[Love Triangle] Kare wa Tomodachi

[cheesie]

Mangaka : Yoshioka Ririko

Summary:

Back in her middle school days, Hiyori had been crushing on Mizuno, a popular, friendly guy in school. She went to enlist the help of Sasamoto, Mizuno's good friend, who ended up helping her out. It wasn't until Hiyori and Sasamoto began to understand each other more that they began to fall in love. However, what seemed like peaceful days for Hiyori is just about to end, as Sasamoto's childhood friend, Kotone, had always been under Sasamoto's care, and she isn't about to let him go.

Spoiler for Tankoubon and Magazine Covers:

In order of the covers : Hiyori, Sasamoto, Kotone, Mizuno, Sasamoto + Hiyori, Sasamoto + Hiyori, Sasamoto + Hiyori

My Impressions : This seems rife with the usual shoujo cliches, and in fact, it is. But what makes this manga special is that it's able to take those cliches and present them in a really interesting way. The heroine of this series sets herself apart from her weaker shoujo counterparts by facing the confrontation head on, that she tried to keep her relationship with Sasamoto from collapsing under the manipulative ways of Kotone, who's pretty much the second coming of Sae from Peach Girl. The things she does will make you Rage, no doubt, as a fellow fangirl lost her head screaming over it. I make no pretense about the melodrama, but it's entertaining while it does it - it's Shoujo after all. That, and I do want to see Hiyori get through this in one piece.

This series also reminded me a bit of Parfait Tic, and if you check my posts in that thread, you could see how much I'm dissatisfied with the final pairing choice. It looks like a Parfait Tic done right (well it's appearing to be) which is one of the reasons that I'm sticking around too. Yes, very reasonable.

This manga needs more attention!

[Foreshadow]

Spoiler for My "reading log":

Picked it up because i hadn't read a love triangle in awhile, only on Chapter 2 so i'll expand on it when I'm finished. But isn't this a love Square? so Ren -> Hiyori -> Mizuno -> Kanbara -> Ren again. Will post analysis when i get up to the latest chapter. I am enjoying it so far. Cliche's are fun to read when properly done.
EDIT: Ok.... The 3rd chapter completely changed everything.... maybe 4 pages in...
EDIT #2: Oh wow.. This post was way to premature...
EDIT #3: So cliche that it draws you in... I really dislike a certain someone right now..
Edit #4: I'm crying...
READ THIS. NOW. XD

Ok, well to start it off this definitely is your classic shoujo with a "twist". As Cheesie said,

Originally Posted by cheesie

the second coming of Sae from Peach Girl.

is Definitely there and it's really frustrating to read but draws you in at the same time. I have never read Parfait Tic, but this does remind me of Peach girl the most. Very very Angst-y, It made me cry. It tears you in two feeling sympathy for one character yet hating him for it at the same time. Buckle in, and read this, it's good.

[cheesie]

Originally Posted by Foreshadow

I have never read Parfait Tic, but this does remind me of Peach girl the most. Very very Angst-y, It made me cry. It tears you in two feeling sympathy for one character yet hating him for it at the same time. Buckle in, and read this, it's good.

Spoiler for Parfait Tic:

It's pretty much laid out the same way : girl crushes on first guy, then found genuine love with second guy, who went back to his ex because of conflicted feelings, then first guy comes back into the scene.

Yes, though I must confess that it was also partially the scheming osanajimi that fired me up and prompted the fangirl comrade and I to hunt around Google for future spoilers. Naturally, I'm rooting for Sasa (Ren), let's hope I can brave through the ride this time, as I've given up halfway on Peach Girl and Parfait Tic. I'm loving what I see so far though - it's not as renowned or fabulous as titles like Skip Beat and Kimi ni Todoke are, but it certainly has its charms, especially when it comes to subtle requited/unrequited love scenes. (You'll know when you get there.)

Although Ren broke it off, he deserves some credit at least for seeing the direction they were heading towards, and putting a stop to it because, not only because it would further devastate Hiyori, he knew this thing he has with Kotone will destroy the relationship pretty soon. It was what kept me reading, as at least this guy made a choice early on. You don't see much of that happening, at least from the titles I've read.

[Natsuki Hyuga]

Originally Posted by cheesie

Yes, though I must confess that it was also partially the scheming osanajimi that fired me up and prompted the fangirl comrade and I to hunt around Google for future spoilers.

Yeah, right. Prompted that certain fangirl comrade. RIIIIIIIIIGHT As if I would forget that bullets of pages you linked to me to translate while I was having Bakemonogatari Spoilers!

(And I was and is still busy, so haven't got the time to do the work yet-maybe dropping sometime in Saturday... Or Friday... Or well, anytime I'm not busy, and then give you what you want )

I do hate, RAGE over Kotone so much to the point of anyone sniping said girl on the head is something that I will go joying over even though:

Spoiler for Spoilers for some future episode:

I read that she becomes like this because of her family circumstances (i.e: parents). I haven't reached this part yet and only read it across the net, so I'm probably gonna check on this first when I get the tankoubans.

To quote my statements from some days ago, Kotone shall die a thousand deaths to me, and I will smile-oh-so-widely^_^