Kakao 79% - Reviews

Without a doubt one of my favorite childhood friend romance stories! Ayano and Ichinose are two of the most believable childhood friends in any of these series. Their chemistry together is always fun and I could just watch these characters banter for 200 more chapters. It's got a good cast of side characters that don't fuck around too much and actually add some depth to the main characters' relationship.

The art starts out very rough and takes some getting used to but does improve, and the art style ends up having a lot of charm in its looseness. It helps a lot with the series' comedy and imo this series is absolutely hilarious. There's a lot of funny moments that play into your expectations. The humor demonstrates how much the series is really aware of itself and it helps keep the main romance of the series, which can be a slog, from being TOO much of a slog.

====SPOILERS, but nothing too bad====

As for the main romance, this IS a slow series. There are multiple confessions, multiple kisses, multiple moments where characters could neatly resolve their feelings and finally get together, but don't. Ichinose has been in love with Ayano since the beginning, but seeing the way she reacts indifferently to his popularity with girls has him doubting that his feelings are reciprocated. Ayano does reciprocate those feelings but she's in denial because of some drama that happened with a previous friend and she's a tomboy that struggles with her girlier emotions. She's definitely the least mature of the two, but it helps make her an incredibly endearing character. There are momentary teases of love triangles but nothing disruptive and they exist more to teach Ayano how to recognize her own feelings of jealousy.

Now it's obviously slow, and I mean slow slow. This isn't a series where the couple gets together 20 chapters in and then spends another 100 fluffing around and flirting. But their relationship is also never static and it's always building up to something. I binged the series so I couldn't imagine what it would have been like to have to wait that long to see these two develop, but I can say that it's definitely worth it, just to finally see Ayano finally claim Ichinose for herself and tell him not to fuck around with other girls after waffling around it for so long.

It takes a really long time for them to start dating but it was def worth the wait. Tsubasa and Ichinose are one of my favorite childhood friends troupes