Ranked #1364

Tonari no Kashiwagi-san (Manga)

Do the main characters look like a perfect, womanly tsundere and a pathetic shy guy? They do? Well they are finally not! Finally, someone dared to make two characters that actually ARE alike! The rule of 'opposites attract' is finally out of practice in at least ONE manga! Bring the champagne, we're about to celebrate one of the better girl-ish reads out here, Tonari no Kashiwagi-san!


~Story~ (8)

The idea of having two characters eager to befriend each other is so very simple. So why hasn't anyone else thought of that?!
The premise is good, and Kashiwagi deals with realistic problems as she is afraid of telling the truth of her identity. It progresses nicely, and isn't too full of cliches. In fact, there aren't that many to even notice. It isn't too tense, and is in fact a fairly relaxing story this still will catch your interest. Although it is seinen enough, is still has a strong shoujo feeling to it.


~Art~ (5)

The art isn't very special or too good. Everything is nice and clean, it isn't messy and doesn't come as old, but it is pretty generic, and doesn't offer much of the scenery art or detailing. The characters are designed pretty well, there are no flaws, but when you look at them twice you realize they are not really original, or too hard to draw -we've seen characters like these many times. If there were more work put into the scenery the rate might've been higher.


~Character~ (6)

They could be slightly better. For one we don't know much about our two main love birds, apart from the fact they're otaku, and that she is an artist. Their history isn't mentioned much, but they covered a few important bits.
What did surprise me though, is that they connect to each other perfectly. Usually one is always shy and other one is loud and popular. One is quietly mysterious and other one is a dunce. But now we have two people very much alike. They're both a bit shy, they both are insecure in themselves, and they both have flaws as well as virtues.
The supporting cast is a bit off because of Kashiwagis' crazy-ass best friend who is a bit of a typical "I have a cute smile but I can still kill you" character.


~Enjoyment~ (8)

Although it flaws in a few too many areas, it is pretty enjoyable, easy to read, and sometimes light humored. It is easily comparable to real life sometimes, and sometimes even painfully realistic. The characters are cute and the story is new.


~Overall~ (7)

A good ol' solid Seven is just enough for this manga. It is definitely not a prefect read, but some may find themselves enjoying it a bit more than they maybe should. I would recommend it at anytime. read more