Love in Focus

Love is Focus is a straightforward romance with a typical high school love triangle. I read the story expecting this and I came out with an enjoyable, lighthearted, and cute experience. Regarding the love triangle. It's incredibly obvious who she is ending up with from the get-go. Though I do feel like the drama was a little bit unnecessary. I guess the drama was more one-sided than anything. The art is gorgeous, I found myself observing the characters every so often. These are some cute boys not gonna lie. The photography theme for this story feels sort of like a gimmick. It just serves asa base development for the majority of the cast having the same interests. It's not a particular issue, though I wish there was a bit more of the photography aspect weaved into the story. Lucas' secret though, that caught me off guard.

I saw this manga as I was browsing some bookshelves and thought it would be a cute and unique story. Yes, it was cute; the protagonist has a cute little love story. She discovers what love is through some dramatic interactions shown in some beautifully drawn scenes and had a satisfying ending... I guess (more on that later). Yes, it was unique... but only in the sense that photography was involved. Honestly, that was the only reason I bought the books because I love photography myself, but it didn't really spice anything up all that much. The photography theme is very important to the progression ofthe story, sure, but it still just didn't make it feel that much more special than a normal romance story, at least to me. Something that is a little disappointing to me is that early from the start of the story, you can pretty much take an educated guess who this girl is gonna get with and you won't be wrong about it (sorry if that ruins it once you start reading it). The story doesn't make you get on the edge of your seat in anticipation or make you wonder what is gonna happen. I think it doesn't have as much excitement as other love stories in the manga/anime biz. The characters are all likable but you don't learn much about them, only a little stuff important in the current scene to progress the story. It's only three volumes (sixteen chapters) though, so I can understand why not much information was given and I'm probably just being too critical because I really like deep, interesting characters. After finishing, it... well... it didn't seem finished. That's why I THINK the ending was satisfying. It was a happy, romantic ending that any romance story lover would want, only, it felt like it could've been better. Despite all that, it was still enjoyable to read and I don't regret buying it. I loved the art style and theme, plus it was just relaxing and made me feel good afterward. It did leave me wanting more but I suppose it might be possible to have too much of a good thing... So, if you like good 'ole, cute romance with a different theme intermixed (don't expect much else entirely different though) then this manga is a read for you.

I'm going to be as fair as I can be here, considering Yoko Nogiri is one of my favorite Mangaka. This series is pretty good. It's three volumes long, the art is pure eye candy, and the love interests are interesting and quite handsome. But if you're anything besides a person brand-new to this kind of manga, you've probably seen this story before. Girl with way more heart than brains gets involved in a love-triangle with the quirky brown-haired guy and reclusive dark-haired guy. And you have a 99% chance of knowing who she's going to end up with. There are some bumps here andthere, and I'm glad everyone had a chance to voice their feelings on each other. This is why I love it. This is why I adore these stories. You can turn your brain off and enjoy some silly over-dramatic romance between two gorgeous guys who have no real reason to be in love with the girl, and slowly (very slowly, mind you) figure out their feelings and address her directly. At least in this series main girl figures out who she truly likes a but earlier than others. But if I really like it, why did I rate it a 7? Well, I really enjoyed it, but in the grand scheme of things, it isn't very special. Would I recommend it? Of course! Especially if you're new to shoujo. You'll probably get a ton out of this. Oh yeah, I liked the whole photography thing. Photos are cool. Tl;dr: A fun. silly (not to mention short) romance series that has likable love interests but doesn't have too many new ideas.