But shiramine and Yurine are evolving, and so far, we've only got to see 3 volumes and 15-ish chapters. I was thinking more in the lines of, say, Vegeta's developement in Dragon Ball Z, or Kenshin's in Rurouni Kenshin, or even Tsuna's in Hitman Reborn. I saw 50 episodes of it and I just couldn't keep watching, nothing made any sense and felt like a cutout of a series, but I do know he (eventually) became more badass, I just wasn't willing to waste that much time of my life on that. Those examples are extended over seasons.
I'm not familiar with Hitman Reborn but to be fair with your other examples, neither Vegeta Goku were the protagonists of DBZ, those were their kids and with Kenshin we met him with his development already done and the focus is in how that development shapes his world.
For shonen with good examples of development you have Assasination Classroom, One Punch Man or Digimon V-Tamer (even Naruto and One Piece have good development for their protagonists)
And Yurine is evolving much more faster than Shiramine, even! I get the feeling sometimes that Yurine is the protagonist, and not Shiramine. But Yurine really had a lot to work on, compared to the hard-working, honest, responsable, reliable honor student. She does have her share of developement to go through, but making her realise being perfect or getting aproval isn't everything in life, is...basically the objective of the story. When she sorts that out, what other goals does the story have? There could be some external drama going on, like something at their school happens or some girl gets in-between them, or they have to go to college and "oh no! we'll be separated!", but this isn't that kinda story, methinks. 'sides, the story is pretty light-hearted overall, and something like that would be depressing. And for that kinda story, we have other manga...(like Citrus :B)
I'm not suggesting that they need to have their issues sorted out just like that, I'm suggestin that they need to have more focus before the story moving into other characters.
Well, that does bother me. In fact, volume 2 annoyed the hell outta me, except the Sumire episode (Even then, the way it was so easily settled irked me...). But again, this seems to be more of an "easy going" story, where the side couples and all serve as a "breather", and you can understand the story of one of the volumes even if you didn't pay much attention to the one before it.
That's why I think the series would be work better without designed protagonists, just have different stories set on the same place with the occasional cameo here and there.
There isn't much of inter-relationship dialogue for anyone, though. Yurine is the only one that ...has a life, independant from her lover or club. What do we know about Mizuki? she cut her hair short for moe, she runs for moe's sake, and she has a reputation as a "prince". What do we know of Towako? She likes pure, unmixed things, she knows Yukina since they were kids, and she dislikes change (almost like an unwithering rose..). Ai, Chiharu and their senpai were pretty fun...until like halfway of volume 2, when it became mostly Izumi and Chiharu...
So, yeah, most characters "live" for their lovers, which I don't think is a bad move (it's consistent with everything the manga has done until now), but you do wanna know more about how they mingle with each other, it makes their relationships much more meaningful...(For example, when there's a cameo or a crossover between SonoHana characters it gets pretty amusing, and even interesting! You get to know the main characters much more like that.)
Indeed is not a bad thing but I other than the stories happening on the same school there's little more connecting them into a bigger narrative (unti the gardening arc that is)
I still believe that the writing is well-done, even if it has its flaws (heck, even really respected authors have had them), and I like that it never takes itself too seriously nor becomes a nonsensical madness. Mainly, I think I like it because it stands out in many aspects. I've liked yuri for a while now, and while it's true there aren't that many yuri manga the true romantic kind, not the "breasts all over your face" kind (contrasting with, say, yaoi), this one caught my attention almost immediately.
The story is pretty good and is certainly one of the best mangas on the site right now, I was just detailing the flaws I see within it.
