Bibliothecat
739 reviews61 followers
Review for complete series A couple of things to start off with: this is one of Watase's oldest works. And while I love quite a few old manga, this particular one didn't age very well. It's also debatable how many volumes this series has as it was originally published with three volumes and then two further sequel series which all included would make this a seven volume series. When I read this for the first time, I actually read all 7 volumes. For this reread, I only read the original series of three volumes and my review will mostly focus on those. After Asuka's mother passed away, she sets out to find her father who she has never met before. Once she makes it to his last known address, rather than meeting her father, she finds Manato and Kazusa who appear to be her step siblings. Asuka thinks she can meet her father if she simply waits at the house, but it turns out that neither of her step siblings have ever met their father either. So, this Romcom is definitely more com and rom, and that's already an issue for me. I love some humour sprinkled throughout a book but unless it's a really well done parody of sorts, I don't like if there is nothing serious going on. I do prefer if there is a focus on romance and general story development with the addition of some humour as opposed to humour being the dominating factor. It's not that this series doesn't try to include serious scenes, but it's so caught up in the over the top comedy that the characters are actually not developed enough to pull off a serious scene.
Given that this is a romance, it's easy to guess that this is a step siblings fall in love and turn out not to be siblings after all type of story. I don't even see this as a spoiler, it's such a common trope and I think there'd be a lot more red flags around this series if indeed they had been siblings. Anyway, Asuka and Manato develop feelings for each other - both are fine as individual characters but they don't have much depth and their feelings seem to come a little out of the blue. As a result, I find it hard to relate to their pining for each other. Also, given that they don't actually know they aren't siblings, that whole aspect of their relationship doesn't appear to bother them as much as one would normally expect.
Of course, there are a bunch of rivals, and they are the most clichéd and annoying ones you can come across. Kazusa is the annoying younger sister who has a brother complex and who hates Asuka simply for existing - so much annoying meddling from her. The others aren't too bad, even if they are common arch types. The school rowdy and the daughter of a rich family take an interest in Asuka and Manato each and thus keep butting in. They are actually reasonably likeable though and therefore not as bad as Kazusa.
On one hand, the story flows well - it's not one of those manga where we jump from scene to scene. But on the other hand, it also feels as though this series tries to accomodate as many manga romance tropes as possible and so rather than an organic story, it seems like we are just ticking off boxes of what needs to be in it. And for a series that is so focused on humour, it's not actually particularly funny. At best, I like some of the exaggerated expressions of the characters. But other than that, it relies heavily on sexual comedy including threat of rape which seems to be overly common in series of that era. While I don't mind jokes of this nature per se, I do think that the ones found in this one are handled a tad too lightly and it just gets old.
So, is this manga still worth a read? Generally yes, it's not bad by any means. To an extent, it's a product of its time and it's actually a very solid manga considering that it was Watase's first series. If you like heavily humour based series such as Ranma 1/2, this can certainly be for you. I'd say the biggest thing it has going for it is the art - even Watase's early works are beautifully drawn with a distinct style and it's simply cute to look at. The art is also quite typical of its time and it's always interesting to see how an artist's style has evolved, especially if it's by one who has been so long in the business as Watase has been. Even if it's just alone for looking at Watase's evolution as an artist and story teller, I think it's worth giving this series a shot. As mentioned above, I did originally read sequel series as well but the original series wraps up nicely with its three volumes. For my reread, I couldn't be bothered to read the rest - I flipped through it and it's mostly just other characters butting in on the now fresh couple that is Asuka and Manato. There's no harm in reading them, but the story and characters ultimately didn't hold my attention enough for me to read the whole thing again. I won't even be holding on to the sequel copies I own anymore.
- read-but-dont-own
-moonprismpower-
2,571 reviews12 followers
The storyline is so shojo and so cliche... A girl who had never met her father, comes to look for him after her mother dies. She in turns, meets her possible siblings, one being a good looking guy about her age and moves in. We all know that the “siblings” are going to fall for each other, try not to, feel guilty when in the end, they’re not even related so it never mattered... At the end of this volume, at least Asuka knows he’s not related to her before her feelings are in full force!