Manga Review: Koharu no Hibi

Title: Koharu no Hibi
Author: Ooshiro Youkou
Release: Monthly
Status: Ongoing
Genre: Romance, Psychological, Seinen
Art: B
Originality: S
Story: A
Characters: A
Humor: B
Action: B

Impression: You know how love triumphs all else? How the main couples in stories would usually overcome their crisis by believing in each other and sticking to their guns now how bad things looked. Nothing is as powerful or everlasting as true love. A wonderful statement wouldn’t you agree? Well, I’d have to agree that love is a powerful thing but it’s not always as pure and innocent as romantics would make it out to be. I actually find it to be a terrifying emotion and if you feel that I’m wrong let this series show you a way in which why my opinion about this matter is perfectly valid and justified. This series is about a guy who bumps into this tiny timid girl who happens to be one of his juniors at school while riding the train back home. He helps her with her fallen books and a couple days later gets cookies from her as thanks. He then keeps running into her as if they were in a sweet high school romance story but he soon discovers that this seemingly innocent tale has a disturbing twist to it. The otherwise cute little girl is not only in love with him, she is obsessed with him. And it’s not usual kind obsession, she doesn’t have these obvious signs of mental instability so it’s all the more disturbing when she really, really, REALLY loves the guy and is taking every sweet little thing you can do for the one you love and amplify the sweetness till it gets sickeningly so. Seriously, I almost labeled this as a horror series but figured it’s more in the psychological kind of thing since the main subject matter is obsessive love. Loving the subversion this story is going for the theme of love so I personally recommend this one to those of you who love yanderes.