The very first time I read this manga I was excited, the art was amazing, the characters were funny and the plot was interesting. Boy and Girl meet for the first time, that encounter changes everything for both of them, typical plot for a shoujo manga. But Boy turns out to be a teacher and Girl is his student, another typical plot for shoujo manga. But what makes this manga readable is that it is a manga with a lot of common sense sans the main heroine.

Characters:
Most people find Susume refreshing, I didn't. First, find me a higschool girl nowadays who acts like her, dates a highschool teacher and not have the slightest clue as to what the consequences of that action is. Most people in this century surely knows that a student and a teacher dating is a crime, with which the teacher can be punished horribly.

Second, Susume tried so hard for Shishio, she fought head on for that love to be hers. And when she finally did, the first real trial of their story with which she should've realized at that point was enough to make her give up.

Susume seems too idiotic and naive in that part, there were so many parts that I just hate, it felt like for her, she didn't try that hard to endure and yet she keeps insisting it was love. It wasn't love at all in her part. They were in the process of falling in love. Every happy moments and trials was suppose to deepen their relationship.

Finding the reason for the break-up and trying to talk it through the person should've been her answer, that was her personality. Except she completely did a 180 and dated someone else.

She skipped the trials and retribution and left Shishio behind and at the finale she was already inlove with Mamura. When did that happen? It took the managaka 10 volumes for Susume and Shishio's love story to unveil and then suddenly she doesn't love him anymore.

For Shishio, he was in a conplicated situation. He was the adult in the relationship. He knows the consequences and tries hard to make up for it. It felt like in their relationship he was the one doing most of the work. Most people think that Shishio's character wasn't well developed but I don't think so. The only redeemable thing the mangaka did was portraying the adults in a realistic ways, they were all adults and not yet adults after all it is not that huge of an age gap for them. Shishio was striving so hard to be mature, to punch some sense into himself, to be a man and a teacher. I understand him most when the uncle talked some sense into him. Even if he did fall inlove with Susume he still has moral obligations and he did right by doing so. It was that time when Susume was supposed to take actions, but she didn't, her ways was idiotic at times and childish. And it left Shishio to that mess.

What Shishio fought for mad me sad. He did right ending his relationship with her, the ending was suppose to be Susume enduring everything and trying to fight for their love. And then what the mangaka made a side story with Shishio and Tsubomi getting back together.

SERIOUSLY?

Fine, Susume and Mamura can have their happy ending but don't the mangaka didn't have to do that. What was all the work Shishio did for?

It was horrible, the story left me completely unsatisfied and devoid of all happiness. I felt cheated, I felt like I've been robbed wasting 12 volumes of the mangaka's nonsense, hoping to find closure for both Shishio and Susume was the only retribution for me to continue this nonsense and then she ended it with no closure, real closure. Everything was so rushed, it didn't feel complete and satisfying. I even hated it more when the side stories came out.

Ratings:
Plot = 2
Art = 8
Characters = 6
Enjoyment = 1 (I myself felt pathetic at the ridiculousness of the whole story, all enjoyment I've had with this story vanished without a trace.)
Overall === 5. (Let's just end this.)