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So, I picked out this manga on a whim not really expecting much out of it. I figured it'd be your usual romance manga; super-cute shoujo girl meets a guy that automatically falls for her and they date, meeting troubles along the way.

Boy, was I wrong.

This manga is truly a diamond in the rough. It's one of those unique manga where the main female lead is actually someone you can RELATE to with REAL flaws. She's not uber-cute and she doesn't have guys fawning all over her.

The story pretty much follows Kiriko as she goes through her school-life trying to get out of her perfect elder sisters shadow and blossom into her own woman.

Her elder-sister is your typical air-headed and clumsy, dumb (but well-intentioned) blond that gets the guys. Kiriko, on the other hand, is someone you can relate to off the bat. She's just your average girl that experiences the same kind of hardships any other teenage girl would face; unrequited love, trying to fit in, dealing with insecurity and raging hormones, and trying to find their own place in the world. We follow her as she slowly learns to be her own woman and steps out of her sisters shadow.

The story is hilarious and yet touching as well. It's very realistic, and as such, it's categorized as "mature" so it's not really for the feint of heart. Still, it's truly a must-read.

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In the 10 years of my life of reading manga, I have never encountered one with such absolutely pathetic characters. Don't get me wrong, the idea was good, but the characters were so underdeveloped and the obstacles the heroin had to face were so horribly thought out, that at one point you have to think "What obstacle will they throw at use now? Will it be that the girl can't be with the guy of her dreams because he's a blonde? Oh, the horror! Society shall never approve!"

I'm one to complete my manga's, since I've learned through the years that sometimes manga's get better as you read one, but this one only got worse and it actually became excruciatingly painful to complete it. Unfortunately, I had trusted the reviews I had seen here and decided to read it. I read it after completing Fushigi Yuugi, a fellow "girl gets sucked into another world" themed manga, so I'll admit, expectations were high. But for it to have been such an epic fail...oh my.

The female lead was unlikeable. She made obstacles for herself to not be with the guy she loved most, which was annoying since it was so obvious it was just so that the series could drag out longer. What I hated most of all was the main villain, the evil queen. Her character was the worst underdeveloped character with the most pathetic evil-schemes I have yet to encounter. You would've easily thought they took her out of a Disney classic film like "Snow White" and even then, it would be an insult to Snow White.

All in all, I must say that this manga is pathetic. Do not be fooled by these reviews! It would only be enjoyable for possibly an manga newb, and even they deserve better. I mean, jeez, even Inuyasha's "Naraku" had a semi-thought out past that led him to be "evil" (was sick-fell for kikyo-gave up his body to demons to be stronger to be able to BE with kikyo-was only a half demon-wanted to become a full demon to find his place in the world-did evil things to obtain the one thing that could MAKE him a full demon) read more