Mangaka : Yoko Maki
This manga is a slice of life, romance and comedy shoujo manga.
The major premise of this story is a young man (known to be a skirt chaser) ends up taking care of a 5 year old girl with him growing up into a better person as a result.
Plot : Katakura Kippie is a high school playboy without a conscience (or rather without the emotional maturity needed for one) whose care free live is taken over by
Sakashita Yuzuyu, his 5 year old neice who has been left at his household by his aunt.
His family unanimously voted for him to be her guardian and caretaker. He is not a bad guy, so he tries his best, gradually learning her needs and responding to them.
The rest of the series focuses upon Yuzuyu and Kippie bond with some chapters devoted to other characters.
A lot of emphasis has been placed on the role of parents. It even realistically portrayed parental abuse in one of the arcs with a kind of sympathetic look on both the aggressor and the victim
Characters :
All the characters are portrayed really well to try and portray a slightly dysfunctional suburban family.
Their perception of Kippie as an absolute worthless scum was hilarious (inspite of him being a really nice guy).
At the end of the day each member is extremely independent of the others but they still care for one another.
Although only a few chapters (pages even) were devoted to the elder sister and younger brother, it manager to evolve them as characters in their own right.
Kippie growth over the course of the series is also remarkable along with the gradual improvement in his relationship with Tokunaga Koroko.
The true star however is Yuzuyu with her personality and her insecurities and her very real yearning for her mother. And she is cute!!
Art : surprisingly the art was rather subdued compared to other Shoujo manga that I have come across ( not many frills and ribbons in the frames for one). Which makes sense I guess considering Romance and the ideals of love is not what it is espousing.
Advice : It is a feel good story about caring for someone else. It's a good manga, one worth reading.
