Summary

Sixteen-year-old Hotaru has always been ambivalent about romance. So when she sees her schoolmate, Hananoi-kun, sitting alone in the snow after a messy, public breakup, she thinks nothing of offering to share her umbrella. But when he asks her out the next day, she decides to give this whole dating thing a shot. Will Hananoi-kun win her heart, or will his efforts only prove to Hotaru that love isn’t worth it after all…?
via Kodansha

My Thoughts

By no means is this story extraordinary or unique. It is your typical shoujo romance plot. Think about it; how many times have we seen the ‘girl has never been in love and has committed to staying single until a mysterious guy comes along who changes all the rules and her heart’? So, the points don’t come from originality. However, reading this was almost like looking in the mirror. It’s hard to explain but when you look up the definition of love or even ask someone what they think love means, a lot of people go on about this feeling of bliss and putting someone else’s needs before your own. We know of love between two strangers, friends, between family, etc.

My point is, I found myself questioning if I ever truly felt in love with anyone in my life. Also, I do believe being in love and loving someone are completely different and I was getting those vibes from Hotaru. Even her past hints at not being able to really understand other people’s feelings. She simply feels that being in love is unnecessary. Until she meets Hananoi-kun.

They are total opposites. Hotaru had no idea what love was or had any interest in exploring it while Hananoi-kun seemed to be desperate to find that feeling. I say that because he had been in relationships before and when we start off the series, he’s dumping someone because he doesn’t feel as though they are “destined to be together.” He even states what love means to him; devoting oneself to someone else.

By his interpretation, I can definitely say I have never once been in love with someone else. Ultimately, through a series of events between the two, by the end of the first volume Hotaru is questioning whether she can fall in love or not. What was once a hard resolve quickly starts to crumble by the end of the fourth chapter. She meets someone who she first had no interest in falling for but warms up to the idea that making this person happy might not be such a bad thing after all.

Characters

Hotaru Hinase

She’s a sweet smol bean. If Hananoi-kun hurts her, I might have to throw the book away. It’s her first romance so she’s just doing what normal folks do; making assumptions based off of manga.

Hananoi-kun

We don’t even know his first name yet! He sort of looks like a scammer but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. Definitely is hiding something but his determination is cute (even if a tad bit stalker-y). Loves to read and apparently very intelligent so 10 points.

Conclusion

The jury is still out on whether I like this relationship but so far, I do like the notion of discovering true love for the first time. Realistically, most people have not been in love as much as they say but then again, love can mean different things for different people. Hotaru and myself feel as though we just haven’t reached that level yet but aren’t completely closed off to the idea. Hananoi-kun does give some weird vibes but he hasn’t creeped me out just yet! I do think he has not so pure intentions but only time will tell.

All in all, it was an enjoyable read and I’m actually looking forward to the next volume. With that being said, I’d give this a solid 3/5 onigiri so far.

🍙🍙🍙

Like I stated, it’s nothing to stop the presses for but it’s a cute story at the moment. I pray it doesn’t take a weird, dark, nauseating turn like some romance (YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE) but it’s only the first volume so it can only go up from here…hopefully.

Thanks for reading! You can purchase the first volume below.