Reading this story feels like I'm reading some generic shoujo manga from early '10s, where the narcissistic and "smooth" bishounen forces different interactions on the confused, airheaded mc, until she eventually falls for him. And I really don't know how to feel about that. I mean, it's yuri, and that definitely makes things look much better to my hypocritical ass, but still, it's a little...uh. Idk man.
Same here. I'm all for confident, competent, badass lesbians who know what they want, but it feels like the author just straight-up made Mai a Mary Sue, and when the editor told them to put in some humanizing flaws, they just scribbled in 'dubious respect for boundaries'. It's doubly sad because the premise of friends-one-day, lovers-the-next is honestly gold, and has so much potential for exploring the implications of affection, romance, the dreaded two-girl-friendship, the terrors of commitment and the way such an ambiguously romantic relationship would be perceived by the rest of the girls. But the execution so far has been incredibly lackluster. You know a romantic dynamic is flawed when it actively reduces the appeal of both characters involved. I would've much rather seen our MC just having a regular school life for a while before she realizes that some of her friends are into each other and wonders where the line between friendship and love is, and Mai would've also been a lot more interesting as the school beauty who's nice to everyone and romantically interested in no one, before the two finally meet up, become friends and realize their feelings for each other.
Then again, that would just be Bloom Into You reloaded, but the author's decision to take two similar archetypes and just speedrun the relationship with an extra dose of comedy ironically makes this series feel even less original. I still love the art and some of the humor, but unless these two have a proper conversation that isn't just Mai sparkling while the MC screams about how insufferable she is, I honestly can't see this series going anywhere good.
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