Marmalade Boy

Everyone kept talking about it, so I downloaded the manga and finished reading it in less than a week. My conclusion: Above Average.

Marmalade Boy shares a complicated plot but one that is followable if you pay attention to the details. Main character, Miki Koishikawa, leads an ordinary life as a high school student. She has a best friend, a crush on tennis player Ginta, a family who loves her and top records in her studies - everything is just perfect. Except that it was too perfect to be true.

Her parents came back from a holiday in Hawaii and announced that they have decided to get a divorce. They met a couple during their trip and decided to swap partners and remarried (which is totally abnormal in my perception). When both family met up, Miki met with her step brother, Yuu, who is the same age as she is. Though she was against the idea at first, she reluctantly agreed when the adults pretended to be sad. Thus, began the weird family life - two parents living under the same roof.

Yuu turns out to be a jerk as he makes fun of Miki all the time. He teases her at school and at home. However, Miki finds herself falling for him more and more as they spend more time together as a 'family'. Love and relationship become complicated when Yuu's former girlfriend appears into the scene and Ginta decides to confess his love to Miki. Later on, the manga is lengthened with unnecessary 'love rivals'.

I think I'll watch the anime next for this series - it should have a faster pace than the manga. It was still a good read though.