Review
An e-arc of the book has been provided by the publisher, Kodansha Comics, in exchange for an honest review.
Doing a shoujo manga read definitely showed me that despite my dislike for young adult stories on novels, manga are of a different story. Perhaps it is because I have a certain expectation and knows how different manga textures are in terms of character building and story-telling.
The manga started really well; introducing us to the characters personalities and the possible trajectory of the story. The story falls into a relatively common trope for shoujo manga but it did not take the individuality of You’re My Cutie out of the story.
For the visuals, I really enjoyed the art style. I wouldn’t say that this is the type of art I normally lean on to. However, it is definitely one of my preferred style of drawing. The paneling followed a simple and traditional approach. It didn’t complicate things and that gave me the impression and singularity of the book. That fluff and cute storyline was really captured by not only the art but also the way the story was presented by means of its panels. Additionally, I find the background shading to be very cute. They weren’t too noisy and unobtrusive of the story, but they were obviously there. The attack on sound effects were really adorable as well and shaved off some of the serious notes of the story.
The characters were fantastic. The main character falls off on the bland category. Not in a bad way, but more on just a categorical perspective in line with the second main character. The love interest was multi-layered. Similar to the main character, you’ll have a strong sense of urgency with wanting to know more about him. So it’s not really difficult to relate to the main character and I think that’s what makes the story great.
Overall, I really like this book. The story was a good blend of cute young romance, fascinating characters, and a lovely work of art.
