I can't talk about why I enjoy this series if I don't give away what happens in this series, so please, don't read this if you haven't read the whole manga yet. Or at least, what's been translated/released so far.



First of all, I'd like to talk about the art. To be quite frank, it does its job. The characters aren't extravagant, and the environments don't stick out that much. The only real way I can describe the drawings panel by panel is that they're just standard. You could stick these drawings into another romance manga and there really wouldn't be any difference. Normally, the art would rate a 5, or mediocre, because that's what it is. However, the author is extremely good at one visual effect, that of horror and surprise. When you look at those panels, you can really tell, Shit Just Got Real. The artist is good at conveying those moments, which there are quite a few of. With this, I'll segue into...

The characters! Yeah, you guys don't get to see the shitstorm yet. The characters in this series are very good, I'd argue. All do their job quite well, and the interactions between them are believable and even heartwarming at times. I'd like to say that applies to the protagonist as well, but I'll admit that I have a bias against most protagonists of this type, as they're simply supposed to be self-inserts. It's just an effect of the anime and manga market, and while I'd love for it to change and protagonists to become their own characters instead of useless shells, it isn't what sells. BUT ENOUGH ABOUT MY OWN RANTS, we need to get on with it.
The protagonist of this series is surprisingly competent. While he's a bit naive and genre-blind, he does at times show qualities that you don't normally see in romance manga protagonists. The most applicable of these traits is that he has a god damned backbone. When shit hits the fan (and it does) he stands up for other characters and really tells the offending character off. This impressed me, since most protagonists of his type are spineless wimps. So, bravo to the author for a character that can stand up for himself.
The heroine of this story, Mutsuki, is my second favorite character, and she's the focus of most of the events in the story. Most events are related to or caused by her. However, don't misinterpret this. She isn't a strange rich girl, or some other kind of extraordinary person. She's just a normal little gi-pfft hahaha no. I'm sorry, I can't go on with this charade any longer. To be frank, she's a "Yandere". This is a japanese fan term that means a character with mental problems usually resulting in over-the-top bloody insanity balanced with cute romantic moments. Mutsuki decides after a run-in on the train one morning that she will attach herself to the protagonist. However, she's a very lonely girl, so Protagonist is the only one she really relates to. Therefore she takes the word "attach" quite literally sometimes, doing such strange things as giving a blowjob to his recorder, and digging his used water bottles out of the trash to keep as mementos. Most of the tension in the story is because of the fact that she takes a long time before she goes into full Yan mode, but I'll talk about that later. Her love for Protagonist is interuppted late in the story by Mika, who is my favorite character in the whole damned manga.
Mika is the osananajimi, or Childhood Friend of the manga. I'll be honest, Childhood Friends are usually dumb. They really only exist to serve as a foil for the other love interests, and they usually build their character off of interactions with others, rather than internal character traits they hold. However, Mika is an exception to the rule. She doesn't give a shit how long Protagonist and Mutsuki have been together, she'll tear them apart so that she can be with Protagonist. She doesn't do it violently however, but does it so that the two doubt their love for each other. However, she truly shines in ch 15, when the two love interests are studying with Protagonist. After going to the bathroom or something, she comes back to the room to find the other two making out. Thus she FLIPS OUT, and tells Mutsuki that she doesn't love and understand him enough for her to acknowledge Mutsuki as Protagonist's girlfriend. This is the best moment in the series for her. She asserts rather passive-aggressively that she loves him, and that Mutsuki doesn't love him enough.
That's right, she just told the YANDERE that she doesn't love the protagonist enough. This is the sole reason I like her character best.

Seguing into the story review, that point in the story is when shit hits the wall. Mutsuki flips her Yandere switch from Cute into Crazy, and ch 15 page 40 I have to say is the most satisfying release of a series long tension I have ever seen. You can tell from the FULL PAGE crazy face that shit just got real, and that somebody's going to die. However, I mentioned something earlier that I should really go back to.
The tension of Mutsuki's character was the thing that really made the series shine for me. From the chapters before 15, you knew: Something was wrong with this girl. At some point, she was going to lash out and commit such horrible acts of pain and suffering that all Yanderes before her would pale in comparison. However, the author knew this. So, he did what I consider to be a genius move: Show all the signs of Crazy, but never actually let the switch flip. You knew she would go crazy at some point, but never knew when. He set up situations in which you thought, "Oh, she's sure to flip out now. She's acting really creepy, maybe she's gone full Yan now." However, he never did it until a proper rival love interest showed up. That's all it took, and I have a feeling that at Ch. 17, we haven't seen her full wrath yet. I can only hope that she goes full Crazy and starts murdering bitches.

One more thing before I end this review is one character I forgot to mention. There's another girl character who's the Protagonist's best friend. I can't remember if we ever learn her name, and she really only exists as a plot device. I believe that she exists to establish the possibility of a alternate love interest for the protagonist early on, because she seems very interested in his love life. Early on, I posited that the situation would evolve into one similar to School Days, in which two women fought over the same man and eventually murdered each other. That hasn't happened yet, but I could see her friendship for the main character blossoming into love, especially if the author decides to use the old "love coordinator falls for her client" cliche.

Now it's time to get on to the bad points. Mutsuki, at least at this point, has no real reason to be in love with the main character. She bumped into him one time on the train. That's it. Brilliantly, Mika points this out during her argument with Mutsuki, which sends her further down the deep end. I have my own theory, but at this point the author still hasn't truly addressed it, so my point still stands. There is one point that I believe really isn't necessary, but I need to address it anyway. This manga lays the romance down HARD. At some points I could feel the sap dripping through my veins as I read "I LOVE YOU" a billion fucking times. Yes, we get it. You love him. You spend time with him. But for fuck's sake, you can stop SHOWING US NOW. Perhaps this is filler, or maybe the author's trying to make a contrast between her Yan and Dere sides. However, I disliked the pure sap flowing between the pages sometimes, so that might be a minus to whoever would read this manga.

Overall, I would recommend this to any Yandere fans out there, or others who can stand the truly disgusting amount of fluff and sap in this manga. It really did have a great turning point in Ch 15, so if you enjoy the tension of a character's fall into madness, I would recommend this anyday.