greeneyedneko

I'm literally only writing this review because I saw this manga has none and I kind of felt bad for it, but I also feel responsible to prepare you for what this manga is if you ended up here for whatever reason, like wanting more Matsuri Hino manga, expecting this to be similar to Vampire knight, etc.

Story

I'm one of the people that dived into it only because it was Matsuri Hino's new project after Vampire knight ended and I seriously expected it to at least reach the same level of expectations, mostly because it sounded like something nice and something that I could enjoy. Well, yes, for the first 4 chapters the manga was nice, but then the disaster befell it. Maybe it was my fault for having expectations, but it literally felt like trying to fit a tree branch into a matchbox. Beneath everything, I can see potential, but the execution was all over the place and the story of the seeds is questionable.

There were a lot of moments when the characters had weird stuff to prioritize when they should be concentrating on something else entirely and more urgent businesses at hand. Was it for comedy purposes? I am unsure and that confusion led me to not take the story seriously not even when I was supposed to. I'm not a fan of random mood switches and I will never be able to conceive them. You laugh when you have to laugh, you are serious when you have to be serious and this manga did badly to cope up with that.
(Just how can I laugh over highschool issues when I know that a character is dying? And i put this question to you, readers of this review. ) I can laugh to distract myself from an issue that I don't want to face, but here? it was just blatantly ignored for half manga just because... reasons?

It doesn't end there, there are also certain conveniences to speak about, but what is a rushed story without conveniences? I don't know what happened, but I strongly feel like Shuriken to Pleats did badly during the first chapters' feedbacks and Matsuri Hino was asked to give it a closure in no more than 6 chapters. And if that's the case then i really feel bad for her.

I feel like giving the manga props, however, for trying to portray the love between a young girl and an older guy, even if lacking in substance. That's not something that I see often in manga, so I was impressed just because this love was never forgotten. I'm aware this opinion might not be something that the mass would share with me; maybe an older guy x younger girl pairing makes some of you feel uncomfortable, but not agreeing with it and ignoring it exists are two different matters.

Characters

There's really not much to them, despite all of them having potential to become more. There was just not enough time.

As a side note, I felt like Mikage and Mahiro were Matsuri Hino's attempt at YukixAidou (a pairing that I shipped in Vampire Knight for them being adorable together, but of course, that never had any chances) and, without getting too much into it, I thought that was just really cute. Though it might have been just my impression. Mahiro is not an Aidou-wannabe if not only for certain aspects of him, so don't go in expecting a flirt.

For the rest, the characters were often foreseeable, being there at convenient times, managing to find out stuff at convenient times, getting attached to other people way too fast to even count (Mako's affection for Mikage, for example or even Mahiro's affection for Mikage). But they're all fairly likable characters.


Art

Even if very similar to Vampire knight and Mikage is just a copy-paste of Yuki's design, I never am able to look down on Matsuri Hino's drawings. They will always look gorgeous to me. Am I biased because sometimes all the characters tend to have the same face just a different haircut? I guess, but this is why I just think it's "good" and not anything beyond.

Enjoyment

I wasn't outraged by it, but not very entertained either. I was just partly disappointed for the waste of potential and I partly didn't get involved in it enough to care, but it was able to make me smile once in a while. And, again, I really wanted to know how Mikage and Rodd were going for.

Overall

Let me be clear, it was "meh". Not horrible, but "meh". I don't think I'll ever go back to this manga and i'll probably even forget the name and the characters soon. The good part is that it's just 11 chapters long, so you can probably read it in like 2 hours if you're a fast reader and move on with your life. Is it worth it? Not really. Maybe partly. But that's subjective.
If you're in for a short manga, it can entertain you, but don't get into it with high expectations.