Teiji ni Agaretara
If We Leave on the Dot

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As there was no review for this manga yet, I decided to briefly make one to show how much I have fallen in love with it xd

Story 9/10
Teiji ni Agaretara is about two office ladies: Yukawa and Mizuki, delving into their friendship and exploring the steps leading to them eventually falling in love. What I am really enjoying about this story so far is how realistic it feels. None of their interactions seem forced and it feels like the relationship between the two gets stronger by the chapter.
Another thing I particularly liked was that whenever any of them felt insecure about something, they took ... the time to talk about it with each other in some chapters to resolve their issues rather than keeping them bottled up. Though it may seem trivial, it is one of the reasons why I love this manga compared to some others that tend to lead to a "build-up of misunderstandings" lasting for several chapters.
As a result, this allows the two to understand each other's feelings and personal issues as well as providing a way for the girls to further develop their relationship rather than taking a step back. The author has executed their interactions well and has created possibly one of the most enjoyable and genuine girls’ love mangas I have ever read.

Characters 9/10
Yukawa is the older girl of the two. She is sweet and reliable but often feels insecure, especially about her developing feelings for Mizuki as well as how it may impact upon their friendship. She gets easily flustered and this becomes apparent in later chapters whenever she interacts with Mizuki.
Mizuki on the other hand is very cheerful and outgoing at work, yet she lets loose her childish side when alone with Yukawa. Despite this however, throughout the story, it becomes clear that she is growing more affectionate towards Yukawa and wonders how she should deal with these intense and confusing feelings she has for her.
I am grateful for the POV shifts we get between the two because it allows us to explore their deepest insecurities such as jealousy and anxiety as well as how they both cope with them. The two are both unique and charming and complement each other's personalities well which has led to some super heart-warming moments in the story.

Art 9/10
Although I was on the fence about the art style initially, I have grown attached to it and I believe the author has done an amazing job in making the characters and their reactions look both adorable and genuine, especially with the more dramatic scenes later on where it is clear that a great deal of care was taken to draw them.


Overall, this is a beautifully written manga so far and I am fully invested in it. I am looking forward to the next chapters and I am confident that the author can maintain the same level of momentum towards the end. :)

I felt the need to contradict the only other review that gave this a mind-boggling 9. They are entitled to their opinion but I think that rating is insanely generous, or they simply are brand new to reading manga.

FYI, MAL says 20ch, but there are actually 29 (ending at "24.25" whatever that means).

This series started out cute but at this point I'm just over here saying "refund please". Waste of time & frustrated me enough to write this review which I believe is my first one.

TL;DR: If you read nothing else from my review, even score aside, I would highly recommend skipping chapters 23 ... & 24.25 unless you like crappy unfinished cliffhanger endings with introduced drama that didn't exist before these two chapters & never get resolved because drama cliffhangers are cool? 23.2 (halloween special) is fine.

Long-winded & spoiler version below:

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Plot: Kayako falls for a younger (by 5 years) co-worker, Kaori, to whom she confesses reaaaaal early in their friendship. Kaori responds with "why don't we try dating" and "maybe I'll fall in love with you too", which she quickly does. Cute/fluffy after but this series should have been a onshot or half the length because the author really flubbed the landing or otherwise simply didn't have any sort of plan or fleshed out storyboard.

Art: I was fine with it, though the artist is clearly a novice. No complaints from me, either way and no further comment because art is subjective.

Relationship progression was fairly typical, satisfying, and non-graphic. Hand holding & some kiss scenes. The artist clearly cannot draw a kiss, though they do kiss a few times "off screen" or "looking at back of FL's head with a 'chu' label", etc.. No further skinship. These aren't complaints, just info.

My problem with this series and the biggest reason I'm scoring this at a 3 can be summed up in two major cons:

1. Pacing is not good. Character writing is not good. There's fluff & flutters here and there, sure, but the character writing is genuinely poor. The characters are two dimensional despite thoughts and introspection being a common thread through the series. I've been more invested in oneshot characters. The side characters? None of them had any point but filler. Random chapter with X co-worker we never see again. Random chapter with grandma who we never see again. Random chapter with friend group that we never see again. All these incidents & side characters all had one common purpose: to introduce insecurities to our two leads and NONE of those insecurities are ever resolved.

Kayako is insecure about her age. Kaori is insecure about overstepping her boundaries & interacting at work. Both are insecure about dating another woman. Just to name a few of these insecurities. Drama can drive narrative and character growth but if you don't actually use those points in a way that serves the narrative or that actually provides said character growth then it is nothing but waste floating on the water. Why intentionally add waste to the water you are in full control of pouring with no intent to clean it back up? I just don't get it.

2. The last two chapters of the series literally do nothing but introduce a completely out-of-left-field love rival which just throws a shit in the pool, confusion in the lead, and then curtains close. Really (not) great writing. I don't care if the series was cancelled, if you can't close the plotline that you are STARTING in the last two chapters of your story, don't even include them. It's insulting to this story you've crafted & to your readers. It gives a very "who the fuck cares, I had them drawn so here you go!" impression. I was annoyed enough by these two chapters that I wrote all this. Nothing gives me bigger gripes than abrupt endings but it's really just so awful to introduce such a plotpoint in your abrupt ending. Things could have ended so non-problematically but noooo.

Unless you love pointless drama cliffhangers just skip chapters 23 and 24.25 (23.2 / halloween special is fine). I'd mark the whole manga as a miss though. The author stopped caring 3 chapters in, so why bother.