Say I Love You

Title:  Say I Love You
Japanese Title:  Sukitte Ii na Yo
Mangaka:  Kanae Hazuki
Length: 8 Volumes (Ongoing)
English Translation?  Nope.  Gotta read it online if you want it.
Demo/Genre:  Shoujo/Slice-of-Life/Romantic Comedy

How did I find out about it?  Its popularity on mangareader piqued my curiousity.

Mei Tachibana is a quiet misfit at school.  Though she is constantly ridiculed by her classmates, she brushes aside their taunts and pranks and pretends that it doesn't bother her.  Yamato Kurosawa, the most popular boy in school (because it always has to be the most popular boy in school in these types of stories) notices his best friend ridiculing Mei and takes interest in her.  When Mei reaches her limit and mistakenly identifies Yamato as the prankster (with a roundhouse kick, no less), his interest leads him to talk to her, and thus their awkward friendship begins, which soon lends to a blossoming young love, and so on and so forth.

I didn't know anyone who had read this series, so I went into this series with no recommendations whatsoever.  While I didn't really dislike it, it's far from a favorite.  If the premise sounds a little tired and done, you're right.  I've said before that if a series is really well done, I can overlook tired stereotypes.  I had a hard time getting past them here.  The romance develops just a little too quickly, and the lead protagonists suffer from a lack of development.  It wasn't horrible.  I really did enjoy it.  It just didn't really stand out.

I can see where opportunities were missed here.  For instance, we learn that Yamato had a friend in middle school who was bullied.  He has since felt guilty that he was never able to do anything to help him.  A comparison between this friend and Mei is drawn, but it's hardly fleshed out.  I feel that SILY would have benefitted from this aspect of Yamato's past being further developed.  We could have seen him immediately connect Mei's plight with that of his friend, and in his efforts to avoid repeating his past mistake, he would fall for Mei. Just a suggestion.  On Mei's end, she explains to someone that she didn't avenge her bullying because it wouldn't stop the cycle.  This is another instance where I feel like a good topic was touched, but not properly developed.  We, the readers, see Mei reach her limit and finally strike back in the first chapter.  I feel like it shouldn't have happened that fast.  If that is her belief, then I would have liked to have seen it drawn out a little more, which would lend to what I said before about Yamato's could-have-been role in the story.  No matter how it was done, I feel that more development was needed in both the characters and in the plot.  It's a shame, too.  Mei isn't your typical shoujo heroine.  I really would have liked to have seen her shine.

Only the first five volumes or so have been scanlated, so it's of course possible that the series redeems itself later.  As it is though, it's lacking.  Like I said, it's not horrible.  Overall, I enjoyed reading it.  It's just not something that stands out as unique or special to me.  If it's ever licensed here in the States, I probably won't purchase it.