True Love, why am I reading this?!

With the way that the past few weeks have been going I really needed something light hearted and charming to escape the real world for a little while. With a title like True Love I could not help but open it up and dive right in. I should probably have read the about first…

• Mangaka: Sugiyama Miwako
• Genre: Drama, Shoujo, Romance, Slice of Life
• Chapters: 34
• Status: Ongoing
• Release Date: May 2013
• Anime Adaption: No

About:

Ai adores her big brother, Yuzuru. He is one year older than her. Yuzuru is so reliable and kind. He is just so cool. Yuzuru does all he can to protect his sister’s smile from cheering her up when she cries to protecting her from bullies and their arguing parents. When Ai is six their parents get divorced and the siblings are torn apart. Ai goes and lives with her mother while Yuzuru remains with their father. After nine years apart the two are finally reunited. So why are the two so close and why are they often confused as a couple? What happens when feelings shift from simple brother and sisterly love?

My thoughts:

Yea, I wish I had read what this was about before I had started reading this. Although the fact that it is a story about siblings falling in love was obvious pretty early on. Honestly when I read the first part of this I thought they were childhood friends, so I thought it would be a sweet story. Then I realised something was not quite right and that they are actually siblings. Don’t get me wrong, I have read plenty manga where siblings fall in love with each other. I even enjoyed them. However, they were siblings through marriage and not blood. Basically ‘steps’ which I can wrap my head around, kind of. So while I was reading this I was hoping that by some amazing plot twist the brother was adopted and then the mother fell pregnant soon after. That hope also quickly faded however. They are full on brother and sister, so a full on incest couple. Other than the whole incest thing, the story is actually charming and I like the pair as a couple.

The art was done well and the story flowed nicely. You were not left waiting for the next part to happen. The characters were done well with growth and depth added as the story moves along. You can clearly see how the events are influencing the characters as well as how they are changing with time. This manga covers a lot of time in short succession. You do jump to the past a bit but it is not disrupting and adds to the story and is not just there to get you to sympathise. Overall it is a typical Shojo with the beach, teenage drama, a cool and charming guy that all the girls want. I just don’t really understand why I am still reading this. Honestly the incest has put me on edge a little and put me off. Yet I just can’t leave these two alone and I want to see how all of the drama involved gets settled.

The review continues but with spoilers from here on! You have been warned!

Okay yea I was silly to think the two were childhood friends as the very first page Ai calls Yuzuru ‘onii-chan’. The first chapter was really sweet with the two of them running around in their younger years. Plus we get to see them promise to be ‘forever together’. Plus we get to see them nine years later when they are finally reunited. Once they were together again you can clearly see that what the brother feels is more than plain brotherly love and affection. I was also left asking myself; why would she shorten her skirt for her brother?

Although Yuzuru clearly feels more than he should, I admire him for the way he was not going to do anything. I was also impressed at how far he was willing to go to not be involved with her. It was a strange feeling to watch him struggle to bury his feelings as well as to still spend time with his little sister as a brother should. It was amusing when Asahi Nashuuji (Yuzuru’s best friend) expressed an interest in Ai.

Ai was hesitant at first not really sure what she was feeling and fighting with the reality that they are siblings. Especially while she battled with the fact that her best friend also loves her brother. She gets jealous of her brother and best friend when they spend time together. When Ai realises that she is in love with Yuzuru she hides it from him for a short time. However it isn’t long before she confesses to him even though he begs her not to say it because he knew if she said it he would not be able to resist. Even though the incest bugs me I give credit to Yuzuru for breaking up with his girlfriend the day that Ai confesses. At least that was not drawn out or used as a cover for their relationship.

Even with all of the emotional sides and the weird mixed feelings of them finally being together we now get to watch as the actual drama starts to unfold as their relationship slowly becomes known to others and friendships are tested and some ruined.

Thanks for reading my review! Would you or have you read this manga? I would love to know your thoughts!