Piece

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It is hard to write a review of Piece without any spoilers, because the plot is really outstanding (completely surpass the level of any shoujo comics that I've read) and the story is full of with twists and turns.
The main character, Suga Mizuho received the news that her former classmate, Origuchi Haruka passed away. Upon the request of Origuchi's mother, Mizuho starts an investigation to follow-up the life of Origuchi and to clarify the missing parts of her highschool years.
This investigation slowly turns into a journey. A journey where Mizuho has the chance to learn the real Origuchi, a shiny, kind hearted girl. But ... it is also a chance for Mizuho to read and reconsider her own feelings and to clarify the unclosed relations with her former classmates, friends and one special person, who always confused her.
The story has a bittersweet feeling; it is full of with emotions and at the same time, it continuously surpriesed me. All characters have their personal injury that was hidden during the whole time and at the and all of these pieces, personal tragedies are connected. Nearly all of these scars are from adults that is the main message of Piece: highschoolers are still kids and are fragile. Injuries caused by their parents and their classmates can have an effect during their whole life.
The characters are just great: realistic with all the human doubts and failures. With the progress of the story the characters are continuously developing but still remain fallible.

If someone is intersted in real drama, a really intersting story with an unexpected end (don't think about ANY of the usual shoujo cliches) and likes the beautiful artwork, Piece can be the perfect choice.

I borrowed Piece at my local library thinking "Hey, this looks nice" and I was completely taken aback by it.

Story: Our main girl Suga Mizuho reunites with some high school classmates at the funeral of one of their very discrete classmates: Haruka Origuchi. No one really knew anything about her, and Origuchi's mom seems to believe that her daughter and Suga were friends in High School even though that was not the case.
She has a favor to ask, she would like to find Origuchi's boyfriend, because apprently Origuchi was pregnant but got an abortion in High School.
Reluctant at first, Suga and two other classmates agree ... to investigate Origuichi's past.


I'm not a fan of shojo but this one definetly made me change my opinion on the genre.
It has very little cliché moments, even if the emotion you'd expect from the romance genre is still very present, but always in a believable way.

The characters are definetly the main selling point of this anime, they are interesting, multi-faceted, carrying their own internal struggles, some are fighting to better themselves, others to burry their past. They are absolutely fascinating to read about. The story revolves entirely around them, Suga and Origuichi, but also their relationships past and present and how meeting others made them change and grow.
Full of plot twists, mysteries to solve and interesting discoveries, this story will keep you engaged and emotionally involved throughout.

The art is good and solid, although don't look for anything outstanding, the backgrounds are a little bland and sometimes there are proportion errors but nothing shocking (I'm just picky about those things)

A must-read for the shojo genre, an great surprise for me at least.

Okay so this is my first review I will keep it simple
Story 9- I really enjoyed the story, I didn't even know if it was gonna be a romance at first and was very confused. But the more I read, the more it was "Pieced" together. Very fitting name indeed. I like how it really goes through each character even if they are background characters, it gives it such flavor. A touch of romance and a lot of story. Something I don't get to often with shoujo.
Art-8
I give it an eight because I love this look, but I also know that it's ... not an exceptional art, I just personally really like it because it's like a lot of other good manga so I tend to know that if a manga shares this art style it's gonna be good.
Characters-10 As I said about the story, it really goes through most characters so I get to know each one. Again it's not often you get a shoujo where every character plays an important part to the story. But this one they do, I also loved the main couple.
Enjoyment&Overall 8- Doesn't take very long to read, and while I think the ending fits it, I don't feel satisfied. But that just may be my attachment to the character. I really wanted a bit more, I felt like there could be more. All in all I like the manga a lot and would say you should give it a read for sure.