A sweet manga that, fir the first time since reading about 40 romance stories, got me more interested in the story than how the romance would end.
This manga covers themes of bullying and fitting in. Senpai is a troubled third year who tries to suppress her problems by smiling them away rather than confronting her challenges. She finds herself in a cycle of being ostracized and bullied, trying to act all cheerful and being bullied further as a result. It is nice to see her confront her bullies and find they are also flawed, with troubles themselves and a prejudiced view of Senpai. She is the best character no doubt. Hoshi, the first year who befriends Senpai, helps her overcome her past demons while confronting his own simultaneously. He also likely crushes on Senpai, although the ending is open. I liked him well as a supporting friend for Senpai to lean on.
The message is optimistic. It assumes bullying can just be waved away by clearing up misunderstandings. While I was not bullied in high school, I was ostracized in elementary for most of the time. How I stopped the bullying was finding friends, including one very close one, to lean on and be honest with while I put up an image of sorts to fit in with those who ostracized me. Who knows, maybe if I tried what this manga suggests things would have gone better. But I can't say, although I never got an "apology", more so I had to accept a one-sided offer. Maybe high school students are different, but extrapolating my elementary school experience tells me this manga is quite optimistic. Still, I found the manga did treat themes of bullying with respect.
As for the romance, I honestly didn't care much by the end. The main theme was overcoming bullying, the romance was just an add on. I didn't like the open natured ending, but that honestly doesn't matter since the story never put romance as the primary plot driver.
This is not a great manga. But it is good, and at just 11 chapters can easily be read in an hour. Which you should.
7/10.