Les critiques de livres

84DaysWithout9
Apr 03, 2021
Hibi Chouchou review
The characters are insanely boring, and you can honestly sum up the two main characters in two words. Girl = quiet and shy. Boy = quiet and shy. I'm halfway through the entire completed manga, and neither lead has made any personal character development. It's established early on that the female character is heavily idolized for being so pretty, and somewhat as a result of that, she's incredibly quiet and shy. I repeat: she's INCREDIBLY QUIET AND SHY. Quiet and shy to the point where she doesn't even talk to her friends, which makes you question how and why they became her friends to begin with?

I compare this manga a lot to a shoujo classic: Kimi ni Todoke, since both mangas have a shy main lead. Only, the difference is that while Sawako from KnT is shy, she works to overcome it, while Suiren doesn't. I guess another main distinction between the two is that Sawako is fairly normal looking in her universe, while Suiren is so beautiful it's a "burden," which I have some complaints about. This plot idea clearly has a lot of internalized misogyny rooted into it, but if the author truly wanted to discuss how overwhelming beauty can be a hindrance and the ideas of pretty privilege, I would much rather see that be the focus of the manga instead of Suiren remaining static for the entire manga. Instead, all we see (for 42 chapters at least because that's all I could bring myself to read), is that Suiren likes a boy for no particular reason, and then they have a real dry relationship. Because you never really get to see who Suiren is, or anyone else for the matter, it makes the main relationship really bland and one dimensional, and therefore really hard to root for. Personally, I couldn't care less about the main couple, but I stuck around for so long because I just wanted it to live up to something.

Pretty much nobody has a personality in this manga. If you want to enjoy some good art, go ahead, but honestly, even the art isn't good enough to top the shit show that is the story.
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Alencia14
Apr 03, 2021
Hibi Chouchou review
This adorable slice of life drama is set in a small high school where our characters meet each other upon entering and build relationships until they graduate. It is of course character driven, with the overall theme being about falling in love and creating lasting relationships.

The characters represent all different personalities, from the painfully shy Suiren to the idol-like Atohira. The unique aspect of this story is that both the male and female lead are shy, making the way their relationship unfolds different from other love stories of their kind.



Let's jump right into our characters--

The Characters

Suiren
The main female protagonist was tormented in elementary school by her classmates because she is so cute. As a result, her best friend Aya took up the job of protecting her. Suiren, possibly stunted by her friend's protection, stopped smiling or talking to anyone else.



Now that the two have entered a co-ed high school, Suiren is again attracting unwanted attention, but in this school they will meet someone who inspires Suiren to come out of her shell.

Kawasumi
The main male protagonist is dedicated to his club activity, karate. He is very skilled in the sport and is a completely different person while practicing it. Outside of the club he is quiet and even timid around girls whom he does not know how to talk to.



He has a good sense of justice, and a healthy respect for hard work, but he seems lost when it comes to ordinary, un-regimented, high school life.

Aya and Yuri
Aya has been protecting Suiren since they were in elementary school. She is a no nonsense kind of girl with a mostly cynical outlook on life, but she supports Suiren's wishes just as much as she babies her.



She offers plenty of comic relief to the story along with admirable loyalty.
Yuri is a girl whom Suiren and Aya befriend in their first year of high school. She has previously attended school with the boys and therefore makes it possible to get the two groups closer together.

Yuri aids Suiren with girly things and dating advice, as Aya has no experience or interest in those areas.

Ryosuke
Ryosuke is Kawasumi's best friend. Kindhearted and loyal, he comes off as the type of guy who would blindly follow Kawasumi to the ends of the earth, but the more you get to know him, the more you get to see his spine in their relationship--that, and the fact that he's kind of a lazy goof.

He values his friendship with Kawasumi and because of this he is not afraid to push back against Kawasumi's "lone wolf" mentality. Ryosuke always wants to help those around him.

Koharu
Koharu is the senpai who confesses to Kawasumi, even though he is younger than her. She is very attractive, but Kawasumi does not know what to do in situations such as these and her confession does not go as planned.

Koharu declares herself Suiren's rival and you get the feeling that she is not a girl who is accustomed to being in second place. Surprisingly, her character is not as annoying as I had anticipated her to be, in fact, I found myself feeling sorry for her at times.

Ichi and Atohira
Ichi is Kawasumi's older brother. He comes off as quiet, spacey, and weird--but kind. The others joke that Ichi and Suiren are alike in their quiet weirdness, something that worries Suiren.

There is not much mention of Ichi's relationship to his younger brother.

Atohira is Ichi's best friend and frequently visits his and Kawasumi's house. He is senpai to Kawasumi and has left karate in favor of playing baseball at his school. Atohira is a foil to Suiren's character because he is a handsome male character who is popular with the females even though their attention is unwanted.

Atohira handles this situation much differently than Suiren. However, whether he handles it better than her is left up to the reader to decide. Atohira is cynical when it comes to love, especially love at first sight.



His intentions are a bit of a mystery at first, but his character really rounds off the story. Without him it would have felt incomplete. Especially with regards to his somewhat complicated relationship with Kawasumi.

The Plot

This story follows these characters through their high school career. Suiren and Kawasumi fall in love and have to learn what that means. Neither of them are very adept at communicating, nor does either one have any clue as to how to be in a relationship.

They figure things out slowly, including how to balance club activities, friends, and rivals into and out of their life they are creating together.



I really loved all the relationships that occur between all the characters.

This was a super cute, super quick, feel-good read, yet all of the characters have stuck with me.
I suspect that this must have been the case for many readers, because volume 12 of the manga is a nice little "closure" volume full of short chapters of whats going on after the end of the story.
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Amberleh14
Apr 03, 2021
Hibi Chouchou review
This is definitely KAWAIIIIIIII! THE CUTEST MANGA I’VE READ!

I'm not a Shoujo person, but I could name a few archetypes that are present in it, I've seen tsundres and quiet couples, Naive and Smart, Rich and Poor, Hot playboy and Shy girl, Loud Perky and quiet, Childhood friends, Bestfriends, Rivals turn to lovers and so on... Most of them are opposite of their personalities or usually one person is dominant with the other, but have you ever wonder what happens when two extremely quiet person collides!?

Hibi chouchou, is a simple manga about two shy couple falling inlove with each other, and as they find meaning to what love is they face struggles and learn to overcome obstacles.

The plot looks as if it follows the formula of a typical shoujo manga, and some of the issues may seem miniscule (Suiren's adorableness causing uproar to all humankind) compared to other mangas, However it was a refreshing experience when you're tired of seeing stories with over the top dramas about family problems, Sickness, Love triangle, etc. It’s not something that you read for the angst or some intense emotional moments, No, it's just a light hearted romance story, full of rainbows, butterflies and cotton candies, and as the story progress the taste becomes sweeter and sweeter. Yes, this is the type of manga that I enjoy reading while sipping a nice cup of tea on a beautiful cozy night.

Sadly, some of the minor characters felt like the story just glaze over them however I still find them interesting and unique. The Female Main character might seem unrealistic that all males are head over heels at her but what I like about her is that despite her attractiveness, she have flaws, she's very awkward, clumsy and incapable of holding a proper conversation. Kawasumi on the other hand is also a very quiet person, but he's just an average looking guy who is really good and passionate about Judo.

What the manga excels is the artwork, It was neat and easy to read. The emotions of each character and environment are beautifully drawn. There are some mangas that tries so hard to make their character look cute which results to an overly cringy and irritating scenes but in this manga, the cuteness of Suiren is effective, she looks more natural.

I enjoyed this manga very much, As I was a shy girl back when I was in highschool and reading this was very nostalgic, I felt like I was back on those days again, the first eye contact with your crush, the feeling of happiness when you see him/her at the hallways, canteens and classroom which is the sole reason of why're even coming to school, even though it's sh*tty. XD

This is not for everyone, if you like to read romance mangas who wants the couple to "get it on" already, this is not for you. While I do agree that their progress is painfully slow however through the course of time the manga blesses us with scenes that felt like your about to explode due to the extreme sweetness level. And that being said the story is just staying true to the character, because you can't just force an extremely quiet, reserved and shy person to suddenly be intimate to her/his lover, No it needs to have a decent amount of gradual development to jump on that stage.

Overall what makes this manga appealing to me is the Innocence and Conservativeness of the storyline and the characters, which are pretty rare on Romance stories.

If you have time and want to read a calming, sweet and light romance story then please do give this manga a try.


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Velkan14
Apr 03, 2021
Hibi Chouchou review
So this is my first ever review, so be ready ;)

Story: 4
This manga is about a girl who is VERY pretty and usually gets a lot of unwanted attention from boys because of her looks. Because of that, she grew to be a shy and quiet person. In high school, she meets this quiet boy who doesn't make a big deal out of her looks, and she develops an interest in him.

To be honest, this story is a meh. It is so god dang slow and there isn't much juicy parts except a few blushes and that's that. You have to read A LOT chapters until the romance actually starts. By then, I would have already dropped it. If you don't like slow paced shoujo mangas, then this one is not for you.

Art: 8
The art is really good. And that's the only good thing about it. (Sorry to break it to you)

Character: 3
Usually, when I read manga or watch anime, the characters are the 2nd most important part. The characters here were pretty boring. The female MC's only major thing about her is that she's shy. I would've like it WAY better if she'd actually grow out of her shyness and have some character development. But I know that these kind of things are very hard to overcome, especially for some people, so I get that. But she was just plain boring. You can't have a good story without dialogue. She just sits there and acts pretty. The male MC, he was boring as well. I don't understand why he is considered "shy", cause for one thing for sure, he talks way more than your average shy person.

Enjoyment 4:
I didn't really enjoy it that much, since it was slow, and it wasn't interesting at all.

Overall: 4
This was just bad. It's just a manga that I would ditch anytime.
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susumepirates14
Apr 03, 2021
Hibi Chouchou review
How far can cuteness take it? For how long can absolutely nothing extend the life? The answers lie in Hibi Chouchou: apparently not as far and not as much are the ones.

Hibi is like Kimi no Todoke. Only a tad bit faster. At first, it will give you that "warm and fuzzy" feeling about young and innocent love, but the further you progress in manga, you'll just keep skipping pages because literally nothing of interest and importance occurs. For an example, you can skip 39-44 chapters, and you'll be easily good to go.

Let's talk story briefly: it's cliche. It's a standard shoujo premise and, while that's not bad as long as it's executed well, or has its own spin onto it, Hibi's story is just kind of boring to be blunt. The story is progressing at a snail pace, two to three chapters are spent covering something absolutely worthless and boring and so on. While I will admit that its pace is faster than the "classical" shoujo, with so many examples out there of stories that progress far and well within a short span of time, it simply gets to be far too boring at some point.

[SPOILER]

45 chapters in, and they didn't even hug. The most they did was hold hands.
[SPOILER ENDS]

I understand that it's an innocent take on the story, but that doesn't mean it should take ages for something remotely interesting to happen. While we're at it, the story RARELY focuses on the side-characters so it really has no excuse as to why it takes so long for the characters to do anything. Some will refute that with "well, they're shy, blah, blah, blah" but I'll get to that.

One point where this manga is really good is the art. It's crisp, it's clean, it's well drawn, and, to be honest, aside from the few chapters, I couldn't ask for anything better than that. It has plethora of pretty girls, some good-looking studs, and it has that "cutesy" look majority of shoujo manga have, with the exception of looking better than the most.

As far as the characters are concerned, I'm honestly disappointed. At first, you'll think that Suiren is cute. You'll like her. The same goes with Kouha. You'll think that their shyness and awkwardness is innocent, cute and whatever comes with those emotions. However, as the story "progresses", you'll be getting more and more tired of their lack of ... well ... anything. Misunderstandings pile up just because they're unable to talk properly, random "oddly-said" words make our characters go balls-to-the-walls for no reason, and so on and so forth. Suiren quickly becomes cute and annoying. Although, at times, she can be decisive, for the most part she just shuts up and expect everything to go merry way. When compared to Kouha, though, she acts like a damn playboy. Kouha is a specific kind of annoying. His indecisiveness can only be described as mental illness to be honest. It takes him ages to do anything and, when he does it, he does it small. As for the other characters? Nothing. Zero. Bleh. They're the generic sub-cast put there just because it's high school and our heroes need friends. (Main girl's friend who's there to protect her, energetic girl interested in love, generic main guy's best friend, generic rival who comes along for literally 0 reason other than to "drama-it-up a notch", and so on)

Did I enjoy this manga? Meh, kind of. For the first twenty chapters or so, I really did kind of like it. It wasn't new or fresh, but it seemed as if mangaka had something on his/hers mind when it came to this manga. But, after that, the sheer lack of progress in anything - their relationship primarily - is just a huge put-off. It lacks impact, consequences (well, for consequences to exist, there must be action, so I'm kind of contradicting myself right here), and it's basically just a slightly faster paced Kimi no Todoke with the exception that main girl isn't scary, but rather beautiful (inapproachable all the same though).

I recommend it only to die-hard shoujo fans and those who are looking for a chill manga where they don't expect a lot of progress within the first 50 chapters.

[spoilers]

No, seriously, it takes them like 20 chapters to realize they even like each other. Twenty more to go on a second date (well, technically first since their first date lasted like 5 minutes), and the most romantic thing the two of them did was sort-of confessed to each other.
[spoilers end]
[review ends]
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Vancomycin4
Apr 03, 2021
Hibi Chouchou review
This manga was okay. At first I really loved it but it was quite boring.

Story 7/10
So the story started out quite nice. I liked how awkward they both were but as it went on, it got frustrating. It was even more annoying when they finally kissed since it just took so long. Also at first the relationship was cute but it seemed repetitive and like it wasn't going anywhere. They did add a bit of conflict but it was so dumb and unnecessary that it did nothing for the reader. Overall the story was pretty boring but I'm giving it a 7/10 because I still did enjoy it at some points which were adorable.

Art 10/10
I really liked the art, It's neat and pleasant to look at. I would say it's one of my favourite art styles that I've come across while reading manga.

Characters 4/10
The characters were pretty good at the start. I was really interested in Kawasumi's character who I found to be adorable. I personally ended up not liking any of the characters due to the lack of character development. It upsets me to say that my favourite character is Kawasumi's best friend who overall was a very common character in shoujo manga. There were also a few characters which I just thought were unnecessary and didn't quite remember so every time they were mentioned or seen I was always confused. Also, The "rival" characters were poorly done. I actually ended up feeling bad for both of them but it bothered me since they liked the pair for no reason. It was annoying to see such characters with good potential end up hurt over some dumb unrequited love. Overall I was not impressed.

Enjoyment 8/10
As negative as I have been I actually enjoyed reading this. Sure I was frustrated for a good portion of the time but I wouldn't say that I didn't have fun reading this.

Overall 6/10
If they had made the series shorter instead of stretching it out for so long without adding anything to entertain us then this manga would have a higher rating from me. Sadly, it felt as if the author didn't care for the characters anymore or the story but just stretched it on for the sake of the fans.
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KurochuDeviluke8
Apr 03, 2021
Hibi Chouchou review
I was intrigued by the cover of the manga, and felt like this would be some cute couple doing cute things. Well, it is, but they added a hint of uniqueness. This is my first manga ever read, and I can say that I don't regret it. If I were to recommend this to my friends, I'd probably recommend it to the girls. Not gonna lie, I am a boy and there were countless times I somehow felt a romantic excitement towards a few scenes. The cuteness overload really killed the shit out of me.

The story centers Suiren Shibazeki as she walks by, boys turn due to her captivatingly cute looks. In elementary school, boys would tend to tease too much to her, to the point where she tried to avoid them, but then she decided to go to a girls-only school. Now she walks in a school filled with boys again, and she catches interest in one of the students, despite the student was the 1st one to not catch interest of her. By the time where she would be huddled by boys, the boy (Kamisuwa) then protected her and that's where their relationship blossom. I'd describe the story in one word. Unique, unlike the other manga, the manga who centers on stock-holme disorder was it-? It shows us nothing but how trouble pays you back. But Hibi Chouchou shows us a romance centering youth love, and countless of funny innocent moments we could adore. The art overall is simply the best compared to the ratings I gave. I couldn't say much about the character despite them having unique personalities and different roles. Overall I enjoyed this so much my heart would stop beating. I highly recommend you to read this, this would be perfect if you would like to hang out in a park or a friends house and you two both share the same interest in manga or anime, this is the gold.

Story: 7/10
Art: 10/10
Character: 8/10
Enjoyment: 9/10
Overall: 8.50/10
Overall Rounded: 9/10

Thanks for reading my review.!
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vaberella7
Apr 03, 2021
Hibi Chouchou review
At first, I thought my dislike of Hibi Chouchou might be a personal problem - I was neither popular nor shy in high school, so immediately I had trouble relating to the concept that being liked by your peers too much could be a problem. As I continued onward though, I found the high school's shaky environment causing convoluted problems (she's too popular so her boyfriend gets bullied... except not really, as its exclusively played for laughs except as an excuse to keep the main couple apart?) to be the least of the series problems.

Neither our hero nor heroine are particularly interesting characters - there's a fine line between a character who is quiet and a character who has the personality of cardboard, and Hibi Chouchou crosses it in spades. I find myself more invested in other characters besides the main couple most of the time.

Speaking of these other characters, there are sideplots involving these characters which are never resolved. This would be easier to forgive if the manga wasn't as long as it was, but it easily could have dedicated more time to this, especially when the pacing of the story is painfully slow.

Ah yes, the pacing. Hibi Chouchou's biggest problem is it suffers from bad pacing. The story is pretty much over by the end of the first year, and the rest of the time is spent on pointless filler and the aforementioned unresolved side romances. You get the feeling that Hibi Chouchou is trying to be the next Kimi Ni Todoke, but the chapters lack the sense of yearning and tension Kimi Ni Todoke's had, probably because I simply don't care enough about the characters.

In the end, Hibi Chouchou feels like its following the standard shoujo manga template used for many of the genre's most beloved hits, but lacks all the life that makes those series good. The result is an all-around boring and unsatisfying read.
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sunnyraye7
Apr 03, 2021
Hibi Chouchou review
I have read up to chapter 75 and it seems like the ending but I could be wrong. Still I want to get this review out of the way.

The story starts slow and very simple, typical shoujo manga. The story really just goes in its own direction with not a lot besides relationships progressing throughout as well as rivalry. There are some comedy areas and some frustrating moments which I will get to but overall it was enjoyable yet could have been more in depth. Near the end it was really rushed and it added parts that were just unnecessary like love triangles that just faded out. It started getting faster paced compared to the main story and I would not have a problem with it IF they did that from the start and kept a consistent pace.
The art was very pretty and light, it was calming and switched between sweet to comedic to sad moments but most of the time stayed light and nice.
The characters were all sort of different and had that one trait that defined them. Although they were different not a lot of them have good depth. I don't really have much to say about these characters but at least they did get some development eventually. None of them were dislikeable except for maybe one character near the end.
I enjoyed this manga at the beginning and at the end. The middle progression was okay too but not as interesting. I did find myself going through this manga pretty fast though.
Overall this manga is worth reading especially if you like shoujo mangas with no main love triangle and shoujos with a light feel throughout that does actually make you somewhat happy in the end.
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Hibi Chouchou
Hibi Chouchou
Auteur Morishita, Suu
Artiste --