Feb 21, 2022
This story...it's fine, I guess? If you're looking for a decent rom-com, it's decent. That's it, review over.
Sadly, if you're anything like me, that might be enough because I'm addicted to vanilla rom-coms like a bear to honey. But that doesn't stop me from having hope for the character exploration, even if the eventual abrupt ending feels that much more like a painful wake-up slap. Do not worry about spoilers.
For me, the gentle touch bring me into the series was the characters. Specifically Mei Araki (Sorry not the one who can make popcorn flicking the most extra thing ever), the male lead's younger
...
sister. Her energy is infectious, and she gave a lot of color to the interactions of her and the two leads, Araki Jin and Rei Shindou. And while the two leads eventually show depth belying their base personalities, it feels very...tacked on. Like it was added in post, rather than sprinkled throughout to give us readers wonder so as to build up the reveals. And while said reveal does give additional depth to the male lead and how he treats his sister, the bomb set up to explode in their relationship instead gets defused in an extremely unsatisfying way. There's also a bit at the end that tries to make Jin not as seemingly dense, but you can't introduce a character's ghost at the end of the story and claim depth happened. Also the reasoning is pretty dumb, as there's no guarantee his mindset will maintain the status quo he so desires.
As for Rei...I'd describe it more as a picture of a bomb that gets blown away in the wind. The manga's premise is that of "Shindou Rei", uh, being in a tower? But actually the top floor of an apartment complex. She lives alone while her father galavants around banging chicks and other likely sleazy stuff we aren't told, but Rei needs to live alone because prep for the future. This led to her being distant from others, which created the misinterpretation that she's haughty and above others. If this was a subplot or even given time to simmer in during the flashback rather than being a throwaway page, I'd call it an actual bomb. But no, through exposition she gets friends. And even when she discovers rather heavy secrets about Jin, once they're put into the open everything is resolved. And it's very give and no take. Jin reveals his secrets. Rei doesn't say much of anything. What is life for her in that tower? Does her father never visit? Do her friends never visit? How has she fought the loneliness until Jin showed up?
Though that's not to say the two had no virtues. Alone their gimmicks are neat, and their dynamic is playful like old friends. Another character even comments on how close they got despite only knowing each other briefly. And I feel like it was built naturally. Were this story given more conflict between the two, they could've been a great couple to watch.
Now it's time for the story review. Maybe? It's hard to review the story in this instance. Not for vacuous reasons like slice of life stories having little story, but because the overall narrative lacks focus. After resolving the main issue plaguing Jin's life, I'd expect that we'd either get next into Rei's life, or maybe one of her friends, or the new family member introduced to the plot. Instead, we get a new character that Jin just happens to help getting a backstory, then the main duo moves to help her after she interjects into the plot, then we get another flashback about someone connected to this new girl, and the story ends.
...
What?
Why?
I recognize that cancellation of a series can happen. Things get rushed. But this series deserved the cancellation if it's going to tangent away to characters completely uninvolved with the overall plot. My Hero Academia focused on villains we'd already gotten to know for an arc, One Piece abandoned all but it's lead for an arc, but in both cases, we had familiarity with most of the cast being followed, which naturally led to new characters that would become mainstays.
I enjoy slice of life where not much of consequence happens. But you have to give me reason to want to see these characters bumbling around. And this series gave me no reason why this girl shouldn't be in a whole new series rather than taking time out of another.
Next, the art. I liked the cutesy simplistic look of it all. I could get a grasp of the setting and the light symbolism helped sell a few scenes such as the new chick's mental state being like she's trapped under water. What, I can appreciate some aspects of something unfocused to a fault. But the art is fine, nothing more.
In conclusion: this is a rom-com. If you like rom-coms, you'll get a fine experience. If you prefer more dynamic character interactions and building conflicts, this story is not for you.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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