This review contains spoilers to the manga, reading discretion is advised

STORY
The story for me felt interesting but in a good way. It's been a while since I've read something where the plot circles around ones uncontrollable fear but I was very welcome to find out why it was. And it doesn't dribble around it either. The manga makes sure it keeps the flow of what's going on nice and steady and it doesn't put too much unnecessary filler in between, so you could get right back into it after 1/2 chapter of filler. Thankfully understanding the fear was straightforward and that's spread across multiple chapters. Took me by surprise it was due to some traumatic experiences with the father. Though the situation she was put into I could kind of sympathize with it. The father leaving is one thing but having to realize it was due to an affair and then having years passed to cross paths once more, only to be essentially kidnapped and then slapped when refusing to go with them? How does that sound it seems kinda exacerbated I think? Not that I'm saying it doesn't happen but the way how it's presented seems a little coming in hot style, you know a little out of field like I wasn't expecting this to be the catalyst kind of thing. However that aside, he really did do it in a good manner and it kept with the flow of the story. There weren't no obnoxiously long chapter spreading it out and there wasn't no tiny size piece of info either. It was just enough.

CHARACTERS my initial impressions of these characters would have been the stereotypical romance comedy. But actually I was surprised with this one, each character have a diverse pool of traits and they don't stick to one's attitude for more than it's welcomed. As I said before it's a breath of fresh air to have characters you could like without glaring problems.

Keitarou Itsuki
I think Keitarou Itsuki strikes the perfect balance of being very reasonable but still giving off that unnecessary menace vibe they were planning.
And they don't stick with that for a lot either, it's used as a base for a very important part of the story. And whenever it is mentioned it is only for the story, not something they beat him over the head with every chapter like most series do. He was very likable through the entire series and not once did I want him to either spill the beans already or shut up. A nicely made gentleman

Botan Kurashiki
With Botan's appearance I immediately assumed she was gonna be an uptight snobby girl who was overprotective of her one friend. I kept that for at least two chapters since her introduction and was going to keep assuming that's how she was going to be. It wasn't until one of my colleagues in the discord i chat into pinged me in all caps saying "KEEP READIN TRUST ME". Thankfully I stand corrected. Bolton quickly GREW ON ME me. She has this warm go to attitude and a warm and comforting personality. She's somebody you could have a strong conversation with and not have it derail with slapstick routine of misunderstandings. Plus she reads BOOKS as her main interests? Now that's a first for me. Usually it'll be something else like the desire to grow a club or make a bunch of friends will become famous as their interests. Quite a surprise and a welcomed one. As the manga continue so did my love for her and I quickly became a fan of hers. Honestly I wish I had more characters like her. I would become more invested in romance mangas this way ha ha

Aoi Tokujira
Now with this her I had my concerns right from the get go. The dark hair loner soft talking types aren't my thing, i just assumed she was gonna act callous and cold for an absurd reason for the entire manga. But thankfully as I kept reading I became less annoyed of her and became more sympathetic. Her development as a character is slow, but the payout is great. You start to understand why she's like this in the first place in a really hits you hard near the finale. She's a definition of " Not judge a book by its cover, but of the contents within"

even the supporting characters fit the same formula. They were all welcoming level headed, concise and didn't become exaggerated shells. I enjoyed them all.

Personal Thoughts

When I came to this manga I expected it to be another run-of-the-mill romance situation. And that was wrong. This manga in particular broke one of the fundamental laws romance forced, the law that regardless of who was introduced into the story the end result will always be the main male character with the main female character. This took away from that and made the most compatible option the defacto. And honestly it was a breath of fresh air since the two were made for each other. Which is a mere couple of chapters they were able to formulate a bond that felt naturally grown.

This manga has a surprising level of honesty and lack of dense characters. Most of the romances that i have read always followed a chain of events that all leads from a misunderstanding and the lack of trying to think past face value assessments. In this manga in particular everybody is clear headed focus straight as an arrow on what they mean and how they interpret it to others. There isn't a single chapter where a misunderstanding leads to a chain of misfortunes and everybody is at the same level instantly. That's another breath of fresh air this manga seems to give to me towards the romance genre, it's great to see actual human emotions and common sense.

But man after going through all that and at the end of the series finally mustering up the courage to break that fear of men only to essentially be starting a new? It's a sweet bitter moment. However I can respect somebody who isn't overtly selfish and watches out for her friend. Really tugs at my heartstrings. All in all it was a great read and I wish I had more manga similar to this so I can enjoy the romance genre once again.

9/10