Lovesick

I read Lovesick [i]years[/i] ago, but I only remembered I read it when I saw the cover pop up again. For good measure, I reread it to confirm and yes, I think it was worth the reread. I imagine that fans of shoujo will see it as an archetypal story, but that's not a mark against it. In fact, I respect stories that stick to their premise and score the landing, unlike Koi wa Ameagari no You ni. Turn of the century manga this may be, but even a non-shoujo reader like me recognizes that its themes remain timeless for the genre. There are three storiesacross these two volumes. The main story, Lovesick, revolves around our main heroine, Tsukuhara Yue. Her mother died four years ago, leaving her with her stepfather, Kouki, who is eleven years older than her. Like mother, like daughter, as Yue falls in love with her stepfather. Since it would be no fun for it to be one-sided, Kouki has also fallen for her . Unlike their minds, their hearts are too honest to allow them to fool themselves with other relationships. This dynamic of insecurity and jealousy sets up a lot of the conflict and tension in the plot. The secondary stories star Kouno Eri (Koukando Equals) and Yoshinaga Urara (Diamond). Eri was bullied in elementary school, and she carries the emotional scars into high school, though she does not show it. Meanwhile, Urara is a plain girl who feels like she has nowhere to belong. Again, like the main story, the themes are timeless to the genre, involving growth, forgiveness, and finding the courage to change. The art is typical of late 90s/early 00s shoujo, slender, appealing to beauty sort of thing. I think it's done well, but I also don't think it stands out. The stories are told well, which is far more important than the Rian Johnson approach of "subverting expectations." What people don't realize is that tropes/cliches are not [i]bad[/i]. They exist because they have an appeal that can cross generations. They are only bad when they are used poorly, and since 95% of what's written out there is written clumsily, the end result is a negative reputation. Heck, I'm not even a shoujo reader, and I still think these were some well-told tales. As it's only two volumes, it's an afternoon read, and a rather quick one at that. Fans of shoujo who want to explore earlier entries in the genre will be more than happy with this. Older shoujo fans will also find this a comfortable manga, especially if they haven't been reading it lately.