Ranked #686

Hitoribocchi wa Samishikute (Manga)

**Note in this review there can be biases and spoilers.**

Have you ever had a dream you wanted to pursue but didn't because you felt that you would fail, or it wasn't practical enough for you, and your parents stated that they highly disapprove of it? Are you in the mood to read a manga that'll bring you joy each chapter? Are you interested in the cutest couple ever? Are you sick of love triangles and just want something straight forward? Are you over shoujo mangas having a bit too much drama?

If you said yes to any of the questions above or are interested in reading something that the above questions mentioned, well then look no further! This could be the manga for you. :)

Initially when I looked at this manga on MAL, I didn't expect much out of it. I was pretty bored and just wanted to pass my time doing something, so I began reading. The story starts out with a girl who no one likes saying she's creepy and then oh look the popular boy approaches her, after that he opens her notebook and finds out about her dream. All of the things in the notebook are lyrics. Anyway, he gets her to sing for him and yada yada they start chasing their dreams, through that journey together they experience a lot of things like confronting their problems with their parents and not giving up. There are also a lot of sweet moments they have during their exploration to get their dream together, I won't spoil it but there is kissing! I know that this isn't the most original plot, but what matters is how the mangaka conveyed the story right? To me the mangaka did it perfectly and I felt the sorrow Shio, the main heroine (wow just realized this is the first time I shared her name LOL), felt for times she broke down or was unsure of herself.

The story didn't take a lot of time to develop either; it moves pretty quickly which I enjoyed. I didn't particularly want a dragged out manga, but you probably could have guessed this since there only eighteen chapters. There was one point where the manga introduced an ex-lover, and I thought to myself "oh great, this chick is going to cause problems for Shio and Nao (main guy/lover of Shio)." Nope, nope that didn't happen, which makes me so happy! She turned out to be a character who had a dream to play music, unfortunately she gave up because like many people (er at least I'm assuming, sorry) such as myself feel that they cannot make it big. It's like a 1/1,000,00 chance. Want to know more about the ex-lover? Well, find out yourself! I won't spoil anymore about her, by mentioning the fact that I want to give up my dreams because they aren't practical, I felt that this manga was also realistic not only in the sense of one having doubts about yourself but that there are people who won't believe in you succeeding (parents, teachers, and etc). There is more obstacles too like going to a big place such as in this story Tokyo to get noticed and be recruited, and in California it's L.A.

The art wasn't incredible, but it was cute and I enjoyed the drawings. All of the characters in the story are likable, especially Nao and Shio. Well, that's to be expected that these guys are the most likable since they only told about them, thoroughly... Shio is a bit clueless at times, somewhat of a cry baby, but she has a pure personality and can be courageous at points in the manga too! Nao is the dream guy: he's supportive, good looking, and knows not to stray away from his dream.

My enjoyment for this story was high. I even put it as one of my favorite manga! There are moments where you'll go d'aww, cry, laugh, and smile.

Overall: I think that this shoujo manga is worth taking a look if you have the time. You will not regret reading it. It's a simple story that you can appreciate. I thought that one of the themes this manga brings was nice too: even if a dream is impossible to oneself as long as you try you will not regret it, after all it's something that makes you the happiest doing. Spread your wings guys! (you'll understand why I said this if you read the manga)

P.S.
I hope I helped someone in making their decision to read this. I tried to make this a good review. :P read more

As most manga with less than 20 chapters, events and happenings move at a considerably fast pace that leaves you struggling to keep up. In the story Hitoribocchi wa Samishikute, there is evidence of that. The relationship between Shio and Nao develops too quickly and thus gives off a sense of unrealism. However, their friendship and ties of love are very sweet. Hand in hand, they both run towards their dreams, overcoming and obstacles together.

Shio is first portrayed a quiet girl who her classmates think ill of. She dreams of becoming a singer and writes all her feelings into songs. One day Nao and Shio's classmates discover her notebook of feelings. Shio runs crying, and Nao confronts her and tells her to sing for him. Thus begins their journey of dreams.

"I want to be free and fly towards my dream." read more