After reading and loving Hakoniwa no Soleil I decided to read this manga spontaneously since it was by the same author it was short and I didnt have to search hard for it. It also has a Netflix Jdrama Switched which I thought looked interesting. Honestly if this manga were a little longer it could have been a masterpiece. I think it played with such interesting ideas and was a lot deeper than Hakoniwa no Soleil. This did have some pitfalls though. Our story begins with Ayumi a young girl whos really enjoying her life. She has a good home life shes popular and she was just asked out by her crush. However it all comes tumbling down when her unpopular classmate Zenko jumps off of a building. Ayumi passes out and awakens in Zenkos body. Unfortunately for Ayumi Zenko is intent on living out Ayumis life as her own... I think this story says a lot about peoples internal beauty and the way others perceive you doesnt have to be completely about physical appearance. It asks the question Will people still love Ayumi if her body is no longer conventionally attractive? Who even noticed the switch in the first place? This is the manga about people who want to be someone else and succeed in their ventures. But even if their exteriors change they are still the same people inside... I saw this in another review and I wholeheartedly agree. I think there was some wasted potential regarding who noticed the switch. Zenkos mother who has a poor relationship with her daughter noticed that something was amiss while Ayumis seemingly loving family did not. I think that this could have really benefited the story since so much of it is about the more psychological aspects about switching bodies. As for our characters we have Ayumi whose life is thrown in disarray as her relationships disolve. Her new self doesnt have friends but she never stops trying to reach out to people. Her inner goodness and compassion really shine through despite her troubles. Zenko herself is super interesting. I think she was probably the most well written character in the manga. Shes been through a lot. Shes bullied for her conventionally unattractive body and as a result she tries to isolate herself from everyone. Zenko has a lot of pain which she chooses to dwell on creating a victim complex. She genuinely believes that her problems will go away if she can be Ayumi the girl who her crush fell in love with. We have two male leads. We have Kaga who is a kindhearted boy who also has feelings for Ayumi. He really loves her kindness and her spirit not who she was on the outside. He was the first one to notice that she and Zenko switched bodies. Koushiro on the other hand is an enigma. Hes so confusing and Im really unsure of whether or not hes a good person. Hes very grey and I think his character really suffers from the manga not being very long. Hes interesting to follow but I dont think hes written consistently. You really dont know whats going on in his psyche... He claims to have only loved Ayumi for her body and yet he is willing to betray Zenko on her behalf. Hes a walking contradiction and youre left wondering how much of him is real and how much of what we saw is false... And that brings me to a rant about the ending and the love triangle resolution... Which will receive a spoiler tag for obvious reasons... The art is beautiful. Shiki Kawabata can draw so well. I love the way her work feels like theres watercolors involved even if its just black and white. It just has such an ethereal feeling. Id recommend this series. Yes there are some missteps but I think it accomplishes a lot despite being too short for its own good. Shiki Kawabata has not let me down yet. I may have to read some of her other works...