A Method to Make the Gentle World

Spoiler warning*** Story: 6 the story of a prodigy student who became a teacher not quite an uncommon plot, yet this manga seems to reinforce or satisfy the fantasy of teacher/student relationship. This was not the quite plot that I expected, yet it wasn't really a surprise factor as it seems to drive in this direction very early in the story. Essentially 3 main characters, Tomonaga, Haruka, and Aoi are all seemingly related to the scheme of the plot, but there is quite obviously a focus on the relationship between Aoi and Tomanaga, with Haruka as a girl with hopeless, unrequited feelings for her teacher. We laterfind out that Aoi is a genius, similarly to Tomanaga and this further drives their relationship into boundaries that not even Tomanaga wanted to indulge in as they both try to uncover the mathematical concept that explains the world in all its beauties. While there is a emphasis on physics and mathematics, one can enjoy the story without really acknowledging it, which is convenient i guess. As mentioned before, this story seems to satisfy a rather particular niche, yet lacks motivation for progression besides a the love relationship. Strange due to the fact that the main character seems to discourage such relationships in general. Art: 8 It's good, not extremely unique but satisfying for a lack of a better word. Characters: 6 While there are other characters in Aoi's friend group, some that reinforce the teacher/student relationship and others that are completely unrelated to the plot. I might've missed something, but the general sense of some of the characters seemed to be very vague in terms of presence or relation to the story. Tomanaga and Aoi are explicitly the main characters, and while the story tries to intertwine Haruka into the plot by convenience, she merely seems to represent the rom/com (with a lack of com) and is left in the dust. This could be seen as realistic and bitter turn of events, but i honestly ask the question; what's the point? Haruka's experience kickstarts the story and puts her in the spotlight in the beginning, but later on her presence dwindles and her pursuits for love seem so hopeless, i can't help but feel pity. Tomanaga lacks a solid background besides the fact that he was a genius kid while Aoi's experiences are more developed, and these two are completely cut off from the rest of the world while working together in their lab. This directly relates to the relative beauty of the world in the eyes of others, and it becomes clear that my views differ from Tomanaga's or Aoi's. Probably why Tomanaga seemed like such a spineless individual that lacked anything I could empathize with. Enjoyment / Overall: 6 In conclusion, this manga was a fine time-spender and a 6 seems to fit my experiences with it fairly well. Not exactly my cup of tea, but similarly to the beauties of this world, thats relative to the individual.

This story is slice of life and seinen/josei, not shonen. It is very far from being shonen. It's silly to have categorised it as such. It's simply erroneously categorised here on MAL in my opinion. The characters don't do "silly" shonen-ish things, there is nothing heroic, outstanding or whatever of the sort about anything in this story. The story is just a story about a few people whose lives intertwined and how they go on about those daily lives as such. This was a weird manga. For the stuff that matters to me, and I don't really think there was anything else, it is oh so veryrealistic. Everything was down to earth, without a single thing that shaked the sync at which I was in with the story. Out of all the characters, Tohno Touko etched herself the most in my mind, but I am happy to feel that by saying that I am doing somewhat of an injustice for Hirose and Kusakabe. Even Kayo, even all the rest. But yea, the two of them were wonderfull in different ways. I could describe this manga satisfactory enough with a single word: "Gentle". Everything that went on was.. Just girls, young ones, on the verge of adulthood, living their lives, growing up. I even grew to appreciate the male lead, Tomonaga, and very much so his techer-friend-colleague. Some characters were somewhat minor in the story, but they had their role, and were not suddenly dead by the time it was over. Those characters too are realistic. Some people in life aren't there all the time, but they are sometimes and they are the people we know and are friends with. That's what I mean. The minor characters are consistently existent, and were not single-use tools. Just like in real life. Now, as regarding the thing that stuck with me intensively for days back when I had just read this, and that I can get in the mindset of back easily through a song; Tohno Touko. There's a music album that I'd been listening to as I was reading the story. It ended up as the music I think Tohno likes. In particular, one song became associated with Tohno in my mind. I fantasize about how she walked outside alone while listening to this song, how she liked to listen to this song as she walked alone outside without a place to go to. Just wandering alone like a hidden gem that can't shine.. The song (【東方ボーカル】 「モノクロ インザナイト (CYTOKINE remix)」) was beautiful to me and that's why I was actively listening it, but through Tohno's character the beauty of it developed into strong melancholy. Whenever I listen to the song now, images of Tohno wandering the streets, alone and doing her best to stay strong, flow through my mind. Oh how the song was seemingly happy, before I started hearing the notes of uncertainty and concern, even fear and tears, the interpretation of which was brought to me by Tohno. Tohno Touko is amazing to me, I love her. Kusakabe and Hirose are angels are none the less wonderful themself. I have a special feeling about the both of them. But Tohno's character touched me the most, I feel like I can sympathise with her the most. This is a 10/10 manga for me. I love it because of how gentle and beautiful the story is, without being unrealastic. Like, such beauty, such gentle beauty (that the whole story is), I can beleive to be real. It's nice to have that feeling. Helps me live by helping me believe I'll perhaps meet such people one day, but yea; It's undoubtedly far too late for me to find such bliss. Also, I am not stuck on describing the story as gentle because of its title. The story, the feel of it.. It was for me like being in a fluffy blanket during a cold winter. I don't think that I wouldn't have described it the same way had the title been something entirely different, if it did not include the word "gentle". :) The art is beautiful, the characters are love, the story is realistic, and I was looking forward to reading the story rather instead of feeling burdened with the obligation to read it. 10 all around.

SOME MINOR SPOILER AHEAD A great underrated manga but definitely not for the romance manga (especially shoujo ones) lovers. Don't be fooled by the romance tag, the manga focuses on two characters and their struggles in the academic field: Yuu Tomonaga, a genius that has faced the hardships of the backstage of the research field for the first time and Aoi Hirose, an equally genius highschool girl trying to conciliate her complicated family conditions and the dream of pursuing an academic career. I think that "Yasashii" does a great job on showing the reality in the academic field and this might be the best manga on doing so.Professors stealing their students thesis, fight for a titular professor chair, research fund cuts, etc. Although there are some details that give right away that the author herself is not a scientist (I mean, that two-piece blackboard on the prep room is a joke and so is the whole sequence on which Tomonaga HACKS into his brother's PC). There is romance though, but it's very underdeveloped. The main couple in particular is not very convincing as they lose the spotlight to the secondary couple AND to the main plot. The art is pretty but forgettable and the character design is bland. The only character that felt off to me was Kusakabe, she can be seen as the main character of the manga too, I hated her guts. The fujoshi was fine, every manga needs a comic relief right? And I really loved the Aoi character, even more than Tomonaga, she had the best character development by far. Touko is great too, really likeable character. If this manga had ~3 more volumes and had it ended slightly differently, I'd have here a possible 10/10 contender.