This won't be a review (I don't even know how to write a good review); I just want to put in words what I thought of the manga without giving it a score or something, just to practice my brain to actually start thinking about the story instead of just mindlessly reading it and at the end not understanding the story and its characters in a deeper level, and I think this may be a good way to do it. This will probably be very disorganized, since I have to write this in like 10/15 minutes before going to work, and there's a lot in my mind, but since I just finished reading it, I thought it might be better to write while the information is still "fresh".

What drew me to start reading it was a reel on Instagram that said how good but also how sad the story was, and while, yes, it was sad,  I actually like to think that it's a happy story, at least how happy it could be in those conditions.

Shizuko started as an insecure and depressed girl, and while I still think she ended up being a little insecure, she now has a motivation to live and something to work towards, both to get to know Ruri again, not as her bully but as this version of her that hates what she did in the past, and for Kaori.

For Kaori, I think that for me, it was a little weird that she just proposed they fake being a couple for Shizuko to write a novel while not having even talked at all before; for me, it felt like it was just a setup for the whole premise without taking too much length, so just a short and quick setup. And I was happy to know why she really did that. At one point, I just thought it was because she wanted to do as much good as she could for Shizuko before she passed away, like making her apologize to Ruri for all the bullying and helping her be more open, and also just giving her a reason to not commit suicide after she finished her novel. But in the end, to know that she did, because she really liked the novel she posted, and how much she admired Shizuko, was also really nice.

My thoughts on the end are that, yes, it's sad. But it is as happy as it could realistically be. It was obvious that Kaori would not survive, for more than Shizuko didn't want to admit it at the start. I don't remember what chapter exactly, but it was a quote similar to "It doesn't matter the end as long as the characters are satisfied; I'll also be happy", and I think this really summarizes for me the ending for me, because both Kaori and Shizuko were satisfied and didn't hold any regrets in the end. Kaori got to know the author she admired and lived her best life during that summer. As for Shizuko, she managed to apologize to Ruri (and maybe they will even be friends in the future); she finished her novel, and Kaori read it before she died (which took her a while; I thought Kaori was going to die and she wouldn't manage to finish it in time), and confessed to Kaori. And I think that was the perfect ending for them.

  
Again, this probably was a very rushed "review" of sorts, and I don't think I really understood both Kaori and Shizuko as well as I wanted to, but I also want to know your thoughts: What did you think of the story? What are your takes on it? What points do you agree and disagree with me on?

My thoughts on "The Summer You Were There"