Kimi wa Yotsuba no Clover is an enjoyable hidden gem. The theme of this manga is psychological and there are numerous obstacles the main character Yotsuha has to weave her way through.
The main plot is that the main character, Yotsuha has to stop her childhood love Uichi from killing himself due to intense bullying. And for that, she uses her watch that can time travel to stop every opposition to Uichi. The interesting part of this story is the hidden villain who pulls strings and manipulates characters behind the scenes to bully Uichi. And the hidden motives behind it too.
The best part of this manga is the amount of things Yotsuha has to do to keep Uichi from being bullied. Uichi is being bullied and tormented in numerous amounts of ways, his family life is absolutely horrible, the most popular and handsome kids in school are bullying him, and of course there's that hidden mastermind who also pulls every string to get him to be bullied. Watching Yotsuha skillfully use the time traveling watch to combat every issue is entertaining and satisfying.
The weakest part of this series are the characters. Yotsuha is similar to a lot of psychological anime main characters. She is charismatic, strategically skilled, and cool. She has that extra aspect of being hella cute though. The rest of the characters of the manga do fall a bit short compared to her. Uichi is good, his backstory is okay, it's generic. As for the character himself, not a huge fan. His family, extremely infuriating, and very one dimensional for me. The dad and sister are especially both super annoying and flat as characters. The mother is a tad bit more fleshed out but still annoying as hell. Overall not a huge fan of his family but they still serve well as plot points for Yotsuha to pull her skills into play.
As for the villains, they're okay. Something almost every character is filled with is the exaggeration of their character. Uichi's depression is pretty over the top, although his backstory is pretty damn sad so I'd let it slide. His family is like the physical embodiments of the seven deadly sins, one of them is extremely uncaring, one of them is extremely slothful, and one of them is just psychotic. I don't think this is necessarily bad, they all just showcase a negative trait. The school bullies are just comically evil. They don't have good motives, they're just villains to be villains. I don't hate them though, they are entertaining to watch and seeing them get destroyed is satisfying.
There are some characters that haven't been explored yet that could be really interesting too, like Yotsuha's mother, and the main villain "clover" who I hope is someone unexpected, unlike the person I'm assuming it's going to be.
The romance in this manga is also pretty prevalent and is being developed slowly alongside the action. The relationship between Yotsuha and Uichi is extremely wholesome and adorable, Yotsuha is such a cute character and Uichi has been through so much. I wouldn't say it's anything crazy, but the relationship between Yotsuha and Uichi is pretty good for romcom standards.
Overall, this manga so far has been a really fun experience for me to read and I would 100% recommend it for anyone who's looking for a straightforward psychological thriller.
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