Ore Monogatari!!
My Love Story!!

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Ore Monogatari is desperately sincere in its romance to the point of idealism. Its for that very same reason, though, that I kind of love it? The overly schmaltzy back and forth between Takeo and Yamato can border on the tired side in those first ten chapters, I’ll admit – But the moment conflicts that potentially put their relationship on the rocks (at least from the characters perspective) start to involve themselves in the form of short storylines, the depth of the series really starts to show it’s hand and reading through becomes that much more engaging.

In many many ways Takeo is the perfect ... character; embodying a can-do-everything teen towering over everyone around him. In any other series I would immediately lambast Takeo for being one-note or “too perfect” but the story allows itself to have its cake by infusing him with a whole lot of self-doubt and loathing that ends up making him overlook some of the best aspects of himself. Though he starts from what is already perfection, Takeo recognizes when he feels the need to subvert that perfection for the sake of taking other’s feelings into consideration and allows himself plenty of room to continue growing into someone much greater as the story goes on. The burden of doubt isn’t his alone to bare and the series makes it a point to acknowledge that some of these personal mental battles can’t be won alone; that even a character like Takeo can feel pain and those who have been impacted by his kindness will respond with that very same kindness to help him out. The last chapter really highlighted his impact as all our major and minor characters come to Takeo in his moment of mental weakness. In that scene, it really felt as if Ore Monogatari had really crafted a great ensemble cast of memorable characters and that those characters were naturally justified in their willingness to help. Also, I would be lying (and since it’s worth mentioning) if I didn’t say that Takeo’s fantastic character design didn’t boost his likeability by a wide margin from the outset.

Touching a bit more about character’s other than Takeo, Sunakawa’s stance in the first chapter that rejection to girls comes easily to him insofar as those girls continue to talk badly behind Takeo’s back was a writing decision that forever kept me endeared to his person. Sunakawa only continues to be ever introspective and loving to his friend which goes very far in making me happy. Yamato, though pretty boring on her own, ends up getting a whole lot of mileage with a fair amount of comedy and a whole lot of cuteness (?) through her interactions with Takeo. Their romance feels almost too white and pure but is roped in fairly well due to how natural some of the dialog can be and the amount of chemistry that’s illustrated through it. I get a feeling that I end up caught in my own triangle where I love Yamato because Takeo loves Yamato and Yamato loves Takeo and I love Takeo so in turn I love Yamato because she thinks he’s pretty neat and so do I.

What I’m trying to say is that they are quite literally perfect for each other and what a great way for the series to end on a note directly addressing to the audience that their romance is not an exception or special – it’s common, real; that anyone can have what these characters have because everyone has someone out there to love and to be loved back. Overly idealistic, and I love it that way.

Sweet....sometimes too sweet but isn't that a hallmark of such a series. if it wasn't for its moments of character introspection and development it would have been like any other run-of-mill shoujo manga.

other than the main relationship between Takeo and Rinko, the one that always captivated me was that of Takeo and Makoto. one will wish to have a friend like them in real life yet one must realize too that one needs to be like them to have that privilege.
where one would find a flaw in the series is towards the latter half one can see the story stalling and various subplots seemingly falling ... short of the initial high start of the series. the lack of real challenges to the main relationship also makes many of the tropes of the genre not grip one emotion.

would definitely recommend the series as it is a simple sweet read and being only 50 chapters long won't take much of a person s time.

Here's a breakdown of how most chapters of Ore Monogatari go:

Yamato: does thing
Takeo: I LOVE HER
Takeo: does thing
Yamato: he's so cooool

*some generic shoujo stuff happening with Suda only existing on the background like this -_-*

There's honestly not much that can be said about Ore Monogatari that wasn't said already about a dozen other shoujo romance manga. It's the most basic and boring template for a shoujo romance you can imagine — only it has a male lead with a weird face doing absurd stuff, so I guess that gives the illusion that it is doing something different. But the subversion ends there: the manga is ... not at all funny, the characters are bland, the main couple is annoying, and even if the 'red oni, blue oni' backdrop will have more relevance by the end, it sure only feels awkwardly shoehorned for no reason after 30 chapters.

Besides being mind-numbingly boring, what really made me loathe this manga so much is that the author understands how boring it is. So much so, that they included the usual distateful drama that permeates so many stories in the demographic. But what starts innocently enough with a love triangle becomes increasingly weird with the story minimizing stalking and then rewarding a male side-character who had just assaulted another female character with her feelings.

So not only is Ore Monogatari boring, it's also weirdly problematic — which are enough boxes checked for me to realise it's not really worth my time, even if it finally "gets good" after 40 chapters.