Before March ends, I want to read one more shojo manga to round out this month. BACKGROUND:
It's another manga I haven't heard of before. Go figure. SUMMARY: Hotaru Hinase is a high school girl who's pretty content with her life being free of romance. She's never understood why everyone else is rushing to pair up, especially when she has wonderful friends and family. Her world is turned upside down when she witnesses a schoolmate of hers, Hananoi-kun, get dumped by his girlfriend in an extremely messy break-up. Catching him sitting quietly outside after the debacle, Hotaru offers an umbrella simply out of kindness. She thought nothing of this act... until the next day, when Hananoi asks her out in front of everybody in class. Taken aback by the sudden turn of events, Hotaru politely declines the offer. But this Hananoi character is quite persistent, going well out of his way to be of service to Hotaru or simply trying to make her smile (he actually risks his physical well-being in one of these attempts). Hotaru couldn't help but notice all the effort Hananoi's been putting in, so in her own attempt to understand what love is (a feeling she's never concerned herself with), she and Hananoi come to an arrangement to "date" (it's like a probationary status, which I found hilarious) until Christmas of that year. The rest of the book sees Hotaru try to figure out this dating thing, as she tries extremely hard to reciprocate all the kindness Hananoi shows her. I would like to reiterate that this man goes all out for Hotaru (some of the stuff he does seems to be at his own expense; that's the level of extreme Hananoi goes), so Hotaru's understandably self-conscious about "pulling her weight", so to speak. As time progresses, Hotaru comes to quite appreciate Hananoi's company, and she does her best to try and understand what love really means through his efforts. She also shows great concern for Hananoi himself, given how much he does with little regard to his own health, and urges him to also consider himself and not just be extremely selfless. Volume 1 doesn't quite end with Hotaru making things official, but in the rather emotional last chapter (which involves a teeny bit of drama beforehand), Hananoi's grand gesture on Christmas Eve (even I have to concede that it's really sweet) has her second guessing her feelings. She's still not 100% on the love thing, but she can't deny that she felt something after that day (and a little bit before that). It seems like their story is far from over going by the ending. I don't think I've related to a shojo protagonist as much as I have with Hotaru (out of the manga I've read so far, anyway). She starts out not giving a single shit about romance, is content without it being a part of her life, and she has no fucking idea what to do when cornered with the subject. If that ain't me in a nutshell, I don't know what I am! There is, of course, a key difference between me and Hotaru: she was willing to take the leap and try to figure out what romance is all about. I thought that willingness to put herself out there in an effort to learn something about the experience of others (and explore her own feelings) is admirable, especially given the emotional risks that may come from such a strange situation. That... is not me, and unless something drastic and unforeseen happens (unlikely, by my math), I don't think it will ever be me. Hananoi is... quite the character, to say the least. I don't think I'd be alone in saying that a dude fresh off a breakup asking out a girl he just met the day before is insanely suspicious. So far, however, he seemed committed to proving his feelings were genuine, as nearly everything he does is a Herculean effort to make Hotaru happy or comfortable. And despite the overall weirdness of the start of the pair's bizarre dating arrangement, Hananoi's been mindful not to overstep his bounds (including one rather considerate instance after a tense encounter between the two). There's a sort of reckless abandon when it comes to his quest to win Hotaru over (what with his general disregard for his own needs/welfare), so I suppose we have "will drive self into physical/mental distress in pursuit of something" in common. Other than that, I would find anybody acting like Hananoi towards me as restraining order-level behavior, but that's just my deep-seated, unresolved trauma talking. We do meet a few other supporting characters, though they hardly get any focus. We meet Hotaru's family very briefly, for example, but apart from a couple of details, they didn't stick in my memory. The only other character I can name is Hotaru's good friend Kyo-chan, who is a good foil to our protagonist (given she's all about that romance and has a boyfriend of her own). I've likely used this description before, but I found that the manga's style has a "soft" quality to it. Be it the textures, the linework, the shading, and the frequent chibi depictions of characters, I thought each panel was pleasing to the eye. I don't really have anything else to add, other than that I find it really weird that Hotaru looks like she's 12 when she's actually 16, so it looks like she's "dating" someone who's much older than her (which isn't the case). VERDICT: Well, I certainly didn't expect to go into a romance manga today and end up really connecting with the protagonist's situation. Strange as it seems, that's what A Condition Called Love had to offer for me, and the fact that I completely understand where Hotaru is coming from made her journey in the first volume quite an engaging read. Now, I'm not going to go out and say that I'll embark on the same journey as her (not that I could; what are the odds of a Hananoi asking me out, right?), but how she handled her unique situation and her outlook on it is certainly food for thought. I can't really say that the premise is that revolutionary (it is just another flavor of "one's really into it, the other's on the fence", after all), so I'm not sure I could recommend this comic based on the notion that it's completely unique. That said, something about the strange circumstances of how the two leads get together or how Hotaru and Hananoi are completely different in many respects may be of interest to you. - end -
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