I've tried multiple times to get into this anime. Last Game currently sits in one of the top spots for "Hot" shoujo manga on many sites and its popularity always entices me to try again. I think this is my last attempt with it, though.

The story starts out with a pretty decent premise. The competitive nature pushed so clearly in the beginning promises to present an interesting relationship between the main characters and the straight-forward female lead is at least a good potential to pull away from a lot of very cliche characters. The problem is that shortly after we get caught up to the main characters being in college, any notion of this competition or game is dropped and the story throws out all the old shoujo tropes.

The art is good enough to be enjoyable and it doesn't distract from the experience of reading the manga. I did have some issue with just how blank the female lead's face is throughout everything. I understand that's supposed to be part of her personality but giving her such a very small range of reactions and faces only made it that much harder for me to view her as a real person.

The characters have base-level motivations and react to plot devices with the emotional maturity of pre-teens who are still figuring out how to relate to other people. Just about the only thing that makes any of them seem like college students is the occasional drinking. It's difficult to relate to any of them because they are just so two dimensional.

Enjoyment is pretty personal and subjective so I'm trying not to say, "How do people like this? What's wrong with them?" Because I know I have some odd favorites as well. But, really, for me this manga falls short in so many ways. The plot drags on slowly re-hashing scenarios done better in other mangas with characters I don't care about who have goals that are so much lower than what they could have been. Pushing through any more of this feels like a chore but here's to hoping others find something worthwhile in it.