The first part of the manga is exactly the same as the anime, so I was pretty disappointed about that (I was hoping that maybe they had only done a bad adaptation but no).
Luckily, this disappointment disappeared after I read the whole manga.
Just to make you know, this manga has clearly not the idea of showing you the life of an otaku. The author probably wanted to make a protagonist that is weak and bullied, and the fact that he is an otaku is an « excuse » for justifying him getting bullied.
It’s so incredible how my opinion changed just by reading the other half of the manga.
I was really disappointed in the first half because everything seemed to be “fake” or rushed. Tsutsui’s family and friend were almost all detestable. His family was a shitty family with a mother who doesn’t even trust and help his son when he his called lolicon, he has a brother who trashtalk him 24/24 even though Tsutsui is always here for him. Not to forget two of his friends, Takanashi and Ishino... How can he even call them “friends” when Ishino stopped speaking to him for a rumor and when Takanashi tried to destroy his whole life just because he wanted Iroha for him.
And the author shows us Iroha as a bitch that goes out with everyone just because she’s cute...
I think I’m not gonna talk about Tsutsui’s best friend that wears fucking cat ears at school... At this point it’s really parodic of what an otaku is.
On addition, Tsutsui is way too weak as a protagonist. I know that it’s what the author wanted but I didn’t enjoyed watching Tsutsui getting bullied 24/24 without reacting or trying to justify himself, all that because « I don’t need anyone but my friends and I deserve that because I’m an otaku ». That’s not a good protagonist mentality and it doesn’t make me want to read a manga like that. (Well finally I read it so I have no word)
There’s another thing that I have to talk about. The relation between Tsutsui and Iroha is a huge problem since we don’t really know why they are going out... I mean, the author gives us some shitty reason but it’s way too light to begin a romance between two characters, and it feels really rushed. Because of that, their whole relation is based on something that we don’t really understand and everything seems pretty « fake » between them like I said before.
By the way the manga in the early chapters is not well drawn... it’s better later, but there are still some issues in the drawing, since sometimes, we can’t really recognize the differents characters that appears because their chara-design and drawing style is too similar.
There’s another thing that I didn’t like... it’s the fact that some emotions are less drawn. The characters aren’t blushing a lot and sometimes the relationships seems really bland. When I read a romance manga I like to see the emotions on the drawing and knowing that their heart is going « doki-doki ». Even the faces aren’t really expressives.
So... finally... what is the difference between the first part and the second part ? What made me change my mind ?
Well, I would say, pretty everything.
First of all, everything is less rushed and the relationships are developed, there’s an arc for every couple. It’s really cute to see how they end up together and the relation between Tsutsui, his friends and his family is more developed too, so everything seems less fake. That’s still not perfect but it became enjoyable to read even though Tsutsui is still a victim.
There’s still some problems like Tsutsui’s brother or Takanashi that continues to trashtalk him from behind but it’s way better than in the early part of the manga and we come to like the differents the characters.
At this point the relation between Iroha and Tsutsui is still pretty weird but it’s a bit better.
Then, there’s the ending, and this is were you are happy to have read so far.
The romance between Iroha and Tsutsui is developed and it’s really cute. It doesn’t seem fake anymore and we see Iroha in a different way too. She becomes really lovable.
*Now I will spoil a lot so don’t read if you haven’t read the manga yet, the spoiler end before the end*
When it is told that Iroha has only one month left, there’s a huge jump in the relation of the two protagonist but I found it really well made, and it really moved me when Iroha had to say goodbye.
Then, there’s the time skip of seven years, at this point, it gave me the exact same feeling as the anime « Kimi no nawa ». This feeling of the two lover not being able to see each other. At the beginning I thought that this manga was gonna be like « Your lie in April » but finally it took another way, and that’s really good.
Honestly I found the ending beautiful, seeing how the relationships ended up after seven years, seeing Iroha and Tsutsui meeting each other again. Everything is concluded and there is nothing more that we can ask from the manga. The author has done what he had to do and concluded everything. Now, if we want more, all we have is our imagination :)
*End of the spoil*
To conclude, I loved this manga despite every relationships were bad introduced. The author improved his manga while its publication and he made it so good that at the end we don’t really care if the relations were bad introduced.
If you have only watched the anime, honestly, read the manga because it was really a beautiful story.
