Haru no Houtai Shoujo

nathandouglasdavis Jun 25, 2022

6

I would say that this is primarily a mystery with an emphasis on maintaining a sense of suspense for as long possible in regards to who's behind the arson attacks. There's also a decent amount of relationship drama, which largely stems from Natsu and Haru having told each other white lies and lies of omission in order to try to protect each other. The three main characters are Haru (the boy whose hands sometimes burst into flames), Natsu (the bandaged girl), and Aki (the girl who's hellbent on bringing the arsonist to justice) and together they form enough interesting dynamics to keep the story pretty interesting. There are several flashbacks. I think some of the backstories felt overly coincidental in how neatly they fit together, but it was still alright. The origins and nature of the superpowers are never delved into all that deeply, with the best hint at how they come about probably coming from the brief interaction in the alleyway in chapter 9. Though the moment with the knife not lifting in chapter 17 seemed to hint that these powers were more of a metaphor than anything else (or perhaps I'm reading too much into that scene). I don't necessarily mind these types of things being kept unknown and mysterious, but I will say that it does come across as contrived for only the characters directly involved in the plot to have superpowers and for so many superpowers to be concentrated amongst this small group of main characters. The artwork is ok. It has its good moments, for sure. But characters can also look kinda stiff and the flow of action could've probably been portrayed better. Overall, I just felt like it was generic and mediocre more than anything. Definitely not "bad," but also not what I would consider impressive or beautiful (other than a few standalone images here and there).