I ended up hating Naruto. But reading this dj from way back then reminded me why I'd fallen in love with the Naruto/Sasuke relationship. Naruto had been a good manga dammit. It just went down a disappointing direction, like some stories do when confronted with the inevitability of an ending and the pressure of expectation.
I spent many years following this manga, I was twelve and thought: damn this two secretely love each other in a way I can't yet understand.
Nostalgia hit me hard and I teared up a lot on certain pages.
Some nice character development for Shimizu, she's stopped being the stereotypical female eye-candy added for comic-relief!
Well, she was sort of original from the start. Like, she didn't talk much but what she said was always thoughtful and made me feel that she had her own philosophy. I never thought her as just an eye candy.
Well, I was just trying to say that generally a shounen can't really be so without some eye-candy, or at least it seems that way. On previous volumes Shimizu's beauty was the only thing remarked on her character.
I think Furudate does an awesome job on character development, it's hard not to love all of them, including the ones who don't have much spotlight, and even though Shimizu is one of those, I like her too and think she's interesting.
That's true.
Maybe because I'm a female, I never really liked the stereotypical girls in shounen manga. For example, I felt kind of uncomfortable about girls in Ace of Diamond (I only know the anime though) and Bakuman, because they didn't feel like real girls, like they behave the way boys want them to. (just my impression)
Kiyoko felt kind of different to me, like she was acting according to her will and thoughts.
Maybe I was overthinking it, but being the only manager and girl in a club must be hard, and she's not a fan girly type. It made me curious what motivated her to keep on supporting the club, doing odd jobs and studying volleyball on her own so quietly. (I respect that because I know I can't do it!)
And she told Yacchan, that if she's even a little bit interested that's enough reason to join her as manager, and I really liked that.
Anyways, I really like Kiyoko san, that's all:>
Why all the Karino hate? :/
Well, sue me, I like Karino. (Even if his background story hasn't been shown yet)
Azusa wasn't definitely an honorable or virtuous kind of character at the start of the manga. The karma-like role reversal is what makes this story so damn addicting imo.
I love them as a couple,it's obvious that they love each other.....it's like a sadomasochistic relationship. I don't get the why Karino is hated so much (ok,I get the reason why XD) but he doesn't know Azusa's life and probably considers him as a spoiled brat(that's how he behaves at school),that's not a justification for his actions ^^" anyway,I want a happy ending
Disturbing.
btw that chapter with the snails subplot, the bully and the bullied? that was a twisted (pun unintended) love story right there.