could have been just me though but he is so well drawn and yet there is nothing ostentatious about him. Makes you wonder what you like about him, but I dig the mysterious, so well… There are some awkward times when the characters look too tall/long but nothing to make you cringe away.

This is actually the review of the second time reading it. I remembered a certain scene that stayed with me and was surprised this manga doesn’t get as much hype as it deserves. It’ short and definitely sweet both characters and story. It’s not a perfection personified but it’s pretty beautiful nonetheless.