Know the "I am… not… **I woke up in the new bugatti** uhm… well…" audio? That was my reading experience, since this manga changed so. abruptly.
My issues with it is the ending— but specifically, everything that went down after Touma's confession. Gosh.. But since there's way too many things that bothered me in volume 7–8, I'll approach what had been keeping my interest up until then.
This manga handles gender issues really well. Once Mami was finally acknowledged and her arc happened, I started finding her so sweet and admirable. First, she's mature, and that's because of how people have been treating her her entire life— she had to grow thick skin to endure that, yet she doesn't let that define her. She decides to be feminine even so, to still be friends with whoever she wants even so, to talk back even so! Like, even though her arc was about having to be tough, her personality later on was never a reminder of her past experiences. She was just living her life. I just wish there were more scenes showing her friendship with Touma!
Now, Futaba; despite the fact that she was held back because she had to be a cute character, her thoughts are just of the average teenage girl, and I mean that in the most positive way. I found myself enjoying this manga the most when she and Touma were interacting one on one; he was the only one she had such deep talks about her insecurities and her hating herself. They were upbringing each other every opportunity they could while still saying something that would have the other wondering about later. They really got along well.
And then… we get to the shitshow. Masumi appeared the most when she had to talk and face the fact that she likes her best friend, Futaba, but actually; to be broad, the fact that she likes girls. Look, I had to read the spoilers to keep reading this manga and not downright drop it one volume before the ending, therefore it didn't surprise me as much when I saw it unfold, but I was still flabbergasted. My brother in Christ. How can you create a character whose relationships with people of the opposite gender never work out and then have the same character talk so much about being different, liking a person of the same gender as them— only to wed this character off to a person of the opposite gender? Sure she could have been bisexual all along, but it was never brought up before the final chapter— I mean, one time she even goes as far as questioning Taichi how it felt to like someone of the opposite gender. So.
Now, afterwards Touma's confession, the chapters are just rambling after rambling (some even homophobic— which was. Definitely weird. Nearly dropped because of it, actually). I felt like just skimming over their conversations since it was almost like the author had to voice every little thing— no matter how small and absurd it was— never before did I miss so much the whole "show, don't tell". I enjoyed reading the manga at the beginning because it was mostly the characters interacting with each other in ways that had you silently questioning just what exactly were they thinking of, and then, when you least expected it, a profound talk would happen that would leave either a question up in the air or a line that would have /me/ thinking about it. So it was a waste to suddenly drop all the lines of thoughts in one go and never give a chance for the reader to breathe.
The ending. Though. Once I accepted the fact that it was actually so damn rushed, it was really comedic. I actually got a good laugh out of it. Gosh. The whole manga Taichi and Futaba are so invested in getting to know each other and keeping a friendship only for. Only for their breakup to happen offscreen in-between a timeskip. Only for it not have a decent reason or even one at all. Only for them to not speak in five years. Only for Taichi not even go to Futaba's wedding. Only for Taichi end up marrying Touma— and you may argue that, indeed, there were some scenes that seemed as if Taichi had some sort of interest in Touma, but it was all so, so, so sublime— it could pass for mere shyness (I mean, Taichi just barely got the hint that Touma wanted to spend some time with him on the day of the festival LMAOO I felt so sorry for Touma, Taichi was just after his GF). Meanwhile, his feelings for Futaba were never in doubt.
The ending was really so absurd and I feel as if the author was aware of that, some lines on the last chapter really sounded like rubbing salt into the wound (like, did you see what Taichi had to say about himself after seeing the movie poster.. that's CRAZY)— again, I laughed a lot. It's so unfortunate, I really could have seen myself enjoying the twist if only it was about "having been there all along" and not "well, changes are abrupt and offscreen, you see".
So. Yeah. Actually The craziest fumble. The LGBTQ+ aspect of this manga was all so good in theory but not so in practice, as seen on the last two volumes…
