u/GurNo2535

I finished this series YESTERDAY and it is SO underrated I NEED TO TALK ABOUT HOW THIS STUPID MANGA MADE ME CRY. Apologies in advance if my points don’t make sense I’m rambling I love this story sm aowoeorikfkdd

You know what’s worse than getting me invested in a relationship, just to destroy it?
Doing it TWICE, with DOUBLE the runtime, and STILL making it good.

I see a lot of people saying that they were still rooting for Saewa to be endgame even after they broke up. Personally, I wasn’t able to see it happening, not in a million years. It was for two reasons:
A) Tamifull said at the end of a volume (4 or 5?) that she wanted to explore a relationship post break-up, so I figured the manga would focus on how Saeko and Miwa navigate their new relationships whilst learning from their failed one.
B) Tamaki and Yuria were just what these girls needed that I couldn’t possibly imagine WHY they would break up other than for the author to do an asspull and make MiwaSae canon again.

Thus, I read the next few volumes with the reassurance that no matter what conflict these two couples faced, it would all be resolved by the end of the manga and they’d all end happily ever after. Doing the opposite would be bad writing… right?

And just when I thought that, Miwatama blew up in my face. And what’s worse, it felt natural.

I thought 2 were near perfect for each other. They brought out the best in one another, and almost every argument they had would be resolved. They communicated, and I thought it would be enough. I thought they were inseparable. But then… they weren’t. When Tamaki flashed Miwa the same smile that made the latter fall in love, I realized:

“Oh. It really is the end.”

I had fallen in love with MiwaTama’s dynamic, utterly charmed by their banter and love. Having never been a relationship myself, it was my first time understanding that no matter how perfect you may be with someone, there’s always something that stains that perfection — something that can completely ruin what you have, and you can’t find out until you’re in the trenches. Through HDWR, I got to see firsthand what actually makes a relationship beautiful; private moments laid bare through stellar art and narration. But as a consequence, I ended up feeling the same ugly, heavy emotions that come with breaking it all down.

It’s not fair. It never was.

So, what else could I have done?

I cried.

After reading that chapter, I knew I couldn’t stop. I had to ride the high of misery and finish. And my god was it worth it. Seeing these characters grow up, seeing Miwa and Saeko realize how much better they’ve become for themselves and each other…

God it’s so bittersweet. They had to endure so much pain to find each other. Seeing Saeko ramble about how the two might not last for 10 years made me realize just how scary getting in a relationship could be. How could anyone risk so much pain? But through Miwa’s talk with her dad, I also understood that as long as you’re doing little things to make them happy, and they acknowledge that, then it should all be ok. And seeing them live together, having traveled the world, working full time salary jobs, and still keeping contact with their exes, it was all so painfully poignant.

And of course, the manga ends not in a decisive way, but through a simple conversation about pizza that we don’t see the end of. That made me cry too, because there’s so many moments these two will share in the future, and we’ll never get to them anymore. It’s… over. What more is there to say?

It’s been less than a day, and I already miss this story. Brb gonna cry again. Thanks for reading this (if you did), I just needed to get my thoughts out. I’d love to hear y’all’s thoughts too I feel like I was late to the party.