Hirunaka no Ryuusei

Yes, this is one of the stories where the unbreakable shoujo rule of relationship is broken! The heroine stays with the second choice. But let me start from the beginning.

I remember the story left me with deep imprinting only because of the heroine’s final choice, but the again I was following the story for quite a long time hence a lot of stuff was forgotten. I do not know why, but I had this strange urge to reread it again, so here I am writing the review after rereading the story. To say the truth I enjoyed it, but at the same time, I had this feeling that it lacked something. I read it quite fast, though the story is progressing not that fast. It has all the attributes of a good shoujo manga, but I wanted more passion from it. No matter what you say the relationship between Suzume and Shishio-sensei needed more passion. It was bland, and I never has a second thought when Suzume chose Daiki. He’s the character that goes through the biggest character development, and you just adore what he turns into.

Are you up to see the life of a country bumpkin going to Tokyo, find friends and even love? Enjoy a romance of a high schooler and a teacher, though nothing happens it’s still there! Enjoy it

If you can't handle vigourous heart beats, i recommend you to learn to handle it! Because im not gonna let you miss out on this "roller coaster ride-ish" manga due to that mere reason.
I am pretty much always questioned about my feminity, basically how my heart works is a mystery apart from the biology aspect of it.(basically people say i dont have the heart of a petite girl -.- or what do you say, a "maiden")
So i find it quite remarkable that i was so very moved by this manga! Heck, it was a game changer!
First of all, we can all agree that there isnt a proper "definition" of love. There are so many but when you narrow it down, burn down those walls of rationality, tear down all those flawless facades, youll end up with a bunch of arrows pointing at your heart. It goes tokidoki and it makes you feel like a feather.
But feathers also eventually land, and stop swaying in the wind. It still exists but somehow it all comes down.
And thats when, what lies deep in your heart, always tries to hide itself. Shy... fearing the judgements that others may place on us. We dwell on those feelings for so long that, we let it remain trapped, and impossible to forget.
And thats when a small crack, a little shimmer that gets you back on your feet appears. An entity that cound overcome all those barriers deep inside your heart. A feeling that makes makes you forget, even if just for a moment. A feeling that was able to overpower all of those hidden emotions, making them slowy disappear.
And thats probably the most magical thing ever.
Hirunaka no ryuusei brought out this so beautifully that i can believe i freaking wrote that para without slangs. Do read it. Read it. Just read it. Now.

Ps: SEE! I HAVE A MAIDEN HEART!

So I re-read this for the first time ever, and I want to get this off my chest. This manga is definitely aimed at young teenage girls with lots of fantasies and can't grasp age gaps. Indeed, this is a story that romanticizes a relationship between a minor and an adult, and a student and teacher nonetheless! There are so many overall plot and story aspects that make this manga somewhat unpleasant to read, but it's all disguised under the cutest art style ever to distract you from it.

When it comes to the story and characters, I feel so bad for Shishio because even though I like him (he is too handsome), many of his actions were simply unacceptable. Homeboy was grooming a lil 15 year old girl - like what !?!?!? He is, as Mamura states in the manga, an adult acting like a child. He is older than me and can't justify how his feelings came to be. What was he doing all along? Everything started so wholesome, maybe seeing a younger sister in her and wanting to protect her. I feel bad that he let himself get swayed by Suzume's personality and innocence, and it is not at all Suzume's fault (she was just living her life!). In fact, Suzume was affected by their relationship, and it was so painful to see them hide their true feelings. It was hard and annoying seeing her hurt and make bad decisions because of her teacher, but she is too young to comprehend both her feelings and what his actions meant. Anyway, I want to believe that Shishio deserved better than to fall in love with a minor. He did several questionable things, like holding her and leading her on a bit too much. Maybe he was too hurt from his past relationship that the next girl that liked him took too much of his attention. Who knows.

Also, not gonna lie, this manga rubbed me the wrong way when people insisted that the fact that they are student and teacher is the reason why their love is forbidden. Like - man, you are almost twice her age, this could be so problematic y'all aren't even in the same phase of life! Thankfully, the uncle brings some sense to him, but he was still in trouble because he was in love. This manga had no sense for boundaries both for Suzume and Shishio; and I one could declare Mamura as the only one with common sense lol.

The overall pacing of the manga is not the best. Too much time was spent developing Shishio's and Suzume's relationship and when it was Mamura's turn, it was very slow and sometimes even awkward (although cute). In a similar manner, when it came to the side characters, they were nice and cute, but they were unnecessary at times and didn't add anything to the plot besides the typical "yes, the MC has great supporting friends!". Anyway, I was more than happy that Mamura got his happy ending, but I don't feel like it was what Suzume or Shishio deserved. It's worth mentioning that I dislike how the author purposefully made it so that I want a kid to be with an adult T_T (and back when I read it as a teen, I was definitely a Shishio x Suzume shipper!). Honestly, those 2 had such good chemistry and cute moments together it makes everything (almost 3/4 of the story) go to waste. I would have liked it if they somehow got together once Suzume turned 20, but we can't have nice things.

In the end, I am grateful that Mamura was always there to protect Suzume, even though he did sometimes hurt her without thinking. I wish Shishio could either move on or never fell in love at all, because it hurts to see a nice young man tied down by a young girl. Overall, this manga was very cliché-y, but also sometimes refreshing in it's views for love. It is a work of fiction and I doubt that it seriously affected young teens' mindsets. The takeaway is to never fall for your teachers and avoid creepy old men no matter how handsome and charismatic they are!

I don't plan on reading this again, but I understand why some people love it, and can't blame them because it was so cute at times! I think it was an OK read, and I'm glad I got to read it both as a naïve teen and now as an adult.

Semi-Spoiler Alert(?)
Allow me to give a review of the entire series.

The series started off kinda so-so. Honestly when I finished reading the first few chapters, I still had some reservations if I should continue reading this story. To be honest, I am NOT a fan of reading student-teacher relationships. Nonethless, I'm so glad I trudged on. The series started with the focus on Suzume and Shishio-Sensei's relationship at the first few volumes. And while it was okay, you can also see how Mamura had a thing for Suzume. By the time the first half was done, the series focused now on Suzume and Mamura's relationship, this time with Shishio pining for her. Overall, I felt that the pacing of the story was cleverly done.

One of my main problems whenever I'm reading a shoujo manga is that the mangaka tends to try making the series longer that it really should be. I am glad I did not feel that way while reading this series at all. Another one of my main problems is the opposite, in which the mangaka tries to end the manga suddenly and leave a lot of unanswered questions. Again, I am glad I did not have that problem here. I felt the mangaka focused sufficiently on the relationship of Suzume and Shishio, and then giving ample amounts of focus on the growing relationship of Suzume and Shishio.

In addition, a shoujo series tends to end with the first lead and SPOILER ALERT: I'm glad that the MC ended with the second lead, which I wholeheartedly believe is the correct choice.

Overall, I am so glad I continued reading this manga and you can definitely expect me to try continuing to read Yamamori-sensei's other work, Tsubaki-chou Lonely Planet . Indeed, reading Yamamori-sensei's work does not disappoint. Domo arigato gozaimasu for this great series, Yamamori-sensei!

P.S. This review can also be seen in goodreads, and IS not plagiarised whatsoever.

enjoyed the manga alot. the mc was cool and not extemly shy or tsundere or anything. i like how she wasnt afraid to say what she thinks and she was overall really likable.

the art was *chef's kiss* i like the author's artstyle so much and how the MC also had different hairstyles, was kinda cool lol.

now to the story, it was a common love story but the character's personalities made it different. i liked it but the ending completely destroyed me LMAO bc SPOILER !! i actually liked both the teacher and mamura (that was his name i believe? idk i forgot LOL) for her and mamura was definitely more realistic and a better choice but i still felt bad for mamura. he liked her but he could not be with her and that's so sad and he literally kept her tie still after the timeskip and looked SO LONELY my heart :((((. also the lovestory between mamura and her i dunno seemed random but its ofc the better choice bc they were teacher and student after all... but they WERE SO CUTE together and the teacher was so hot... BYE LMAOO

I'll be brief: it's a shoujo manga. If you want to read a shoujo manga, then this will satisfy. If you want a good shoujo manga, it may disappoint.
Downside: The plot isn't very strong, and it rushes towards the end.
Upside: Strongest love triangle I have seen in shoujo, since both suitors actually date the leading lady (as opposed to the all-too-common "I love you! Please consider me seriously!" ->1 chapter later-> "Okay, I thought really hard about it for 5 minutes, but no, I'm in love with the same guy I've always been in love with").

But now I have to be less brief, because it's asking for a longer review.

For the most part, the manga was decent, with not much separating it from similar manga. However, I gave it a bad rating because of the ending and especially one chapter. I hope I can explain it without giving out many spoilers. The story is about a love triangle between a girl, her teacher and her classmate. It seemed like the mangaka had an ending for the lead, Suzume, to end up with one of her love interest. It was set-up to be with a certain character throughout the story, while the other characters was going to be the one with the unrequited love. From my understanding, the unrequited love character was better received by readers of this story. I am not sure if the mangaka paid attention to this, but the ending seem to coincide with it. Yet, it unexpectedly changed in one chapter, instead of developing the real love Suzume had for that character. In one chapter, love turned to admiration and superficial love turned into real love. It did not progressed slowly, but changed instantly, which ruined the series for me.

It's been a long time since a manga series made me doubt the pairing I chose. From the very beginning I liked Shishio the most, but as time goes on Mamura is growing on me. This is the best kind of love triangle. Not one where you hate the other character for getting in the way of the two you like, the kind where you cheer them both on and hope she ends up in a loving relationship no matter who wins.

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I like Hirunaka because:
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It turns a lot of cliches on their heads.
The main female character is strong. She cries like a normal person, but still gets back up and keeps going.
Female friendship isn't shown as perfect, but forgiving and caring. (At least as far as I've read)
=================

I highly recommend it.

Japanese difficulty level: 2 (out of 5)

(Note: I almost typed Myamura instead of Mamura, lol)

hello this is my first review!

HnR is a manga which took me three times to actually read to completion, as to why it took me so long, will be explained in this review

synopsis:
HnR takes place in the bustling city of Tokyo where our heroine begins her first year of high school far away from her hometown back in the country. Upon her arrival to this new world, she meets a young man, who is a friend of her uncle, only to find out that he is her history teacher the next day on her first day of school. And thus, the student-teacher relationship has begun spiraling off into a story of triangulation, drama, and romance.

plot:
What makes this shoujo manga good is its pure simplicity, the story never gets too complicated nor too boring, rather, it's quite realistic for a shoujo manga. moreover, the most remarkable aspect of this plot is its exploration on the social taboo of student-teacher relationships, which normally is never touched upon with much depth in shoujo mangas. However, the plot is really really slow; at times I felt rather bored because certain developments would take much longer than needed and seemed to have unnecessary developments occur when it was not needed. But the main issue that I have with this Story, is its lacking in built up and emotion when reaching its climax, for instance when a secret was revealed I felt nether surprised nor excited I was just like...oh ok. but despite these flaws, the story manages to wrap itself up nicely providing a fulfilling ending

art
the art work is great and there's nothing bad I have to say about it

characters:
Now this is where the manga is at its strongest and its weakest as it excels in character development but falls flat on making its characters express their emotions. While reading this manga, one can really see and understand how our characters grow and develop through their experiences as they make decisions different to what they normally would have done in the past. In addition, these characters are very relatable, making it very enjoyable for readers to learn about their personalities as none of them are generally annoying. As great as the character development is in HnR, our 3 main characters however, fall flat at times when it comes to their dimensionality and emotional depth. when it comes to the triangulation between the heroine and her two men(?) the love that they all claim for each other at times felt forced and not at all believable which left me questioning why X character loves Y character throughout the story.

Now that the general categories have been discussed, I want to set aside another portion of this review in order to share my biggest disappointment with this manga, which is how it didn't explore the danger of student-teacher relationships as deeply as I wished it could have. Throughout this whole story only but one character objected to this form of relationship because of its unethical nature, and the teacher was even forgiven for doing the things he did because of his "bubbly and immature personality" while completely disregarding his actions of starting a relationship with a FIFTEEN YEAR OLD GIRL. Because of this disappointment, my enjoyment for this manga wasn't as high as i wished it could have been as the thickheadedness of some characters left me face palming at times.

so yea those where my thoughts on this story

Will definitely contain spoilers in it


In the beginning I thought the manga was cool, normal like other shoujo manga and it is, but the art is absolutely beautiful so I kind of fell in love with the manga as I kept going. I'm normally the type that ships the first and most obvious pair in any type of romance manga, anime and books, so if you have read the first chapter, our first main characters will be satsuki shishio and yosano suzume. I like suzume as the main character, she's expressionless and not your average generic female mc, and I really like satsuki being paired up with suzume. He is a teacher who doesn't act like a teacher, does that make sense? Idk that's how I feel

I really liked those two being together, satsuki chooses a nickname 'chun chun' for suzume was very cute in my opinion, and it really surprised me when he shown up as a teacher in suzume's class, I thought it would be a secret teacher and student relationship and it made me more interested in the manga, but around the second quarter of when they started their relationship, I kept thinking that they really have to overcome this status problem of being a teacher and a student, like maybe wait until she's older and out of high school to officially become a couple or something

But no

everything sort of went downhill for me in the entire second half of the manga. The other male main character which daiki mamura has developed feelings for suzume as she is the only female that has ever gotten so close to him, that I can understand his reason for falling in love with her. I don't dislike mamura but I also don't like him, especially when he gets close to suzume. It kinda sounds clingy but that's how I really feel, the fact that I can only see suzume and satsuki together make it impossible for me to accept mamura as another romantic interest for suzume.

In the first half of the manga I thought that the manga is good, but it's going too good, that's when suzume's uncle showed up, he found out about their relationship and pressured satsuki to think about their status. I was kind of pissed at him but have to agree because reality is like that. After thinking a lot, satsuki decided to end this relationship convincing himself that this was for the best (I can understand putting myself in his shoes, but don't you think it's kind of cowardly?), even lying to suzume when she said "do you love me?" In which you know/can guess how he replies.

After the first half, i decided to keep my hopes up, thinking that they will be together at the end.

But the authors completely kicked satsuki out of the entire second half of the manga, where he only appears 2-3 pages per few chapters, like they forgotten all about this character called satsuki. I was sort of despairing, desperately wanting to skip all the chapter and find out who suzume ends up with but i kept going, until the last chapter

In that very chapter, hearing her answer to satsuki's final confession, all hope was gone. I kinda just quit reading the rest of what the manga is gonna show, since it's the final chapter I don't think I'm gonna be missing anything anytime soon, although I contradicted my self cus I can't stand dropping out midway and finished the entire thing, was real tough for me

overall I think this manga is good in the first half, and absolutely boring in the second, why?think about it, most shoujo mangas mc are high school student, I think I had my fair share or reading shoujo mangas to find all the clichés and overused scenes, with both of them, suzume and mamura being high school students, and in the same class, it's just gonna go down the same routes of the shoujo mangas I have read

that's why I rate
the story :5/10 (first half good, second half bad)
The art: 10/10 (as I have said, absolutely beautiful)
Character development: 8/10 (I think they did a great job)
Enjoyment: 4/10 (first half good, second half real bad)
Overall: 4/10 (still my final vote on the whole manga)

I really truly enjoyed this manga, but I can't take it when my original ship goes down without any real hints, the ship just exploded out of nowhere into tiny particles, it's the last chapter that really, truly sank my heart and ship, the fact that the manga even give the Satsuki×suzume shippers hope that they might actually get back together is what decided on my overall vote, not the fact that the second half was boorish, even if any type of manga is clichéd, it's sort of the story line that decides whether the reader will or will not enjoy it, as for this manga I did enjoy it, but not till the end

ps. I think satsuki is way hotter than mamura