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The Rose of Versailles tells the events leading up to the French Revolution with an added twist - shaping its events around the struggles of two fictional characters, Oscar Francois de Jarjeyes and André Grandier. It's interesting because even though these characters never actually existed, the author managed to interweave their stories with real historical figures like Marie Antoinette and Hans Axel von Fersen. In fact, the narratives pushed in these real historical events make it seem like Oscar and Andre were real people involved. It's really amazing how the author managed to add in fictional characters to these events without creating plot holes that ... lead up to the French Revolution. Please note that I'll be spoiling the entire plot as I don't believe I can write a proper review without doing so.

Oscar is introduced as part of France's Royal Guard; an elite regiment of soldiers that protect the royal family. The twist here is that Oscar is actually a woman, as she was raised as a man out of frustration from her mother not being able to give birth to a son. As anyone could probably guess, being a woman in the 18th century is a boat load of troubles, because women were not recognized as equal to men back then and having a woman being part of the military would cause all kinds of confusion. André happens to be a Oscar's childhood friend and fencing partner. However, Oscar is born a noble while André isn't which sets up difficulty in their relationship later on.

The anime does a very good job of picking the right events that are depicted as the key causes of the French Revolution. Simply put, France under Louis XVI was in huge financial debt and its people were starving. However, that was only a problem visible among the commoners. The events that were chosen were: Marie Antoinette's grudge against Madame du Barry, Madame de Polignac's exploits against Antoinette, the Affair of the Diamond Necklace, the Black Knight, and of course the summoning of the Estates General and its subsequent events.

Antoinette's grudge really showcases how unfair societal norms were back in 18th century France. It showed how the only way a female commoner could get into noble society was through connections with a noble. In du Barry's case, she made a living as a prostitute and ended up becoming the King's mistress. The interesting thing is that the story doesn't exactly start off sympathizing with du Barry's unfortunate circumstances and instead portrays Antoinette as the protagonist refusing to recognize a prostitute in Versailles because she found it disgusting. It wasn't until the end of the arc that du Barry tells Oscar that everything she did was justified because of how unfair society was for commoners. This arc portrayed both Antoinette's naivety and lack of understanding as to why du Barry ended up being in her position in the first place.

The events depicted after Louis XV's death and the coronation of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette showcase very important naive decisions made by both of them that lead to the downfall of the French monarchy. Antoinette's lack of financial understanding made her offer a promotion to Oscar doubling her salary. She doesn't realize that this money comes from the citizens of France and that reckless expenses like that will only make France's financial situation worse. She also turns down the responsibilities as Queen like showing up to events, and opts to have secret meetings with Fersen instead. With these events well depicted, it's no wonder that she ends up being de Polignac's puppet and spends so much of France's tax money on her well-being, being easily manipulated into thinking that following de Polignac's advice will improve the well-being of France.

Oscar's visit to Paris was also a very drastic change in environment compared to the first arc that was only set in Versailles. Much of Paris was very poor and Oscar had to witness a noble shooting a child that stole his money because he needed it to buy bread. This sudden shift in tone settled in a very appropriate mood that would start the conflicts that lead to the French Revolution. The public's resentment of Antoinette came to a climax during the Affair of the Diamond Necklace when Jeanne framed her for being responsible for the scam. The public was easily convinced that Antoinette was the culprit because of her spending habits that further deepened France's debt.

The anime's greatest strength however, are in its characters. The personality and development of these characters are what drives the story of the French Revolution to be so interesting. Marie Antoinette is an easy blame for this tragedy, but we are seeing the events in a lens that makes us realize that she never intended the destruction of the French monarchy, but was simply too naive to make the right decisions. The most notable of these characters however, is definitely Oscar. Many of these famous historical figures heavily rely on Oscar during their periods of struggle, and she successfully acts as their guiding light to help put them on the right path.

These character live tragic lives because the structure of class rule impacts their romantic lives. This was already seen between du Barry and Louis XV, but the problem doesn't really take hold until Antoinette's affair with Fersen. These two are in love with each other but can't hold a relationship because Antoinette is married to Louis XVI as the Queen of France. This basic obligation due to marrying for power prevents a genuine relationship from happening. Because of this genuine love, rumors start to spread across France of Antoinette's affair with him, further ruining her reputation. Fersen realized that the only way he could fix this was to escape France and distract himself in the American Revolutionary War.

Rosalie's desire for revenge was also another brilliant arc that tackled this theme. Rosalie was born from unintended pregnancy between a noble and a commoner. Because her noble mother couldn't marry her commoner father, she had to abandon her daughter. She was adopted and raised by her foster mother, a commoner. Because her foster mother was killed by de Polignac due to negligence, it was difficult for her to do anything about it. Madame de Polignac values power, so she willingly sets up her daughter Charlotte with a man she doesn't love just so she could marry for influence. These problems only exist because society is split into classes, and it shows how psychologically damaged people can become just because of their desire for power. This becomes clear when it's revealed that Rosalie is actually de Polignac's biological daughter and that she doesn't feel that she's her mother at all, but cries when her little sister Charlotte kills herself because of her arranged marriage.

This theme hits its climax when Oscar and her identity as a woman gets involved with her unrequited love for Fersen. Oscar herself has to deal with the fact that she doesn't recognize herself as a woman, so she can't stand her father trying to set her up with another man. Because Fersen recognized her the one time she dressed as a woman to a ball so she could attract a possible partner, it devastated her because she knew he didn't have feelings for her. This feeling of unrequited love becomes empathetic when André confesses his love for her, making her realize that she needed to distance herself from him by joining the French Guards to help André recover from his broken heart.

All of these intricacies that tie the stories together really make this anime a wonder for storytelling, however the anime suffers flaws that are evident towards the end. It was clear that the ending of the anime wanted to focus on the rekindled romance between André and Oscar, however it had to stage that romance during the climax of the French Revolution; the storming of the Bastille. In my honest opinion, I don't think the romantic premise really fits anywhere near the climax of one of the most famous revolutions of all time, so it really felt out of place. I feel like the story would've been a lot stronger if André and Oscar's romance was settled before the Revolution. Because the anime heavily focuses on romance, the inclusion of characters like Robespierre and any kind of politics related to the Revolution felt very forced. I don't think it could be any more evident when the last episode practically skimmed over some of the most important events in the Revolution itself, such as the Royal Family's attempted escape and the Reign of Terror.

All in all, I would recommend this anime if you're interested in the struggles of romance in a class society and if you're interested in the French Revolution. However, I wouldn't recommend it if you're only looking for an anime that focuses on political struggle and the Revolution itself.

"Hey, let's play karuta~!"

Many people choose to watch anime based on the premise that's given on its summary. Either because it's related to hobbies and interests that they currently have in real life, or because they were sold on the potential the story might have based on that premise. However, there's one foolproof way to detect the greatness of a show after you finish watching it, and that is growing to love the show even though you didn't think you would enjoy it at the start.

Chihayafuru is an anime that revolves around the game of karuta; a card game based on memorizing and understanding one ... hundred short poems in ancient Japanese culture. The cards are laid out flat on the ground, and the objective is to swipe the card related to the poem being read as fast as you can. Karuta is a very niche hobby, and it's understandable why having such a niche hobby for a premise might not attract many viewers as opposed to basketball (Kuroko no Basket), piano/violin (Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso), and video games (Sword Art Online). Because you need to explore uncharted waters and dive into an unknown hobby, you're a lot less willing to give these kinds of shows a shot if you were trying to pick something to watch.

I thought the concept of karuta was boring before I began watching this show, so of course I was skeptical about whether or not I could get invested into it. But the first episode alone made me realize how wrong that kind of thinking was. You see, when people get into a hobby or interest, they have to start from somewhere. There was always a point in time when they practically knew nothing about it, so it wouldn't make sense to only look into things that you already knew you were interested in. So how would a person get into something that they didn't know about before? It's simple. By keeping an open mind so you can let yourself be immersed into new things other people try to show you.

Chihayafuru is an amazing show because it made me go from a hobby that seemed boring to wanting to actually try out that hobby in real life. Anime - like all the arts - is judged on the overall presentation and not just what's on the tip of the iceberg. If you can create a presentation that can change someone's viewpoints on a subject, then you've already been able to change part of the world.

So what makes Chihayafuru so good that makes you actually want to play karuta? it's the passion that the author puts into her story. The characters are all very emotional about the sport and it's evident from how the characters react to events that happen due to their investment in karuta. Life-changing events happen from as early as elementary school, and carry over to high school.

***SPOILER ALERT***

Chihaya and Taichi discover karuta in elementary school when they get to know Arata, a timid boy in their class that doesn't talk to anyone. It's only when Chihaya talks to him that she discovers what Arata's truly passionate about. The three get to know each other and form a team, but break up after because they had to go their separate ways. Fast forward to high school, Chihaya still dedicates her life to karuta without knowing whether Taichi or Arata still play. It's only when she discovers that Arata quit playing that the story truly begins to shine.

The sequence of events naturally presents an engaging story because Chihaya takes the initiative to approach a boy who never talks and gets bullied all the time, into getting to know him and his passions. It shows how you can only really be passionate about something if you are willing to take the risks of being different. Being someone that gets bullied because you're different, and putting up with it until people truly respect why you're different is something that is truly heroic, and the same goes for supporting that person and being inspired by them. Chihaya continuing to pursue the hobby that her inspiration gave up on is an even more inspirational story because it takes huge dedication and passion to continue to pursue something that even your friends have given up on, and it pays off even more when you end up inspiring your friends to get back into it.

It wasn't the game of karuta that got me invested in the show but moreso the dedication that the characters had for what they loved. The passion that fictional characters had for the game just rubbed off on me and made me want to try it out as well.

The rest of the story tells the struggles of what it's like to really pursue karuta professionally and how the characters overcome their struggles to pursue that dream. I would go into further detail about this but since this is a review, it would spoil way too much of the story if I haven't done so already.

All in all, Chihayafuru is an amazing experience and I would 100% recommend it to everyone because it's one of the best examples that the premise is meaningless when it comes to the overall enjoyment of the show.

When I first heard about Liz and the Blue Bird, I was quite conflicted. Hibike! Euphonium's second season was one of the biggest disappointments I've ever watched because of how much I didn't enjoy Mizore's arc. It got to the point where I dropped the show and never came back to it even after the arc was over. Creating a movie that expanded on something that drew me away from the franchise did not excite me one bit.

I decided to give it a shot anyway, seeing that I can't judge the side story based on the parent story, and boy was I surprised.

I'm not sure ... what the motivation behind this project was - whether it was envisioned to be a fix to the original Mizore arc or a passion project. I'm not even sure whether or not this is part of the original source material. But I know for sure that Naoko Yamada did a brilliant job taking over this film.

Liz and the Blue Bird was everything that Hibike! Euphonium's second season should've been. Instead of giving us the snoozefest forced drama seen through Kumiko's perspective, we got to see how Mizore and Nozomi's relationship actually worked in THEIR perspective. Can you believe how much could change if you simply changed the main characters themselves and not have it be played out from a third-party perspective just because they're the main character? Yes you can because that actually makes so much more sense.

But don't misunderstand me. Changing the perspective doesn't automatically make the film good. What sold me on the film was how brilliantly it managed to portray their relationship. Very little dialogue was used in the film. What Yamada did, was simply put together a bunch of scenes in Mizore's perspective, and transition those groups of scenes between an animation of the "Liz and the Blue Bird" picture book. Simply animating the picture book itself and comparing it with the following scenes was enough for the viewer to make connections between the two. Simply showing a normal interaction between Mizore, Nozomi, and the rest of their classmates was enough for the viewer to understand the relationship between the two. Absolutely no explanation was needed - the viewer just needed to pay attention to what was going on.

I'm not really a fan of shy and quiet characters because it's hard for them to stand out and express themselves. However, Naoko Yamada really has a gift for bringing these types of characters to life. It was easy to emphasize with Mizore's behavior, especially in contrast to extroverted characters around her. She reminded me of Shouko from Koe no Katachi, which Yamada also directed. Shouko had trouble expressing her feelings because she was deaf. Even though she couldn't hear or speak properly, the viewers can still understand how she feels because of how well the scenes portrayed her body language and feelings. The same goes for Mizore. There were so many scenarios in which she wanted to express her feelings but Nozomi was too dense to realize it. We know exactly how she feels based on her actions and how she copes with rejection. Shy and quiet characters are difficult to understand because they don't often use words. But they have the greatest and deepest potential to understand because we focus on everything else they do instead.

I'm glad Hibike! Euphonium still gets a lot of attention from KyoAni because it was a very unique project that they took. Seeing Liz and the Blue Bird made me realize how beautiful you can make films without having to resort to any clickbait or flashy material that many Hollywood and mainstream anime use. It's not the premise that makes it good, but the direction and emotion that the creators put into it. And with that, I'm definitely looking forward to the next Hibike! Euphonium movie that will be released next year.

Let this open the floodgates to more college and drinking oriented anime.

Grand Blue is an adaptation of the critically acclaimed manga of the same name serialized in the good! Afternoon magazine. It tells a tale about a young "20-year old" college student looking forward to a fresh start after enduring three years at an all boys high school. Little does he know that everything that can go wrong in his college life, will go wrong.

Since I'm writing this review as a manga enthusiast, the jokes didn't hit me as hard as it could have since I'm technically experiencing them for a second time. But even ... so, many of the scenes were still hilarious and wonderfully directed to emphasize the humor captured in the manga. I didn't expect any less from Shinji Takamatsu, an experienced director that has done Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou and Gintama. Many pages that I've re-read over and over again still got me laughing because of how well done the comedy was. I'm sure that, if I didn't read the manga beforehand, I would've rated this show a 10/10 like I did with the manga.

Before reading Grand Blue, my experiences with anime comedies were mainly derived from romantic comedy shenanigans that heavily abuse the typical anime tropes you pick up quickly when you first get into this medium. Not to say that I don't love this type of humor because I do, but there were very few comedies that I've experienced that tries to deviate from your typical fanservicey romantic comedy type jokes such as Nichijou and Hataraku Maou-sama!

Grand Blue is the type of comedy that takes another step forwards towards expanding the boundaries to what could be considered a successful comedy. It was very risky creating a comedy targeted towards young adult men that was focused towards heavy drinking and positive college experiences, a characteristic that tends to be less popular among the otaku community. But even so, Kenji Inoue decided to say "Fuck it, I'm going to write a manga that parodies frat culture and I don't care if it's not going to be popular among the magazine's audience". And boy did that pay off.

However, the courage to take these such risks itself isn't what makes comedy good. No, the setting only attracts viewers that don't have previous knowledge of the franchise. The reason why Grand Blue is phenomenal is how easy it is to develop emotional attachments to the characters even though it's not supposed to be taken seriously.

The characters are by far, the best part of Grand Blue. There is not a single character that I don't like in the show. Every character feels like it has a purpose, and nothing feels like it's left out. If comedy could be critiqued with plot holes, then you'll never find a single plot hole in Grand Blue.

The gags are wonderfully well relatable settings that exaggerate the possibility of things going wrong. Every terrible experience, every hard lesson that you may have learned in college will make you laugh it all off once you view these characters' experiences. Everything in the show goes so wrong that you'll start to understand "Hey, maybe getting the short end of the stick is what makes so life exciting and the climb more worthwhile". It's the heartwarming down-to-earth comedy that makes it so relatable.

Every gag in the story is never wasted. Every misunderstanding in the story always carries over. Characters are all so easily recognizable by their personalities that you know what is going to happen. A lot of people say that if the comedy is predictable, then it's mediocre. But I feel like if the characters are so distinguishable enough that you can predict what will happen based on they previous experiences and personalities, then it becomes the best kind of predictable.

I can understand why not everybody will enjoy the humor in this show, however. Comedy is subjective, and in my experience, comedy isn't funny if I cannot relate to the events and experiences portrayed in the show. If you genuinely don't like it because you detest the vibes that the events give you, then by all means don't continue to watch it. If Grand Blue doesn't capture your heart in the first few episodes, then please just drop it because you won't enjoy the rest of it. You will know if you love this show right from the get-go.

The only reason why I can't give this show a perfect score is because Zero-G has room for improvement and although it looks solid, I believe Grand Blue is a comedy that deserves production values on the scale that studios like Kyoto Animation have. But for now, I can settle with just having an anime alone as again, Takamastu still did an incredible job with bringing a manga comedy to life.

Note: I will be spoiling the contents of this movie because I don't feel like I can write an adequate review without it. Please do not read this review until you have watched it.

I really wanted to think this movie was a masterpiece. I really did.

Maybe it's because I can never understand Makoto Shinkai's feelings or imaginations when it comes to writing romantic dramas. One thing I need to note is that I did not like Shinkai's previous work - 5 centimeters per second, at all. I feel like Your Name was a big improvement over 5 cm/s for the most part, but still feels ... lacking compared to works directed by Mamoru Hosoda (Wolf Children, The Girl that Leapt Through Time) or the commonly compared A Silent Voice by Kyoto Animation.

Well then, let's get into the details, shall we?

The first half was beautiful. Just from the backgrounds, visuals, and sound direction, I can tell this was from the same people that created 5 cm/s. But unlike 5 cm/s, I was actually engaged with the story and connected with the main characters quite a bit. Showcasing the day-to-day lives of Taki and Mitsuha body switching was a pleasure to watch. Something that I would normally expect from a fanservicey-esque plot was naturally rendered into fun and endearing humor. I feel like Shinkai's greatest strength is creating gorgeous settings which let you immerse your imagination into the story and pique your curiosity of its direction.

I don't need to mention that the animation and especially the music was nothing short of a masterpiece. Shinkai's animation direction is unique in its own way. You can't really find anybody else who comes close to his style. Along with animation and cinematography came the beautiful soundtrack. Every piece of background music perfectly fit in with the mood of the scenes which made events feel much more powerful. The insert songs by RADWIMPS gave me goosebumps whenever they played.

The problem is the second half. When we find out that Mitsuha's town was destroyed by a comet three years ago, everything just falls apart. The reason why I am criticizing this has nothing to do with plot holes, if you were thinking about that. Most of the plot made sense and I'm really not one to be picky about anything contradicting each other as long as the feeling and message of the story goes through.

The problem is that Shinkai expects us to care so much about the characters an hour into the film that any kind of melodrama will work and affect us. The beginning was really cutesy and had the potential to set up a great relationship. It's not something that's been developed enough that you have two people confessing to each other that quickly. The first half never felt like it built up to the point where both Mitsuha and Taki were to confess to each other. Nothing really had happened until the comet pretty much blew up in our face.

The transition between the body exchange slice of life scenes and the time difference fiasco with Taki in Mitsuha's body trying to save the entire town was so sudden that you start to question what exactly is going on. It feels like someone just pulled you out of the ride and forced you to dive 90 degrees down to ground zero like they're assimilating you into a new religion. It's ridiculous how you can change the mood so suddenly and expect us to just go along with it like everything is natural. To clarify though, it's not the sudden comet event that was bad but the follow-up. You can write a good story with unexpected things happening but everything still needs to feel like it's flowing through so it doesn't break your connection with the characters you're relating to. I would go far as to say that this is one aspect that Your Name did worse than 5 cm/s as the latter at least never tried to force a relationship or melodramatic love.

What's worse is that after the sudden deus ex machina, I felt like I've lost all connections to the side characters, especially Okudera. It feels like everything that was built up was torn apart so that Shinkai can force a long lost time travel relationship back together. I honestly don't think I'm being too harsh either just because it only has two hours to express everything. Again, if I can come out satisfied watching a Mamoru Hosoda film or A Silent Voice, then I should be able to for something like Your Name which falls in the same genre.

All in all, it was still somewhat enjoyable. It was much better than 5 cm/s where instead of watching an empty container, this one at least feels like it started off with some substance. As much as this movie left a bad taste in my mouth, this and Shinkai's other works would still be one of the first movies I would show to describe good cinematography, art, and sound direction. I just can't say the same about the writing.

Disclaimer: This review is solely for viewers that have read the visual novel.

Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel is a diamond in the rough. Being the absolute last route in the visual novel, it was ignored in DEEN adaptations in favor of the Fate and Unlimited Blade Works routes. ufotable's decision to produce UBW as the TV series and HF as the movie series gave it less exposure because of the time length between the production of the two series.

Seven years. Seven years has passed since Fate/Zero aired and Heaven's Feel is in fact the true sequel to Fate/Zero. The quirk with Zero is that it cannot ... be fully appreciated and understood without the full attention and investment in all three Fate/stay night routes. Zero, however ended up being a phenomenal success partly due to the previous popularity of DEEN's Fate/stay night but mostly because of its amazing production quality.

Heaven's Feel marks the end of the of the journey of Fate/stay night; the visual novel released in 2004. It marks the final storyline that creates easy access for non-readers to gauge out the scope of the original VN's lore. And for that, it will mark the turning point of the general consensus of the Fate watch order. However, that will have to wait until all three movies are finished.

How does HF hold up compared to the VN? The production team needed to overcome many hurdles to make the first trilogy of the movie a successful one. HF, at least in the first third, is a very slow and tame route. Compared to UBW, the first third of the route has very little action scenes and most of it is in fact, slice of life with a slight mystery. The team needed to figure out how to make HF seem interesting without being redundant with repeated events in the previous routes, as well as establish a good climax within the movie.

The climaxes in HF, are in fact very short scenes in the visual novel that are meant as a shock factor. None of the fight scenes went as long as it did in the visual novel so much of the cinematic scenes you see in the fights are all technically filler.

Tomonori Sudou, the director of the movie, managed to create intensely dramatic segments of the movie while working with very little source. To compensate for that, many of the slice of life scenes he deemed unimportant were written off to make room for more action scene time. In fact, one of the major directional decisions was to create an entire filler backstory for Sakura before the main story begun. This was the replacement for Sakura's character development in the movie. Of course, Sudou didn't forget about some very key slice of life scenes that are absolutely crucial to the progression of the plot.

Looking back as a VN reader, it was very hard to take it in at first. HF was one of the routes I cherished because of how much mystery was lingering backstage and how much the slow buildup paid off. Looking at it from a different directional perspective made me think the movie was completely ruined during my first watch. Even now, I would still say that I prefer the visual novel's style of storytelling instead of Sudou's cinematic experience.

That's not to say that he didn't do a good job though. This movie in itself is still very spectacular and there is nothing that is left out or done incorrectly tha would compromise any comprehension or enjoyment of the next two movies. In fact, I believe this type of directing was the best decision made when HF was greenlit for a movie trilogy. If it was a TV series, it probably would've been handled much differently, and who knows? Maybe even better and more suspenseful. But to take the first eight days of HF and turn it into the movie that I just witnessed is nothing short of incredible genius.

In the end, adaptations are always different from the source material. The way you experience one medium does not have to be a 1:1 experience with the way you experience another. They are both works done by different people, only that one of the works uses another's content. Presage Flower in itself is still wonderful in its own way which is why I give it an approval rating as a VN reader.

So there's this new manga that recently caught my attention called "Kanojo, Okarishimasu", or in English: "I Want to Borrow a Girlfriend". What is this about? Quite frankly, it's literally what the title says. The main character is literally paying to be a sugar daddy to set up dates with a girl that sells her time for dating services. Controversial topic? Let's see.

Kanojo, Okarishimasu is a shonen romance manga serialized in one of the most popular shonen manga magazines - Weekly Shonen Magazine. Written and drawn by Reiji Miyajima, it competes directly with other romance titles in the magazine like Domestic Girlfriend, Boarding School Juliet, ... and 5-toubun no Hanayome. It sells decently, but not as much as its competitors and I'm sure you can guess why.

Paying for dating and sex services has always been a controversial topic among the dating community. The majority of people hold the firm belief that you can't "pay" for love, which is true, but the reason why these kinks exists is because they are substitutes for real relationships.

Our protagonist, Kazuya Kinoshita is a freshman college student who was recently dumped by his ex. Looking to relieve himself of his breakup, he seeks solace in a rental girlfriend app called "Diamond". There, he comes across one of the top-ranked rental girlfriends named Chizuru Ichinose (she uses a different last name for her Diamond profile for privacy purposes). And the romantic comedy shenanigans go from there.

Frankly, if I were to compare this manga to its competitors, I wouldn't say it's any different. Its romantic tension is derived from ridiculous coincidences that force the two main romantic interests to be in the vicinity of each other, which is what normally captures readers since this is next to improbable in real life. In fact, I would say the closest comparison in my opinion would be Nisekoi - both the romantic love interests are pressured to fake their relationship due to family pressure.

So let's move on to the juicy stuff: the main criticism of this manga. The premise. Kazuya is like any other shonen romance main character; spineless, unmanly, and not willing to take risks which is what makes it easy for the author to continue writing chapters without anything significant happening. However, Kazuya gets a lot more criticism that other main characters not because he's indecisive, but simply because of the fact that the romance revolves around a sugar daddy service. I'm not going to go into depth about the morals of this premise but I will say: if this romance was based off any other setting, it would be much less criticized and more popular.

The reason why I absolutely love this manga though, is because the author had the guts to use a premise that is highly controversial, and create a semi-realistic romance story out of it. Everything in this manga is extremely well done, including the characters and plot contrary to popular belief. If you treat this premise like you're not offended just by the fact that it's controversial, then you will have an insanely fun time reading this if you self-insert as Kazuya.

The story doesn't exactly portray Kazuya as a bad person even though he does stupid things you would expect from a romance lead. He is in fact, quite genuine with what he desires and tries to make things right regardless of the outcome. In fact, he is so relatable if you've been through romantic troubles that it's insanely easy to self-insert into him. The only difference is that he's a realistic protagonist that gets into unrealistic situations, which makes it the perfect story to enjoy as long as you don't have a problem with the premise.

If you would like to read a manga where the setting and characters try to take a risk to do something different, then this is definitely the manga for you. If you like to stick to vanilla manga and don't like reading anything that might offend your morals and values, then don't read this. However I would still like everyone to be more open-minded and give this manga a shot, because you will never discover anything new if you only stick to what you're comfortable with.