Omoi, Omoware, Furi, Furare

I've been a big Sakisaka Io fan since I first found out about her, through her work Ao Haru Ride. I had watched the anime and then picked up the manga where the anime left off. I immediately became a big fan.

Being the fan that I am, I strongly believe that her work has evolved in what concerns the ideologies presented and character/emotional complexity. Omoi Omoware Furi Furare is an amazing story that discusses how love should be perceived and what is the "correct" way to achieve it.

First, let's talk about the characters: Yuna is the actual main character of this story, and she is your typical innocent girl who firmly believes that love plays out like a fairy tale. Her thesis is that, as something pure and spontaneous, love is something that pops up suddenly inside of you, and there's nothing you can do about it. That being said, she has never fallen in love with anyone.
Akari is quick to recover from past relationships and gives up her feelings quite easily. She tends to protect herself above everything else and thus she is not very transparent or honest. More importantly, she states that love can be built and developed with effort.
Rio is somewhat of a player to fill his broken heart with temporary and shallow relationships. He is a bit self-centred but becomes more altruistic as the story plays out.
Lastly, Kazuomi seems like a pretty average kid but is actually quite an over-thinker and constantly holds himself back for the sake of others. He is not very experienced with love but is aware of his feelings.

Art: 10/10 no discussion. It's up to personal taste really.

Story: I've seen a lot of people complain about how X or Y character should have gotten more "screen-time" or how the story was pretty boring and pointless. Not only do I strongly disagree with all that, but firmly believe that people who think like that must have not understood a thing about the story. Yuna and Akari are pretty different people and their very own visions of love lead them to believe that the other is wrong: Akari thinks that Yuna is just too naive and Yuna doesn't take Akari's relationships as serious, based on how fast she moves on. However, it's when they start shifting their perspective that their love life starts to progress. Yuna becomes more brave and proactive, and Akari lets her emotions take over more frequently. In the end, these changes help them get together with who they love, proving that love is complex and susceptible to various interpretations.
Then we have the whole Rio situation. He has loved Akari for sometime, and was absorbed in those feelings: living under the same roof and trying to conceal such a burning passion ought to be a difficult task. Their family life is thus quite unstable. As he overcomes this feelings, he watches Yuna grow out of her shell and falls in love with her, the girl who was there through this whole journey to listen to his rants.
Lastly, there's Kazuomi, who lives in a toxic family dynamic: his brother decided to follow his dreams and quit college (against their parents' will) and so Kazuomi has to repress and keep quiet about his dream of becoming a movie director. His parents' constant fights make him seek some peace and comfort in movies and, later on, fuel his closeness with Akari.

Summing up: I feel like the character development in this story is really well done. Sure the finale was a bit too fast and random in my opinion - it was a bit unnecessary! Other than that, the story is amazing, the art style is great and there are a lot of cute and cheesy cliche moments that we all love. I highly recommend it.

I’m not a big Io Sakisaka fan, considering most of her manga tends to be the same story with different characters. As i discovered Omi, Omoware, Furi, Furare i was quite excited for a different plot and something new. So i decided to give it a shot. It turned out to one of Sakisaka poorest work and the most boring manga.


Story: (F) - The story is pretty simple, it center around four characters (Yuna, Akari, Rio, and Kazuomi) who have different views about love: Yuna, the main heroine, is someone who sees love as a fairy tale, finding a prince and living happier ever after. While, Akari is someone sees love as a commitment and a serious issue. Rio in the other hand, is someone who hides his feelings and doesn’t really express it. And finally, Kazuomi is your average teen who doesn’t understand the concept of love and doesn’t notice the obvious.

This could be a pretty interesting story, i mean seeing how these characters view love could potentially change the way love should to be viewed in general. But the author fails to achieve this goal. In the beginning of the story, we have Yuna who mysteriously meets her ‘prince’ she then meets Akari and befriends her. Yuna later finds out that her ‘prince’ happens to be Akari’s brother (Rio), who is in love with Akari. Then, we have Akari who is in love with Kazumoi who might be in love with her too? Okay.. seriously? It’s been five chapters and we have this huge love triangle already. I thought the story was about different point of views of love? Not some love triangle. Bu then again, Io Sakisaka always includes love triangles in her work. It's basically about Akari being loved by to the two main characters. While Yuna is just there. It seems like the mangaka forgot about her, leaving Yuna wishing Rio likes her, how much she likes him, crying all the time, being afraid to confess because she doesn’t want to get rejected, and feeling sorry Rio, Blah Blah Blah. Not only does this story already suck, it’s so boring! The dialog is cheesy and lacks it’s seems like their only vocabulary is ehh? The story itself, is pretty much about Yuna and Akari liking someone who doesn’t like them back. So far, it doesn’t interest me.


Art: (A+) - The art in Omoi, Omoware, Furi, Furare is good no complaints.


Characters: (D) - The characters in OOFF might actually be worse than the story. I found Yuna to be really annoying. She reminds me and acts like Ninako from Strobe Edge. Which i am not surprised since it’s written by the same mangaka. She constantly staring at Rio like a hawk watching every movement and happens to be wherever he’s at (stalker much?). She is very shy, quiet and stutters. Akari, is decent i guess she has this bitchy attitude towards her brother and mother but acts like an angel when around Kazumoi. She also selfish. Rio is your tall, dark, mysterious fuckboy who rejects confessions left to right. He also very jealous and protective when it comes to Akari. I found him to be really boring and stiff he’s pretty much Ren and Andou (from Strobe Edge) combined. Kazumoi is barely shown in the manga we don’t know much about his character but so far, he’s friendly, nice, and clueless. There aren’t many side characters.


Enjoyment: (F) - If you already couldn't tell I pretty much hate this manga. It’s just BORING! There’s nothing interesting about it. I don’t understand why i expected this manga to be good, knowing that i don’t like any Sakisaka-sensei’s work.


Overall: (F) - OOFF story is probably one of the most boring manga i’ve ever read.. If you like a semi-romantic manga with a pointless love triangle, boring characters, boring story, then this manga is for you. If you're like normal people out there then you'll definitely stay away from this one and spare yourself some time.

IMPORTANT: By the time I'm making this review, there is only 14 chapters available, that I read. This review MIGHT have some SPOILER!!! So please DO NOT read if you don't want any spoiler.

An other manga from one of my favorite mangaka! If you liked Strobe Edge or Ao Haru Ride, this manga is for YOU.


STORY (8)
The story cercles around four characters. Yuna, the dreamy girl, Akari, the realistic one, Kazuomi, Yuna's childhood friend and Rio, Akari's brother. Now, at first glance, this seems all clichés but if you look at it closely, this story is about four teenagers with different view on love. Hanging aroung each other will lead them to see love in a different way they used to. Without being over dramatic, the story is really refreshing.

ART (10)
If I love Io Sakisaka, it's not only for her lovely stories but also for her flawless art! To me, it's perfect!

CHARACTERS (8)
YUNA, If at first I thought she would be annoying, I was wrong. Even if she is a 'dreamy' girl, I was really surprised to see her change through the chapters. She learns from her mistakes and she is stronger than she seems at first glance. But so far, something is bothering me about her, it's the fact that Io is focusing too much on other characters, and I feel like she is left behind! BUT, BUT, BUT, i'm only at chapter 14 and hopefully, the mangaka will focus more on her once she is done with the current arc.

AKARI, is the realistic girl who will find love by being loved. She had few boyfriends before that she thought she sincerely loved...She thinks that love can grow with time if all the things collide between two people (same interests, hobbies, etc.) Her view on love will change when she will experience love for the first time.

KAZUOMI, there is not much known about him. We know he is Yuna's childhood friend and that he is very gentle, kind and reliable! I can't wait to see and know more about him! So far, I like him the most!

RIO, If at first you think he is just a playboy who loves girls only on their appearance, you find out later that he is more complex than he seems. He is in a situation that he can't control and sincerely, it's really sad that he can't get out of it. He is stuck between two feelings making everything complicated! And I can't wait for him to 'change'.

ENJOYMENT (8)
So far, I'm enjoying this manga. It's really refreshing and not over dramatic. But is it gonna stay this way? I hope so! I don't like when everything falls apart...

OVERALL (8)
Since the story isn't finished yet, I can only give it a 8! Please, don't listen to the people saying everything is clichés...It might have some clichés, but being all mixed together, it makes something refreshing! The characters are nice and realistic! And sincerely, I can't predict what's going to happen in the next chapters! Which is a good thing! The only thing that I THINK lacks in this manga is the little goofy moments. This manga isn't so ''funny''. But I think it's because of the story just starting and building up, and since at chapter 14, it's still in an important and serious arc, this is why there is not so many funny scenes.

Ok, I literally made an account just so I could write this review. If you don't like cliché, cutesy love stories, then this manga is not for you. Alternatively, if you're like me and love high school romance mangas (ex: orange, ao haru ride, etc.) then I STRONGLY recommend this manga. The characters are pretty average but the charm Sakisaka manages to inject into the story is so addicting, you'll read this in one shot I swear. It's the perfect manga to use as an escape, lighthearted and easy to live vicariously through the characters if you have no love life like me lmao.

I guess this manga doesn't have the best start. At the start, it can be a little bit boring and slow but throughout the story, it picks up and gets way better. It's great how we see Akari's view in love and how Yuna thinks the prince/first love type when thinking about love. (Spoiler) It's interesting how Rio is quite a playboy and simple minded character which is why he is the reason of some misunderstandings in the manga. It's quite amusing how Kazu is quite the dense type in love. So I find this manga is cute and refreshing and the romance between the characters makes it feel warm and cure. Overall the story and manga is great so you should totally read this manga!

[⋆̩] Shining Rain Review:

I have been a huge fan of Io Sakisaka since her first publications, and since the release of "Omoi, Omoware, Furi, Furare" I couldn't help but look forward to this project. As a big fan of shoujo for years, I was happily surprised by this new plot and characters.

Perhaps many think that this new story was a big cliché and just really simple, I think the opposite. Perhaps it was the most complex of all that Sakisaka launched until now. With a group of 4 friends, each with their own youthful problems, messy feelings, and differente background stories and family, the story developed slowly, showing that it had many layers besides incredible art and beautiful characters.

Through 12 volumes, Sakisaka developed (I wouldn't say that usually but) in a perfect way her 4 main characters, the stories between them intertwined so well, and although the end was something we expected, the path to reach there left me completely satisfied, because it was not run or poorly explained. Care was taken that each question was answered. I cried feeling the pain of something silly, I laughed several times with the 4 of them, I smiled with countless quotes that seemed to be simple but were completely serious and deep, I felt nostalgic remembering my own adolescence, and I created good memories by reading this manga. After buying even the physical manga, and having read and re-read it, I can say that it is MY second favorite story among Sakisaka's shoujos but I can easily say that it was her best manga. Something said at the beginning may seem incredibly silly, but towards the end you will realize that perhaps it has an even more important meaning. Give this manga a try, I'm sure you'll like it!

The main reason why I decided doing this review was because I haven't seen any other that expressed the thoughts I have about Omoi, Omoware, Furi, Furare. The story isn't really complex or impressive, like the most mangas I'm obsessed with, but in the "shoujo" category I have to say it is really good. Its the type of light manga which is ideal if you just want to spend time because your sad or bored and, who knows, you may like it so much that you will not be able to stop. Even though I heard a lot of people saying this manga is cliché, depending on your point of view that may not be so true. Actually, it is, but is a really well worked cliché. You will understand as this review passes by.

Story (7):
As I said, the story isn't complex or impressive, how I usually like, but is not bad either. I guess you already know because of the synopsis, but I'm gonna explain the plot to you in my own way: The story circles around four characters (lots more around the two girls) and each one has their single way of seeing love. Yuna only learned about love in shoujo mangas and... well, you know what that means, she thinks love is something eternal, cute and much more strong than it actually is, and she seems to believe in destiny and hopes for the man of her life, or her prince, to find her and love her the way she is, without doing anything on her own to find this love. Akari thinks like most of the girls nowadays and her "love" lacks feelings. She just confess her love if she's sure the guy likes her back and enjoy the "seductive game" of the boys. Rio suffers of an deadly disease called "unrequited love" but, this time, he really CAN'T confess and, trying to give up the girl he likes when he still wasn't even rejected by her, he just pick up beautiful girls and hopes to fall in love with them. If they're not pretty he simply rejects them, but he says its just because they never talked to him before (the pretty girls didn't either). Kazuomi it's just an average teenager who's absurdly clueless, but cute and has no interest in love at all, has no problems with girls and actually seems to not differ then from guys with skirts (my opinion), though he understand their feelings better than any guy in this world. Lies, he doesn't, but by miracle he treats them like they want to be treated. In other words, he's really kind. The story shows how love affects and works for this four types of people or, at least, is what I think it should do. That's the only point where I think Sakisaka should have worked better, that if she at least thought about this possibility because, from my point of view, the love came from the exact same way for all of them. Their opinions about love almost didn't changed the story at all. Conclusion: None of them was right about how love works, and that's what the story seems to talk about, crushing all their expectations, but they seem fine with this and are not stubborn even though the way they were seeing the world changed suddenly in front of their eyes. Another think that bothered me (only me as it seems) was the bad use of secondary characters. Yuna's best friend moved in the first chapter and she was really sad, but it seems she forgot about her friend really fast. Other secondary characters are pretty useless too, even when they shouldn't. Something I think it's important to say is: THIS MANGA IT'S NOT A LOVE TRIANGLE! Just in a single moment, for 3 chapters at worse. Look, P(person)1 likes P2, who likes P3 who start to like P4 who doesn't like anybody. In other words, nobody is loved for more than one person. Just in some chapter a P5 start to like P1, but P1 likes only P2 and that's just a love triangle because P2 started to like P1 as well, but it's so fast I think you can disregard that. And, if you wanna know, I don't think P5 liked P1 so much, since he accepted just fine being rejected, not getting pissed and did not shed a single tear. Was even smiling (though he smile all the time and I think he just can't get serious). Though in the future that may change, P1 will be already getting out with P2.

Art (9):
I didn't gave it a 10 because I know that exists better art, but is really pretty and pleasing of looking at. Not just that, it fits the story perfectly, and I think the art just get better as the chapters pass by. In the beginning, Yuna's appearance bothered me a little (eyes too small for the head), but that changed fast (or I got used, I don't know).

Characters (8):
I guess what I liked the most about the characters is how they changed as the story passed by. Especially Yuna. They were really cliché in the beginning, but got more interesting with time. I think I like characters that change more than characters that were already good to begin with. But, if it wasn't for Yuna and Rio, I don't think I would give the characters more than 6. Akari and Kazu are nice and all, but they are predictable and boring. Consequently, I end up loving Yuna x Rio and getting pissed when Kazu x Akari steal the scene, which is the same problem I get from mangas like Kobayashi ga Kawaii Sugite Tsurai (I loved Mego x Sanada and found Azusa x Mitsuru boring). Luckly (or not, if you like the other couple), Sakisaka seem to have thought the same thing and Yuna x Rio are way more frequent to apear. Well, let's keep going:
Yuna: At the beginning, Yuna it's such a timid girl that almost everything she learned about other people and life in a hole were all things she got from mangas. She would stare ate the ground when interacting with others and was easy to trick if her hearth was touched, though she wasn't stupid and was actually pretty careful (well, at least that's what it looked like to me). Since the beginning she was a well worked cliché, not being weak and coward although she was really shy. She was kind and cute, but not in a way that pissed me of, it was realistic, and I liked that. And she could actually interact well with people that she knew for a long time, like her previous best friend, that moved in the first chapter, and her childhood friend, Kazu, with who she wasn't shy at all and she didn't had a crush on him just because he was the only boy she talked with. As time passes by, she shows being a strong kid that wouldn't cry for everything and gains more confidence even after being rejected. Even now, she got quite a potential.
Rio: Rio was another good cliché. He's the so talked playboy that is interested in every girl as long as she has a good face, but he's not such a bastard as everyone thinks. As I saw, he's spoiled and childish, and because of that he does some pretty bad things when he's angry, but he doesn't get angry easily, recognizes his mistakes, it's kind in his own way and actually thinks about the others, though he will put himself in front when he thinks his hearth is in danger and the only person that he may put in front him sometimes is the girl he likes. I say "sometimes" because when he's angry at her the thing changes an he thinks he has the right of getting advantage. He doesn't change as much as Yuna, but he tries his best to do so, inspired in her. And when he solves his problems he naturally become someone better, since when his sad or pissed he becomes a "bad person", accidentally, but who doesn't?
Akari: I think this kid became realistic while wanting to be a dreamer just like Yuna, because she really make some effort to love for real (just like in Yuna's mangas) after meeting her new friend. I think the best part about her is her sociality and coldness, even though she smiles a lot. She kinda remember my mother (I think "feelings" were lacking when God created her). It's nice how normal she is. I meet persons like her in the street all the time. What more changed about her was definitely her coldness, also inspiring in Yuna. She became more sincere and cute (less mature) and it's nice how she started liking somebody-that-I-will-not-tell (thought you already know who it is) since he was so different of her type, and because Akari in love doesn't look like herself. It's like me discovering love for the first time when she's a lot more experienced than me (since my only love was my geography teacher, and the motherfucker it's married). And she doesn't become shy at all, she actually seems to be having fun with the new feeling. But she keeps being colder than other manga characters (even the really cold ones are more affected when rejected by the first time), but is still cute. I don't enjoy her as much as Yuna, but she is an interesting character.
Kazu: The most cliché character, Kazu is so easy to read if your used to shoujo mangas that it's kinda boring. He's not bad at all, just... Well... Kazu's strong point as a character is the fact that he's so direct and say some amazing things without even noticing. He's not distracted, he's really dumb. Again, Sakisaka noticed this and he's the less appearing character. Since now's gonna start to focus more on him and his crush (again, you know who it is) I hope he's gonna evolve more. I want to see different sides of him. Something I want to say about him is: He has a mania for scratching his nose when he lies. I just discovered this later and I got really pissed, because I wanted to observe in which moments he did that. Now, what I enjoy the most about him is tease my computer like he's listening every time he scratches his nose. It's pretty fun.

Enjoyment (8):
I think the enjoyment was so high because I read it at the right time. If your not bored os sad, don't read this. You're gonna start to compare him with other mangas which are so much better and you're enjoyment's gonna be low. If you are a "new otaku" then I think you will love this manga, since the clichés are not going to piss you off. If you like complex and interesting stories... Well... It has a lot of good mangas out there. Read just some chapters of this manga and, if you get bored, try another one.

That's it! English's not my main language, so I hope I wrote everything wright ^^'

As a huge fan of Io Sakisaka's works, I got totally excited when I heard she was going to release Omoi, Omoware, Furi, Furare. I'm a sucker for shoujo and romance, so I decided I would review this one.

At the time of writing this, only a few chapters have been released but I still wanted to share my opinion on it because I found it worth reading so far. I think the story behind each character is what makes this manga really interesting, the way how everyone is introduced and the fact that it focuses deeply on friendship and love.

Some of you will probably find the plot a bit cliché, which is something I won't deny because it's shoujo and I've read lots of similar stories. However, unlike other mangas, this one stands out for being a mix of all clichés stories in a brilliant way without being over-dramatic, in other words, it sure is enjoyable despite containing common events. Not to mention the undeniably gorgeous art style of the mangaka.

I believe that in further chapters, the development of relationships will reach a whole new level since the story has just started... So you better watch out for this one. Highly recommended!