Pita-Ten
Got a bunch of my old manga back from storage a few weeks ago, so I've been going back in time with some of my childhood favorites. It's always a little scary reading your childhood favs because you don't how how well they'll hold up, but this still made me tear up by the end.
There are some things that really stand out in a worse way now that I'm older. Like how you've got all these deep introspection moments from 12-year olds lol. Like I don't think the story would've changed much if you had this all being about their senior year of high school, though Misha's baby talk would've stood out more. Speaking of that that really didn't age well, I remember thinking it was cute when I was younger but it's super grating to me now, like ugh. Also I think the main romance is pretty romance is pretty rushed, like Kotarou is so standoffish to Misha that by the time he realizes he actually likes her he goes straight to falling super hard over her to the point that it's almost unbelievable, though with time running out between I can still barely believe it. Ayanokoji's feelings for Uematsu come out of nowhere and look like just a blatant attempt to give Kotarou the kick in the butt he needs to get a move on.
But still, a lot of things got me even though I remembered what was coming. Shia's death hits just as hard as I remembered, and even though she's still mentioned it still struck me how she's not even there for the rest of the manga. And while it makes sense, Kotarou wishing he wouldn't see angels anymore had me tearing up. The ending is so bittersweet as well. These days I feel like people would be having wars over who was best girl: Shia or Misha? Well in this, neither of them "win" lol. Like this is technically a harem because you have the guy surrounded by three girls who like him, but none of them "win", one of them even dies and the other leaves his life forever. And yet the ending is still very satisfying!
It's weird because there's a pretty clear separation in tone between the first four volumes of the manga and the last four. The first four is kind of build-up, you see the foreshadowing but it's mainly just fun hijinks. The second half of the manga is very serious throughout, though Misha does bring some light to all that. The anime opted to take the former form completely, not bothering for any of the serious stuff you see in the manga, which I really didn't like at all and never bothered watching beyond the first episode.
But yeah, this is still one of my favorites, and I still think it's Kobe Donbo's best work. I've got her other work, Kamichama Karin, up next. I liked that manga (especially because I'm a magical girl stan) but not nearly as much as this. Kinda sad Donbo seemed to have dropped doing manga ever since she got married eight years ago. I was such a big fan of hers back in the day.
