Neither our hero nor heroine are particularly interesting characters - there's a fine line between a character who is quiet and a character who has the personality of cardboard, and Hibi Chouchou crosses it in spades. I find myself more invested in other characters besides the main couple most of the time.
Speaking of these other characters, there are sideplots involving these characters which are never resolved. This would be easier to forgive if the manga wasn't as long as it was, but it easily could have dedicated more time to this, especially when the pacing of the story is painfully slow.
Ah yes, the pacing. Hibi Chouchou's biggest problem is it suffers from bad pacing. The story is pretty much over by the end of the first year, and the rest of the time is spent on pointless filler and the aforementioned unresolved side romances. You get the feeling that Hibi Chouchou is trying to be the next Kimi Ni Todoke, but the chapters lack the sense of yearning and tension Kimi Ni Todoke's had, probably because I simply don't care enough about the characters.
In the end, Hibi Chouchou feels like its following the standard shoujo manga template used for many of the genre's most beloved hits, but lacks all the life that makes those series good. The result is an all-around boring and unsatisfying read.
