Nazo no Kanojo X
Mysterious Girlfriend X

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It's just a silly short manga about teenagers doing teenagers things.

The principal relationship does progress but only a little and the male protagonist is just a little too dumb and but at the end he gets a little less annoying.

This manga is for you if you only want a light thing to read and not pay a lot of attention, in total I think it's less than 2 or 3 hours of reading.

And the main couple progresses fast at the start so the annoying period of romantic manga where they don't confess even though they know their feelings isn't here.

I don't consider this a must ... read but at the same time it's isn't anything bad per se.

The anime is better btw, it makes the male protagonist a better character and gives it relationship a little more flesh so if you want first watch the anime ans then read the manga.

In 2012, I remember watching the anime and really liking it, despite the crazy idea that involved the exchange of saliva between the characters, the anime was very romantic. I read the manga after the end of the anime, but I didn't finish it out of laziness, as it took a long time to come out. Then recently I remembered to pick up the manga again to read and I reread it from the beginning until I got to where I had left off (around ch.63) and finished it.

Overall, the manga is very enjoyable, despite being very episodic, with the topics starting and ... ending in the same chapter, with rare exceptions such as the school festival arc, where Tsubaki and Urabe participated in the production of a film, which lasted long chapters. The most interesting thing is that many chapters seem like poetry, there is always symbolism to represent the characters' emotions, which is something well elaborated. The "connection" that they mention so much is something I understand very well, as it is something I have with my wife, I believe it is the pattern of when you find true love.

Visually, I found it very beautiful, with lots of details, in addition to the art being very different, which gives the work a more particular look.
I remember that I liked the anime's soundtrack so much, that while reading the manga chapters, I would mentally fit the songs into some scenes to give it a little more effect.

The ending was decent, I think, a little disappointing in some ways, but Tsubaki's explanation at the end made some sense, although for me, it was mere cowardice. But that's okay, the characters are innocent young people, as is common in romantic mangas.

In the end, it was quite a letdown. I understand being modest, I really do, though I don't really have this trait myself. But there are limits for that too, there is a line between modest and choking. And this story really gets more on the choking side. Being a sucker for sweet romance, I am really sensitive of relationships develoment. So, if you are like that too - be warned, there's not enough!

There's nothing much to say about the story besides that. It rides the whole time on the kinky "drool" thing, even reuses it's own ideas as story in the story. Which is ... not really bad, but it's also nothing outstanding or immersing. There are some episodes that are filled with genuine emotions but the major part is just the old man (not really too old but already too grumpy) forcing his ideals on us readers. And it would be even fine to do that, but it surely has to be more subtle than that. Punching us in the face with that ending is quite the opposite.

The characters here are not really unique too. Well, yes, you don't see many "drool bonding" girls around, but even Uraba Mikoto is mysterious enough for the manga and chapters titles. She's just shy and knows her scissors, what you're gonna do about it? The good point is that the heroes of the story feel realistic enough and not too stupid, that is really a positive thing. Because stupid wimpy, stupid agressive and just stupid characters can really fire up the rage. But even so, the people of this manga don't seem too deep or too amusing for a story with a 10-year long run.

The art is good, not anywhere near exquisite but that's fine. You don't really have the need to "drool" over every page to read the manga. It is nice enough, detailed enough and also has its own style - which, by the way, presents itself more subtle than authors views on the modern youth and how they should do relationships.

All of that said, I kind of wish I didn't read the manga. I watched the anime first, and the story it covered left room for hope - and I did hope. Well, of course, it's the author's right to ruin thing by doing them strictly his way. But it's the reader's right to complain about it. We all have our sacred things and the understanding of which way exactly they should be treated while being sacred - and that is really my cornerstone problem with this manga. If you plan to read this, don't expect much. Well, don't expect anything, that way you can't be dissapointed.