Hirunaka no Ryuusei: A controversial yet bittersweet romance 170https://files.catbox.moe/z6fz5w.jpeg Just a heads up: this review will contain spoilers as I will be navigating through the main characters relationships throughout the entire manga I will devide this review into two sections because where the story starts to get faulty and have gaps is in the second part hence the second section. The first one being from the start of the manga until the end of Shishio and Suzumes relationship. The second being from the end of Shishio and Suzumes relationship until the end of the manga. In both section i will be discussing the relationship between the main character and the two love interests. 1st part: From the very start of the manga I was hooked. The story of Hirunaka no Ryuusei is one consisted of a handful of cliches e.g.: country girl moves to the city handsome love interest that hates girls etc. but that doesnt stop it from being interesting because of the way it is being handled. The comedy is overall great the romance at all parts is very cute From the first chapters we meet the primary as it seems love interest of Suzume the main character which is later revealed that is her homeroom teacher in high school. How controversial right? Yes it is very controversial but again the whole situation was handled gracefully. The romance developed between the two was subtle cute and above all else: pure. The struggle Shishio goes through because of his inner yearning for Suzume and the burden he bears due to his responsibility as her teacher becomes evident as they grow closer but it is also apparent that most of the time he ends up succumbing to his longing for her as we can see him getting slightly possessive and protective of her. The romantic moments between the two will get you all fuzzy and give you butterflies in the stomach. Their chemistry is truly undeniable and every chapter is enjoyable. I love how the story managed to stay pure and sweet while Shishio and Suzumes relationship was growing stronger. In my opinion this part of the story contains every part that makes a shoujo romance good in a sense. And that is: sweet oblivion slight angst and cute pure romantic moments. Along the way Suzume makes plenty of friends one being Mamura the shy boy who claims to hate girls for whatever reason but lets her in and ends up falling in love with her and is also the second love interest. Mamura is her closest friends and its evident that he also cares the most about her. He becomes aware of her relationship with Shishio and always tries to protect her from any potential harm this forbidden relationship could cause her all while being in love with her. He remains in the sidelines and lets Suzume have her first love for the most part putting his emotions aside for the most part. And thats what makes him likeable. Setting his feelings for her aside because her happiness to him is more important than them. At one point I thought Shishio and Suzume were endgame but that assumption was almost immediately dropped as I and every reader got reality checked. He is still her teacher and she is still his student. And for one reason or another these obstacles would be of course harder to surpass. As the reality check hits Shishio he ends up dropping Suzume in a rather abrupt way. Throughout the whole story due to his inner dilemma we can see him getting hot and cold with her with that reaching its climax with him cutting ties with her completely and in a bit cruel way stating that he never loved her. The ending of their relationship had me feeling all kind of negative emotions which is great because the climax was indeed reached and was not poorly made. It would be a shame to see two people grow together and drop their relationship altogether like it was nothing important because the majority of the story was those two developing feelings for one another. So far we have two well developed love interests an average main character good quality romance and chemistry and a wide range of emotions while also keeping everything as realistic as possible even though the themes the story deals with are unrealistic. Extra points ... But thats where it starts going downhill. 2nd part: This is where the story starts getting faulty and it really disappointed me. After Shishio callled of his relationship with Suzume she decides to leave the city and return to the country side as she needed to escape from what had just occured. Shishio was her first love after all. So because he was her first love and because Shishio too loved her though he denied it because his responsibility as her teacher outdid his feelings for her youd expect that wed see them grieve the ending of their relationship right? Youd expect to see awkward moments between the two both being in pain and grieving each others absence right? Youd expect that since Shishio was Suzumes first love while being a teenager that she would have considerable trouble going through this unnamed and unlabeled breakup right? Haha wrong. So lets start off from where we initially left off. Suzume leaves town and returns to the country side in hopes of catching a break and reevaluating her feelings. But her worried friends and uncle reach out and visit. During their visit there are moments shared between Mamura and Suzume which bring Suzume to a realization. That Mamura has always been there for her from day 1 and that he cares for her deeply. That very fast brings her to another realization that she has started developing feelings for him Which is very rational for the following reason: Suzume is in a very stressful mental state due to what has occurred with Shishio and she is easily influenced. And of course after a breakup or the ending of their relationship because this wasnt exactly a breakup it is very easy to develop feelings for someone else or should I say be under the illusion that you are because you feel the need to cling onto anyone willing to offer you the affection you initially had and now lost. So I liked this part because it is realistic if only it was left at that. But as everyone returns to the city the relationship between Mamura and Suzume starts to get more serious. But how? How was Suzume able to almost completely forget her first love over the course of DAYS? She came back to school interacted with Shishio but was somehow okay and... nonchalant? Thats where the story lost me. Because I had spent the majority of the manga witnessing their feelings grow only to have everything almost utterly downgraded. You cant possible have the main trope reach a certain point only to have it so abruptly dropped. I understand why their relationship came to an end but it was necessary to witness the aftermath as well. Overall we didnt see Suzume grieve her first love neither Shishio grieve his love. I expected uneasy interactions hidden tears painful smiles and above all else feelings of regret. There was none of that which was very disappointing given how much their relationship had progressed. If their relationship wasnt made to be so important neither would this be so crucial. This contradiction was the reason this story lost me. Overall in this second part Mamura develops a relationship with Suzume while Shishio comes to the realization that he doesnt want to lose Suzume and makes desperate efforts to bring her back announcing his love to her but as expected it is too late. Which in my opinion is also realistic. Suzume and Shishio in the end could never work because Shishio mistreated her enough due to his inner dilemma to make him undeserving of her affection that and the fact that he was her teacher of course. However I am glad that we ended up seeing Shishio facing his true feelings I think that was necessary to take place else the story would have even more gaps in the end. Finally the story ends with Mamura and Suzume together. A rational ending but badly executed. And thats the end of my review. What really disappointed me was the gaps that appeared in the end. You cant have me witness the undeniable chemistry of the main trope and have them develop such strong feelings for each other for the majority of the manga only to drop it like its nothing. Thats a plot hole in my humble opinion. Nonetheless Hirunaka no Ryuusei is definitely worth reading. I read it in onesitting and Id even reread it in the future because the first part was good enough for me to overlook the second. While my rating is somewhat lower than I initially planned on it is still a very good shoujo romance that people should get their hands on. 170https://files.catbox.moe/7qhprj.jpeg Thank you for your time. I hope you enjoyed this manga more than I myself did