Kore wa Koi no Hanashi

This is like a 8-9. This won't be a helpful review, but more so for me to be able to recall how I liked this manga (for future purposes haha).

I am actually quite disturbed by age gaps greater than 8-10 years. In fact even just student-sensei relationships in manga have me cringing sometimes if its not played right. So the fact that there's 21 age gap had me really... -____-

BUT after reading all the positive comments and reviews I gave it a try. I do have to say it is a relationship I still can not say I completely understand because I feel she fell in love way too fast. I didn't see the development, but considering all the situations she ran into and all the support she got from him, I start to see why. When we're lonely, support is nice. Considering that, I became a supporter haha rooting this love on.

This is a very pure relationship. Things such as loneliness, what is happiness?, is this living?...
This is a mutual relationship in both characters support each other even if their feelings are a little difficult.

Read it. I won't give it a 9-10 because I couldn't see enough of development in my liking. Haha BUT i am not saying there was none! Don't get me wrong. Hahaha It's just the ending came way too quickly in CH42. I missed all the lovey development I was looking for, it just wasn't there for me.

This series is the love story about a 31 year old man and a 10 year old girl. Yes i too tilted my head 45 degrees. The main character is an author and the main heroine is this aloof girl who wants to save this cat. She can't keep it at home due to family issues so the guy allows her to take of the cat in his yard.

Now age gap romances have been done before. Its not really a unique idea. What is more rare though is that she's 10 years old. Funny thing is i think the author did a passable job in making the romance enjoyable. Now i don't think the author did a phenomenal job or anything. Like i didn't think that only those 2 could end up together. But in regards to the romance including the hard part of the 21 year old age gap. I thought it fine. The only type it really irked me was when he made moves on her when she was 13. Yeah......

The problem lies elsewhere. The characters more like. The main character is kind of a dick and i understand why. Considering his past i understand thats why he allowed her to stay. He knows how hard it is to live alone and doesn't want that for her either. I liked the character development of wanting to get out of traumatic experiences. I think the author applied really well. For not just the main character but the main heroine as well.

The series just in general is not that great. Like you would expect more from a series like this. In a sense i guess it does do more. Being an age gap story already means you have to try harder if you want the audience to accept that relationship. In a sense the author succeeds but thats it. Thats how far the author got. It does the mininum of what you would expect out of a good series and thats just not good enough.

Their are other issues like the glasses guy. He was entertaining, than his side story is revealed and he is just this asshole. Other characters are also pretty medicore to bad. Their aren't that many memorable moments. The series is just kind of a mess. Their plots opened up and yet never expanded on. Like whats the glasses relationship with his family. How is the chick that took care of the MMC in his young days and other stuff. A lot of these are opened up to be this big things and yet are just never talked about ever again.

I wanna congratulate for being able to make a age gap series with such a large gap without it feeling creepy (most of the time). I will also berate the author for making medicore characters, unlikable love traingles and a very weird time lapses. The time skips were also odd. I get they were necessary but the author could've done a way better job.

You know their are series out there that did the age gap romance much worse but they were also much better series like Ran and the gray world. Kinda disturbing main romance but otherwise a very solid series. Otoyomegatari is an age gap romance of 8 years with a 12 year old boy and it is a such a phonomenal manga that it practically beats the shit out of every other romance series out there. It might be a bit unfair to compare kore wa koi no hanashi to one of the best romance series created but its the best example i can think of with an age gap.

TLDR: Age gap was fine everything else was meh and thats not good enough. 4/10

SO OVERALL I HAVE TO BEGIN WITH: That was the most unsatisfactory ending oMg wHyYyYYy!

Recently I have been into mangas where the MC and the love interest has an age gap... obviously by this I mean like a 5-6 year age gap (think Dengeki Daisy or Keishichou Tokuhanka 007). So when when I read the first chapter and it turns out the MC is an elementary student and the guy is already 30 years old, I was extremely hesitant and unsure if this was something I wanted to continue– like yes, that is creepy.

But I DID. And I really enjoyed it! I know people are a bit iffy on the age gap, especially in this case but I think this manga explored it in a good way. There was nothing perverted (which is what most would think when presented a manga that is about the love between a elementary student + 30 year old man..)

The story was a good story, it more than just the relationship between them. In fact, it wasn't much of that at all. It was focused on both the MC's backgrounds and we also get a decent amount of side character stories, which I enjoy! It was also focused on the male MC trying to understand his feelings towards her, but he is a good guy. He was not controlling or deceptive, he didn't take advantage of her at all. They truly just considered each other family.

Characters were good as well, I enjoyed that each character had their piece and an appropriate role to play throughout the WHOLE manga. I also really enjoyed the art, very cute and expressive at times.

NOW BACK TO MY FIRST SENTENCE.
AHHHHHHHHH there definitely needed to be a better epilogue chapter, but I can understand why the mangaka ended it the way she did.. because we have practically grown up with her! ;-)

My Thoughts:
I wasn't really into these types of manga. I thought that I would come to hate it due to the fact that a thirty one year old is trying to score a ten year old. But despite believing so, it wasn't my style to judge a book by its cover, so I decided to read the first chapter just to get the juice of it. To my surprise, the manga shoot completely above my expectations. Kore wa Koi no Hanashi, a manga for both teenagers and adult. A story based upon the sanctity of love and friendship. Truly something in which I could not have foreseen coming.

Plot:
At first glance, Kore wa Koi no Hanashi may seem to be a story about pedophile but it isn't. Unlike other manga, Kore wa Koi no Hanashi starts out with the goods stuff so the readers will get into the story right away. Throughout the manga, it would be rare to find a plot where the story wasn't interesting. Every little thing in that manga is valuable and builds up to the moral story line.

Characters:
Uchikai Makuzu, like most male characters in Shoujo manga, seems cold and expressionless.(Obviously due to trauma in the past) Despite being so, he is quite caring and mortify with his own decisions and believes.

Morimoto Akio, she herself is emotionless most of the time and rarely express how she feels. But she's not afraid to say what she needs to say in order to convey her true feelings at critical moments. Through out the story you will see her innocence being displayed and how her personality very much is the key to the drama of the story.

PS: The ending was a bit rush but I still like it.

Since it's been a long time Kore wa Koi no Hanashi was last reviewed, I feel like an update was overdue. I cannot guarantee giving an unbiased review, however, I am quite sincere in my assessment of this manga. Now that I finished reading it, I can say with absolute confidence that Kore wa Koi no Hanashi found its place in the top of my all-time favorites. This manga received various comments and a lot of critique. Some argue that a romantic relationship between characters with such a huge age gap is bizarre and indecent. But I can assure you, there is nothing indecent about this manga. It is a heartfelt story about humans, family, friendship and love. It is also a story about all the things that change with time and the things that remain unchanged. It is truly amazing.

Story: 10
The story is perfect. Yes, it is a drama, and there are moments to shed a tear over and feel a painful squeeze in your heart. But there are also moments to smile about, moments to feel happy for, moments to feel connected to the characters. The only thing one can complain about is the sudden jump (actually several jumps) a couple of years forward, but it has been quite skillfully executed each time so it didn't disturb the story's pacing. I am content with the ending as well. It wasn't rushed or forced, despite the fast-forward jumps. It was the most logical and beautiful end.

Art: 9
Personally, I enjoyed the character art. Faces and expressions were done quite well, especially for all of the main characters. But a little more detail in the backgrounds wouldn't have hurt. There is room for improvement.

Character: 9
Although I have no complains about the overall character development, I'm not giving a max score because I feel like there were still a few things that could have been done for Haruka's parents.

Enjoyment: 10
I don't think I have to explain myself here. You can tell from the first two paragraphs of this review that I enjoyed Kore wa Koi no Hanashi a lot.
I would recommend it to anyone who is feeling lost and lonely at times, who is in a standstill and doesn't know how to move forward. Despite being dramatic, this story is also pure hope, warmth and growth.

After reading the chapter summary and taking a glimpse at the front cover, I decided that this story could either have a lot of promise and potential OR that it would just end up being a total train wreck.

Well, I don't typically venture through these kinds of stories, so I made it my duty to read through one finally...

Story: 9
Like most manga, the first few chapters might end up feeling a little rushed or typical. Thankfully, this is the kind of story that gradually gets better and better the more you progress into it. The idea about a romance budding between a scary-looking 31 year-old writer and a baby-faced 10 year-old girl might sound a bit sketchy at first, but, truth is, the story doesn't go over too many boundaries.
The feelings of the characters are not completely overdone, and the circumstances that go along with the story aren't thrown out of nowhere like in some story plots. And, since it does have that "forbidden romance" theme, you tend to think about things you would normally not find yourself thinking about... or even WANTING to think about. For me, I actually like to ponder those things we constantly try to keep hidden within our subconsciousness, since no one ever mentions them.

Art: 8
The art is well done. I think the artist captures the main protagonist's persona very well and the author knows how to set the mood, whether it's a serious, light, or humorous tone. 'Guess I'm basically saying that the art is good but isn't exaggerated like in other manga that depend on their art for everything, especially humor, y'know?

Character: 9
I don't know, the main protagonist's character at first seemed rather stereotypical to me, but I ended up liking him after a couple more chapters. He's definitely not some lolicon or pervert, though. He's just a normal guy who didn't really think about the consequences in his actions and ended up in a pretty tough situation. It was surprising for me at first, but he does actually handle things pretty well.

Enjoyment: 10
What I really like about this story is the fact that although it started out as an innocent girl's crush, the main protagonist gradually starts to face the young girl with a sense of care and giving... like that of a family member. They were just two strangers who slowly started to relate to each other, and their bond is something that I can't exactly describe. Is it romantic love? Is it paternal love? I currently see it somewhere in the middle.

After reading 19 chapters in one sitting, I give Kore wa Koi no Hanashi an overall score of 9.

I highly recommend this story to people who desire to get in-tune with that inner subconscious we tend to push aside due to popular or even our moral beliefs.

By the way, thanks to those who ended up reading 'till the end. (This ended up getting longer than I thought.) Happy reading~! ^v^