So, this manga will always have a special place in my heart because I grew up with it. I first bought this manga when I was around 12 years old.
Despite this, I think this series is absolutely overshadowed as a “love” story. I don’t see this as a romance manga. Now reading this at 30 years old, I view this series quite differently.
Hina’s feelings for Shiro stems from the loneliness she suffers from daily. She is so lonely that any nice gesture from anybody is deemed as a good person. She is a very naïve individual who feeds off of social interaction because she has nobody else. The teddy bears in her house gives Hina a false sense of protection since her mother was the one who gifted them to her. Hina also sings to herself an overwhelming amount. I don’t understand why her father can’t just set up extra security in his home so Hina can feel safer living with him. There is clearly no security in the house she resides in. With Hina’s personality being the way it is, I wouldn’t allow this to happen if it were my child, no matter how stubborn they are.
Her father has more than enough money to set up security for the household.
If this were real life, I think Hina should seek a therapist based on all the overwhelming feelings she deals with daily, whether it’s explicitly stated or not.
Another complaint I have is how the last chapter was handled. Shiro was depicted as a character who reciprocated Hina’s feelings at the very last minute. Both characters had absolutely no chemistry in the entire manga. Shiro was hired to protect Hina, nothing else. Any time he would follow her or make his way into Hina’s house, it was solely to make sure nothing bad happened. I never had the vibe that Shiro was ever interested in her romantically. The relationship was strictly work related and he treated her like a child, since she is one. Everything was platonic until the very end.
Regarding Hina’s friend, Emi, I originally thought she kidnapped Hina to prove that Shiro’s second job was related to the kidnappings and ransom money. This would’ve been such an understandable plot, showing that Shiro didn’t care for Hina (romantically). But apparently Emi had no idea about Hina’s history and decided to kidnap her for money??? I thought Emi knew this entire time 🙄 that absolutely made no sense to me.
Anyway, even though there are some hiccups with the plot and character development, I still really like this manga. I wish this manga wasn’t seen as a love story because honestly it was very one sided the entire time, plus, adding the pedophilic element last minute was really uncalled for; it just taints the story and shifts how you view Shiro as a character. Either way, this was one of the first manga I read as a kid and it’s been an interesting journey reacting now as my adult self. Maybe I’ll read this again in a few years. |
