Manga 121213 Kimi Wa Houkago Insomnia

Insomniacs After School draws you in with main female lead Magari’s cute bubbly personality and infectious kindness. For me, the Manga is exceptional up to about chapter 55. Past this point, Insomniacs After School struggles to show any sort of progression for our star-crossed lovers. The few romantic scenes past chapter 55 are short and don’t hit as deeply as they did initially.

The ending really disappointed me as it seems like the author simply ran out of steam or motivation. There’s no real closure. The ending isn’t happy or sad, just is extremely lacking in everything that made me love the series. It seems ... rushed. Magari is extremely lovable and the Manga is worth it for her alone. Something about her personality is infectious and it’s extremely easy for any reader to fall in love with her.

If the anime gets a second season, I hope they stray from the Manga slightly to do more to show Magari and Nakami be affectionate with each other instead of just leaving the reader to imply as much like the second half of the Manga.

The wholesome romance between the two main characters is easily my favorite in all the manga I've read. That's what anyone coming here would be reading for, so I recommend it to you because of that. It's really good. However, the manga is far from perfect. In typical romance fashion, there's a bunch of side characters that contribute virtually nothing and no one really gives a shit about and are just there for filler between chapters where romantic progression happens (wow here they are at the mall! wow here they are at the park! wow here the gang is at the fishing hole!). The ending ... is really safe, lackluster, and boring. Worst of all, it's tainted by the male MC becoming such an insufferable pussy in the last few volumes that it just makes the reader frustrated more than anything. I'm being very critical of the ending, because its riding the insanely powerful and perfect start that this manga had. Even though it started amazingly, I can't help but have a bad taste in my mouth at the end. I'm still giving it a 7, a good rating, because the romance, the main part anyone would read this for, is very very good for the majority of the manga.

Let me start this review by saying that I understand why people love this manga. Even though I personally did not enjoy it, "Insomniacs after school" has many elements that warrant it being one of the best romance stories in the eyes of so many people.

The biggest selling point of this manga is the characters. Romance as a genre likes to include eccentric and exaggerated characters, especially if it's targeted for younger audiences, but the cast of "Insomniacs after school" feels grounded and relatable. The problems that the characters face and the ways they react to them are interesting but not overly dramatic.

My first problem ... with this manga stems from the character chemistry, or rather from the lack of it. I read romance mainly for those sweet, tense, romantic or embarrassing moments between the characters and for the way the dynamic between them develops. I like when characters banter, when they have clashing character traits or personalities. I like to feel the tension when they talk to each other. I didn't find any of this in "Insomniacs after school". Sometimes I enjoy purely "wholesome" romance too, but I wouldn't call this manga particularly sweet either. Don't get me wrong, I understand why Isaki and Ganta ended up together and I don't think their relationship is unwarranted, but a working relationship doesn't automatically make romance interesting.

The art in "Insomniacs after school" is good, at times even great. The only complaint I have is that sometimes the level of detail randomly changes between pages and even panels, for no apparent artistic reason. Although this issue got better in later chapters.

The main problem I have with this manga is bad pacing/paneling. So many scenes in this manga either drag on for way too long or end too quickly. They destroy the structure of the story and leave me feeling either bored or confused. I think the underlying plot of this manga is good, but the way it is presented ruins the whole experience for me. And the paneling only exacerbates this problem. Weird angles, awkward poses and constant zooming in on characters' faces makes reading this manga an unpleasant experience.

Very subjective problem that I have with "Insomniacs after school" is bad attempts at "show, don't tell". I think manga is a prime medium for this "rule", so i commend author's efforts to create a more interesting way to present the narrative. But because of the art style and the paneling problems I talked about previously, most of these efforts fall short. In this regard "Skip to Loafer" handles the visual storytelling of romance much better.

Overall I found this manga to be disappointing. It has great ideas and interesting characters, but falls apart because of the execution. If you don't see the problems I've written about after reading this manga, then I can understand why you might have liked, or even loved it. But I have to leave it with a 6/10.