If you could go out with the most popular boy in school, even if only for a week, would you do it?
Yuzuru Shino doesn't hesitate the least, asking on impulse once the week starts, as a gag. But what if it turns out you can't keep it as a gag in your mind? What if you actually fall for the person?
I was expecting a typical shounen ai, slice of life manga. But I got so much more. I got to see an actual love story with so realistic perspectives I could dive into the story myself and feel what the characters were supposed to feel. I really can't put it into words how much I loved this manga, from beginning to end. First of all, let me just praise the setting and ESPECIALLY the characters. The realistic idea behind the keypoints of the series was what really caught my eye and the realistic, although a little rushed at some points, view on how the characters' feelings change over the course of the story, however short it may be. It doesn't paint the story of the typical flawless romance you're used to see. We go through infatuation, admiration, anger, jealousy and of course unconditional love side by side with the characters and I think that's beautiful.
In short, we get to see each and every aspect of a real romance and how it builds up during a specified amount of time. We see how Yuzuru asks Seryou if he could be his date for the week as a gag, and at that point of the story, most of us would expect the so called "predictable" ending that these two doesn't just go out for the week, but actually fall for each other. Okay, sure. We get that. But what if I told you that your prediction will waver and falter through the course of your reading?
It most certainly will. At first, you will probably see right through it and think, "well, it's the same unoriginal story". I know I did, but stay with me here. A couple of chapters in and you will start to re-think your previous statement. At some point, you will surely start to doubt the course of the story, start to think "but wait, this isn't how it's supposed to be!"
In the beginning, you will go through the same old typical start of the main protagonist already being fascinated by the other main character. We see Yuzuru admire Seryou from afar as his junior but it's not that hard to read through his facade of it being more than just plain admiration. But at the same time, it's hard for us as readers to pinpoint exactly what more Yuzuru is thinking when he looks at Seryou. Is it plainly because of the fact that he knows how Seryou has a different partner every week? It is because of that disappointment? Or is it because he can't read his own feelings over this person and the whole situation?
Well that's one thing that's left up for interpretation, I guess. But still, the start isn't as cliché as one might think at first. In some way, the story makes the cliché trope of pre-fascination into something that actually catches your eye and makes you want to read more.
And the realistic depiction of jealousy and anger was what really interested me. We see how even though Yuzuru tries to hold it back, his blood is obviously boiling with anger when he hears about the other girl that still has contact with Seryou. "Shino this, Shino that". We see the so familiar miscommunication between Yuzuru and Seryou whenever the other girl comes into the conversation, whichever way it may be. The "It's like that, right? It must be that way" which brings me back to my point of your "prediction" of the ending faltering. The drama in this series isn't your ordinary romance drama where you will see right through it and stop minding it. This will literally make you anxious over whether you will actually get your happy ending or not. It made me feel like it wasn't worth reading if I didn't get the ending the characters deserved, because the drama prolounged to the very last minute. It went on for so long and with such an intensity, I was 90% sure that this would be another one of those endings were it would be a conclusional ending, but certainly not an acceptable one from a readers perspective. In short, I was sure that "Seven Days" would pull and [Spoiler] No.6 kind of ending.
But if I was so sceptical of this series, why did my final rating of this series become a 10? No, not just because of the ending, but because of the emotional rollercoaster it took me on and how well it solved all it's issues that came up and how well though out it was. As my final word about it, it will certainly not let you down. I recommend this manga to each and everyone who wants to go through a romance side by side with the characters and in the end, feel the heartwarming blessings the characters are supposed to feel.
