Namaikizakari.
Cheeky Brat

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Why I have mixed feelings about this one? Well let's start with the good part.
- Good part: Naruse is a good ML who is persistent even after all the backlashes from FL. The author has shown some really good moments, good comedy, good intimate scenes and the way they grow up together since high school. It tries to entail all hardships that a couple goes through and get out of them.
- Bad part: The author did not develop FL character throughout the manga. She never learns from here mistakes, does stupid things and is frustrating a lot of times. There are times when author ... forced difficulties in their relationship where it was not at all needed.

It is a good read but gets a bit repetitive over time. Really liked the side couples in the story.

Unfortunately, Namaikizakari (the manga from now on) suffers from what I like to call 'shoujo syndrome'. Translated in terms of the world, it's too freaking long. Every shoujo story focused solely on romance/friendship that goes past 5 or so volumes is bound to eventually suck. Ah, no, that might be biased of me, but that's certainly the case with this manga right here.

Shoujo syndrome had reared its ugly head as early as 25~th or so chapter. It wasn't hard to recognize that the manga was getting fairly popular by this point and, by simple extension of logic, I could see the future and, indeed, ... the future was grim. Story in this manga is your standard shoujo fair; boy meets girl, boy falls in love with the girl, cliches ensue. While, at the start, it was nothing groundbreaking, it had sensible flow and pace and remained grounded, letting its main cast of (what used to be fairly interesting) characters lead the way. However, somewhere along the line, it became the standard fair of 'how long can I make this story'. Pace and flow break abruptly, and we're left in the lovely land where nothing moves forward. Mangaka attempts to give the illusion of it by keeping up a fairly quick flow of time (in terms of manga time, that is). In these 50 chapters I've read, I believe 2 or so years have passed since ch1, so it's fairly quick on that side, I suppose.

Nonetheless, story is a standard mess that employs standard shoujo cliches you've seen in every shoujo manga ever: Valentine days, birthdays, cold days, christmas days, all kinds of days. Although I gave the story 2, I never really minded it that much throughout reading this series. It's just that it's nothing new, with the side dish of not being executed well, in addition to giving characters excuse to suck ass. That's all.

Art is pretty good, although not that outstanding. Fairly handsome dudes, some cute chicks, decent paneling, easy on the eyes, minimalistic backgrounds, some cool 'actiony' scenes... all in all, it improves the overall readability of the manga, hence the score on the higher scale.

Hello characters, my old friends. Aah, this manga started off with fairly interesting characters. Both appeared to have deadpan-like personalities (but yeah, no), both seemed straightforward, and I felt it was refreshing. Main girl didn't seem dense and damsel-like crybaby, main guy didn't seem like a boring 'I have no life outside this chick' guy (heh), and the setup was fairly good. Here you've got two people that share same interest (basketball), both are good-looking, let the romance commence. Romance, indeed, commences at one point. Eh, I suppose it does. I don't really know.

So, remember how I said that main girl seemed straightforward and not dense? Yet, throw that one out of the window. That's a bait. Even 50 chapters in, she's at best less dense than she's used to be. She's as straightforward as a curved penis, decisive as that guy in Infinite StARSE, and as interesting as a symposium on teenagers. The best trait she showcased in the 50 chapters is that she isn't swayed easily by the side dude (or any other dude, I suppose) and that's all. She's the queen of push-and-pull game, even when they start dating, which is just another evil of the 'shoujo syndrome'. One of the main characters has to be like this, otherwise the story would move too quickly. She starts as a geniunely interesting character and a breath of fresh air in shoujo mangas only to end up as a byproduct of 'shoujo syndrome'.

Now, we have our main guy. Handsome, tall, younger, good at sports, popular, seemingly deadpan, you standard-issue prince character. In the first few chapters, just like with the main girl, I liked him. I liked that straightforward nature, decisiveness, bluntness. He was a part of a comedy duo that was funny, and it worked. Then he suffers from a different kind of a shoujo illness; you see, shoujo stories are aimed at teenage girls. And teenage girls aren't always confident. Now, how can we make them confident? Well, let's have a handsome standard-issue prince basically become jealousy machine with a side-dish of possessive and outright creepy. 50 chapters of this folks. 50 chapters and the main girl still didn't call cops.

Both characters are extremely petty, yet outright refuse to talk about it when it matters. They're both jealous, with one being more open about it (well, rather than MORE open, just plain open) and the other more on the passive-aggressive side of things. They dated for like a year already, and they have 0 trust in each other. Aah, woe is me~~

Overall, Namaikizakari is your standard-issue shoujo manga that starts of strong only to fall apart at some point. It has everything every other shoujo manga has, but mixes in some 'novelty' elements as to disguise its basic core. It never pulls an emotional punch (not for the lack of trying, trust me), it never tries to break from the mold past first 10 or so chapters, and while it gives a false sense of progression, don't be fooled so easily.

Still, for a shoujo manga, it's not bad. Again, it has fairly good art, pretty decent comedy (even at ch 50 mark) and considerably good start. Still, that ranking of 8+ seems to put it above some other shoujo manga, and I just feel as though it doesn't deserve it. Another manga that fell to the 'shoujo syndrome'. Let us all weep in silence.

Yo, I ain’t a reviewer and I have never reviewed a manga before but this manga pissed me off so much that I had to write about it.
First of all, Yuki, (the female protagonist) doesn’t take any of Naruse’s (the male protagonist) feelings in consideration.
Let’s say if you had a partner, and a friend of the opposite sex just kissed her or hugged her. How would you feel? How would you feel if your partner talks about things that they should be talking about with you to that friend. How would you feel if that friend has conveyed their feelings to your partner ... and your partner is still in contact with them? Every chapter is always the same shit but it gets worse. First someone hugs her, then someone kisses her. In the end, the male protagonist doesn’t do anything about it and Yuki continues to give that “friend” attention. Along with this comes with a sense that Yuki thinks she’s “changing”. I may be speaking from personal experience, I may be insecure and have trust issues. But Yuki annoys me so much. Naruse deserves better. If she saw Naruse get hugged, or even kissed by another girl. How would she feel? Terrible right? So why can’t Yuki put herself in Naruse’s shoes and try and understand what all these things make him feel. If you wanna read this manga, get ready for a terribly written, but sometimes wholesome manga. Also, if you have had past relationships like this, I completely understand.

2021 review: (this contains minor spoilers)

INITIAL THOUGHTS:
okay so i recently just saw bunch of tikoks recommending this manga, so i decided to start reading it. let me tell you, i was very much binge reading it through for like four days straight, it was great. i thought that the female lead, Yuki was very much like misaki; headstrong, responsible, reliable, helpful etc. i especially liked how she wasn't easy to give into any men (how i was wrong..), how humble yet hard working she was.. basically i thought she was a better version of misaki.

(my opinions) THE PROBLEMS.. :
Great, so this might ... be a whole essay so be prepared. there are so many things wrong with this manga that i believe isn't addressed enough. it was good to start off with mainly because it hooks the audience right in with naruse and yuki's intimate relationship with their main common interest of basketball. but then to be honest, looking back on when i was reading it; i believe that the main problem started when yuki started to avoid naruse's confession. don't get me wrong, it's normal to give some thought over it when someone like naruse decides to confess to you.. but it's the fact that yuki left it out for so long to the point where naruse just kept messing with her (including literally sexually harassing her.. ?); that part just didn't sit right with me. i honestly thought that part was just annoying, i thought that naruse constantly kissing and annoying yuki would make her want to pull back even more from him, but your cliche generic shoujo head strong main lead girl just becomes damn submissive.
i know its a common troupe to come across, but i was just honestly looking for something a bit more refreshing. unlike maid sama, who had misaki fall in love with usui due to the amount of times he had also rescued and helped her, naruse didn't do any of those things really. he kind of just was there, stalking and sexually harassing her. i didn't like how yuki was so submissive, i'll say that again sorry.
i just think that their relationship to start off with went way to quickly, which resulted in their official boyfriend/girlfriend relationship seem too rushed and problematic. i mean, let's literally talk about how cold yuki would always be towards naruse. i would of liked to see her kind of have a soft spot for him, and nobody else.. but it just felt like she would always be passive aggressive and over think things, when in reality; all she needed to do was show a bit of communication skills with him.
that brings me to another point; the LACK OF COMMUNICATION BETWEEN NARUSE AND YUKI. it bugs me so much to this day, i know its a common thing in the shoujo world; but it felt like they just took it to a whole new level. i just got so fustrated when yuki would just overthink everything and anything about naruse, it would of been nice to have a few perspectives of naruse's thinking too i guess.


this review may not make any sense, since im literally just ranting randomly at this point... but i hope you get the point.

**SUMMARY**:

- Yuki got NO character development (other than being able to show a couple more feelings towards naruse)

- The lack of communication

- How Yuki would always become submissive towards naruse, even after being CLEARLY SEXUALLY HARASSED MULTIPLE TIMES..



anyways, thank you for looking at this. and if you are planning on reading this, i recommend you read the first like 20 chapters before deciding if you REALLY TRULLY LIKE IT OR NOT.

The top reviews for this manga rave about its plot, the MC and tout 10 stars, which convinced me that it would be a good read. So, I started reading... And dropped it around Chapter 41. (I did, skim the rest of the chapters; it's up to 97 currently.)

Namaikizakari does remind me of Maid-sama!, there's no doubt. EXCEPT, I found Misaki-chan a lot more likeable. While Yuki is relatable, strong, and even admirable in the beginning chapters, her lack of growth and honesty really began to irk me as the plot progressed. I don't think it's a good habit of judging characters while reading manga, ... but it's kind of hard to forgive all of her faults because she's just that "oblivious" or "naive". I think the problem was, the writer did such a good job writing Naruse-kun that you can't really help but empathize with him and his genuine love for the MC. Even the love rivals that appear in the plot are all beautiful and lovable, so when the MC is as weak (some even call her "stupid") as Yuki is, it's annoying.

Pros: Beautiful art. I've already mentioned this, but not just Naruse... They are ALL good looking. =) That goes for the girls too. They're all beautiful. Secondary characters, rivals, even the old teacher advisor. Bonus!

Cons: Weak MC amidst such strong wonderful opposites.

Final words: Its pluses are as strong as its weaknesses. So, give it a try if you're looking for a true "dramatic romance" with a reverse harem vibe. It's meant to be a romance (and there are definitely romantic bits), but the way the plot unrolls, it's a thin line away from a reverse harem.

I haven't finished this manga but I feel like I need to give my opinion on it as I am rigth now in the middle of it.
Namaikizakari is a decent manga. But there is'nt anything outstanding about it or really special according to me. Even though some argue that the manga has special features which are not present within the usual shoujo genre. Since the heroine has a different personality than most shoujo heroines. She doesn't have that appaling heroine personality and isn't "cheery go lucky". It's refreshing I agree, but there needs to be a character development for her. When it comes ... to her relationship with Naruse. She keeps on distancing herself from him and that angers me.

I could see how the relationship between the two would work though. Since Naruse finds the struggle to get her enjoyable, but it's not that intresting to read a manga where the one of the characters give more than the other. But maybe the manga will develop their relationship to the next level later on (i dont think so sadly). Even if that's the case i still think it's a bit too late. But I still think this manga will be enjoyable for some. Personally I should stick to more passionate shoujo romances. Those who just feel the thirst for some classical shoujo should read this.

I'm 60 chapters into this and I had very high hopes due to all the 9 and 10 scores but I just cannot stand the main character Yuki. She continues to repeat the same mistake over and over and over again and she is so high strung it's frustrating to read. Naruse is an absolute gem of a guy and I think he can do a lot better.

The story is decent but it is very sports oriented, the romance scenes are the most enjoyable.

The Art is beautiful and all the characters are attractive looking, action scenes like basketball matches are also drawn very well.

I'm not ... sure whether I'll drop this or hang on till the finish but I'm pretty disappointed, that being said it is different from most shoujo I've read in the fact it doesn't take them 30 chapters to do anything.

I think as has been mentioned that this series has been running for too long. Every now and again the author likes to put something like, "And they progressed, a few more millimeters." They haven't progressed and honestly the biggest reason is that whoever is making this doesn't want to end. They made a character to forever challenge our two main cast and it is the most frustrating thing in the world.

Once Shizuka is introduced, the plot is almost always the same. I'm quickly going to tell you a bit about this psychopath. Maybe this is a running theme I wasn't expecting but this dude ... if full on creep.

Spoliers ahead.

So our two main characters fall in love yadda, yadda. I personally enjoyed this part and so, for various reason, decided to keep their relationship a secret, mostly Yuki not wanting to actually admit that she had fallen in love with Shou.Then Shizuka gets introduced, of course, he knew Shou and hates his guts. This means that at some point he falls in love with Yuki too.

I can't really complain about this plot. Sure, cliche, but it turns out pretty well. Shizuka at this point is a weird dude but for the most part a classic antagonist there to challenge Yuki and Shou's relationship.

The story continues with their years at high school hoping to win to continue playing basketball together. At some points Shizuka is defeated in their 4th year and Shou gets to finally let people know of his relationship with Yuki. This is the point where I believe Shizuka should have been done with their story.

At this point, Yuki, who is one year older, is in college and Shou joining her. Then, of course, Shizuka joins the same school. I couldn't help but sigh in frustration. A few more characters are introduced but from here on out the plot is so samey. Shou and Yuki have been dating for almost three years at this point but Shizuka continues to pursue Yuki. To an extreme. Always stumbling upon her, randomly kissing, her harassing her. There was a good plot point where Yuki straight up tells Shizuka that she is in love with Shou and always will be. I thought this might be the end and maybe Shizuka would stop being so creepy and move on but nope. Fifty chapters later its still the same and Yuki is a problem here too. The inability to say no, in 117 chapters this flaw is still there.

Instead of developing their relationship through the battering of time, Shizuka is used instead. Over and over, over and over and I don't think its going to change any time soon. That's my biggest complaint. The side characters have moved on and formed their relationship but Shizuka is still pinning for Yuki and causing problems.

I think at some point, the story had a chance to move from teenage fantasy to an actual story about the struggles of romance and love but it never quite moves from that point.