I absolutely LOVED this. It was new, it was different, quite often I was taken aback by surprise, and the subtle character development was insane. Usually, shoujo romance mangas are quite predictable- you have a girl, you know who shes going to fall in love with, and you know that no matter who else comes into the story she will most definitely get with the first guy by the end. Knowing this kind of shoujo cliche, it was what I expected to find, and that was what I wanted (especially ones with love triangles, which HNR has).
HNR was so different to this. For a shoujo, it was much more realistic than the usual cliche ones. Half way through the manga, I had no idea who the protag would end up with, if she was even going to end up with either of them, and even by the second-to-last chapter, I still had no idea who she would pick.

STORY:

The plot itself is quite simple- our young high school protag moves to the city, and is caught in a love triangle between her teacher and her friend. And yet the story took so many different unexpected turns. There are as many love rejections as there are love confessions, and the relationship that the protag has with each of her potential love interests are unique. Where the usual shoujo would define the fact that the protag has her one and only love, HNR shows that life isn't like that, especially for a young woman who is subject to change. She doesn't have to have only one love, and she doesn't need to experience everything at the same time.

I have seen a lot of opinions by people who read this and have noticed that a lot of people, despite really loving the series, were unhappy with the end result- I personally think that maybe some of these people were expecting the usual shoujo outcome; simple romantic love. But HNR was so much more complicated than that, it often displayed a theme of how love can change, especially when one is so young (who often make up a large portion of the shoujo audience).

CHARACTERS:

The protagonist, who is a young girl, gradually changes, gradually matures and her preferences change, just like any other girl her age. She is not a blushing annoying mess, and she isn't a kind saint who touches the hearts of everyone she meets. She's chill. Shes average even, to a point. Personally, I found that a lot more relatable and I enjoyed having a character who, unlike some other popular shoujo protags I could name, did not always act on the wishes and the feelings of her love. She acted on her own wishes, and despite her forgiving nature, that didn't mean she always went by the flow of her love interests emotions, she made choices for herself, at times these choices were decisions I rarely see in shoujo romance mangas.

Her friends, for once, were also pretty realistic. They had their own romances, some that changed over time. They didn't do everything they could to support their friend, they listened to her woes and let her sort out the rest on her own. They didn't have to tell each other everything, and they didn't need to actively set things up for each other- they were normal friends.

And of course, for the male loves- they were imperfect. Many shoujo men are rude or whatever and we all like to find it cute when he treats the protag differently for once- this is not what it is in HNR. Their imperfections could leave you seriously questioning their character, and its cool to see for once that they're not always charming, or become charming later- they act depending on what they want, and some of these things they come to regret but they never change. Saying that, I quite enjoyed both characters, and at times I was seriously torn because they were both great characters, and they both had different relationships with the protag that made me feel differently.

ART:

I liked it. Did I love it? No, but the mangakas art style was really cute for some characters, and the overall look of it was quite nice. I don't tend to take too much notice in the art of a manga, so this part is quite small aha.

OVERALL:

Incredible. If you are looking for the usual read and don't really want something that realistic or uncommon, I would still recommend you read it because there were some incredible memorable scenes and the excitement of a forbidden romance, and a more simple but heart wrenching romance, are all present. Whether you tend to root for the first guy or the underdog guy, either way you will be pleased with what you get in this manga.