SUMMARY
15 year old Fujii Nayu has spent a lot of her time over the years mothering her childhood friend Furuya Oumi who can't seem to get to school on time or even do up his necktie without her help. That is, until she asks him a question: "Oumi, do you... like anyone?" And his answer begins to change everything.
Because this manga is only 8 chapters I'm going to forgo my TL;DR and just write my review, so if you'd like to read the manga first, head there then make sure you come back!
FULL SUMMARY
I was very pleasantly surprised with this manga which had a little more than my regular one-shot straightforward plot line. I thought the approach the mangaka was going to take was have Oumi say Nayu was the one he liked but end up being super casual about to the point where she frets for days about whether he really likes her because there's no change in their relationship. However, of course he says that he likes Tsuzuki-san and I could've smacked myself with how obvious it was that this would be the plot of events (although the other way did also seem equally viable still, can you tell I read a lot of manga?).
I haven't much to comment on the relationship between these two because it's so superficial. Oumi's deep reasoning behind why he likes her other than how pretty she is is because she doesn't often smile, but did once and it captured his heart... hello? What about her personality? Anything? Well, he is supposedly 14 years old and I can stretch my memory back to recall that probably was all it took at that age. The fact she uses him to try and get over her love for her teacher (seriously where did this trope come from and why is it so popular?) doesn't really upset me too much because his feelings for her while seemingly intense also seem to be based on nothing very important.
On the other hand, how this particular love triangle was introduced was much better. I love how throughout the first few chapters of the manga we see Fue Takeda-kun often passing Nayu in the hallway with his group of friends but he always takes the time to call out a greeting to her. It's an "if you are an oblivious reader you'll think he's just being friendly but if you're perceptive you know it's because he likes her" thing, and I like how that's the way his feelings are built up and shown to us.
To be honest though, that's the most I ever come to like about their relationship, because after he admits that he likes her he falls into this arrogant, slightly aggressive act of bravado in his attempts to turn her feelings towards him, which I guess makes it easy for me to see how she continues to like the cute Oumi instead. I was expecting him to try to be clever in his ways to get her to like him because he seems like he has intelligence, but instead any cleverness comes off as minor manipulation which puts me off him. His competitiveness with Oumi is fun to watch though.
One of the moments I loved was when Nayu finally confesses her feelings to Oumi while he is still going out with Tsuzuki-san. While I'm not one to support people trying to steal other people's partners, that isn't what this feels like, because Oumi has seen how different she has started to act around him and so far she has evaded telling the truth about her reasons. This moment therefore feels more like her finally explaining the truth than an attempt to steal him away, and my soul clenches as she hands him her umbrella to keep dry and runs home after the confession, and he just stands there unmoving in the rain. What a moment.
I also like how after Oumi and Tsuzuki-san's relationship inevitably ends he doesn't then immediately thinks "I like Nayu after all!" At first it seemed to be going that way but instead he starts to look at her more as if becoming aware of her as a person rather than a childhood friend as he has for so long. His moment with Koto-chan is just genius where she shoves a juice bottle in his face and tells him to read the ingredients. After he complains it is too close to see, she says "exactly". Brilliant analogy Koto-chan! Hatsuharu-mangaka, please can we see a short story based on her? She's a fantastic character!
And as for the ending, I love it when I'm genuinely happy that the couple got together and that they match each other well. I've always wondered if we could see the characters from our favourite mangas after the end of the manga whether they would still be together with their loved ones (pretending they are real people). Because these guys are still young I kind of imagine that they break up and get back together a few times as they grow into adults and change, but eventually they're in it for the long haul. Or maybe that's too idealistic... well who cares! ^_^
Nayu
and Oumi are childhood friends. Without realizing it, Nayu finds she
has fallen for Oumi over the years. However, just as she comes to terms
with her feelings, Oumi reveals himself to be in love with the pretty
Tsuzuki-san in his class. How will Nayu deal with such heartbreak? - See
more at:
http://www.mangahere.co/manga/kimi_ga_inakya_dame_tte_itte/#sthash.WtYsXSbR.dpuf
Nayu
and Oumi are childhood friends. Without realizing it, Nayu finds she
has fallen for Oumi over the years. However, just as she comes to terms
with her feelings, Oumi reveals himself to be in love with the pretty
Tsuzuki-san in his class. How will Nayu deal with such heartbreak? - See
more at:
http://www.mangahere.co/manga/kimi_ga_inakya_dame_tte_itte/#sthash.WtYsXSbR.dpuf
