Reading this manga was a pleasant experience. I went into it without high expectations and was surprised by the genuinely sweet aspect of this short story. KiwaGaku (Kiwametsuke Gakuya Ura Ouji) isn't very dramatic, nor is it groundbreaking. You probably won't feel your heart pounding as you read. You'll probably be able to accurately predict what will happen. Although the manga is not extremely original, that isn't necessarily the aim, and there are a few refreshing things nonetheless.

KiwaGaku's story is just another rendition of a typical shoujo manga. Boy and girl meet, girl falls in love with boy, and then, suddenly, there's love. The fairy-tale feeling of shoujo prevails. Despite how fast the love comes, though, there are a few small, nicely executed twists to the premise that I enjoyed.

The pacing is decent and the story ties together fairly nicely at the end. The plot begins to fall flat during the later chapters, where the cliche factor comes in more and there are a few facepalm worthy moments where you think, "Why didn't they just communicate more?" Something's missing in the twists, making things somewhat predictable and causing KiwaGaku to lack that "special" factor.

Although KiwaGaku is rather decent story-wise, the art is anything but. It's not that special, but at the same time, there are redeeming factors in the art. With handsome boys and gorgeous girls, panels that can just make you feel warm inside, and clean drawings, everything is pleasing to the eye - you won't be disappointed.

The characters, although they come across as cliche shoujo characters at first, actually have some nice, redeeming qualities, though not enough deep development, as to be expected. Our main couple has a sweet and heart-warming (though slightly immature) relationship. As long as you like Akari and Ryusei, you'll just want the best for them.

Akari is a kind girl - imperfect, but not in an overdone way, and easy to admire. Ryusei comes across as rude and stoic, but is misunderstood, and evolves into a sweet character. The side characters are not developed much, but are enjoyable and fun to watch, much like Akari and Ryusei. While the characters are good, there isn't enough development and sometimes I felt like they were doing the same things over and over.

But I have to admit - I liked them all.

In essence, this is a sweet, simple, and cute manga that leaves you with a fuzzy warmth inside. It's short and despite all of its flaws, I found it enjoyable. I hope that, if you decide to read KiwaGaku, you will, too.