Kusunoki's Flunking Her High School Glow-Up - Vol. 4 Ch. 25 - But when I'm with Kusunoki, I...
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So... are we back to the plot now? I don't know. I kinda feel like this manga skips steps. That or I have serious memory loss (which is possible). It started with him only agreeing to be temporary friends to help her make friends... so far he's helped her make all of one friend. Which was her childhood friend. The other one (the girl who was the subject of the bad memories conversation) just kinda weaseled in there and we know isn't really her friend. Aside from that the Manga hasn't even really introduced female characters worth becoming her friend. The MC has since the premise just kinda given in to extending their "temporary" friendship agreement, but I don't remember them ever actually agreeing to be friends permanently or that plot point ever getting resolved.
I've always known this would become a romance between the two leads, so it's not really a surprise. But pacing and story wise it just feels a little off. In 25 chapters it wouldn't have been that hard to have the MC help her make 3 actual friends and then during that time the MC has revealed his trauma to the female lead and she helps him get used to women as an addendum to their agreement. After the female lead has made 3 close friends (which is more than enough) and learned how to open up and be more herself in public and social, there could be a mini arc about the agreement being resolved (by this time the MC could have gotten used to being around most girls). While being apart they both realize how close they've gotten and it ends with them stating they want to be full friends (like actual friends). This could have taken about 15 chapters (intro, 3 for each new friend, filler slice of life chapters here and there to flesh out characters, and like two more for them to become true friends). Then the story continues with a couple more slice of life. Around here the MC starts to realize he has feelings for the female lead. But at this time the snake eyes girl having heard of the female lead's growing popularity and feeling threatened could weasle her way into their friend group (the female MC can't really say no to being friends without outing her and the MC's middle school history). The MC's trauma could start flaring up again and both him and the female lead would have to deal with the snake eyes without outing themselves. The next 10ish chapters can then be about them dealing with that with it eventually ending with the snake eyes learning their middle school identities and outing them and them both proudly accepting that's who they were and no longer being ashamed. And none of their actual friends care. At that point Snake Eyes true colors are also shown. Not as a particularly bad person, but a superficial one who ONLY cares about appearances and what people she barely even know think about her. That'd be a fantastic contrast to the male and female lead and the high school life they built for themselves. During that final arc there could a chapter that plays out much like this and the MC confesses and the two start dating. Then we could continue to to through their high school life as they continue to grow and tackle issues together. It's not that complex.
Like am I the only one frustrated by this? The premise is the Kusunoki making friends. The title is literally about her high school debut and yet there aren't even fleshed out side characters 25 chapters in. The MC's friends are all joke harem romcom dating sim friends (god that time he tried to pass the horny one off as a potential first friend for her was awful). The only girls with remotely non-cardboard characters are the snake eyes girl (for whatever reason her first friend 🙄) and her childhood friend (which was actually a good friend for her to make and a nice arc). Then it's literally just faceless rumor mill girls and the snake eyes mean girls groupies...
I just feel like it all this wanted to be was a rom com then it should have gone for that from chapter one. Not done this roundabout storyline it never really even followed.
Edit: Reading through the comments it does seem like the author has successfully gaslit what this story is about (or at least said it's about) 🙃. I feel like there was some big Crisis on Infinite Earth's reboot chapter I missed and everyone else read.
I don't know if this clarifies it more but it really feels unearned here. Like characters haven't been consistently moving from A to B and I'm not sure what throughline I should be following. Like okay the guage for progress and grounding the story isn't the female lead making friends. Okay then is it her character development and becoming more social and outgoing (or more okay with NOT being that person)? Eh, not really. We've only done that once and recently with her childhood friend (which also only just introduced that she used to be outgoing and one reason why she wanted the high school debut which okay great but it just felt out of nowhere). Is about the MC's character development? Eh, I guess but like what does he have to develop? All that's there is the whole feeling sick around pretty girls. The plot never made a huge point of working toward that or more importantly getting to the heart of why the snake eyes girl hurt him so much (yes we can kinda get it, but I mean like that could have been well tied into the MC being ashamed of himself and not liking who he was and it could have made a clear point that he gradually learned to accept who he was and what he liked and be more public about his interests again and not force a facade to be accepted in the school hierarchy). I mean for example what effect does the last chapter with the MC being forced to confront his trauma and the snake eyes girl actually do? What development has the writing thus far attached to him facing his trauma and moving past it? Like that he just doesn't act sick around her? To me the whole scene just felt like nothing because I haven't been made to understand any stakes or real potential consequences or possible character growth. So then what has there been? And then all of a sudden it hints at a harem?? Except not really because the MC has decided he loves the female lead (when I'm pretty sure they're still just temporary friends unless that was unceremoniously changed) and the childhood friend is literally just a joke of a rival. Also the snake eyes girl just doesn't care lmao, so that stint of her caring about him just went nowhere (it also seems out of character and even the in scene explanation didn't make sense. She's the type of person just trying to get close to Kusunoki due to her popularity (so superficial af) which is in line with the MC's flashback of her saying she's only nice to him to look good, but then she backs down and starts using the MC as an angle to get to Kusunoki because... reasons? She doesn't want to hurt someone she doesn't care about I guess...?).
Eh, maybe I just shouldn't be reading this. I mean it certainly seems like just a me thing judging from the comments. So I guess it's just my problem and I should drop which is unfortunate. I did like the premise and characters initially and was looking forward to the story developing and characters growing.
I've always known this would become a romance between the two leads, so it's not really a surprise. But pacing and story wise it just feels a little off. In 25 chapters it wouldn't have been that hard to have the MC help her make 3 actual friends and then during that time the MC has revealed his trauma to the female lead and she helps him get used to women as an addendum to their agreement. After the female lead has made 3 close friends (which is more than enough) and learned how to open up and be more herself in public and social, there could be a mini arc about the agreement being resolved (by this time the MC could have gotten used to being around most girls). While being apart they both realize how close they've gotten and it ends with them stating they want to be full friends (like actual friends). This could have taken about 15 chapters (intro, 3 for each new friend, filler slice of life chapters here and there to flesh out characters, and like two more for them to become true friends). Then the story continues with a couple more slice of life. Around here the MC starts to realize he has feelings for the female lead. But at this time the snake eyes girl having heard of the female lead's growing popularity and feeling threatened could weasle her way into their friend group (the female MC can't really say no to being friends without outing her and the MC's middle school history). The MC's trauma could start flaring up again and both him and the female lead would have to deal with the snake eyes without outing themselves. The next 10ish chapters can then be about them dealing with that with it eventually ending with the snake eyes learning their middle school identities and outing them and them both proudly accepting that's who they were and no longer being ashamed. And none of their actual friends care. At that point Snake Eyes true colors are also shown. Not as a particularly bad person, but a superficial one who ONLY cares about appearances and what people she barely even know think about her. That'd be a fantastic contrast to the male and female lead and the high school life they built for themselves. During that final arc there could a chapter that plays out much like this and the MC confesses and the two start dating. Then we could continue to to through their high school life as they continue to grow and tackle issues together. It's not that complex.
Like am I the only one frustrated by this? The premise is the Kusunoki making friends. The title is literally about her high school debut and yet there aren't even fleshed out side characters 25 chapters in. The MC's friends are all joke harem romcom dating sim friends (god that time he tried to pass the horny one off as a potential first friend for her was awful). The only girls with remotely non-cardboard characters are the snake eyes girl (for whatever reason her first friend 🙄) and her childhood friend (which was actually a good friend for her to make and a nice arc). Then it's literally just faceless rumor mill girls and the snake eyes mean girls groupies...
I just feel like it all this wanted to be was a rom com then it should have gone for that from chapter one. Not done this roundabout storyline it never really even followed.
Edit: Reading through the comments it does seem like the author has successfully gaslit what this story is about (or at least said it's about) 🙃. I feel like there was some big Crisis on Infinite Earth's reboot chapter I missed and everyone else read.
I don't know if this clarifies it more but it really feels unearned here. Like characters haven't been consistently moving from A to B and I'm not sure what throughline I should be following. Like okay the guage for progress and grounding the story isn't the female lead making friends. Okay then is it her character development and becoming more social and outgoing (or more okay with NOT being that person)? Eh, not really. We've only done that once and recently with her childhood friend (which also only just introduced that she used to be outgoing and one reason why she wanted the high school debut which okay great but it just felt out of nowhere). Is about the MC's character development? Eh, I guess but like what does he have to develop? All that's there is the whole feeling sick around pretty girls. The plot never made a huge point of working toward that or more importantly getting to the heart of why the snake eyes girl hurt him so much (yes we can kinda get it, but I mean like that could have been well tied into the MC being ashamed of himself and not liking who he was and it could have made a clear point that he gradually learned to accept who he was and what he liked and be more public about his interests again and not force a facade to be accepted in the school hierarchy). I mean for example what effect does the last chapter with the MC being forced to confront his trauma and the snake eyes girl actually do? What development has the writing thus far attached to him facing his trauma and moving past it? Like that he just doesn't act sick around her? To me the whole scene just felt like nothing because I haven't been made to understand any stakes or real potential consequences or possible character growth. So then what has there been? And then all of a sudden it hints at a harem?? Except not really because the MC has decided he loves the female lead (when I'm pretty sure they're still just temporary friends unless that was unceremoniously changed) and the childhood friend is literally just a joke of a rival. Also the snake eyes girl just doesn't care lmao, so that stint of her caring about him just went nowhere (it also seems out of character and even the in scene explanation didn't make sense. She's the type of person just trying to get close to Kusunoki due to her popularity (so superficial af) which is in line with the MC's flashback of her saying she's only nice to him to look good, but then she backs down and starts using the MC as an angle to get to Kusunoki because... reasons? She doesn't want to hurt someone she doesn't care about I guess...?).
Eh, maybe I just shouldn't be reading this. I mean it certainly seems like just a me thing judging from the comments. So I guess it's just my problem and I should drop which is unfortunate. I did like the premise and characters initially and was looking forward to the story developing and characters growing.
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Lets gooooo
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I am sorry but... Well written? This mofo tried to pass the poor girl to some other guy that clearly wanted to get into her pants and was like "eh he really likes her so better this way"
He is such a fucking coward that he was prepared to pass around a girl that clearly likes him like a used tissue for others to use and we acknowledge him as "well written"?
And for the record, his friend that got her number after she was nudged by the MC to accept, might still call her, ask her out and generally try to flirt her. We never saw if that "dinner" between the male friend and Kusonoki took place.
So yeah.. He's anything BUT we'll written
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more like absolutely obliterated his shit over a petty grudge 😭 bro had L aura
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this getting axed then?
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I want him to shoot her down so bad, she'll puke.
A scene where she confesses to him, and he tells her to fuck off, right then and there.
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Dude that was like half a series ago, i mean he obviously did not recognise or like her at first, but after more interactions and getting over hebikawa he finally realises that girl's worth. It's called character growth and imo as well is well written.
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FINALLY I SUFFERED 25 CHAPTER FOR THAT LINE YSSS
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whats the manga's release schedule???
With the way this was paced, it feels like he just falls for any girl that's nice to him.
In fact, this chapter really makes Shizuki seem super shallow. He fell in love with Hibekawa just because she was cute and nice to him, but the don't really seem to have anything in common or much chemistry or anything. However, he knew Kusunoki in middle school too, and her personality hasn't really changed, but now he suddenly likes her when she's cute?
This mangaka didn't really think through the main character's story arc very well, he doesn't seem like the kind of person we should really be rooting for.
In fact, this chapter really makes Shizuki seem super shallow. He fell in love with Hibekawa just because she was cute and nice to him, but the don't really seem to have anything in common or much chemistry or anything. However, he knew Kusunoki in middle school too, and her personality hasn't really changed, but now he suddenly likes her when she's cute?
This mangaka didn't really think through the main character's story arc very well, he doesn't seem like the kind of person we should really be rooting for.
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Yea, you're definitely over reacting to what happened. Exchanging numbers is not "using" someone. And Shizuk definitely never did anything that would make Kusunoki a "used tissue."
It's like you're embodying Shizuki, turning a relatively small thing into a way huger deal than it is.
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I am not saying she got intimate with that looser in any way but the act of trying to force her into a male x female relationship, with prospect of dating (he knew that the loser friend wanted to date her) is just fucked up. And for all we know that possibility has not been completely eradicated.
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