Our cast of characters this time around consists of Uta, an ordinary high school girl, and Kaoru, her childhood friend who she was always close with. She marries Uta's brother, Reiichi, and on their wedding day, Uta comes to realize that her feelings for her all those years were feelings of love. The three of them live together as a family, and the story is dependent on the family dynamic from chapter one. Uta and Kaoru's dynamic is so sweet and heart-shaking that it actually made me cry. Multiple times. Uta apparently has a dark past and doesn't feel loved or accepted by her family, not only having left her main family but considering herself a freeloader at Kaoru/Reiichi's place and being always worried that she is just getting in the way, but nevertheless, her love for Kaoru is deep and unconditional. Kaoru is an angel, to the point where honestly, I have trouble thinking of anyone else in any series who I've just ~felt~ for as much as her. You can just feel her desire to make Uta feel loved and welcome, to ease the pain from her past.
The series hits hard and the atmosphere of it is generally dark. The bulk of it so far has been about Uta's angst as she struggles to sort through her feelings, and plenty of other not-so-bright stuff has already happened even though it's currently only on the 11th chapter (and it seems to be gearing up for a medium-length run if I had to guess? I hope it ends up being longer, though). The series does venture off for a little bit into the relationship of Uta's friend, but that isn't even out of place really, since Uta was staying at her place at the time and we see how it ties back into Uta and Kaoru's situation later.
The art style here doesn't stand out too much, but it serves its purpose very well and has sort of a soft, delicate feel to it, particularly the way the characters are drawn. I'm not the best at describing this, or judging artwork in general really, but either way I like it.
Final verdict -- This series needs more attention. I don't have any clue who the mangaka, tMnR is and as far as I'm aware it's her only serialized series at the time of this review, but she has entirely captured my heart with just this one series. This series is on pace for a 10 rating, and I don't fear it'll slow down or lose its spirit (which is what I'm usually the most wary of with series that start off well like this), though expect this review to be edited if it does so. I have went back to reread it even though it is still in progress and it is as good the second time as it was the first time. She knows what she's doing with this story and I want more.
