Suki Desu Suzuki-kun!!

Status: Ongoing

Chibi love. It’s like everything else that is sweet and sugary presented to you in real life: either you ate it or hate it.

Suki Desu Suzuki-kun!! is that kind of a story. We’re introduced to Hoshino Sayaka, the shy megane girl with supreme acting skills, and Itou Chihiro, the popular and beautiful girl-next-door. And oh, of course, our protagonists—Suzuki Hikaru (to the right) and Suzuki Shinobu (to the left). Members of the school basketball team and as different as day and night.

...Quadruple drama, here we come!

Art – 7.2 / 10.0
Okay, I’ll be honest. I like cute things, but not chibi art. It’s fine in comedy shoujo moments. It’s adorable in shounen ones. But an entire story based on it... I don’t know. There’s the reason I put down Shugo Chara four chapters in.

The one thing that keeps me reading is how it’s obvious the story will not only revolve around their middle school days. Right from the get-go, we’re told that this is a blast to the past, rather than the story itself. In a style reminiscent of Cat Street, we’re promised some major character development (guess who was squealing about that?) and there in itself an art style change due to their aging (as you can see on the cover depicted above).

Plot/Concept – 9.6 / 10.0
What I think is really unique about this series is how we’re actually shown continuous progress over the years and how time changes people rather than it being an element necessary to move the plot forward. Without the use of time skips or hints of the past, we’re being actively told about their realistic development all the while we’re promised a plot twist. I think the storytelling in itself is pretty amazing in the way that we don’t get bored of reading, despite the fact that we know it’s just part of building the foundation for the actual plot. It’s a lot of fluff, true, but even despite its chibi art, the characters’ emotions become palpable and surprisingly real.

What I do find annoying, though, is how they tell us the ending pairing right from the get-go, there-in reassuring us of a happy ending. While most stories remain obvious with their endings, the promise of an alternate or open ending is always fuel for the fans. The tiny, last detail out of that chapter that blew open that veil of mystery entirely was completely unnecessary, in my opinion. Regardless, my interest is piqued.

Characters – 8.8 / 10.0
The two Suzuki-kuns and their respective crush are all special in their own way. Their personalities are refreshing but stereotypical, so it’ll be interesting to see how they develop; so far, they’re just cute, the whole bunch of them. This leaves us hanging in whether they will become more annoying further one post-plot twist, or if they’ll mature. With such focus on the coming-of-age aspect of this story, I’m hoping it’s the latter rather than the former.

Romance – 7.5 / 10.0
If ‘aww’-ing your brains out is your kind of thing, this romance is made for you. This early into the manga, it’s still too cute for me to be able to relate to it, albeit that in itself doesn’t have to be a bad thing. But you can tell things are going to grow more intense further on as the romance develops, and that is why I keep such a high score despite its clichéness—this type of romance is quite rare in the shoujo world. Rather than throwing in a bunch of random plot twists to progress the plot forward simply to give space to doki-doki moments, we’re shown how a relationship grows throughout the process of puberty. With the pending plot twist looming over our heads, it seems to be the perfect recipe for delicious drama.

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I have high expectations of this manga, and so far, it has yet to disappoint me. There’s definitely potential, and I’m more than willing to explore that potential. In the meantime, I’ll be waiting for more development.

Overall Rating – 9.0 / 10.0

Credits for the scans: Shoujo World and Starlight Scans