The art is outstanding.
The whole text below is SPOILER-ish.
I don't like the stuff that didn't happen because the stuff that did did. The point in that for me is that I did grow to care about it. One of the things I was not entirely in sync with was the certain 18+ scene. I love the significance that I had thought it represents though; Him loving her so much that her everything is perfect.
In another life.. I hope I'll get to have someone to have some perfect moments with, such those few for me perfect moments in the story.
I guess the word for this story is "realistic".
I was reading it without thinking to myself "Yea, sure.". Isobe's back story and the way he handled his response to the blogger were unquestionably realistic for me.
I would like to see Isobe and Sato see each other once again, by accident, with the whole meeting lasting a moment, making it immediately apparent how even still in that moment of the future they'd jump back in to their old selves and act immaturely without coercing themselves in to doing the "right thing" and prolonging the encounter, their image triggering a relapse of the past for each other.. That's just one way it could happen.. Stories that do this to me, make me think like this, what more can I get, I guess.
Will they ever grow up to look back thinking how what they've had was exotic, perfect, rare, and be put on a smile by the thought, knowing it's already been 10 years since and that the past is dead..
Sato did such a huge thing for Isobe in the end and he'll probably never have gotten to know of it.
During their time, it was just time, as it was coming to an end, the value of it became more palpable by the day.
In the end, you don't know what you have until you've lost it, and with that experience of the past, Sato is at the end seemingly on the beginning of another story. But is it another story, or will it now just be living? That stage of her life was already writen.
Will it bring to saying the words "I love you.", before she actually feels the feeling, will it make everything hard because she'll be awkward with herself not feeling the feelings she thinks that she should feel and if the situation was over would feel? This is getting too subjective of me.
Sato's childhood friend, Kashima.
Perfect implementation.
Exactly as it goes with some "childhood friends", from my experience.
They're not some big existence, they're just people you've known for a long time.
Full on spoiler from now on:
In the end, on the last few pages, you can see how there could've been told a lot more, were Inio to have included how Sato and Kashima had met. That time when Kashima called for Sato to come to him, so his squad of friends could tell him if he's taller than her yet. She unhesitatingly obliged. That surprised me, I literally thought that they were going to bully her. On the last few pages, I was given so much more context. He casually goes about hinting at her that he wants to be with her. And it's not just that, it's that he hinted at her that he STILL wants to be with her. Like with NieR:Automata, it seems to me that a whole segment of plot took place before the narration began. He's obviously been head over heels for her for such a long time, BUT, I think that the unnarrated plot part is that she knows that. He was ever truly only her childhood friend though. The sort you're good with, but the sort that isn't so much an anime childhood friend, but a real life childhood friend.