STORY:
Orange follows a girl Naho Takamiya who receives a letter from herself 10 years in the future. The letter predicts the events on what's going to happen in the future and one of it is Kakeru's death. Basically, it's a letter to save him before he kills himself. (For a much more serious synopsis, just go read MAL's synopsis of this manga).
Usually with these kinds of story, it carries a lot of risks. A lot of supernatural stories could forced its drama and/or leave it unexplained, thus leaves a lot of plot holes *Cough* Kokoro Connect *Cough* while other seems to get it right (I would say that Erased somewhat got it right, but they explained it subtly). Did this manga fall under one these risks?
Yes it did. Where it did fall short was how unrealistic the characters were acting because of the story. If you don't get what I'm saying, I'm about to spoil.
*SPOILER STARTS HERE*
Apparently on the later part, Naho isn't the only one that has the letter. The others, Naho's "squad" (Except for Kakeru), also received a letter from themselves 10 years in the future.
What sucks about this is that if that's the case, there were SO MANY WAYS to flip the situation; to avoid Kakeru getting depress especially on the first few parts of the chapter. Did the friends disregard the letter at first? Did she have the letter first before her friends received one?
So where did it fall? Forced drama.
*SPOILER ENDS HERE*
Though it did explain the supernatural aspect of it. Which is bizarre.
CHARACTER:
I did enjoy the characters in the first few chapters until the dumb part kicked in. I didn't feel much about the characters anymore after the dumb part kicked in (I'm referring to the one that I spoiled). Everyone did have their moments. Also, I'm glad this isn't one of the manga that has to develop every characters, one by one. That would just drag out the story. I'm glad it only focused on Naho, Kakeru, and Hiroto.
Another part where the characters fall are the characters 10 years from the future. What's up with the 10 year gap? When the heck did they thought that the Bermuda triangle is a black hole that can send anything to the past? (Don't worry that's just a minor spoiler). Again, forced drama. The manga should have took time building up its supernatural aspect (like one of them researching about the black hole and discovering it), but then it looks bizarre and it's laughable.
ART:
The art style is not unique, but it is detailed. This is one of those manga that isn't lazily drawn. Though it isn't that detailed as some other manga, but I still think it's great. You have to give props.
OVERALL:
I enjoyed it nonetheless despite its major flaws. I still felt their friendship; the feels from start to end (Well, not all parts anyways). I know this is a Sci-Fi manga, but it felt supernatural to me. Do I recommend this? Despite its flaws, I enjoyed it thus, I recommend it. Though, I'm sure there are better Romance/Drama manga better than this that I have yet to read them.
7/10
