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Nekota Shinosuke and Hoshino Sakura have always hated each other dating back to their younger days in school. However, Nekota is tired of
their bickering and has hidden his crush from her. One day he gathers his courage to tell her, but she responds not by saying that she
does or does not like him, but by saying it wouldn't be any use to date her. Puzzled by her reaction, he returns to his house only to
find out that his father has plans to remarry and visit Europe. The only problem is that the woman has a daughter who they plan to leave
with Nekota for a period of time, who turns out to be none other than Hoshino herself. Dating the girl that could possibly become his own
sibling brings unwanted trouble for Nekota, but he's not the type of person to give up so easily.
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If you can't get enough of high school romances in manga, Parallel should easily appeal to you. It's a fun light hearted manga that
easily made me a fan of Kobayashi's work with just a few chapters.
I easily noticed Parallel's fast paced and focused story that didn't waste time getting things done. Because of this I never felt bored,
but I also didn't feel the impact of what great supporting characters could do. For most of the manga, characters are introduced and
serve as means to strengthen their obvious feelings between Hoshino and Nekota, usually by making them jealous. You get a great idea of
who the main characters are, but no other characters have any profound impact. Supporting characters usually only appeared for their
allotted time and then take no major role later on in the series, with the only exception being Hoshino's sister. It's not a huge
disappointment since the manga isn't that long, but as a result, the plot becomes solely dependent on whether Nekota and Hoshino's
parents will actually marry. I found myself getting rather impatient towards the end since it was the same formula of introducing a new
character to get in the way over and over again, merely stalling until the climax of the story rather than building towards it.
I'm a big fan of the art style. I've surely seen better, but the character designs are clean, clear and detailed when they needed to be,
and the manga shows its cute side on number of occasions, which easily fits with settings and never feels out of place. I found the art
to be one of the more attractive qualities of Parallel.
Looking back, it was a pleasure watching why these two characters felt the way they do for each other. I liked how the manga showed their
growing relationship by making the characters realize and recognize habits that they never knew the other had. These little things were
enough to bolster the feelings they had, and in that respect I found it to be a little heartwarming. Even though I would have liked to
have seen more of these two, just watching them together and seeing how they slowly live their daily lives was enjoyable for me.
This is a manga I highly recommend to those who like their high school romances.
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