To begin, almost every aspect of this manga is incredibly TYPICAL and unoriginal, but there are several other things about this manga that allow me to overlook its typicalness. I just wanted to get that out of the way because if I hadn't said it in the beginning, I would've mentioned the word, "typical" an overly large amount of times throughout this review. By mentioning it beforehand, I hope I'll decrease my chances of saying it too much.

Like I said, the story is very typical; rather, boring. It's very slow paced, in fact, the objective of the story is to finally get the two main protagonists together, which is hard because there's so many different obstacles that the two must overcome. The two don't even get together until the very end, unlike some other stories where the story continues despite them already getting together and more obstacles get in the way of their relationship. Though the overall story is boring, the backstories of some characters kind of spice it up, which, along with the other great features of the manga, allow me to overlook its boringness. Nothing too surprising or irrational happens, except for when Ren (primary male protagonist) by "coincidence," always manages to meet up with Ninako (female protagonist). Anyway, the story obviously isn't the highlight of this manga, so I will now continue on with the rest of my review.

The art fits in with the genre; it doesn't affect my enjoyment of the manga at all. There's a hint of originality in it, which I commend, and although the art is inclined to the shoujo/romantic/beautiful type, it still manages to enhance and match very well with the comical aspect of the manga.

The characters are very TYPICAL of a shoujo manga, I initially even had rolled my eyes at the unoriginality of the characters' personalities. However, as I progressed through the story, I started falling in love with many of the characters, and I was then able to forget their typicalness. The opening scene of the manga introduces Ninako as someone whose very easily swayed by others. The following scenes further enhance this characteristic, showing Ninako as ignorant, childish, and too innocent. These traits went from being vices to assets; Ninako started apppearing really cute and hilarious, and I simply loved watching her. Ren, on the other hand, doesn't have as much character development as the other main characters. He actually stays relatively static throughout the story. The mangaka hardly ever reveals his thoughts so that he would remain mysterious. He's still very calm, cool, and collected--that doesn't really change much at the end. I guess a charasteristic that makes him unique is that he's really innocent and childish, like Ninako. Again, he's very very typical of all the other male protagonists of every other shoujo manga. I'm not saying I don't like it though, I DO like it, but I'd like to see a shoujo manga where it creates a male protagonist that isn't like Ren but still very likeable. As for Andou! (secondary male protagonist), he develops a lot throughout the story. The readers truly get to know him well. At first, I didn't really like him but the mangaka turned my feelings around and even made me root for him sometimes. I still don't get exactly how Andou fell for Ninako though...

The prevailent theme of friendship--mainly the friendship between Ren and Andou--further boosts my overall enjoyment of the manga. The bond between Ren and Andou is really heartwarming at the same it's sad. It's also relatively realistic (I have a thing for realism): Ren treasures his friendship with Andou, but Andou doesn't even realize how much he means to Ren. Despite finding out later, he's still unable to get really close to Ren again like he used to because his friendship with Ren became tainted by his strong desire to blame someone for both his failed love and childishness. The other friendships were kind of heartwarming too, but really groundless and kind of random. I don't know why Ren's other friends care for and understand him that much. I thought it was just Andou who apparently truly understood him. And why doesn't Ren pay much attention to them if they care for him that much? I wish I saw their friendship develop more. I also wish I saw the history of Ninako and her friends' friendship as well as its development.

OVERALL--and oh my god YES, almost f*ckin done, I'm practically writing a freaking essay when it's summer--I loved it! Strobe Edge has a lot of good qualities that make up for its bad ones. I'd say it's one of the top shoujo mangas out there, so it's definitely worth a read.