Ranked #737

Kyou, Koi wo Hajimemasu (Manga)

Why am I still reading this past chapter 11 when it becomes painfully obvious that the mangaka can't decide whether to make the hero a quintinssential martyr or a slick bad boy with an inner goodness that shines through only when the heroine is in distress. Groan, I don't know why!

This story starts out ordinarily enough when a straight laced but feminine and talented girl ends up attending her back up choice of high school but still isn't the top student there. That rank goes to a heartthrobby fellow Kyouta who alternated between teasing (read humiliating) Hibino and assisting her when the situation escalates out of control. At first, it's very much a copy of Bokutachi wa shitte shimatta only meaner coz this girl has a callously selfish younger sister and suffers from extremely low self esteem. Eventually she makes friends, but of course end up fallng in love with the molester who apparently makes booty calls for senpais in their classrooms!

But WAIT! Suddenly, it's not enough for the mangaka to just have a normal romance with cutely drawn albeit cliche conflicts, so we're bruptly thrust into this situation where the fiend Kyouta develops a painful past which disallows him to trust Hibino and other women. So while he wants to... well... "make her his woman", he doesn't want a confession, even though he says he'll do "things which she's dreaming of" if she asks him to, because that means she will betray him! Haha, it gets even more comical along the way! I'm guessing more trials and tribulations ensue, but really, you have to be plenty patient with the sluggish plot and the pathetic dialogue to get there.

Plus points... The art is very dreamily gorgeous, for both male and female characters. The story really manages to mortify the reader at times and I wanted to run away from the computer screen sometimes when Hibino was teased or exposed! The few intimate scenes are steamy without being tasteless and many novel mini suplots are portrayed realistically, especially fashion. Also we don't just have a single track minded heroine here, Hibino is very focused on grades but she loves making hairstyles and fashionable clothes and wants to find love as well.

I recommend reading this one when the scanlation group changes hands, coz the one available right now hosts a rather awkward translation and bad quality scans. read more

I stumbled upon this one day and started reading it, I don't usually read love mangas but after reading the first chapter I realized that the main character, Tsubaki, reminded me of my girlfriend from junior high. I am no Kouto (the other main, the boy who sweeps her off her feet), but I felt a personal connection to the story as many of you might. A lonely girl who doesn't fit in, but catches the eye of the most handsome guy in school and changes to be with him. I have only read up to chapter 23 because that's all I can find translated. I must say that the story seems to be evolving into a good plot though from what I have read. I think this will be a good manga once completed, but all the scans and translated versions I have seen for this manga is sub-par. I still thank the person doing it cause I know I cant, but I would wait for the manga to get father along and maybe a pro translator to pick up this series before I would jump into it. I am still reading it weekly though. Also I am trying not to spoil but pay close attention to Tsubaki's sister in the beginning, I didn't pay much attention to her but she is turning out to be a big part of the plot so I went and reread some of her parts to get a feel for her. I didn't pay attention the first time cause I was so wrapped up with Tsubaki and Kouto. Also I probably misspelled the names, only because I have seen it translated different ways in each chapter lol. read more