Ranked #742

Pastel (Manga)

Pastel is an interesting Shounen, Romantic, Comedy about the growing relationship between potential half-brother and half-sister. The story starts of as a typical "boy meets girl and then they somehow end up living together" but after the first couple initial volumes it just drags on with random stuff for 10 volumes, with the main relationship not developing at all. The only thing that keeps the story interesting during this time are the hilarious antics the characters get themselves into and the other relationships that develop in the time. Yet the fact that we have yet another "loser-kun" protagonist, will remain on your mind for the duration of the story

The artwork is good enough for a Rom/Com with the best thing being the incredibly detailed environments however the character design are just plain, especially the male protagonist. The girls are sometimes hard to tell apart, due to their similar facial features. At least the characters have noticeably different personalities and most of them, not only the main guy and girl, are well developed.

I thought this romantic comedy had some potential of being one of my faves, but that was ruined once the mangaka decided to drag on the story for ages. Not only is the story dragged on but it's full of every single type of cliche I can think of but at least it had plenty of jokes and the story finally started to get back on track around Volume 12.

Pastel is really just a manga for Rom/Com lovers and even if you enjoy Rom/Coms you would either find this one; uninteresting, decent or really enjoyable. It is best to give it a try and find out for yourself.

^_^ read more

87 chapters read so far


the good thing with pastel is that each character has a story. it doesn't really focus on the relationship that needs to be established between mugi and yu rather, it focuses on how parties deal with so as to drive down to that relationship.

pastel is definitely a cheesy manga with lots of lines that one could quote at. sometimes, that cheesiness causes the readers to dislike pastel put i believe that the 'cheesy factor' of the manga is balanced by how the situation is percieved by every character. thus, the story is seen from yu and mugi's perspective ON their relationship and from the perspective of their friends on how they think the two are progressing.

i believe that this manga covers, not only the issue of teenage romance but the issue that romance is influenced by people and circumstance. i think the reason why the story progressed like a snail is because the creator wants the readers to conceptualize how relations work in real life and that not everyday is a "plot-given blessing" that even miracles need time to develop.

the mere fact that your crush notices you is a miracle, to have her as company is another one and to have her as a girlfriend is the greatest. but how did such miracles take place? what were the odds and ends that mugi had to face, the price he had to pay? the gambles he had to take.

with this, we understand that romance cannot be achieved easily. sometimes we gamble and, despite our efforts, we fail, and once we do, it's all over. mugi was afraid for most of the 80 chapters due to the fact that he doesnt want to let go of one of the blessings given to him (that is to have yu as his friend) but he did a big gamble which miraculously turned out fine.

if you want a manga that deeply explores the logic and feeling of romance, then i recommend pastel to you ^_^ read more