Misunderstandings, rivals, doubt, and the inability to speak ones mind are real parts of love. Unfortunately, Sasameki Koto loops through these clichés with absolutely no respect for the reader's time. Past chapter 15 character and plot progression slow to a crawl, making it genuinely difficult to remember anything changing other than circumstance or the misunderstanding of the week for 31 chapters and heartbreaking moments eventually blend into a general sense of frustration. The author in his afterword's frequently jokes, "the story will finally reach it's climax! Probably... Maybe..." which shows a befuddling amount of self awareness.
This disappointing midsection could be somewhat looked over if it weren't for the absolute mess of an ending. The author jumps between scenes at a frenzied pace, leaving no time whatsoever to properly flesh out what should be incredibly moving moments. The climax of the story comes out of nowhere in the form of a flashback with little if any buildup. It's a shame that the last 15 or so chapters frequently left me wondering if I'd skipped a chapter or if my reading comprehension had simply gotten up and left. Upon a reread there are simply too many threads, too many scenes being split between chapters to really feel confident in what's going on.
If you can handle a never-ending sequence of melodrama, this manga is for you. More than half of this manga's contents could've been erased from the mangaka's hard drive and the story would've been all the better for it. A shame when taking into consideration how strong the opening volumes were.
