Piece of Cake

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This is another one of those quick manga that you can read in a few hours that I do think is worth josei/romance fans time. The characters are a bit frustrating, but not in any way that I haven't seen or behaved like myself in real life. It deals with jealousy, the cycle of abuse, and toxic relationships (both the high highs and the low lows) in a straightforward way just through character behaviour and their inner thoughts, which I definitely identified with. There are some really nice moments of good communication between couples, but also a lot of instances where those communication skills go ... right over the MCs head which I think is very realistic. She isn't an amazing person, she has her problems, and life isn't going to be perfect all the time.

The art at first is a little bit shoddy but improves significantly very quickly as the manga goes on, the girls are absolutely gorgeous with their big eyes and long eyelashes. So it is worth reading past the 3rd chapter if the art is what turns you off—it gets MUCH better.

The ending felt rushed and confused me. I don't like endings like this one, that just seem open-ended and make very little sense. It ended abruptly and I remember reading the last page, realising that was the last page, and being incredibly confused like "no way it just ended like that..." but alas, a lot of these short josei romance's seem to end like this so nothing that hasn't been done before.

I think this manga is just fine. It's not long and it tells an interesting story and has important themes. Definitely try to find a good translation if you're reading in English, the one I read for the first few chapters was dubious and it was really hard to tell what was going on but that only lasted for a short while and then it all made sense. It's short enough to just get through it and see how you feel for yourself.

Overall I would give this manga a 7.5, if I read this back in high school, I would think it was trash and weird. But as an adult, I actually liked it a lot.
This manga is a josei, and it hit hard at some points. The author truly understood how complex and confusing our feelings and actions are, especially when it comes to love.
All the characters are so annoying but only because they're filled with flaws, you wish they could see their mistakes and immaturity, but you also realize that they're human.

So to explain my ratings
Story: 7, even though I loved the story, there ... are some parts I didn't enjoy, maybe because it feels outdated. Also because of how short it was, some plot lines had to be rushed. The ending felt incomplete, but because it was left for the readers interpretation, I was able to see an ending where it seemed harsh and realistic.

Art: 7, it has the 90's/early 2000's manga look, with long eyelashes and pouty lips, but i dig it, it just feels right.

Character: 8, honestly character writing is amazing, all the flaws really made you sorta reflect on your own flaws that we try to hide. The only issue i see is that some characters didn't get a light shined on, and i think it would've made the story stronger

Enjoyment: 8, Like i said in the beginning, this manga would've sucked if I read it at a younger age, I'd just be confused why these adults were making these stupid mistakes. But as an adult who makes stupid mistakes and complicated feelings, it was kinda nice reading this story and feeling validated. What takes out of the enjoyment was how I had to read this through 5 different manga sites because some only had parts of chapters...

To restate, I give it overall a 7.5, which is high for a manga that looks like it should be lower.

This review was written 1am after I sat in my room reevaluating my life.

Story:
I felt that the storyline was fairly unique, and to be honest, it caught my eye for a while and was on my "Plan to Read" for a long time. I was actually very excited to get the time to read this manga. Unfortunately, it was very disappointing. I felt very disconnected from the storyline. I couldn't relate in the slightest and I felt that the pace was too slow for me. The overall plot was pretty good, but I didn't feel a connection to it, so I dropped this manga.

Art:
The art...wasn't the most appealing that I've seen. It might just be my opinion, but ... I felt that the lines were somewhat crooked and messy. I found it appalling, and my first impression of the neighbor was very...bad. He didn't look appealing in the least to me. He didn't look like a main character should. The girl's art was okay, but it was also messy and not my style. However, this art also isn't the worse I've seen, so I gave it a 5.

Character:
Character development was okay. We get the gist of their personalities and an inside of their thoughts. I found it very bland, however, which also made me drop this book. I felt no connection to the characters, and I find some aspects of the characters annoying.

Enjoyment:
This only received a 3 because of the interesting storyline. I tried very hard to like this story and give it a shot, but I just dropped it in the end because it had nothing that appealed to me any longer.

Overall:
I don't really recommend this to anyone. I'm a person who is a graphics guru and I love amazing art WITH a good plotline. However, I guess if you don't care much about the art and you're there for the story, this might be a good manga for you to read. I don't normally give bad reviews, but I believe this is just based on personal opinions. I feel that this is a book you'll either really hate or really love. It's unfortunate that I fell under disappointed.

- Theresa ☆～（ゝ。∂）