Pure utter crap.
So you know, I've re-read the 1st 16 volumes of KNIM (for short) while taking notes. So this is not a review made out of memory, and personal feelings. This is more of a chapter per chapter analysis. That means that no matter how much you KNIM fans loved this manga, no matter how much you disagree with my scoring, it does not change the fact that all that I'm about to write is REALITY!
I've divided all that I've read into 2 parts. The countryside arc that regroups v01 to v09, and the big city arc which regroups v10 to where I decided to drop it, v16.
First off, what is a cliffhanger ending? It's those types of ending where you just have to read the next chapter right away or you won't be able to sleep at ease that night. There are many ways to have such an ending. Such as a new character steps in to test the main couple (could be some playboy, horny girl or grouchy family member). Or that very brief sentence that can imply soooo much more. Or a major decision has been made, and now the storyline can go in various different directions.
So the countryside arc is made of 84 chapters, and I counted around 45 cliffhanger endings. I say around because some people may not consider some of those cliffs that high. But it's basically still a cliff (the real number that I've officially counted is 52). There is a limit to how dramatic and chaotic someone's life can be, ok? More than 3/4 of those endings has a panel with a close-up on the main guy's face or eyes, while he's going "huh?" or "wha...?" or "!". Do you know how annoying it is, to end every chapter with the same face going the same "uh?" every time?
KNIM is not a slice-of-life. Life is not that troublesome. KNIM is soap-opera-manga I tell you.
Now maybe some appreciate those constant cliff endings, and that's why they score KNIM so highly, but to others, it's annoying. When I start romance, I want romance. Not problems after problems. And yes there are alot more problems than dates in this manga.
Now I'll regroup the story and character review together. How? Simple. The story is basically a presentation of how the characters make horrible decisions, or right decisions but with horrible executions.
Guy likes Girl A, girl B knows it but flirts with guy noneless (slut). Then guy got closer to girl A, but stood up her a couple of time to help girl B (idiot). Girl C arrives! She's the nosy type who doesn't really care about guy, but has a passion to start shit between couples (bitch). Guy leans more and more towards girl B, despite liking girl A (still an idiot). Girl A has enough and dumps guy. Girl D arrives, and gets won over thanks to some incredibly meaningless compliment, then misunderstands everything else, and then we don't see her anymore after a few chapters (o...k). Guy finally goes for girl B, and then she moves away (perfect timing). So long distant relationship starts, guy now alone, so of course we got to have... girl E! Who gets won over by some other meaningless compliment (and then they say the guy is careless -_-), and also disappears after a few chapters (poor attempt to add some tension). Then school trip to big city, guy expects to see girl B for the 1st time in a long while, and of course... girl A who did the dumping starts regretting and making moves (typical), and naturally girl B sees it all. But it gets sorted out rather quickly (more useless tension). After a while, girl B dumps guy without giving any reason. Guy makes major life decision to move to the city to get her back (stalker alert). Then, as a goodbye present, childhood female friend (who was there since the beginning of the manga) decides to kiss guy and turn herself into girl F, and then nothing more from her (then why the kiss damnit?!). And finally, to close up the countryside arc, as soon as he arrives and tries to get settled into the big city, enters girl G.
Fascinating wasn't it?
As I've been ranting for a long time now, i'll cover the big city arc in a short paragraph and shut up.
At first, it seems that KNIM finally gets interesting. 2 new characters appear, and they must have been the most interesting and sane people in the entire cast. Plus there is a new plot twist that is definitely worth something. I even started liking it! But, after a volume or two, KNIM goes back to being catastrophic. All that thanks to the disappearance of one of those very interesting characters (stop adding characters just for one volume come on!), and the second very interesting character basically gets spit on the face, tripped, and kicked while being down. And of course, we welcome girl H, I and J (2 of them are the useless to plot and misunderstanding types btw). And girl B is back and keeps on falling and un-falling for guy (pattern), and the usual cliffhangers after cliffhangers and zoom on face while going "huh?".
If you like non-stop drama, read it. If you consider romance slice of life flicks to be an exaggerated struggle for love, read it.
If you see things like i do, flee!
