Papillon: Hana to Chou
Papillon

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I usually feel the student/teacher type of manga is overdone and usually boring. However, the depth of the main character's stories were impressive compared to the many other manga I've read. They are flawed and damaged character's, which is rare to find in a manga (especially shoujo).

The artwork is well done compared to some of the manga out there. There isn't anything spectacular, but the artwork is smooth and not distracting other than the very attractive rival male characters (Teacher and Mamura).

While I did cheer for my OTP I knew it would never be, but it was still enjoyable to cheer for ... them. I won't go into detail due to possible spoilers.

Overall, it was enjoyable and a nice kind of different from most student/teacher manga.

Story

The story is about understanding each other's and their own struggles, but it's also about growing up to your best potential. Even with that said, I think a lot of ways things were resolved were really unsatisfying. The author brought in some huge issues and struggles, and kind of gave a wishy washy solution, which I think not only shows how old the series is but also how shallow it also is. Though it did have pretty strong beginning and conclusion.

Art

The art had a bit of the same face syndrome, which I'm not only saying about the twins, but for most characters. This is especially ... bad since a portion of the story is about insecurities with they way one looks, therefore this basic style hurt the story a lot. If the story wasn't so focused on how the characters looked then this wouldn't be an issue.

Characters

I was often very frustrated with some characters. Which isn't surprising from this author, who is prone to make characters do unnecessary or uncharacteristically mean things just for that extra drama. Oddly enough I wasn't mad at the main heroine, in fact most times I thought she was completely reasonable with her reactions, yet she was told that she was bizarre or condemned for her actions. The male lead had me frustrated a lot since he often repeated the same mistakes, and wouldn't understand why the female lead was worried.

Enjoyment

I did enjoy it, hence why I read it through. Some issues were dealt well with, and sometimes characters would work together and do what the others were too afraid of. It was really fun to see them use each other strengths together. Also I really liked some motifs in the manga, which definitely helped in the end.

Overall

Read it if you like drama, and are fun with some subpar romance. The main character is also really good, at least to me, she was fun to watch, but the other characters kind of fall flat.

What a disaster, a downright sloppy mess with an awful plot and annoying characters. Papillon is a drama filled teen romance manga about competing twins that tries to dig into some touchy subjects like insecurity, childhood abandonment, post-partum depression, and traumatic loss.

Ageha is a quiet and shy country girl that feels that she is undesirable next to her beautiful and popular city girl twin sister, Hana. The first few volumes of the manga deal with the twins butting heads over boys. Hana feels left out if she doesn’t receive the same love and affection that her sister does. She reminded me of a toned-down version ... of Sae from Peach Girl but Hana at least has a backstory to explain the reasons for her garbage actions.

The plotlines are paper-thin and barely have any real development. All of the love interests don’t feel genuine and begin and end quickly. The major romantic interest in counselor Kyuu was troubling. Kyuu is 24 years old and is presented as a legitimate boyfriend for the main character, a high school freshman. He is nine years her senior and is in a position of influence over her as the school counselor. He starts by giving her advice, referring to her as a chrysalis, a pupa that will someday bloom into a beautiful butterfly. He states from the very beginning that he will care for her and help her change. This is troubling, there is no happy message about loving yourself. I can understand the sentiment that if you want something, you put in the work to obtain it and change habits, but that isn’t really what is portrayed.

They’re a terrible pair, with Kyuu expecting a mature woman that would understand that he’s a busy graduate student and works, he can’t attend to her every whim and gets tired and stressed quickly. He is also flirtatious and doesn’t turn away the advances of other women, and doesn’t respect her demands however childish. This leaves the main character feeling insecure and constantly jealous and questioning herself, many readers get annoyed but honestly, this is an understandable way for a teenager to react.

I also took serious issue with the portrayal of counseling in this manga. Obviously, Kyuu was the worst offender, breaking just about every code of ethics about counselor and patient relationships. It is openly stated that he uses love to help students to feel more confident and change themselves and it was honestly upsetting to read. His mentor shows up to also give advice, and when Ageha is stressed over things such as him flirting, it is explained away to her that she can just choose not to be upset about betrayals and choose to be happy instead, and she repeats this to herself several times with every conflict throughout the series.

The entire romance stinks of an older man grooming a teenage girl who is clearly too young to understand adult relationships. This manga wasn’t for me and I was really disappointed with the direction that it took. It starts off okay in the beginning but just becomes so toxic that it became boring.