Strobe Edge

After every chapter of Strobe Edge, I feel a different feeling. It really reminds me of the pain, happiness, and frustration of being in love without the other person knowing...and how it feels when you are rejected. This is not a cheesy story. It is not melodramatic or boring. There is a really good development to the plot. The art is really cute and soft. You can definitely see the mangaka improve as the story unfolds. I really feel like I know the characters and I can feel what they are feeling. I'm really anxious and excited to see what happens next.

Personally I LOVE SE. The artwork & character designs are flawless. the story is adequate and not annoying. its about unrequited love and rejection. there is more than one love triangle in this series but the humor, artwork & storyline make up for it. did i mention the guys in this manga are BRUTALLY HOT?

Strobe Edge is a story, which starts off as a seemingly normal story, a typical shoujo, but because of its superior story pacing and character development, it is able to become something special and unique.

The mangaka decides to start the story off with a very familiar situation. Ninako, a girl who is very naïve towards love, falls in love with one of the popular guys in school, Ren. At first, all seems good, but we soon find out Ren actually has a girlfriend. Then the manga introduces another boy called Andou, who loves Ninako, and thus the typical love triangle is formed.

Well, the plot itself isn’t exactly deep, but it’s developed extremely well. For example, the mangaka leads you to think that Ninako and Ren would make the perfect couple but then decides to throw in a flashback story of Ren and his girlfriend and how deep their relationship really is. Continuing this, she makes it seem like Andou might end up with Ninako, but manages to keep Ren in the triangle stil. I’ve never read a story that there wasn’t a couple that I supported, but I’m actually neutral towards this love triangle. The story makes you feel that, whatever couple happens, it won’t be a happy ending still.

This story is really good at showing unrequited love. It shows the true aspect of love, love is not always happy. Even if you give your lover to someone else, there won’t necessarily be another Prince Charming to come and pick you, because love is not easy to get rid of/change. It tackles the question, if I love someone, but that person doesn't return the love back, should I continue loving this person or should I give up? Also, the way it makes romantic situations is very praiseworthy. The manga especially reuses the “train love incident” a lot, where Ninako and Ren are alone in the train. Still, every single time this happens it’s still very interesting as Ninako has different feelings. The love in this story is realistic and it’s developed well.

I feel that the only really well developed characters in are Ren and Ninako for now but I’m sure the mangaka is going to focus a bit more on Andou later on.

Ren – At first, he seems like a grown up, your typical overprotective boy that most girls like. He doesn’t seem to talk much, so it seems like his character is very mysterious at first, but slowly we see that he is a very confused character. He knows he loves his girlfriend, as the history/bond he developed with her is very strong, but his overprotective character takes the best of him as he starts to care for Ninako, and realizes it too late, that he has feelings. While in the beginning, we see him as a strong character, he further develops into one of the weakest characters in the story.

Ninako – A typical shoujo main character, a girl with love problems, but isn’t able to really understand love yet. But don’t underestimate this, as Ninako gets smarter. Yes, she gets smarter, unlike so many other stories I’ve read, Ninako slowly, but surely, starts to become more experienced. Furthermore, Ninako only loves Ren, no matter how hopeless it seems to her, she still chases only after Ren. We may see that she’s very selfish, to be trying to steal a guy who already has a girlfriend, and Ninako knows she’s selfish. She finds herself questioning if its right for her to keep loving Ren so much, but she realizes, no matter how wrong it is, she still loves him too much. I love her determination, and with this trait, even if Ninako looks very weak, she's probably the strongest character in the story.

I’m probably thinking too much here, but since the art is very shoujoish, I always feel that the art greatly enhances the effect of a typical setting. As if, it wants us to realizes that she’s using a typical shoujo setting and turning it into something new.

I love this manga. Honestly, I think it’s probably my favorite shoujo manga. It’s enjoyable, well developed and each chapter is worth the waiting. This is one of the only mangas, where after I finish reading one chapter, I want a chapter right away, even if there is no cliffhanger. I’m happy to have touched such an amazing story, and it’s been worth every single second of my time.

I will end this review with this.
Love is not that simple and will always hurt someone.
And Strobe Edge has depicted this better then any other manga I've read.

*Review contains spoilers*

Story 5/10
So, I do not want to call the story boring, but...nothing really interesting happens. There are no "wow" moments or any storyline that keeps you interested for long. With that being said, there were a couple of things that prevented me from giving story a lower rating:
1-nice twist having the love interest of main character have a girlfriend and initially rejecting main character. This sort of thing usually happens near the end of the story for climax.
2-even though they tried, no love triangles really start! the main character's feelings remained loyal to her initial love interest and she never led on Andou, despite his many confessions to her. (I have to add though that I did find annoying and sometimes couldn't understand Ninako's fixation with Ren at first, when nothing had actually happened between them).
3-no characters were annoying or felt like extra.
4-love story develops gradually, which makes it believable.
5-The story doesn't only focus in romance, but it has a strong theme of friendship.
On the things I didn't like:
1-Total cliche of main character being wildly popular and seeming "unattainable", when he wasn't even that cool.
2-Again, why was Ninako so fixated with Ren when the guy barely talked to her at first?
3-The story doesn't really take off.

Art 7/10
The drawings were nice and I really liked how some scenes were played out through the drawings (for ex. Ren and Ninako's confession).

Characters 6/10
I am going start by saying that even though all characters were likeable, none of them really stand out...maybe Andou and Manabu (my favorites). I still don't understand why the entire school had this infatuation with Ren...I mean he was nice and all, but he wasn't "out of this world" for all the hype girls had about him. Even Andou was better drawn that he was. Ninako was very very clumsy and should really get her balance checked by a doctor!! That girl couldn't walk 2 steps without tripping and falling.
Andou was very funny since the start and I often found myself wishing Ninako would chose Andou instead. Even by the last chapter I kept my hopes up that she would take Andou instead. Andou was definitely more interesting and proactive than Ren. Andou's story was actually more developed than anyone in this manga, which sometimes made me feel he was the main character, not Ren. I also enjoyed how easygoing and straight forward Manabu was.

Enjoyment 5/10
This wasn't a pain in the butt, but I didn't drop it because I am that type of person that would only quit reading or watching something if it is too horrible. There were some good scenes (like Ren and Ninako's confession, Ren confronting Ninako about her feelings).

Overall 5/10
So, this manga is just OK. I think it is overrated. If you like reading, then do it for the sake of reading something. If you are looking for an interesting, good story, look somewhere else.

Strobe Edge tends to be a bit overrated, if you ask me. It will be a good read for those who are interested in following a high school girl experiencing her first crush. If you are expecting an established relationship between the two MCs within the manga, you will be disappointed. Despite my boredom with this manga, the high rating is because of the manga’s accomplishment in disproving the popular saying “Love don’t die” and being realistic towards a girl’s first crush.

Story (7) / Characters (7)

“I swear I will make you love me” is how to approach this manga. Will the characters succeed? The answer is not given until the final chapter. You will spend the entire 42 chapters watching characters trying to reach this goal. Under the circumstances, the pacing was really good. The relationship is not immediate, especially since Ren has a model girlfriend named Mayuka. Then comes a love triangle that later expands to a love square. Emotions were expressed well as one struggled with unrequited love, rejections, and jealousy. The love triangle is solved in the last two chapters, but the other part is left hanging. One disappointment of the manga is the inability to show any hope for a character’s desire to escape unrequited love.

The manga was right on point about a girl’s experience with her first crush. Ninako is more like a lovesick puppy, stalking Ren in earlier chapters. Her monologues are all thoughts of Ren and her contemplation of the meaning of love. Ninako was incredibly immature in the beginning, but she became wiser by the 5th volume. Discussions with experienced characters opened her eyes to her feelings for Ren. Her monologues in the last three volumes were more mature, considering the events that occur.

The high school girls were annoying, always trying to get Ren’s attention by either screaming his name or “accidentally” bumping into him in the hallway. Ren was a laidback heartthrob, who just treated it as a normal thing after growing used to it. All of the girls in the class, except for maybe two or three, are after Ren, but Ninako believes she has a pure chance to make him love her. I found unrealism within Ninako’s large group of friends consisting of 5-6 girls. All of them, except one, fascinated Ren before Ninako. When Ninako revealed her feelings for Ren, they suddenly backed away and cheered for Ninako’s success without any sense of jealousy whatsoever.

The manga got better when it focused on other couples, giving you different individuals to root for. One-shots revealed some characters’ past experiences with love, and each story gives wise lessons that impacted the characters. It reveals the reasons for their current relationships with certain characters. Those characters tended to be more mature than the others, and each one had their own personality.

Art (7)

The art was cute and expressed characters’ emotions excellently. You can laugh at their reactions or feel the characters’ pain. Background design was mostly outlined, but the settings were still unique. The downside comes from the character design. Sometimes characters lacked detail with blank faces. Nearly all of the characters look alike, and I spent the entire manga confusing Ninako with two or three other girls. The worst part is that Mayuka and Ninako look exactly the same, except Mayuka had tons of makeup. The main difference between some characters is the hair length. The only character that stuck out was Ren, and Mangaka Sakisaka Io did a good job of making him appear attractive. Uniqueness towards Ren was needed, since he is every girl’s dream guy.

Enjoyment (5) / Overall (7)

In my opinion, Strobe Edge was a sheer disappointment and a waste of time. It totally contrasts with Sakisaka’s other popular work, Ao Haru Ride. I planned to drop it after five chapters because of the naïve characters, but I continued reading to expect excitement in later chapters. Eventually, I got bored and couldn’t wait until I completed it. I wanted a love story of the MCs sooner than just in the final chapter. The characters were unbearably naïve, and it took forever for the manga to pick up.

This Shoujo may not be intriguing for some, so I highly recommend reading both negative and positive reviews. Sakisaka delivered her message well and depicted high school life on a realistic level. However, it can tend to be unenjoyable, depending on what type of manga you’re looking for.