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Mar 6, 2023
So this was a "i'll fix that villain yandere or yeet him to nonexistance" fairy tale-like comedy. Like most romance manhwa it's nothing grand really but it'll prove to be an enjoyable read on the condition you don't take it seriously. It's meant to be a whimsical but slightly angsty ride afterall.
What's most promising about this manhwa in my opinion, is probably what most readers would find problematic. That is its trashbag yandere ML. He's a sneaky, scheming, manipulative, cold-hearted boisterous brat. Toxic obsessive and easy to hate. Just like many rofan MLs out there you'd say but our dear Bluey pushes the readers' buttons
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and triggers our flight, fight or freeze instincts a couple of times. He's a cold mofo. He stops at nothing to get what he wants and he isn't the least bothered by destroying other people's lives, including the person he cares about the most. A true psychopathic yandere wouldn't you say? At least he's consistant and lives up to the name unlike many wuss pseudo-villain male leads.
Mari (FMC) was an interesting girl. She had a lot of desirable traits as the main character. I liked her determination and sheer power of will. She's obstinate, courageous and confident. I liked how she goes through her plans without a care in the world. She's not afraid to stick up to Bluey. She isn't afraid to voice her opinion. She isn't scared of offending anyone if need be. She doesn't compromise (unless she actively desires to). She doesn't take no BS from anyone (except her annoying-but-lovable besties). She laughs off the small stuff. She readily receives love and readily gives it back too. She can be clumsy and act cringe at times (it's forgivable since she's a teenager in love) but she doesn't back down when told to which makes her very easy to root for. I'd love to see more female leads act like her in the future. Granted they'll act less cringe.
I can't really spoil any specific plot details in this story but i'll give you a vague headsup. I'd say that although i liked Bluey's twisted character and Mari's thick skin the most. I can't say i'm satisfied with the lukewarm romance. Feels like they skipped all the good fluffy parts. We just got what felt like a succinct summary of their "promising" slightly-twisted love life that we expected but didn't really get to see. Which is a tad disappointing since i was looking forward to their lovely interactions, considering they might have been hissing and barking at each-other like cats and dogs the whole time. I still enjoyed their love-hate antics and push and pull exchanges so it wasn't all that unrewarding.
I'd have given this story a 7 but the ending felt very rushed as if it was axed. I was looking forward to the last arc but Mari's cringy act kept giving me second-hand embarrassment. I even contemplated skipping a few chapters because of it. Thankfully i didn't since the awkward comic relief was there.
In the end, i'm still quite satisfied with the general outcome. I emphasize that the fairy tale-like structure and the leads' thorny relationship dynamics were the highlight of this story. Give it read if you have some time to spare.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Feb 3, 2023
I'll spoil this story's annoying premise so read at your own risk.
Let me just start of by stating that this is not a comprehensive review or nothing of the sort. I was simply a tad infuriated by the unfulfilled sweet promise of a childhood friends' unforgettable romance that i decided to write a rant.
By the way, this is only my personal opinion as a huge romance manga lover that was disappointed by this manga. Other readers might actually enjoy this type of content. I don't know if my discontentment is due to my high expectations or due to poor writing. You decide.
So i
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actually read this manga before but i forgot what it was all about except for the cover and title. It was easily forgettable. Since i've read hundreds of manga throughout the years too. I tend to forget what each one was about and details get hazy. I blamed my selective poor memory and decided to give it a second try.Then i vaguely remembered each chapter as i was reading it.
I liked the first 2 volumes of this manga. It started with a good premise. A slightly refreshing take on the "side character's uneventful life" isekai'ed in an RPG-like fantasy world. The main girl unintentionally raised some flags with a very powerful mage-to-be, who would become her fiancé and -at the same time- join the Royal Magic Academy (due to some unfortunate incident he partially caused that scars FMC for life) and goes later to joins the hero's party to defeat the demon king yada yada.
Everything was fine and dandy since the story was more focused on the leads' romance instead of expanding on the fantasy worldbuilding and i welcomed that. Even though i was slightly annoyed with the cardboard cutout (Pushoever Mary Sue and a poor excuse of a tsundere) characters. I decided to stick by expecting the romance to beautifully blossom between the cute lovebirds. All i got was their thorny -completely avoidable- angst and silent suffering.
I could also go on about how badly-written the characters are but i'll spare both of us the headache and stick to the plot.
The story was too angsty and dare i say pathetic from start to finish. The leads felt like an aggregation of templates from an otome-game. Their lack of communication and insecurity was cute at the start with the long-distance "almost non-existant" relationship but it soon became annoyingly draggy and aggravating. It's infuriating to see how close but actually distant they are. Their seemingly "unbreakable" bond is always questioned and their unexpressed seemingly "heavy" feelings are belittled. Both leads suck at communicating and suck more at showing their feelings. Not once did i read the FMC confess her love to the guy. His confession felt anticlimatic too. Compared to how much he's "supposed" to care for her. He's way too tsun-tsun and not enough dere-dere to compensate for his rigidness.
Unfortunately, a lot of writers resort to contrived strife to make up for the leads getting together too soon by forecefully inserting in a thirdwheel after another, unending misunserdstandings and jealousy. Which drops the quality of any love story.
The problem is this manga also aims for a "realistic worldview within a fantasy" appeal but the plot is caricatural, contradictory and heavily tropey like a bad shoujo.
One needs to do a lot of mental gymnastics to justify the leads' dubious behavior. The way they hid their marriage as this "heavy unspeakable secret" (only to tell us that he did so to hide her from other people)or the details about how she got this huge hidden curse, insomnia and a slight depression while the "suposedly doting and devoted" guy sleeping next to her is the most powerful, influencial magician of the kingdom don't make a lick of a sense, to begin with.
It's exhausting that we don't get to see them in the same panel together unless there's some drama going on. (a thirdwheeler, a curse, a nightmare, an impending war, a coma, etc). Also, not much of rewarding doki doki "payoff" moments for good measure.
It's not like we see them doing any interesting stuff on their own either, except reading books, talking about whatever with 1dimensional NPCs and being coveted (mostly Mr. bigshot) by other annoyingly clingy parties.
I wish their interactions were cuter to make up for the cheap tricks, mild NTR-like (but not quite there) obstructions and the absence of entertaining background happenings but all we got was brief and lukewarm-at-best moments.
This was ultimately a subpar romance filled to the brim with unnecessary melodrama, bad tropes and poor character choices. The only way this manga could've been worse is if had bad art or NTR. A truly wasted potential.
End of rant.
Thank you for reading.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Mar 8, 2021
This isn't a "review" in the traditional sense as much as it is rant about wasted romcom potential.
Characters:
Placid, flat and bland. Basically stereotyped clichés walking around.
I don't feel emotionally connected to the characters at all. Too one dimensional, shallow and flat for my taste.
Even their supposed "quirks" aren't that much endearing. Same with their supposed "secrets" house chores+ tattoos & piercings, how fascinating!
I mean it would've worked if this were the early 90's... Nowadays that just qualifies as deadful & sloppy content.
Same with the rest of the mobs. they don't have any redeeming qualities as fictional "beings of paper".
Just like the main
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pair, there isn't much contrast between the stereotypical side characters neither, except maybe their different shoujo tropes and hair colors...
Plot:
The story is contrived, tedious and mediocre at best.
This plot so far seems fragmented, as if a bunch of shoujo clichés and tropes were thrown in together into a romcom ontology melting pot in order to make this anime happen. Which isn't really that diverse nor appealing, since there would be nothing engaging about this type of story if it has no depth, nuance nor complexity.
Same goes for the placid diligent candy girl and the monotonous Yankee character. They had a lot of potential to be an adorable, relatable, endearing pair but both don't live up to it. Neither does the story.
Even the serious discussed topics are brushed off as mere cliché bad past experiences, misunderstandings and flashbacks that eventually will get magically resolved. Which otherwise, could have painted a great canvas or used as an efficient plot-device to showcase the leads' growth process.
Romcom you say?
It is known that romance relies on certain patterns that can be somewhat clichéd and cheesy, but flatly reinforcing them (instead of innovating) through bad writing and compensating with cutesy art won't make it a good story.
Even the humour isn't even that funny nor engaging. The flaws within the characters just seem superficial. Even the supposed climactic emotional moments, seem forced and random instead of beautiful feelings arising from meaningful interactions.
Art:
It's actually one if not the only good trait this anime has. Cute, colorful shoujo art. The characters were drawn nicely and the animation seemed fresh.
Sound:
I didn't like the OP nor the OST. They weren't that memorable tbh. However, i quite liked the Voice Actors.
In conclusion:
Romcomland still has a lot of thrilling, heart-pounding, fluttering, exquisite and emotionally complex stories to tell. Unfortunately, Horimiya isn't one of them. Therefore, i consider it to be a mediocre anime at best.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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May 20, 2020
The art in "Koukando ga Agaranai" was great, the characters were cute, the manga had the potential to be a great isekai period romcom manga. Sadly, it fell short.
My review contains spoilers so read at your own risk:
I personally didn't feel the "love". It felt kinda forced and the ending was rushed and a tad disappointing.
The manga had a nice initial premise, a typical isekai where a Japanese girl dies and resurrects as "Licca" into a historical/european alternative world.
Her goal was simple; to make mysterious adopted boy-kun (that her parents took under their wing) to like her. Because he seemingly had below-zero level of
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affection towards her. Which made her cling to him, which consequently made them spend most of their time together. As a result, the boy starts developping feelings for the main girl. However, she only perceived him as a "lil brother" that seemingly disliked her.
Obviously, as most romcom plots, the main boy falls for the main girl. However, protag-nee-san did not return fake-ototo-kun's feelings.
Simply put, her love and his love, were different. He saw her as a woman, while she saw him as a lil brother figure.
What i disliked about this manga is that it had a lot of potential to bring about a cute, funny, interesting story with a goal, a moderate challenge, and a satisfying ending.
The boy could have really had 0 interest in her, and we could have had a story where she tries to win him over as they learn to love, bond & understand each other over time.
Instead, it turned into siscon boy is too proud and scared to confess to the heroine. While she wants him to love her but is not able to process the idea that he could love her, nor can she genuinely love him as a "man", instead of going nonchalantly with the flow.
So, we ended up with an abrupt and rushed ending, about a one-way romance that is forced down our throats because it had to end on a positive note. In which we do not even care if the characters end up together or not, because their "love story" has no substance.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Sep 16, 2019
“Love is a temporary madness " _Louis de Bernières
The story is about a schoolboy who fell in love with his sensei. The two characters have known each other in the past as the teacher happens to be the MC's first-love.
None of all of this is original but what's interesting about this manga is that things takes a different turn. Now that the MC 's first-love is teaching Chemistry in his middle school, he won't let her escape...
The sensei rejects the boy's advances so he starts stalking her and showing his yandere side. This manga is not everyone's cup of tea. However, i liked the disturbing/unsettling
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romance in it.
I think the problem in this kind of manga lies with the fact that the author didn't explain much why the boy's behaviour became extreme like that. Was it because of love or parental abuse, tragic past, psychological illness or a form of love-driven madness...? What about the woman, did she love him from the start and was good at hiding it? What seduced her in him? etc. So i wouldn't call this one a psychological romance because there isn't much backstory to the characters nor sufficient explanations of their choices.
I think it's a really intriguing and enjoyable romance if you look at it from a different perspective.
If you like unconventional and weird/creepy/age-gap romances or you happen to like psycho-lovers, obsessed-stalkers, jealous-possessive-alpha-males, then this manga is for you.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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