Maddies Manga

Characters

I’m going to introduce our two main characters, and their main antagonist, Fumin.

Zen

• I think the best thing about Zen is that he is very attentive to those around him. Zen knows that the people around Lisa think of her as an overly studious girl who can do anything on her own, and so he works hard to become someone that she can rely on.
• He is depicted as a troublemaker. In his group of friends, Zen seems to be something of a “leader” and can be seen giving orders to his friends (Isn’t it cool to have some authority?).
• There are rumors circulating around Lisa’s cram school that he is a dangerous person. It hasn’t been revealed where it started or if he’s really dangerous just yet.
• He puts importance on repaying debts. I also think it’s admirable that he lives life according to his own set rules.

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Lisa

• She seems to be rather troubled until the just about the end of the manga, as she has a crush on her cram school teacher.
• She is a very serious and hardworking high school student. At her cram school, people wonder out loud why she is there, as she’s very capable on her own.
• She has a lot of courage. She often saves herself rather than wait for a man to save them. (Isn’t she cool too!)
• She seems to be smart enough to teach her classmates how to study. (Zen contracts her to tutor him and his friends)

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Fumin

• Can I just say that I find his name incredibly cute for an antagonist.
• There hasn’t been a lot revealed about him just yet.
• He is said to love harrassing Zen for no reason, but he claims to know a secret about Zen.

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The Story

One rainy day, Lisa finds a beaten-up Zen and helps him find his way to a hospital. Incredibly touched, Zen creates a “get out of jail free card” and gives it to Lisa. Lisa refuses the card, perhaps because she doesn’t want to be indebted to Zen, as she doesn’t know how she could repay him. Zen, finding Lisa to be incredibly cool, doesn’t give up after this refusal and continues to stay by her side.

Zen, as a troublemaker, has several enemies, and Lisa gets inadvertently involved from the get-go. Even when in trouble, she does not ask anyone for help and does her best to save herself. Only when she’s in actual need of saving does Zen swoop in like a savior.

The relationship between the two gradually deepens as the story unfolds. Zen begins to take Lisa to cram school on his motorcycle, and Lisa begins to tutor Zen. Zen’s friend group also makes a brief appearance, but really only serves to further the relationship development between Lisa and Zen.

As the story progresses, you can see their relationship stabilize. As Lisa gradually gets used to having people around her, she begins to rely on Zen a little more. This does move at a rather slow pace, as she is used to doing everything for herself. The romance in this story can be seen from the very first page, and you can tell early on that the two have mutual feelings for each other. It’s a lot of fun to watch the two of them interact.

I’m not going to spoil the whole story here, so I recommend reading it if you are at all interested!

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The good

• The artstyle is beautiful. I think the design for Zen is especially nice. Even if the story wasn’t that interesting, I would be satisfied just by looking at the pictures (though I do love the story).
• Lisa’s personality. It’s so refreshing to see her stand up for herself! I really like it because there aren’t many assertive female characters like this in shojo manga.

• In the above photo, Lisa is trying to protect Zen even though she doesn’t know the details of the situation. Isn’t she so cool!
• Literally everything about Zen.

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The less than good

• I want to know more about Zen friends! There are four of them, so of course they couldn’t all have a large part in the story, but I’d like to see them more fleshed out in the future.

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Lastly…

Can high school students really ride motorcycles in Japan? This manga had me questioning everything haha. This story was so refreshing that I am planning to review the second book as well! If you have read this manga, please let me know your opinion!