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I think this is one of the best mangas made by this mangaka. Now I was hesitant to read it for a multitude of reasons. One of which was I'm not too fond of her drawings for the male characters at times. This male lead was a bit, unimpressive (to look at)....to me. Yes, it's a bit superficial of me, but that's whatever, I sucked it up. However, I do know from reading about 3 of other works and reviewing them that her stories are very good, and I mean, overall, well thought out and rich. So I knew when reading I would not be disappointed.

Well it so happens I wasn't. The story is rather familiar to many who read shoujo mangas. 4 friends, two boys and two girls....already the vast array of mangas are running through your head as you read that make up. We all know the ultimate drama and angst that we could expect from this story. There is limited angst, well it's angst with a very fortunate ending and it's angst that doesn't last too long. They are school kids and this would be classed as a shoujo, slice of life, school life---type of story.


Characters are:

Kurumi (Nakamura): Lead girl, has a baby face and body of sorts (very naive) (she's very petite so she seems childlike). She has a cruh on Sout-kun who happens to be the first person to make friends with her when she moved to the new school and also the one to introduce her to the others and happens to be the boy she's in love with. Moderate household income (this is important because it relates to the other two friends).

Souta-kun: Lead male. He's not so cute for me, but he's a Bishie in the manga for the other girls. Well all except one, called Miyako. She happens to be one of his childhood friends and the only female friend he had before Kurumi came along. He's also secretly in love with her. Moderat household income--same explanation as above.

Chiaki: He's the second lead male, very attractive, now I find him to be a Bishie. He comes from a wealthy family, very mysterious because it's hard to figure where he's coming from. You'll get my meaning when you read the manga because he plays a vital role in how Souta-kun and Kurumi end up together. He's both helpful and a direct obstacle to the development of their relationship. I liked him best and found him smart and sexy and thought he was the ideal pair for Kurumi.

Miyako: Out of all the characters I found her the most unimpressive. You do get depth for her though, although not too deeply. You find out about her family life which is from a wealthy family, who happens to have extremely high expectations of her and of course she's burdened by those expectations, especially when she unfortunately doesn't meet them. She ends up in a rather horrible relationship which mended by the bond she shares with the other three.

Overall the story is well thought out with very little loopholes. It's basically detailing the bonds that ties and also could break relationships. It depicts how in youth you think all is well or most things are superficial and nothing can take you from those you love. When in reality you realize the fragility of things you hold dear. It's a poignant look into school life although it's a very naive outlook. It details a bit of sex and rather forbidden relationships but it doesn't go too deeply into the dark side so much.


I found the story utterly enjoyabe and loved the characters. The drawing is okay, I mean the mangaka has a weird style of drawing which I'm getting used to her. I don't find her books to have bishies but the stories are so good that it doesn't matter. Surprisingly, no religious references here.

I give the art a 7, since it's good, but not great. I loved the story but gave it a great and my enjoyment was far more than botht the story and art. The characterization could have been better in relation to Chiaki and Miyako---but it's short so it's understandable and did a great deal for them for such a good read I wholly recommend this for reading.


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**As a note there are only 3 parts in total to this manga. I know of no other, although 5 are listed. So please aware that it is 3 not 5 chapters for this manga.

First off I want to say I wanted to read this mangaka's other work since I noticed a Christian theme in the last manga one-shot of her's that I read entitled Kamisama Onegai! (I recommend reading this mangaka, it's great too.) I wasn't disappointed by finding that there was a religious theme here as well. Not as religious as the first but there is a strong presence of God and the hand of God in aiding faith along. Very miniscule overall.

The premise of the story is of a young girl who starts at a new school and bumps into the math teacher of her school on the first day. To her surprise, this teacher used to be a neighbor of hers and they had a relatively close relationship, so much so she called him Onii-chan. To go into one failure of the story is that you don't know how that relationship came about, nor how it ended. Although you do know it ended drastically and also unfortunately because she thought she would never see him again. These are dynamics of the story that would have pushed along character development and give us a bit of depth into the backstory of the characters. Unfortunately this was missing which ultimately does affect the story from my perspective.

Randomly they seem to pick up where they left off withou any angst over the past. In some ways that's good, but I find it utterly unlikely. She didn't know why she left, so why not ask?! I thought it would be a normal reaction to find out what happned to him and why. As the story progresses you see the lead female deal with a lot of insecurity. One moment in paticular is when she goes to a party she shouldn't have. So you have this young girl at a very adult party, in way over her head. There are two elements to this. The first deals with a sister. It so happens that the lead male has a sister, as a teacher he's studious, handsome, well liked, and from what I can see arrogantly gorgeous----he's very self-confident. There's no doubt he wants the lead female, but it seems a bit twisted because the mangaka makes her seem verynaive, and very innocent----almost prepubscentin a way.

Now you find out the lead male has an older sister...The problem was that she wasn't used in the story effectively. She was great from what you saw and looked a lot like her brother. However the lead girl never knew he had a sister. This perplexed me because she knew him when he was very young. I'm trying to figure out--how she knew him to the extent that she called him brother but had no idea of his sister. It'sa failure on the part of the writer in effectively telling her story. In any event the sister aids the girl to attend the above party---however she doesn't accompany the girl as a guardian of sorts and doesn't reappear for one single part of the rest of the story. It's annoying.

However, even taking into consideration these issues the story was good on it's face and not totally disastrous. I actually was greatly entertained and would have found this to be one of the bests if there weren't so many loose ends. The characterization could have been better, but that's because they lackd backstory, which would have been great in understanding the full aspects of their relationship. The art is very good. I don't find this mangaka's males o be very Bishie like...however I will say that she manages to use her character drawings effectively to display emotions. Normally in mangas you get a picture as though their posing. This mangaka gives you emotions. I do recommend it.

It's a good sensei/student read. read more

I was actually very surprised by this manga. It read like a WatchTower romance article for teenagers. For those who do not know what WatchTower is, it's a religious pamphlet or newsletter of sorts with various writers who talk about the majestic unanswered questions or mystic places provided by God. Basically, it's a religious newspaper for Jehovah's Witnesses which is the religious group that creates and distributes them. They are actually quite entertaining. But this is what makes this story that much more interesting. I have never read such a highly religiously charged manga. To be honest I have never read a religious manga or seen a religious anime in my life. This is a bit of shocker for me since I had thought that aspect to be near impossible to find.

However this religious theme is wrapped quitely nicely in heavy shoujo writing. Atypical love story to say the least. It's loosely reminiscint of Itazura na Kiss with a religious twist. So what you have is a studious boy who's part of a student council and all around perfect boy who's a bishie (in the opinion of the girls IN the manga) and a young junior high school girl who is naive, basically living in the same room together and he's helping her study. She's completely non-functional in science and math, ie she does poorly in those two classes. So studious, albeit approachable boy, ends up having his defenses torn down by innocence personified. To see how innocent she is, the mangaka makes it a point to draw the lead female almost like a little puppy. So she's eager, happy, sweet, and boisterous and she loves to hug. The boy is far from that, tends to be cold, as I said, studious, reserved and more like neutral or indifferent than either excitable or a gloomy gus.

Then they stress the presence of Kami-sama (or God) which has brought the two together and it's the young girls strong devotion and belief in Kami-sama and his power that she is able to persevere. The boy though is confused to Kami-sama and he's basically pulled in by her devotion to Kami-sama and seeing her as a gift to him. He becomes extremely attached to her and wants her presence around him.

It gives this impression that love is in a way destined and controlled by a "hidden-hand." This hand can be vengeful and benign at will; and when it is benign it gives you the most precious and important thing that comes into your life. An additional theme to the romantic meme, and the power of God; is to never take for granted what is given to you because you could lose it one day. It helps you realize the importance of what is in your life and the people you love.

I have to say this is the first one-shot that I found so moving and worthy of an extended revew. I didn't give it a 9 or a 10 in ways of art mainly because the art is average from my perspective. It wasn't screaming "hot bishies", but I appreciated how the mangaka turned the art into an necessary accessory to her writng as we see with the drawing of the lead girl to underscore and exemplify their personality or personality traits. I thought the story was profound but scored it lower because I felt this could have been a much longer story with much more depth and that the 35 pages were much to small for something with a lot of potential.

The characters were mediocrally developed. They weren't horrible but the story was far to short. This shortness did affect the overall story which although good, was a bit confusing. I just feel he talisman or charm should have been given more presence to understand what's going on. But that didn't happen and I felt it left a lot of things missing, ultimately hurting the characters.

Overally I enjoyed it a great deal and I do recommend it. I'm on my way to read more from this mangaka---not only for her stories but to see if there are any more religiously tinted stories like this one. read more

I struggled between giving this a 7 or an 8 (good or very good). It's based on how you preceive the story. This is the second piece I've read by this mangaka, I've been taken in by the originality in the style of drawing. That's what first drew me in. I'm currently on Sukitte Ii na yo, which is stil in the ongoing process and it was my introduction to her style of writing and drawing I fell in love with both.

Now to discuss this work. This will focus mainly on the broad theme of the 5 one-shots in this piece, they all revovle around loneliness, love, and earlier heartbreak. However, the most dominating is loneliness. On that aspect you see how loneliness can drive people to various aspects of desperation as seen in the fourth and last one-shot. They are the more extreme examples.

The first one-shot focuses on a Student/Teacher relationship. This is of course a cliched storyline in which the student and teacher are neighbors. The student is male and seems to have a party of sexual deviance every night to the dismay of his neighbor. His neighbor a relatively young teacher at his school (who is also his homeroom teacher) lives alone and focuses hersel around her job, keeping up appearances of being happy, jolly, and fun while in fact she goes to be early and alone to the noises of her neighbor. Overall the story is rather mediocre and mundane since it's so classic. All in all it didn't give me anything much except how impressed I seemed by the lead male. There was something about him that appealed to me. However I feel the same about a lot of her heros. I would give this a 4 out of 10 (it's too mediocre).

The second one-shot deals with unrequited love. This one is realistic almost to a tee, I've known couples like this and the girls suffering. Sadly, it's a girl suffering---however an almost similar story happens in the one-shot immediately following but in the reverse role. In any event, girl falls for guy and is willing to take him anyway she can...ie she willing becomes his toy just becasue she sees it as an ounce of returned affection. Thing is he's in a relationship. What's aggravation is the extent the woman allows herself to be dismissed or abused. However, at the same time..it's understandable and definitely mirrors reality. Many people thrust themselves in unfulfilling relationships wher one party is like a succubus who takes and never returns. However we see how this turns out in the long run and of course each manga has a happy ending of sort. However I found this guy emotionally taxing and abusive (just by the fact he was so careless with her emotions). Out of 10 this would get a 6.

The third one-shot is a serious social commentary which recounts a young girls dealing with DV (Domestic Violence), betrayal, and ultimately rescue from the unhealthy situation. Similar to the male in the above one shot, this male annoyed me as well. The male lead here was aware of everything going on and instead he allowed it to continue. All in all it was a failure and I just kept picturing her getting killed or hurt so bad she was hospitalized. However it's an important piece and shows how women allow the subjugation, abuse, and marginalization of themselves in this belief that they are in love or due to former images they were sold on when they entered the relationship. I would rate this out of 10, about a 5.

I believe I liked the fourth one-shot the best. Deals with an older gentleman who would like friendship and basically posts an advert like on craigslist to meet up with someone. He gets a teenager girl as a companion and you sift through the various changes in their relationship and ultimately the culmination. I felt more connected to this couple. It definitely touches on extreme loneliness. I think what brings this home is that I have went through such a thing when I first moved to England at 19...so bone deep was the loneliness that I almost went and committed extreme acts. I have a friend who's come with me to France and she's currently doing the same thing. Posting on craigslist and trying to make friends. It's the loneliness that does it and it shows how weak humans are to such emotions. But it also touches on the fact that we need other people, that we crave relationships and bonds with other people, it's a basic instinct of human nature and to deny oneself results in acting out which is not always normal. In the case of the male lead in this role and the female lead it worked in both their favor. I'd give this an 8 out of 10.

The last one-shot is the saddest one. A young girl basically date raped and prostituted by someone she considered a friend because she thought she was doing all of this in the name of friendship. I knew girls like this in school----they will do whatever they can in order to keep somene they believed to be a friend, even if the so called "friend" made them do things that was harmful to them. Most would call the girl an idiot or weak, I felt bad for her, I pitied her that she allowed herself to fall prey to people like that. And at the same time it's our needs to be reassured to make sure that what we have that we derive pleasure from never goes away. It's like something precious that you have or own and if someone were to break it you'd cry, break down or lash out. You see value in it. And she allowed her belief in the "friendship" to put her into an unhealthy situation and unhealthy relationship. I liked the development of the story and the redemption of the lead male. All in all i found it a relatively original piece and I'd like to read more mangas like this.

I think this series of one-shots is worth the read, and keep in mind the theme is loneliness so the mangaka pushes that home all the chances she gets and shows the resolution in the end. The art work is an acquired tastes. Some people love it, some abhor it. I'm in the love it category----however her storylines are good and worth the read. I definitely recommend this and actually any of her others. If you haven't yet and would like to read a great ongoing on loneliness, individuality, and love then I recommend----Sukitte Ii na yo of hers. Great manga. read more

I really like this mangaka and this story was alright. Admittedly it's currently a one-shot although another part of this story can be found in an ongoing compilation entitled, Until I fall in love (Koi Ni Naru Ma De), the alternate name is Kimi machi bus and it is the fourth story in this ongoing.

The basic premise of the story is that the two leads of the story have crushes on each other but neither knows the other one has a crush until finally they both make a resolve to make a move, the male is first and the girl is second. In this story the mangaka focuses a lot more on the lead male so much of this is from his perspective. This is then rectified in the complimentary story, Koi Ni Naru Ma De, where we see the story develop from the lead girls perspective. The story is basically how Katagiri, the lead male starts to basically stalk the girl he's interested in at a bus stop. They are kept apart mainly because of their status'. Katagiri goes to a rather "average" school with hooligans and Kae (the lead female) goes to a private all girls school. We're looking at Katagiri's shyness and stalker-tendencies to get the girl he likes.

The story is very short, very simple, below average and I would say in totality fair. If you have a hunkering for some manga-lite work with not too much complexity or even much characterization but infantile first romances; then this is definitely something you'd want to read. I did happen to like the art a great deal however and that helped the story along.
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Wow. I loved this short piece. It's a one-shot but it's brilliant. The characterizations, the depth of the mangaka went to for you to understand the characters, it's impressive. It's roughly 45 pages of brilliance added with great artwork and Biishie that is out of this world.

Manabe is the lead. At first glance she seems to have a bad attitude, an atypical wall flower, definitely hates her professor, she also seems to be very stubborn, no non-sense, blunt, and reclusive. Introverted beyond belief, because of those personality flaws she's sort of given the stigma of being a "scary girl" nicknamed "corner girl" for the fact the sits in the corner of every class. One day as her luck would have it she is surprised in the park by Himuro Masa-sensei, he's the lead of the story an also her professor, who moonlights as a photographer.

He reads people well, his personality is not domineering but has depth and presence. However, when he first met her, he didn't know that Manabe was "corner girl"---he thought she was a beautiful model he's never seen before. It was during a rather over the top scene where he tries to grab so they can walk to class that he surprised to note that Manabe and Park Girl are one in the same.

The story starts there. Between Manabe and Himuro, although it begins with school life it then transcends into a social commentary about the parallels between adult life and school life. But not only that, it taps into the juxtaposition of the characters. One who hates aspects of nature while the other revels in it. Then the coming together on common ground, self confidence and of course love.

It's a good read and I loved it. I definitely recommend all to read it since my review will not give the story the justice it deserves. As a highlight it was done by the same author of SKIP BEAT and TOKYO CRAZY PARADISE. I've read TCP and still waiting to have the time to dedicate fully to SB. Both of them are extremely popular and I think this is just a snippet of the mangaka's skill as an author, an artists, and someone who has a great grasp on love and what her readers like.

Brilliant work.


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This was a good read. I was surprised to like it as much as I did. Basically it's about a girl with a severe self-esteem problem and goes through tedious and meticulous make overs every single morning before school in order to look fashionable. She's currently dating a hottie extraordinaire of her school and another hottie moves into her home with her. Odagiri is the guy who moves in, he's actually a rather laissez-faire guy, not seeking popularity but has his own do to his cool factor and because he's very attractive. He also happens to be the son of the head of the company the girl's father works at.

In any event, the lead female is horribly insecure and all she really seeks is someone to show interest in her as she really is. The problem with this, is that no one outside of Odagiri has seen her true self, because she's always hiding it behind lots of hair spray and a ton of make up. So you as a reader reach an impasse with the lead female character. You sympathize with her situation and some of us females empathize with the character, however you can't help but blame the lead female for being so insecure----because she never gave anyone the benefit of the doubt or consideration that they would like her for who she is.

It's rather sad and a circular situation. Luckily, Odagiri shows up and is able to destroy that vicious cycle. However, it makes one wonder if the guy she was dating before might have liked her as herself. However, sadly, we will never know.

The story was really good in my estimation and I wouldn't mind rereading it again. I'm not a fan of girls with insecurity problems, but this was really interesting in it's development and the art is delicious to say the least. As for characters, I liked the characters because, even though this was a one shot, it managed you to feel something for the two leads and that is always the primary goal of a successful mangaka. As stated I enjoyed it, so overall I give it a good.

Keep in mind it's a mediocre story, the characters are just successful and did something for me. read more

Brilliance.

I had started this manga several times and never completed it. I believe for me, it was getting used to the art. I found the art to be too dark and usage of a lot of shading so that didn't appeal to me. When I did become used to it and also determined to finish such a small manga, I got over the art and really enjoyed the story for what it offered.

This story is one of the more popular and well known mangas for the Student/Teacher genre, if one is a fan. As a fan, it's a wonder it was not my first read. As I said, I had a lot of things to get over in regards to this manga before I delve into it fully.

The story is so well done and poignant. You feel for both leads. Shun is a young student who just recently transferred from another High School, and based on an educated guess she probably transferred because of the shunning she previously experienced. She's a nerd who is a bit more studious, and serious than the others with a healthy insecurity issue. She feels the best way to be "included" or part of the "in crowd" is to hide aspects of her self for the superficial which is more popular. Jun is the young teacher who is playful and more like another student than teacher who sees the 'real' Shun and brings her forth. Makes her drop her insecurities and became independent of past angst and also drop the cowardice to show the her real self to the world. He showed her that she deserved love, not the character she created like the dramas she watches to fit in.

It's commentary on the insecurities people face and in particular the more studious students is quite interesting for a manga. I loved the story for successfully doing that within a taboo love story.

I think everyone who gives it a chance will like this story. The plot is not complex, but the character associations and relations are which enrich the story. The art is definitely a great piece and really gives you a solid understanding of the characters and their feelings. The characters were cool. I would have loved to know more about Jun, the sensei, but overall it was decent. I enjoyed it immensely as I mentioned so overall it was a good read.


As for the two other minor fics attached to this story they were decent.

They are cutesy stories that are very lighthearted for the reader. I like the art, not as detailed and almost sketch like in affect. It was very appealing.

The first story is about a sweet girl who confessed to a boy she liked when they were young kids. Said boy moves away and has suddenly come back to the town. What he does is blackmail her with the confession letter to do things for him. It's very cute and sweet. I like the twist of how he blackmails the girl to be his slave. What's interesting is that he knows the confession letter by heart---this is how you know that he took the letter very seriously. I really liked this story.

The second one shot is about a girl who is older than the boy and they were raised like brother and sister where she's his protector. The thing is, she sees him as her brother and even though he's around 15 she still baby's him. His mother is totally agreeable with the relationship and basically you are sitting through their drama of the lead girl understanding her feelings for the lead boy. While the lead boy is using his abilities to make her jealous----he's a hot gorgeous bishie in school (the girls flock). It's another nice read. read more

First above synopsis for this manga is incorrect. The two main characters are Hikage Kouji and Aikawa Satsuki.

Aikawa Satsuki is a 2nd year student who was dating a local model. An uber hottie who was two timing her she came to find out. Although he found her attractive, she was just an accessory on his arm. Then comes in Hikage Kouji, after trying attempting to kill herself Aikawa meets Hikage. At the initial meeting Hikage is an over weight first year of her school. Not attractive at all, but because he matches (proportionally) an infamous model in height---she figures she'll transform and turn him into the infamous model to show up her ex. Hikage is a sweet, caring,a nd very nice guy. You actually smile when he says how hungry he is after crazy diet.

The premise of the story is that the inside is more important than the outside. It also describes a dark side to beauty. You may be beautiful but will you be considered a human or an object. For all the fangirls who love hottie boys, these guys become almost manufactured rubber. After a time the girls lose interest and move on to another guy. In this a lone guy gets fed up with the system and wants to be valued. A girl who confused love with possession paid the price when she put looks before personality. She ended up committing the same crime she was taking revenge for.

On one level, this magna is a rehash of so many others. On another level it's a social commentary. Plus it maintains Ayano's ability to make amazing Bishies, not just art wise but character wise. Her Alpha-Males are always entertaining when she gives them that quirky personality. They are always interesting. While her lead female is never 100% naive and at times can be very admirable such as in this story.

I thoroughly recommend the read. It's fun, and I loved it. read more

I really liked this story.

This was very enjoyable. Just as the synopsis says, girl has crush on prince she's dreamed of and in order to get rid of someone he believes to be her crush's "girlfriend", she decides said "girlfriend" at her place. Let's just say that the story is totally different.

The concept of gender-bender is not original, but I always like the storyline given to them and how they're executed. I have to say this was a good execution of a great plot line. I liked the story immensely. Unfortunately it's poor for character development, like you don't get to know the characters---and this is not always an affliction of one-shots, but found more prevalent amongst them.

The lead girl is a bit flaky but strong. She's not one to sit around and be mistreated. She takes the initiative to make her dreams come true, in the process she puts herself in precarious situations and ultimately funny moments with the lead. She had her moment, although a small window, of dealing with her sexuality. As she believes she may be having feelings for a woman. ^_^ That was ridiculously entertaining...although the writer didn't touch on this too much in the story, which was unfortunate. The lead male is sexy as hell, either as a male or a female. Adored him as a woman though, he makes me lol. He's a funny character.

The story was good, the art was excellent, the characters were mediocre but fun, and I enjoyed it, immensely, as I stated. Good read. read more