Hotaru's manga / #Strong female lead(3)

GOOD LORD THIS WAS A GOOD MANGA FOR WHAT IT WAS!!! I've never read anything like this!!! By chapter 9 or 10, It zoomed WAAAAAYYY up in my tier of favorite manga ever read!!! it's an absolute shame that it was as short as it was, but it was short, sweet, and had AN A-MAZ-ING PLOT AND MORAL AND STORY TO TELL. It had SMASHING social commentary!!! And the characters were SO SOLID. As a speaker of Japanese, I enjoyed the punny or clever names of some of the side characters Kanoko went to arms with. Speaking of Kanoko, I've never experienced a character so much like her before. I'm a natural observer myself, and do take notes of the people I spend my time around, but nowhere near in any detail like Kanoko does. I love how kindhearted and well-meaning she actually is, under all that fortitude and sassy sarcasm. I loved Tsubaki as a character too. But not at first xD Once he lightened up and it could be seen he was holding feelings for Kanoko, I seriously was cheering him on. I love how the author stayed true to the characters and didn't let love break their steely iron wills. Even if seeing them kiss would've been REALLY NICE! XD I would love to see a scenario where Tsubaki gets fed up trying to be overt and just holds hands with Kanoko, and see her reaction of being held like that xD but, Kanoko in this part of her life is not suited for romantic love, so I can only hope they'll become official in their futures xD this was glorious, absolutely gob-smacking.

Jinshi is cute and all, but he really pisses me off. I feel like he has a mix of potential romantic feelings for Mao Mao, and selfish desire to have her stick around for entertainment and amusement. Using others for the sake of personal entertainment really disgusts me. I don't give a flying frick if other people find you cute or not, you don't get to do that to people. It's so satisfying to see a heroine like Mao Mao genuinely not play into that crap. It's SO SATISFYING that she fights back!!! It's realistic to what a real girl would do in real life, and it shows people to know their freaking place, no matter how high or low on the societal ladder they are!! We see far too many girls in main lead positions that fall SOOOO easily to others's whims and desires, and Mao Mao stands staunchly against that, which I find so cool!!!