Manga 13281 Ichigo Jikan

I think the art was amazing, Ichiko was so pretty and Ran-kun was so beautiful! OH MY GOODNESS! I've see really hot manga guys and he is a total consideration but not even close to any of my tops. The story line was good but EXTREMELY unbelievable, like who would approve oh that? What mother would? And Encourage children? WHAT IS WRONG WITH HER FAMILY!? I also had the thunder and lightning fear relation so that was interesting to see her reacting, mine it a bit different... Oh and the ending I didn't like, there needs to be more to it than just a page ... or just end it at page 29 in the last volume.

Story: 6
One can argue that by giving the readers what they want, the story should be ranked a bit higher. I'm a total sucker for happy endings and marriages and babies and all that stuff, but... I think I need a bit more than 2 volumes for me to really believe in it. I didn't feel invested in the characters at all, nor did I think there was any development - or if there was development, it happened between the characters and they left the readers behind. -_-

Art: 9
I do think the artwork is nice - the girl is super cute, and the guy is ... super hot. Even the student body president with the glasses was cute. =) So that is that.

Character: 8
Nothing was wrong with the characters, I found the girl likeable - she worked hard, struggled with her feelings, and came out successful as a student and a woman. The guy was apparently amazing at everything, not sure how he can be a 2nd yr student and the headmaster but whatever.

Enjoyment: 7
It was a nice short read.

With nice artwork + OK character personalities.... battling it out with an undeveloped, shallow plot and undeveloped character personalities... a 7 is a good score to sum it up. I mean, it won't take up much of your time, so if you like shoujo, just go ahead and give it a feel-good read, it's not like it was a bad manga or anything. =) Just wish it were longer and more developed, I think.

I must admit Kumagai Kyouko's art is nice. The art is probably the best thing in this manga, with a handsome mail character, and cute chibi style panels.

However, there's a serious problem with the story, the rushed pace of events not being the main issue in my opinion. Aside from the usual cliches and the stereotyped characters of the genre, which this manga doesn't avoid; I really cannot bring myself to understand why the author decided to make the mail character a 16 year old boy. The characters age is the main problem. First of all, he doesn´t look like a 16 years old ... boy at all... he looks much older. But, that aside, how is it that a 16 year old boy managed to become a school chairman? It doesn´t make any sense. Shouldn't he be still studying? Ok... he may be some sort of a genius who finished school earlier... but if that's the case, shouldn't it be explained somewhere? How is it that everybody takes it so naturally?

As a general rule, when something out of the ordinary happens in a story, it should be explained or accounted for somehow. I say "as a general rule" because fairy tales or parodies, for example, don´t always require that much explanation... but this is neither a fairy tale, nor a parody... nor does it pretend to be intentionally absurd. If there is an explanation, nobody bothered to tell us... we are supposed to take it as granted and accept it just like that.

I understand adult-highschooler relationships may be a sensitive issue for many people. I wonder if this has anything to do with the author's decision. But making a sixteen year old boy chairman of a school is not the best solution, and making him treat others as brats is even worse... as if he weren't one himself. I even wondered at some point if there was some sort of translation mistake.

This is a problem of character design and development, which proves character design is as important as the plot itself. If I cannot believe in a character, there is nothing more to talk about.

There are also other issues such as a series of events related to the female character´s first love which are just too random, or the fact that we never get to fully grasp who the antagonist is.

I'm giving this manga a 5 because of the art, and because it is a somehow entertaining and easygoing story to read.