I love Sakisaka's way of writing romance and her character building, I especially love her most popular animanga series Ao Haru Ride and I decided to expand more into her works and read Love Me Love Me Not, I was not disappointed. I fell in love with the series and its portrayal of the character's growth in maturity and bonds with one another. I read the manga all in one day, a very hard series to put down. Which is why I was so excited to hear Love Me Love Me Not actually had an adaptation, even though it was a movie I was excited to see how the anime would condense the manga and still make it work since its quiet lengthy. To my disappointment it didn't work.I may have a biased view since I'm a manga reader and to people who haven't read the manga the movie may have been entertaining since it does have pretty good animation, however I think that's the only thing that was good about this movie. Placing myself in the shoes of someone who has only watched the anime I still cant find any other good qualities, the characters seem boring, the romance is cliché and poorly built almost like it came out of no where and the characters seem to not have much of a deep bond. Unlike the manga's portrayal of all these things, this movie is extremely rushed.This review is a way to convince people who have watched this movie and have felt dissatisfied with it to give the manga a try, it also shows why this adaptation was doomed from the start due to it being a movie and why it should of received a tv series instead.First of all Yuna's and Akari's relationship (the most important one in this series) was very very surface level and the movie did not show their admirable bond that is unique from other friendships. In the manga both girls learn to mature and grow through each other, by using one another as inspiration and a safe space both characters adopt each others most redeemable qualities and better themselves. This is what makes their friendship blossom despite their opposing values. The anime does touch upon this but very barely, it's to the point that their friendship looks very surface level and doesn't have much depth which is not true in the slightest. I'm sad that the movie couldn't even do the most important relationship in this series justice.Secondly each of the characters complexes' were not displayed well and appeared insignificant. Yuna's lack of self confidence was carried out beautifully throughout the manga, Akari and Rio had big influence over her growth in self confidence, but in the anime she had seemed to suddenly get over her complex and have self confidence when her growth in character should of been a slow, natural process. Akaris family complex and her difficult relationship with her mum also lacked depth. The anime missed out critical moments which explained her character and complex more, showing why she was selfish, impulsive and why she secluded her feelings from others.
Spoiler, click to view
Rio's love for Akari was also badly explained too, his play boy attitude was completely dismissed in the anime and his attempts of getting rid of his one sided and immoral love wasn't displayed, same with the amount of guilt he felt and the consequences that surfaced after he kissed Akari.
Irui's own problems with his family was barely touched upon, especially his relationship with his brother, or his self consciousness causing him to make up excuses for why he shouldn't follow his dream of being a film director or Spoiler, click to view
pursue Akari.Spoiler, click to view
Now to the romance part. The manga is very cute in displaying the romantic relationships of Yuna and Rio and Akari and Irui and I found myself deeply invested in the development of their romantic feelings for one another, as well as them building up the confidence and courage to confess to each other. However, yet again the anime does a very very poor job at this. Yuna's development of feelings towards Rio was okay in the anime considering at how short the movie was however it is still insignificant compared to the manga, the movie lacks in showing Yuna's lack of self confidence to pursue Rio, alongside Akari's warnings of the consequences if she did fall for Rio due to his play boy and shallow attitude. These two things made them confessing to each other so much more special when it happened in the manga as Yuna has grown in maturity and confidence and Rio has learnt what loving someone is truly like, leaving his shallow self and his confusion with Akari in the past. The movie also misses Rio's slow development of his feelings for Yuna which made their confession even more special in the manga, in the movie his feelings were very rushed and appeared like they came out of no where, but in fact they were built from the foundation of Yuna's support she offered him which was also poorly touched upon in the anime. Once they got together the anime also missed out their cute and special moments of them showing love to each other and maturing as a couple which were very dear to me.Spoiler, click to view
Moving on to Akari and Irui, due to the poor foundation of their circumstances in the anime, their relationship was also badly depicted. One major factor that brings both of these character's together in the manga was the fact that they were both struggling with keeping their families intact. Both characters seemed affected by their parents arguing and used their hobbies as a way to escape, this made them relate and understand one another like no one else could. The absence of Ryusaki, Akari's ex boyfriend, is also a huge loss in the anime, as he was another character which inspired Akari to improve and voice her feelings without it being too late. It also pushed Irui to win over Akari and to stop making up excuses that limited him. Their relationship had many ups and downs in the manga, but how the characters found ways to over come these issues was entertaining and the anime missed this. 
