Ao Haru Ride

Ao Haru Ride Manga Review
By: Sakisaka Io
Dated: January 6, 2020

Plot:

The first time I've read this manga; I was really not into it. The MC annoys me; the story irritates me. But reading it a second time, I came to love it. It's funny how I didn't like it the first time. The story is about a girl named Futaba who loves Kou since her younger days. Due to circumstances, she was left alone not taking action to that feeling. After fate had made a play on them, Kou returned to the same school at her, however with a very different personality as what she knew in the past. This manga revolves around teenage feelings, how they act rash not thinking of the consequence, how they enjoy their life while they're at it, how simple minded can they be. It shows how pure the love they have, and what they can do when love strikes them. It is cute and dreamlike. It is pure and faithful. It is what teenage life is. Well, I think Sakisaka did a great job picking the title of it as it really matches the theme of the story, youth ride, youth life.

Characters:

The development of the characters, mostly Kou, reminded me of the anime Orange. How his friends did their best, not to change him because they want to, but to let him know that life is great and that they are there to support him always. In this case, it's really great to see Kou changed and sees life in a more happy way. Though there are times that negativeness sucks into us, maybe because we became comfortable of it, but once we realize that there are those who believe in us, it will give us strength to move forward. That's what I think how Kou overcome it. I really love his changes. The other character that calls my attention is Kikuchi. It's true that he's a manipulator, in a way. Isn't it wrong? He just grabs that opportunity he saw for him to be happy. I salute him for that. Sad though that he's only the second man.

Art:

The art was so good, really really good. I like it. I so love it. I admire how their eyes were drawn, it was detailed and polished. Their expressions can really move you; it makes you want to hug them. Also, the shading of the drawings, the light touch of shadows on their faces and hair, the background which always looks like a ray of crystals, its so satisfying to see. Oh, their red faces are also cute, whether their angry, shy, or embarrassed.

Enjoyment:

I finished it in one read. Yes, I did enjoy it. I never expected to love it. I expected to hate Kou again. But nah, it became one of my favorites. It's a good read. Classic shoujo manga that can make you faces while reading it.

Ending:

I'm thinking what if Kou just died. Maybe it'll become Touma and Futaba. Isn't that great? LOL. Kidding. But yeah, after long years of them loving each other, after their struggles to keep distance and moved on, they still end up together. And its great to see. They really make a good couple.

Much, much more satisfying than the anime, I'll tell you that. So, starting with the art, I thought it was pretty good. I'm not too familiar with manga yet, so I guess I can't say exactly, but some of the scenes that were depicted were really crisp and beautiful.

The characters were written extremely well. I'd say that Kou is probably the shining star of the entire manga because of the amount of depth he had written in to his story. On top of that, the development he went through was awesome. I also really like that every character has different motivations and goals that change over time. It made them feel real and concrete, like people should. All the characters were super honest with themselves, as well, which was nice to see because it kept certain areas of the story from being too annoying and nonsensical.

The story itself was mostly solid, barring a few hiccups here and there. I think it's a really touching story about love and loneliness as well as friendship and relationships. The only parts that were slightly annoyed were the moments where the story of unrequited love got repetitive. At times, it felt like too many characters were milling about trying to do too many different things to make their love successful. In the end, it's all really nice because you see where all their stories ended up, but it did get a bit muddy there in the middle.

All in all, this is a really great romance to read, in my opinion. Especially if you want a romance where you have no idea if the main characters will end up together or not. It is a bit unoriginal in story, but I still loved it nonetheless.

The manga is AMAZING!!!! Too bad they did not continue yet the anime. The best Shoujo manga IMO of them all. The manga is great for romance and comedy fanatics. The 2 main characters are great but sometimes, annoying. The development of the characters is good for to understand.

Story -10
Character development - 9
Art - 10
Enjoyment - 10
Overall - 10

Hope to see more manga to this author. It was good and it is ready to read all the way to the end. Thumbs Up!!!!! Read the manga if you're done with the anime and tired of waiting for the second season of the anime.

Firstly, I want to say that Io Sakisaka is amazing mangaka. I love how she draws the characters and especially their emotions, it's so real and really cute.
I've read all the volumes and I have to say that I was kind of surprised by the twists in plot. I really appreciate that this manga isn't ordinary love story. It shows that love has many beautiful and painful moments and especially that love is complicated. Maybe this is also reason why it can be sometimes criticized, because there are lots of unpredictable and complicated moments which is part of developing whole story. There were many moments when I was just staring and be like "What the hack, what happenned?". There were a lots of surprising moments for me but I think this manga is really worth it. Author is really warm-hearted and I think that I learn from this love story a lot.

I first watched the Ao Haru Ride anime, and I was extremely dissatisfied with the ending. Reading forums, I learned that the anime follows the manga surprisingly well so I decided to read the manga. I feel a less intense version of what I felt after watching Kimi Ni Na Wa. I feel like my heart had diarrhea. It wasn't even the best shoujo I've ever seen/read; I just love Futaba and Kou's story, and their ending. I just love how much he cares for her. I love Kou I guess. I'm sad it's over, and although the ending wasn't crazy and grand, it was enough. Everything that should have fell into place, did. I would recommend this manga. Although it can be frustrating at times, you just have to stick with it and feel reassured by the fact that it's a shoujo, so they're obviously going to get together in the end. Stick it out if it's getting annoying; it gets better.

(spoiler free) I'm gonna make it simple. For a romance anime/manga hater, this story really changed my views.

What I love so much about it that it truly makes you feel like the one living the love story is the reader. It's like the character's timing and decisionmaking is perfectly adjusted to what you're feeling at the moment. It really makes you feel in love.
All of the characters, including the girls and the protagonist's friends are great. I love how even though it's very focused on the love story it still gives the characters development and room for healthy friendships. It's lovely while still capturing hihschool expiriences amazingly. It rarely appears forced and the romance is beautiful. I actually give Kou, the main love interest, the title of "objectively the most attractive 2d man" becuase he really is incredible. The way the protagonists they affection and express their feelings is really heartwarming.
I have three complains for it. 1) Kou gets a lot of well written development during the story, but I really disliked the way his depression was "fixed". he was treating it really well until Futaba gave a kind of stupid speech that helped him a bit more than it shoud have. I doubt you can fix an issue that deep with that. 2)Futaba is selfish at times. But she knows it and tries to change (even though she fails a lot), so it could be considered a good thing. She's well written anyways. 3) In the ending there was a bit too much love. It had perfect pacing until then. It was still great of course, but it made me miss the perfectly regulated timing of the heavy lovely and deep moments.

I have to admit Ao Haru Ride was a bit of a tough read for me.

It's not exactly your typical shougo manga but as always there are a few cliches throughout the story. I actually found the progression of the friendships between the characters rather refreshing and enjoyed seeing them develop in a natural manner along with the romance of the story rather than them being brushed to the side or developed halfheartedly.

I have to warn any potential readers that there is a fair bit of unnecessary that occurs that could have been avoided with a simple explanation, hence my earlier comment on the cliches. Even though I thoroughly enjoyed the series I considered dropping it at one point because of this drama. I became very frustrated with the actions of the characters and, after reading it nonstop for days, I had to put it away until I could calm down. I was that frustrated.

However, I did return to it with some reservations and was genuinely pleased with the rest of the series, give or take a few chapters. In the end I would recommend this series to anyone who is interested with fair warning that you might get a little frustrated but otherwise will have an enjoyable read.

I will discuss anything about the plot, just a few comments after I finished reading the manga.

I started with the anime, not the manga. Back then, I really wonder why is this series so popular? What is so good about Kou? Seriously the anime is kinda boring, nothing much about the plot, it is just an intro(I guess) to Ao Haru Ride, so that you will buy the manga~

I was very curious, so I started reading it. And now I understand why is it so popularrrrrr. Yes, the story might be cliche(High school, falling in love with the hottest guy in the school, that's soooo shoujo -,-). But the way Sakisaka Io conveys the story... it's hard to say in words. For example, sometimes you feel angry towards Kou, and the next moment you're fangirling him(LOL). What I really like about this story is a journey about maturity, how to move on with your life, and making the right decision. Yeah, it's hard to forget the past, but somehow we have to move on, right?

One of the best shoujo manga I've ever read. Thanks to Sakisaka Io for the 'youthful ride'!

Ao Haru Ride has the potential to be a very engaging Asian live-action romantic drama. This comes from a person who's only ever watched Meteor Garden so don't take my advice too seriously. Now you can tell from my rating that I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. The story was endearing and wholesome enough for me to read it until the end. This is why I thought I ought to write a review, let it be short or long, explaining my opinion on this manga in detail.
This is the story of Futaba Yoshioka and Kou Tanaka. As middle schoolers in their first year, they fell in love with each other and spent a lot of time blushing and glancing at each other -- though it was overall very sweet. Both of them had similar personalities, Futaba being very reserved and feminine, thus popular with boys, and Kou calm, awkward and cute. They were growing closer and closer, and Kou invited Futaba to the summer festival of that year -- but he never showed up.
He had suddenly transferred schools and disappeared from Futaba's life, leaving her always wondering what happened to him. In her next years of middle school, she realized how ostracized she was by the girls, how each of them hated how she acted and how popular she was with the opposite gender. Fed up with it, she completely changed her personality to that of a boyish, always-hungry girl in high school. There, once again, Kou pops back into her life, though he changed his last name to Mabuchi, and became rude, indifferent, but most importantly ( and I am not exaggerating this ) depressed. Curious, and worried, Futaba desperately tries to learn what happened to him in the last three years he was gone, all the while finding the courage to be her true self again.
Now, I think I've summed the plot up well enough. The premise of the story is interesting and engaging. I have reasons to care about the characters and wish for them to just kiss already. The story is a little cliché but remains natural. The build-up to Kou's tragic secret was handled well, and it made sense. His actions towards his old classmate, Narumi, are also understandable. Kou has, along with Shuuko Murao, a side character, the best character development in the story, at least for me. His personality changed was a little sudden but was backed up by his previously established choices. He's also very cute so that helps.
Now I just mentioned side characters. There are, in fact, important side characters. They're here and support the main plotline ver well. They do their job and though they may be a little basic, that doesn't change how well they've worked with the story. They're believable and realistic, they're annoying if they're meant to be, but endearing too when they're meant to be. Ao Haru Ride just has good characters in general.
I don't think I need to say much about the art. It's stunning. It's clean. It's cute. That's just it. The designs for each character is also distinguishable. I was able to recognize them easily.

Overall it was a nice read. I liked how it was cute, and how the main couple had chemistry. I'm able to recommend it to anyone who likes shoujo or romance in general. So please, if you're reading this, please give it a try. If you're gonna watch the anime that's fine too, btw it ends at chapter 14.

As I am a very visual person the art style pulled me into this one. The plot was very good at the beginning, but then it somehow got all predictable. I know that most shojo mangas are the same 10 stories, but still. I wanted the story to be as shiny as the artwork itself.


I waited for every new chapter until it was finished and I did enjoy the cheesiness of it. There were moments when even I was invested in the developments, but those were small moments in comparison to the whole story. Last chapters were somewhat disappointing, I wanted something more. It did not leave me with a feeling of warm and fuzzy for some reason.