Kokoro Botan

And now a cute chapter again (thanks Chibi!)

I never know what to expect with this.

Volume 12 (last volume) cover:

chapter 1-44

http://raffmanga.blogspot.com/

Very useful, but ow!  That site hurts my eyes.

chapter 1-44

http://raffmanga.blogspot.com/

I know teenagers can be really dumb, I was one of those myself once, but still. what the fuck does she like about that brat?

Lol. What an asshat the dude is and that chick is not much better. I wonder when she'll grow a brain...

Aw, man, he is such a douche. Mind you, apparently so is his ex-girlfriend; maybe they'd suit each other.

. . . And yet, the story continues.
And with a chapter 15 so good it makes up for quite a bit.

The guy is a dick and the girl is an idiot for putting up with it. Not to mention she's cried more times in the past 14 chapters than a weeping statue. End of story.

You know, they made a agreement, Niina knew from the start what she agreed to just as Koga stated himself and made himself clear. I think Maki-sensei did a pretty good job in designing the characters and their development. The only thing I would have liked to be different are the two sidekicks (I mean Mirei and Tomo-nii) appearing from nowhere just to trigger feelings of jealousy. I hate it when that happens because the story had a great pace and it would have been great without them and they would have gotten together on their own with just enough time, though I think mangakas are like always and will ever be pressed for time for selling purposes.

I usually like Usami Maki's stuff. Often really like it--her oneshots are some of the best ever. But, seems like with this story she's decided to try something a bit different in terms of her characters and I don't really like the results. This guy--I get that he's a bit S and likes teasing her, and she's very teasable, and that's kind of how their relationship works, and I might be able to handle that. But increasingly he goes too far, tips over the line into just being an abusive jerk. There are hints that he's doing it out of some insecurity of his own--the characterization is actually well done. But I find it hard to care why he's being a creep. His redeeming bits of emotion feel too little, too late. He's going to need to do some serious reforming for the story to work in the end.

I'll tell you, if I were that tutor guy, even if I only saw her as a little sister, I'd actually have been harsher than he has been. In ch. 12 when Koga said "I just enjoy being mean to that girl," I would have said, "Listen punk. I told you not to mess with her any more. Looks like I gotta be clearer. You got three choices. One, treat her right from now on. Two, break up and leave her the **** alone. Or three, say hello to the hospital because I will crush you like the roach you are, and do it again as many times as I have to if I ever catch you around her again."

This is sort of hard to read comfortably. The dialogue could use another proof reading. Also, is that really chapter 1? It seems to start off somewhere in the middle of the story and assumes you already know the characters. Either way, it's out of order - the first few pages are placed last.