Suzuka

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At first i thought this was going to be like any ordinary romance manga. In a way it is but every single chapter is good and it gets better the more you read it.

The story is really good because it has twists that i would have never guessed what would have ever happened.

Overall the story is really good. The art is one of the best.I enjoyed the whole entire manga. It made me cry laugh and sometimes pissed off. This manga has everything a romance manga should have. Overall this is one of my favorite mangas of all time

Basicly story line is that guy likes this girl but that girl doesnt seem to like the guy even though she does fell something but she doesnt show it.
This manga rly gives you alot of emotions from charracters and its very real life style . There isnt any over cliche situtations etc.
Art is very good , charracters are good and funny.
I know my review might seem sloppy and bad but i rly think that its worth to read this manga if ur lokking for romance and drama this is the best u can get srsly :)

By the way im not english nor american so :) ...

Bear with my language :)

I expected this to be better than your average love-manga, and I was right. It wasn't all that I hoped it would be, but it still provided a good read.

The story is centered around a clumsy, yet sympathetic boy (Akitsuki Yamato) entering high school in Tokyo (where have I heard this before?), where he almost immediately proceeds to fall in love with a girl (Asahina Suzuka) in the track and field team. The story then pretty much is all about how he tries to win her over while dealing with additional love interests and the ever obstinate Suzuka herself.

The story in itself isn't very exciting, ... but the author has still managed to make good use of it. A story like this is built on individual scenarios, all of which seem to play out in almost the same way. I applaud the author for skillfully repeating the same two patterns over 166 chapters without me noticing it too much.

The repetitiveness of each scenario is linked to the character design, where the titular character, Suzuka, is too "complex" for the good of the story. Most of the scenarios start out with Yamato trying to do something good towards her, while she somehow always takes it in a negative way. The frequency of which she does this is staggering, and it feels like the author has clearly gone out of his way just to think of new ways to misinterpret the intentions of Yamato. Whenever Yamato interacts with Suzuka, you can expect her to get frustrated in response to his actions at some point later on, it's just a question of when.

Other than that, I think that the feelings of the characters are conveyed well. Some actions and feelings are a bit questionable (yes Suzuka, I'm looking at you), but it's mostly the opposite. As the characters develop, so do their emotions, which gets portrayed relatively well. Story-wise, the strongest side of the author is probably the romantic climaxes (dramatic more than sexual), which are delivered with great timing and feeling. Thankfully, these are not as forced as many other story-related components.

The artwork is great, with nice backgrounds and well done characters. It shows that the author is already a skilled with the pen, and there is really nothing to complain about in this aspect. The good art is a solid cornerstone for this manga, which made it much more enjoyable than it otherwise would have been.

All in all, I did not feel that I was let down by this manga. There were some parts which could have used some work, but they weren't too much of a nuisance. I can recommend this to fans of high-school romance mangas, but perhaps not to people not already indoctrinated.

Suzuka is really a good manga...if you are into romance genre you should definitely read this manga...

ok so here we go about specifics of this manga...tho for me all that matters is my satisfaction when certain conditions of mine are met....

Story 10/10 cuz of my conditions were met i gave 10/10...Story is really good with many bittersweet moments and drama tho it could have been better on how two people in love should be like...but in later parts of manga everything got better and i really really enjoyed it..this story was one of the best story for me and i loved the ending....Kouji Seo really ... did a great job on this one.

Art : 10/10 i don't have any complaints for arts like how it could be better for this , that bs...so full marks for it..if you don't have any complaints then you should not be stingy xD

Characters : 10/10 well story and chars are both integrated for me so i have no complaints about it too....since i loved the story which involved these chars, i loved the chars too.

Enjoyment : 100/10 Damn i really enjoyed reading this manga...it was freaking awesome roller coaster ride for me....sometimes frustrating, sometimes satisfactory, sometimes irritating, sometimes sweet, sometimes silly moments between chars..i really loved it...very enjoyable manga...and it was all so sweet and heartwarming in later parts of manga..

Overall is obviously ..hmmm yeah its 130/10 :P.

Okay. Going through the current reviews for this manga, and reading some of them, I honestly think that this manga gets more flak than it deserves. I mean, I get that manga is a very opinionated thing, but if you don't like it, it's simple, don't read it. And while I respect that you want to finish the manga to find out how the story ends, if you're flipping your table over and hurting yourself in the process, why?

Time for the review.
About the story. I think that yes, it is pretty cliche. Just a high school guy coming to another city with hopes ... and dreams and just happens to live next door to the girl he likes... Yeah. I'm not going to say it's a revolutionary manga or something. But what I honestly really like about this manga (I read the manga and didn't watch the anime; personally I like manga better b/c you can fast read the cheesy parts of the story.) was that the main character went through heaven and hell in order to get with the girl he liked. What I mean is that this guy did so much, so much, to try and win over her heart, suffering and losing in the process. I'm not going to say how, and you may say that in that said process, it's cliche, but I liked it. (Once again, opinionated.) I've read quite a lot of this kind of manga imo, (romance, drama) and i think this manga doesn't quite get what it deserves.

About the art. Personally, the artwork and character design is what seals the deal. I mean yes, the character design is a little generic, (as with all manga/anime) the drawing and artwork is miles above anything else I've read from this time period that which this was first published. (circa 2004.) I love Seo Kouji's drawing style (read Kimi Machi), and he represents the character's emotions very well. And while I didn't really like anime/manga girls with short hair, later on, I grew to like Suzuka's character design.

Character...
Character is the *hands down* most important part of a romance manga. (maybe the story in there as well.) once again, what I loved about this manga, was Yamato's perseverance, not only in his sports and stuff, but how he went through so much to get with Suzuka. It's really cool, and once you read it, I hope that you understand.
Okay, about Suzuka. Many people will say she's a bitch, and yeah, I get where they're coming from. Strangely enough though, when I was reading this manga, I didn't exactly get the bitchy vibe from her. Yes, I get that she gave Yamato a hard time, but when her ______ got __ by a _______, you can understand why she doesn't exactly want to get in another relationship. Somewhat. In any case, Suzuka is rarely seen being a bitch to anyone but Yamato, and as her own relatives commented- 'she only shows her moody side to people she likes'-, I think this moody, over-the-top tsundere is kind of a twist on the overly cliche romance manga where the girl falls in love with the guy just like that. I mean, if when Yamato first asked Suzuka out and confessed, and she accepted, that would just be like any other manga.
The other characters in the manga are kinda generic, from the archetypal pervert/wingman friend, to the friend of the girl you like who gives you advice on your love life. But that's just stuff you need for a romance manga.

Overall, if you didn't read this thing at all, understand that I respect what others think of the manga, but honestly... Don't listen to the others who tell you this manga is a piece of shit. Cause it's not. I really, really, REALLY liked this manga. Overally overall, if you've got time to kill, (I read this manga in 2 weeks or so) why not take a look at this manga? It's really nice to read about the struggles that Yamato goes through, the shit he puts up with to get with his dream girl, whom, is slightly annoying at first, but whom you WILL learn to love yourself.

Oh yeah, and before I forget, the subplot of sports and stuff, it really accelerates the overall story and gives purpose to many of the things the characters do. I mean, in other romances, you see the guy, and the girl, pretty much ALWAYS in high school... And that's it. There's no subplot or anything. And once you read about Yamato's determination and why he joined the track team and why he strives to get better; you can only read about it. (Yes, it is unrealistic, how good he is.) Anyways, I digress.

You have to read this manga. Give it a try.

You probably want to look for other review if you want to know more about the story, I saw many average score from review but the overall score made me so curious. Believe it or not, this manga worth every seconds I read it, from chapter 1 until the end.

Story: 9
Art: 10
Character: 10
Enjoyment: 10
Overall: 10

The story if fine, a bit fast on changing the plot, but I don't mind at all. Basically, I like everything about this manga. No perfect character, fine arts. I only took 2 days reading this, it so interesting made me dont want to stop reading it.

I think it more ... suitable for people who want to read light story, its not a perfect manga but 10/10.

So I have been reading some romance seinen and shonen manga and decided that I needed something new. In comes Suzuka, with a rating o 8/10 on MAL, which is quite spectacular. TLDR at the bottom.

Story: 7/10

I give it a simple seven, not too shabby but not the best. It starts off with a school scenario and living in a girl's dorm. Ah, the beginning just screams of ecchi and was hinting towards a harem. Nonetheless, as you progress through the story, it starts to be more mature and focused on relationship issues and less of school. I'd definitely say there is a slice of ... life factor, but it's very minimal. It's not slice of life heavy, like Hibike Euphonium. The ending was great for me because it's the first manga I've read that has such a twist. I didn't expect they would put the plot in, given the situation and atmosphere of the manga and it's characters. I would score it better but the story is basically what you would expect. After reading a few romances, it's easy to find out who ends up with whom.

Art: 9/10

Keep in mind this manga came out more than 10 years ago. The art, given for that time, is beautiful. If you've read Love Hina, you'd know what I mean. Love Hina had really horrendous art, in my opinion but had a great story. The eyes, facial features, expressions, emotions and even the physical traits of the manga have been done nicely. The toning could be a bit better in some scenes but generally it's quite fitting for the theme of the manga. Also, the colour pages were done very beautifully.

Character: 8/10

Every character is unique, as this is also a slice of life story, mind you. Of course they follow a default template but it would be hard to make a new template altogether. I really like the emotional development of each character. It brilliantly caught my attention on how we human beings act and behave in our daily lives. It's so simple, yet hard to capture the moments. You know, the feeling when you fucked up, the feeling of regret. The characters have done well to mimic people in real life, and to some point, it's a bit scary to me.

Enjoyment: 9/10

Hell yeah. My advice, read the synopsis, then read the manga. Don't look into spoilers, don't worry about reddit threads or discussions with friends. You are much better off reading this without knowing and expecting too much. I am a bit let down that the scenes are predictable, but I guess that's not much anyone can do, seeing how a lot of romance mangas bloomed the past decade.

TLDR: 9/10, but on a personal note I'd rate it 10/10. This is a great manga if you have asked yourself, "What is love?"

“Suzuka” at the beginning looks like another clone of “Love hina”, but it isn’t. Although theirs always a couple of cute girl around Yamato, it never change into the harem manga. After first volume Yamato even stops landing in somebody’s breast or vagina.

The sport plot is rather interesting and I’m surprise that it wasn’t exposed more. A like to know people have something else to do then crying into the cushion, witch is, sadly, the most popular exercise in other romantic manga.

The story it’s pretty realistic, Yamato’s problems are similar to our and, witch I treasure most, he isn’t afraid to confess his feelings ... (you know something like: “I wont tell that I love her because I’m afraid of rejection”). On the other hand Suzuka is annoying “pain in the ass” chick. Which is good. It’s nice to read something where heroine don’t act like a little kitty. She is more like a Russian roulette, you never now will you survive next conversation.

Unfortunately ending is lame. Seams like Suzuka was brain washed. Well until you get there you have around 150 high class chapters, so enjoy it!

My opinion, its crap story with average art filled with melodramatic high school drama. And if that is what you are looking for great. Everyone has their own opinions, and in mine this is crap. The main story is overly predictable. Which can be fine, if the ride was any good(but it's not). Like much of this genre this story is full nonsense and annoying characters. Obviously, I am not the target audience, but for one reason or another I decided to read this... all of it. Compulsionary habits can be a hell of a motivator. If you using this as an introduction into ... this type of manga, I advise you look else where. If you are into cheesy romance novels, this will be right up your ally.

TLDR: SKIP THIS ONE // WORST FEMALE MC EVER 4/10

Yamamoto moves to Tokyo with his aunt and ends up living with a bunch of women including the female MC which inspires him to try track and field. He then finds out that he’s good at track and field and partakes in competitions and whatnot. The sports/slice of life part is great and all but what pisses me off is the love interest being bipolar every few chapters. SUZUKA IS THE WORST LOVE INTEREST/FEMALE MC EVER! So much so that I had to write a review to warn you

Yamamoto is a perfectly fine flawed MC but ... is constantly being blamed for everything and is basically being emotionally abused by Suzuka wondering what he did wrong. This manga is just constant bickering between the couple for no apparent reason other than “drama”. Manga like “Lovely Complex” simply does it better in every way.

"If you stand still nothing changes.... but... if you take even a step forward....I have a feeling something will change, and something good will happen!"

Writer tells us a simple story about a guy coming into Tokyo to live , study and of course finding love is added to just because it's an romance story ... Not long the manga starts we are thrown into "Boy Meets girl" event where he notices a beautiful girl and well is captivated by her Yes it just how it goes in such mangas.
Simple events from the get go it was not the case i guess because later things ... get complicated being introduced to other characters cause this simpleness fade into many turns which at times could be annoying but later gets figured out somehow.

Manga goes as far as 100+ chapters which tell it from high school to i guess adulthood ? BUt in many different ways that you can look at it ... it still has only one ending to it, and it is quite well seen from the first chapters of the manga
Even if the girl is being persistent the guy is dumb he will try his best get her which will lead to that one ending of which we know all.

After many events and many rejections it goes into an interesting stage where even parents come in and making heavy decisions are what children need to do getting approved is something they must do i guess hard life is still hard but even before that there are many intriguing moments like cat fights and those feelings that get approved of and those feelings of getting rejected in the end ... They always hurt i guess.

Without talking about life of our characters you can also see a lot of sport going on in manga which actually is pretty good aspect giving this manga more than just romance. In manga we see how each characters Will to do sports change from good to bad and from bad to good trying their best wanting to be better than others and competitions with those rivals that in the end become someone to Look up to as old friends oh i loved this side of the manga.



First Meeting

Our main protagonist comes to tokyo for his first time on the way to his aunt he sees a beautiful girl doing her morning practice which captivates him at first glance but he is yet to know how hard it will be to capture her... but hey it goes always like that we fall in love we try hard some of us give up some of us goes till the end no matter what kind of future awaits.

Persistence

WEll persistence is indeed one of those that are called "love can overcome anything" types without even giving up no matter the situation so it kind of made me cheer for him at some point i started to hate him too just because of the route he tried to go Hiding and running from reality those weren't the choices here so writer just tried to spice the manga up as I read mangas from Seo, Kouji most of the time the characters he create in his stories have this strong persistence which seems could win against anything but without that they all have same wavering feelings.

Last Step

Being accepted is the hardest thing to do why ? Because you made a mistake that could ruin the ones you love future ... Because there are also people who are expecting quite a lot from that person but still what is shown as mistake in this manga for me is something beautiful and yes i am still yet to experience that but all in all ended well and nothing much is left to say.

Overall

We started out with boy meets girl and went on a roller-coaster ... meeting new friends , choosing things to do in life , pursuing romance and meeting dramatic events just to end it where it should end perfect? not really Good? Yes indeed it was delivered and i got the message Romance was overflowing drama made me tremble nothing more nothing less.

My sincere thoughts ? The mange was written quite well it wasn't dragged on to long events were untangled one after another making place for more and without leaving regrets i guess ? As far as Manga can go it showed enough book is a book and what is written can't be re-written because there will always be only one 1st story.

Art [8/10]
Seo, Kouji Art is quite nice all of the characters are drawn nicely whole atmosphere and every background felt right even in other of his works it is good.

Suzuka is ... well to put it in simple terms it's absolutely great!! I seriously recommend this manga to anyone that's new to romance manga or any veteran as well. I will say that at first I didn't like this manga I couldn't get into any of the characters or anything and I strongly felt like "A Town where you live" was truly better. However, that was three years and I can't believe that my opinion changed. Suzuka was better the second time for me. I started to feel like my bias harsh. Futhermore, Suzuka wasn't just good because I read it a second time. ... It was good because I was able to enjoy the dynamic and back n' forth relationship between Yamato and Suzuka. I'm gonna lie it was fun to see Yamato fail at all his attempts to make up with Suzuka, but I got a sincere happy feeling once they did make up. Highlighting that couples fight and make up but as long as they forgive each other, reconcile, and truly love each other then nothing else matters. At first I didn't like Yasunobu's character cause I thought that his character was only centered around getting Yamato in trouble. This wasn't the case. In fact, he often tried to gudie Yamato and help him with any trouble he faced when Suzuka and him had problems. Some of advice was kinda on the joking side but he earnestly listened to Yamato along the way. Without spoiling to much again I highly recommend Suzuka!!

Reading this is one of the most torturous reads you can go through. I would not wish reading 85 chapters of this on anybody, let alone the full 171. Please don't read this, for the both of us.
And I know what some might say. "But, but, you just gotta finish it! Then it will get good!" I'm sorry to break this to people, but this isn't One Piece, or Berserk, or some other life changing story that takes some time to really get into it. This is the most frustrating kind of romance, where both characters in the relationship are the most insufferable and toxic ... human beings to one another. I'm not reading 100+ chapters just so I can get to the point where they decide to be normal.
I'll definitely say that the art looks fine for an older manga. It won't blow you away, but it definitely hasn't aged the worst. If you like Kouji's style, this falls right in line.
However, that story was like sour milk since the start. As others have said before, the melodrama in this series is enough to make your head explode from frustration. I had NEVER had to put down a series from anger before, yet this series did it! Characters just decide to fight for the dumbest reasons. And the worst thing about it is that it isn't one character! They all are just unanimously terrible, enough so that I had to drop it.
If you decide to read it all the way through, I think you may come out having different feelings than me. But my god, that ride to get there is something else.

Came to this series after reading Half & Half, Love Letter and Kimi Machi. Seo is a great storyteller; I will probably end up reading everything written by him. Kimi Machi was good. Suzuka is bad.

Story is OKish. Mixes romance and sports. Does an OK job of romance, but is really skimpy on the sports part. If you enjoy manga telling about a specific activity like Ballroom e Youkoso or 3-gatsu no Lion, this is not it.

Art is decent. Early Seo work. Kimi Machi was later and more refined. Art is still enjoyable.

Characterization is horrible for the female lead (FMC, Suzuka) and bad for the ... male lead (MC, Yamato). Suzuka is cold when she does not care about the MC, outright abusive and irritating when she supposedly does. Their relation is plays as an S/M story, except MC does not really enjoy M at all. There is no reason for the MC to keep pursuing the FMC. The MC, in turn, does the exact same mistakes in every relation he has. He has near-zero character development. Side characters are OK. They are nothing special, but being near the badly written FMC and MC, they end up being more interesting.

Now thinking back about things, Kimi Machi also had some problems with FMC characterization. Yuzuki stopped being interesting after the first arc. I mean if the MC's rival in love is more interesting than the FMC...

Anyhow, the ending is a disaster. It is written as a supposed good ending, but... It is incredibly sexist without realizing it is; like watching your grandpa make racist comments in a corner. The FMC behaves so inconsistently with her previous actions that you wonder if a ghost possessed her or something. It crushes all the dreams of the MC and FMC, while claiming everyone is very happy with this.

Now I am off to read Fuuka... Poor kid.

4/10.

Now that I finished Suzuka, I could only say one thing: How difficult it was to read this work. For Suzuka, the author decided to write a very difficult story, from beginning to end. At no time can the protagonist have a break, his decisions, the uncertainty of the characters, the complications of life ... Suzuka was certainly a landmark work for kouji. Many elements made me angry in the work, I do not say the story itself, but the way he developed the work.

1 - Story [6/10] - It is worth mentioning, in many points of the work I could say that the author ... made very interesting decisions that gave value to the work, but some things bothered me so much that I gave a 6 (something like in the average ). The development of certain characters proved to be amateur in some points. In fact, all the moments in which the plot does not involve the MC (yamato) and the FMC (Suzuka), are not very thought out or complex. It is worth mentioning, the conclusions of certain arches of the work are even lazy, or even in a way to be able to prolong the work even more. In addition to the huge problem with some characters in the work, where the author simply did not even decide to develop them, and some were even abandoned. While reading, I felt caught up in the plot between the MC and FMC, where the author wound up until he couldn't get any more. Anyway, some parts really made me happy in the manga, like the ending for example.

2 - Art [8/10] - I always read a manga that I managed to put together good scenarios, and besides, have a beautiful design of the characters. Kouji really knew how to draw the scenarios well, the only point I have to complain about is the lack of creativity of some characters that appear in the work throughout history.

3 - Character [7/10] - I can say that many people hate the protagonist of Suzuka, especially because, he certainly enters the list of characters who make the worst decisions of all, but I can say that I am really surprised with some points of the protagonist: He is not shy, he makes decisions even if they are wrong, he matures over time in history, among other characteristics. The other persoganes are interesting in the work, but they are barely some simply for comedic content, some have not even had an active participation in history, appearing to be only extras. For that factor I think an 8 would be the best that I could give.

4 - Enjoyment [7/10] - That agony you felt, the loss of hope in life, all the difficulties that history has. In some moments of Suzuka, our chest aches with uncertainty, sadness, anger and happiness. I think the kimi no iru machi formula was tested in Suzuka, it was not the best way, sometimes, I feel that there is a child making decisions to generate entertainment in the story, so I think that note is perfect for Suzuka.

Overall - If you are willing to read Suzuka, a story with an incredible but still amateur formula of romance, an art more than acceptable, and an ending that divided people, you will certainly not regret it!

Right, I have a certain ethic, and that is to read a manga series in it's entirety before writing a review. But the problem is, I don't think I'll be able to finish reading the damn thing before having to punch my screen in with my fist. Something I have no intent on doing because to be honest, this computer cost me quite a lot.
Quick Synopsis: Country guy moves in to his aunt's bathhouse/girl's boarding house in Tokyo so he can go to the high school over there. Of course he has to help, sometimes resulting in quite unfortunate situations (the usual ecchi "slips" shall ... we say), which doesn't help his popularity much. He scouts the school a bit and sees a vision: a beautiful girl doing a high-jump, and falls in love. Well guess what? She also lives at the boarding-house and hates him from the get-go. Enter perverted childhood friend (boy) and other childhood friend (girl) who has had a crush on him for years. MC tries to get the main female character (Suzuka), who it turns out is a level 100 tsundere who constantly puts him down when he tries to seduce her. School life ensues.

And this is where I start having problems: the fact that this (obviously demented) MC keeps trying to go for Suzuka, when he knows that there's a very high chance that a really kind and loving girl is just a footstep away. Now I know many of you reading this are extreme fans of the tsundere type, but after having dated one for three years (slightly less hardcore than Suzuka though), I can assure you that unless you like being put down constantly, it's not worth it. To be perfectly honest, in all the characters (side characters included), the only person I'd be ready to root for would be the nice, loving childhood friend. But then again, what do I know, my tastes in women are my own I suppose.

Anyway, let's wrap this up before I rant any more. The art is possibly the best thing here, so I'm giving it a 9; the characters, weeeell, I have nothing else to say but 5 (the couple good characters are trying to compensate for the many shitty ones); story, 3 no other comment; enjoyment 4, so overall, I'll be nice enough and give it a 5, keeping in mind I haven't really read it, but ultimately know how it's going to end, and it's sounding far too damn familiar.

Either way, if you like seeing masochistic guys go after lvl 100 tsunderes, totally ignore the only potential being that would really love him for what he is and not what he can become with some considerable effort, then finally ruin both their lives and most of the nice girls high school life, then feel free to read this manga. Just don't say I was the one who suggested it.

On that note, cheerio and thanks for reading this long rant of a review.

Suzuka is a complex romance/drama case. The story is very good. The art is not very good but readable.

I'm gonna focus and the romance and the characters. Secondary characters are good but not gorgeous. Secondary characters in KNIM are way better developed.The interesting and complex case is about thow MCs.

The main character is a hard worker boy. He's not perfect but he can do all the work in the world for suzuka (never follow his behaviour in real life it's the worst idea possible girls do not seek a dog). The complex case is suzuka. She's cold, too cold. What the reader need to understand ... is simple. It's not a realistic story that can happen to all of us. You will have more chances to see a werewolf under a fool moon that chances to have a complicated crush like suzuka. She has a heavy past and unfortunately MC remains her bad memories. She acts like a wh*re during the manga, if I meet a girl like her in real life, I would skip her in 1 day, simple. But her behavious is justified by her past. That's why I said it's a complicated case and that you have more chances to meet a werewolf than meeting a girl as complicated.

Once again like in KNIM, this relationship will make a poor collateral victim that didnt ask anything... Please author stop making this in every manga.

I do not recomend you to read Suzuka if cant handle too overwhelming drama.

I did manage to finish this manga, which means it kept me reading, but I did find it frustrating and ended up disliking the title character a great deal.

The art is good, conveying a very good sense of space and doesn't detract from the story at all. You end up not noticing it, which is the best situation - because you can actually focus on the story.

And it's the story I had the most problem with. As the previous reviewer said, the title character is a total bitch. I kept wondering what on earth the MC saw in her because, throughout ... the story, she treats him like crap. She's moody, irrational, selfish, cruel, greedy and mean. She crushes his hopes and whenever any other, nicer girl starts looking his way, she sabotages him! I really wanted him to settle with the childhood friend who had a long term crush on him, but he screws that up because he's obsessed with the bitch. Maybe I don't understand the need to be run through the wringer by someone, but I kept thinking 'don't go back to her!' through the entire story.

Likewise, the MC is frustrating because he almost never stands up to her. There were like 6 instances in the story where she hauls off and belts him in the face! And each time, he thinks it's his fault! He never seems to find his spine, through the whole series, though they do finally start acting like a real couple near the end of the story. It's a blessed relief, but I just couldn't help still thinking he deserves a way better partner than her.

And really, that is my main complaint. The story couldn't make me really like the main characters and I wasn't able to empathize with either of them. One is a bitch and the other is a jellyfish. I'm glad they survived, but I doubt I would ever go back to reread this. If you like wishy-washy guys who stumble through life never standing up for themselves, here you go. But for me, I like men with a spine and a set on them. JMHO.

Spoilers Incoming.

Despite all of Suzuka's flaws, and there are a lot of them, there is something about this manga that leaves you wanting more. After 17 volumes, however, I found myself unsatisfied, wondering if I wasted my time and money giving this manga a shot.

What did Suzuka get right: There are some genuinely good scenes of romance in this manga, from confessions to kisses and reconciliations. Suzuka is an inherently interesting love interest, despite the flaws in her progression. Finally, some of the track arcs were entertaining and gave me a sense of what it could be like to be a bigshot on ... a highschool track team.

What did Suzuka get wrong: This is going to be longer. One of my biggest complaints is the way the author introduces new love rivals solely for the purpose of creating drama. This is a common complaint in romance mangas but Suzuka suffers from it more than others. It seems like MC cannot sneeze without making a girl fall head of heals in love with him, and as soon as things are cooling down, God calls in one of his harem members to heat it back up. The unrealistic way that MC has every girl vying for his love definitely made the story more unenjoyable and less believable for me. Especially in the later books, it baffled me the way these girls appeared for the sole purpose of making drama, and disappeared the moment they were no longer needed. However, in a way these girls were necessary because of the second issue...

Suzuka promises more than it delivers in turns of character development and plot resolution. Suzuka had issues getting over her senpai's death, but gives up on him after meeting MC and initially struggling with it. However, she still pulls away from MC in the end and has epic moodswings targeted at him. Is there some underlying issue that comes out late in the manga that explains all this? Is Suzuka still harboring feels of love for her dead senpai? No, you never hear about it again. Is there any resolution or development at all? Not really. We don't really get a good explanation for why Suzuka acts the way she does except that she is a selfish person and has issues getting along with MC. In the end, there is no grand apology or epic make up, or confession of love. Things just sort of work themselves out in the same way they always were. Even the track arc is unresolved. We never get to see Yamato race against his rival or compete in the IS event. At the end of the day, the manga felt less like an overarching story and more like a SOL heavy character study.

Overall, I am rating Suzuka a 7 because that is how I felt about it when reading it. Theres no denying that while going through the chapters, I was interested in how MC's relationship with Suzuka would develop. The art was lacking at some points, but not enjoy to be un enjoyable. Lack of character and story progression / resolution keeps this romance manga from reaching the same heights as similar ones like GE in my opinion. At the end, you may feel unfulfilled, but the journey was entertaining none the less.

I started reading manga recently and i continued where anime stopped.I can honestly say that i really liked it.I don't read manga usually but this one is great and you must read it if you want to find out what happens after anime.The art is really good and the story is good too but the best thing i liked about it was the last few chapters.It shows how they entered adulthood and how both of them started to change.Suzuka later started to pay more attention to Yamato and how he feels and he finally get more confidence and started to show that he is a ... man after all so i recommend you read it because if you liked anime then you will love this manga