Interest Stacks

I have yet to find a manga that would surprise me as much as The Dangers in My Heart did when I first read it.

At the beginning, it feels like a generic shounen romance story: edgy loner boy finds himself loving the hottest girl in his class, and by some magical reason, they get together. Of course, he's even weirder in this one because he has murderous intent in the first 10 chapters. Because of that, the initial impression that I and a lot of others had with this manga is that it's just cringe and weird, but as I kept reading, the more that impression wears off and the more the beauty of the story shines through.

A lot of people categorize this manga as fluff, and although I don't disagree (at least for the earlier chapters), there's a lot more substance to this manga that I feel differentiates itself from most other romance manga. Both Ichikawa and Yamada find themselves facing the obstacles that come with growing up, falling in love, and accepting themselves despite their insecurities. These obstacles are framed as part of their childhood troubles, but are developed in a way that brings the two of them closer together. Yamada came into Ichikawa’s life as someone who gave him a whole new perspective of the world, one that showed him the beauty of caring for others around him. Ichikawa came into Yamada’s life bringing her a pillar of support towards her dreams, in a way that that no other person could be for her. He gave her confidence, a shoulder to cry on, and motivation to keep forward with her future.

Ichikawa starts off as a very weird, off-putting person, but the more we learn about him, the more we can understand why he is the way he is. Ichikawa is uncomfortable at school because he doesn’t fit in. His interests are clearly far different from his peers and people don’t really approach him at all. However, Yamada gives him the comfort he needs to stay at school, to make friends, and to pursue her romantically. They portray both the troubles of being a shy, introverted child and the impact that someone like Yamada could have on a that kind of person incredibly well. On top of that, Ichikawa is a smart kid who isn’t actually dense!! He’s clearly awkward, but he’s not afraid to make a move if it allows progress between him and Yamada. When he notices hints and clues about how Yamada feels about him, he never turns a blind eye to them— but instead, actually takes advantage of them. He’s not cunning or sly in anyway, but the times when he does make the right move or does do something so heartwarming to Yamada, it feels so rewarding.

Speaking of their relationship specifically, nothing feels strained or forced about how their relationship develops. Everything felt like a product of these simply falling in love with each other, and as a result, wanting to spend more time with each other. That could be seen as early as the first chapter, when Ichikawa gives her the knife he kept in her bag despite being paranoid about her impression of him for having that knife. Their interactions as the story progresses naturally draw them closer together, intimate, both through deliberate action but also in unintentional, subconscious ways. One of my favorite examples of this is when Yamada gets a role in a movie and all of her friends were excited only about the fact that she was starring in the movie, while Ichikawa cared more about what she was playing in the movie. He didn't even realize how much it meant to her to simply ask her about her role until he did it, which made it all the more apparent that he really does think of her first before anything else. It's subtle moments like these that really strengthen the chemistry they-- it's not so much about their explicit actions or dialogue, it's about the subtle details about how they interact with each other. Little by little, we see how these details add up into the relationship that they’ve formed throughout the entire story.

The side characters also felt properly involved in the story, even though they don't have much of the spotlight. Yamada's friends don't immediately accept Ichikawa as a love interest for Yamada, but they were also willing to give Ichikawa a chance. With that chance, they eventually grow to understand that he actually is a genuinely good person and someone that is worth Yamada's time and energy. He earns their trust, which can only happen when you write side characters that genuinely feel like friends to Yamada (rather than just existing as "that character on the side"). More importantly, there is no detracting love triangle between him and any of her friends; the most they do is acknowledge him simply as a friend, which is all they need to do. There are a few minor love triangles when it comes to Yamada, but those love triangles helped Ichikawa develop as a character more than it did detract from the story. To put it simply, the story never drifts off course at all. It is purely a story about Ichikawa and Yamada, and the characters on the side are there to support those two.there to support those two.

Nisekoi has it's flaws; I never considered it to be a perfect story or even a well written one. The plot isn't really that great and the characters themselves aren't unique. However, I still just felt a deep emotional connection with all of these characters, despite how simple and generic they were.

While most people would see generic/tropey plotlines and characters as a bad thing, I actually felt that it made the characters a lot more lovable to me. The story didn't need to be complicated for it to work; it only had to lay the foundation for the characters to shine. The manga placed most of it's emphasis on the character interactions, exaggerating them just the right amount to allow the charm of each individual character shine when they were given the spotlight.

More importantly, I never really found these characters boring or bland. Sure, they were simple and generic, and a lot of people are used to these tropes, though Nisekoi fleshed out these characters pretty well. They owned their own personality traits in a way that made them feel like themselves rather than just some half-assed, shallow tropes.

To put it simply, this manga was simply fun to read. It was nothing serious and isn't meant to be taken seriously at all. It was just chaotic fun, which some drama mixed in for some cohesion.

My favorite kinds of romance stories are the ones where they don't already start with romantic feelings, but instead, we see those romantic feelings get built slowly over the course of the entire story. I loved how Mikoto, a girl that was only focused and devoted to working so hard to improve her life for herself and her mother, slowly discover what love is by gradually falling deeper in love with her childhood friend (who was lowkey obsessed with her since then) throughout their college years. Last Game does such a good job at portraying what it really is like falling in love with someone for the first time but not realizing it until someone makes it explicitly known to you that what you are feeling is indeed romantic.

I pray for the day this gets adapted...

'How Do We Relationship?' was a completely brutal to read for all the right reasons. I have never read a manga that had made me feel so emotionally attached to the remnants of a broken love the way this manga had done so. It felt like with each chapter I read of this story, the deeper I spiraled down into an abyss of suffocating darkness that I was only pleading to be led free from-- to which I was, when they broke up.

What I loved about this manga is the way everything felt so brutally real. The characters did unreasonable things-- not because they were poorly written, but because they're written to be human. The characters have dark, depressing, or terrifying moments that drive them to act for the sake of saving themselves or fixing themselves, which leads them to act beyond the cause of logic.

(Finding the words to explain my love for this manga is incredibly difficult...)

I dropped this a few times very early on, generally because I wasn't a big fan of the art style and felt that the main character was just a wimp, but I'm so glad I finally decided to stick to it because it defied a lot of my expectations. I usually hate comparing stories to one another, but seeing that the popular "Don't Toy With Me Nagatoro" carries over the same archetype, it would be a lot easier for me to compare the two to explain why I love this story so much.

In my opinion, I found Yancha Gal no Anjou-san to be a LOT more well written than Nagatoro, both from a narrative perspective and a character's perspective. In terms of story, they both do the same things on the surface, where essentially "girl teases boy although is interested in boy." However, what Nagatoro failed to do as a story that Anjou-san does very well is explore the reason for the whole teasing plotline in the first place. Sure, both tease their protagonists for the sake of satiating their fetishes, but Anjou's teasing comes from a way more sincere and considerate place compared to Nagatoro (as weird as that sounds lol). That's not to say Nagatoro isn't a considerate person, but it felt like the only reason why Nagatoro's relationship exists is because of her teasing, while Anjou's teasing feels like a part of their whole relationship. The interactions between Anjou and Seto felt a lot more genuine and considerate, and although their relationship is built off the Anjou's teasing, it didn't feel like the ONLY THING that their relationship was dependent on. In the times Nagatoro's story did try to explore routes outside of the typical teasing thing, it didn't feel natural-- while when Anjou's story explored those same routes, it felt way less forced and a lot more genuine because the story allowed you to bond with the characters properly.

As for the characters: Even though Seto's development throughout this story was satisfying, what really amazed me was the way Anjou had grown more mature throughout the entire story. With stories that fit the archetype of "delinquent" girl teasing a younger guy, the story tends to emphasize the male protagonists' growth as a way to strengthen the relationship they have with the female love interest, but it felt that Anjou's development throughout the story was just as important to their romantic relationship as Seto's development. It wasn't just the fact that they went on "playdates" or "hung out a lot" that composed their relationship; it was just the nature of them growing closer as they spent more time with each other-- seeing the little things that they love about each other, learning how to cherish one another through the things they do for each other, and simply enjoying the presence of one another. Although the romantic development is gradual, it felt that each step of their journey was laid out with care, making sure there wasn't a single thing that felt dragged out nor abrupt.

There is also a few side relationships in this story. I tend not to care too much about side relationships in romance manga unless they are overwhelmingly more appealing than the main couple, but this manga managed to deviate from that and make a side relationship that I managed to adore that wasn't dominant over the main relationship. What's even more interesting is the way that this story integrates those side relationships into the main storyline, using them as a pillar of growth for Seto as a character which ultimately helped him reflect on his own feelings for Anjou and how to gain the confidence to ask her out.

I could go on a 10 page rant about why I love this story, but to spare the details, I'll simplify a lot of the things I'm going to say. This is probably going to be my favorite romance manga (well, it is manhwa but I'll categorize it with manga because who cares) if they do take the story in the right direction. I will also say that this is the pinnacle of slow burn (they literally don't even become friends until 20 chapters in).

I actually want to talk about the setting first, as the setting lays the foundation for what makes this manhwa so enjoyable. It takes place during in Korea during the 90s, where they used pagers, deliveries weren't how you got things to your house, and the digital age we've known nowadays was essentially non-existent. Although I don't wish most manga/manhwa did that, I loved how they went all out with that setting, because that is honestly what made their relationship so special to me. There was hardly any digital communication to one another; if they wanted to talk to each other, Mi-Ae would literally have to go up to him every time to do it. There was always constant effort, particularly out of Mi-Ae, to try and get closer to Cheol, which ultimately paid off when they do finally start to spend time with one another. This made their relationship a lot more genuine, at least in my opinion.

The most important part of this manhwa, of course, is the characters. Mi-Ae is one of the funniest and most enjoyable female leads I've seen in any romance story, and Cheol the perfect complementary character to Mi-Ae, seeing how reserved yet protective he is of her. Their relationship is always refreshing because the dynamics of their relationship constantly evolve as they, as individuals, constantly change. Mi-Ae originally hated him as he hated her, but yet she would always keep thinking about her. Meanwhile, Cheol always hated Mi-Ae, yet always found himself in situations where he had to be with her. As they start getting closer and closer to one another, they start to view each other more and more differently, particularly Cheol and his impression of Mi-Ae. To emphasize on that, this is a story of friendship before it is a story about romance. It doesn't use friendship merely as a stepping stone for their romantic endeavor as other stories do. Their friendship felt like it's own journey, where they became friends to simply be friends. They want you to grow attached to their gradually developing platonic friendship, so that when the romance does start to kick in, every inch of progress feels just as real to you as it does to them.