I love cover art that's made with pastel.
I bought the first 6 volumes hoping that it would be an awesome series with realistic fan service. (I'm a guy so I have my eye candy needs.) It turns out, this is more exciting and more frustrating than what Love Hina offered! Awesome sauce!
Pastel Volume 1: (by Toshihiko Kobayashi) Mugi (Wheat) Tadano, is a 16 boy who has recently broken up with her girlfriend. He lives a mundane life until he met Yuu Tsukisaki. A gorgeous girl with a killer body, will she be the one that heals Mugi broken heart? Or will she be the one that got away?
Art: Cartoon-y yet realistic. With this being a rom-com title, you don't need fine details on the characters. The details are somehow on the clothes of the characters, weird. Toshihiko Kobayashi—the mangaka for this series—seems to like the clothes on girls to be really suggestive of the female anatomy (that's mainly for fan service).
The background and scenery are a drawn realistically. It's amazing how they can get so much detail out of that. I guess they could reuse the same background over and over again. The character don't get much love because they are multiple scenes to draw and so little time that if they were to be that detailed, it would be a huge pain.
The details on that panel. Sooo good!
The panel pacing is good since this title is more about the conversation between the characters and not on action. It focuses on dialogue but prioritizes shocking action when it needs to.
Story: The story dragged out too long before it matured (the whole series, since I read all the volumes that Del Rey published until they gave up their licenses to Kodansha Comics USA) and it was frustrating. The gags they pull are comparable to Love Hina but in a realistic way. The reaction of the characters are more natural and more human than the other titles. It does end with a minor cliffhanger but that aside, it's a cool story to read.
Characters: The characters are pure and innocent (except for Kazuki) as the story starts out. Mugi developed quite early and is mature in every way possible, except for handling complex stuff. Yuu is unbelievably open, she is the kind of character you'll fall in love too because she's gentle, kind and elegant. She still has her moments of childishness but that aside, she's a nice complement to Mugi's personality.
Bottomline: Read it! You must! This is a really light read that anyone can read. The target audience for this title are early teens to early adults. You can really relate to Mugi's feelings as he's the average guy. This is recommended for girls too, I mean, if you don't know much about what guys are thinking about, then you should try it. I know the fan service might turn any girl off but I think you can get past that if you tried.
The review for volume 2 will come out a week from now so I hope you finish volume 2 by then. See ya then!
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