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A review by moonlightarcher
Daytime Shooting Star, Vol. 12 by Mika Yamamori
emotional
lighthearted
sad
fast-paced
3.0
i despise student/teacher romances in manga and don't normally read stories that have them. i simply cannot suspend disbelief when it comes to this trope, and the only reason i decided to read this despite its premise is because i read ahead of time that the heroine ends up with her classmate (thank GOD)
that said, the actual portrayal of the student/teacher relationship in Daytime Shooting Star is actually... not bad. i like that the author did not shy away from showing how inherently wrong it was for them to be together. the secrecy and the lying, the constant undercurrent of uneasiness, Shishio questioning his actions the whole way through - all this culminating in the confrontation between him and Suzume's uncle and then the breakup. that all felt pretty honest and realistic.
my biggest gripe with the series is the lack of proper development for the Suzume/Mamura relationship. there honestly could have been like, at least 2 more volumes so that Suzume could sort out her post-breakup feelings in a more organic way. the ending lacked conviction because of how rushed it felt (this seems to be a recurring complaint i have with a lot of these manga serializations).
also i wish Mamura had more character development. obviously it's great that he was supportive and devoted to Suzume the whole time, but his mommy issues were pretty much glossed over, and his reasoning for falling in love with Suzume was super flimsy (she was "different" from all the other girls?! blegh). if he was gonna be endgame, he needed to have way more screen time than what we ultimately got.
anyway all this to say i think that the series suffers from serious pacing issues in the last half which results in an unsatisfying ending in terms of the actual romance part of it. actually, after finishing this series, i don't really think of it as a traditional romance (i.e. boy meets girl, they fall in love, some conflict, happy ending) - it's more like a coming of age story where a young girl falls for a teacher, gets badly burned, and starts to heal her broken heart after learning how to be in an actual healthy relationship. it would've just hit a lot harder and felt more meaningful if the post-breakup section with Mamura was fleshed out more and given more time to breathe.
that said, the actual portrayal of the student/teacher relationship in Daytime Shooting Star is actually... not bad. i like that the author did not shy away from showing how inherently wrong it was for them to be together. the secrecy and the lying, the constant undercurrent of uneasiness, Shishio questioning his actions the whole way through - all this culminating in the confrontation between him and Suzume's uncle and then the breakup. that all felt pretty honest and realistic.
my biggest gripe with the series is the lack of proper development for the Suzume/Mamura relationship. there honestly could have been like, at least 2 more volumes so that Suzume could sort out her post-breakup feelings in a more organic way. the ending lacked conviction because of how rushed it felt (this seems to be a recurring complaint i have with a lot of these manga serializations).
also i wish Mamura had more character development. obviously it's great that he was supportive and devoted to Suzume the whole time, but his mommy issues were pretty much glossed over, and his reasoning for falling in love with Suzume was super flimsy (she was "different" from all the other girls?! blegh). if he was gonna be endgame, he needed to have way more screen time than what we ultimately got.
anyway all this to say i think that the series suffers from serious pacing issues in the last half which results in an unsatisfying ending in terms of the actual romance part of it. actually, after finishing this series, i don't really think of it as a traditional romance (i.e. boy meets girl, they fall in love, some conflict, happy ending) - it's more like a coming of age story where a young girl falls for a teacher, gets badly burned, and starts to heal her broken heart after learning how to be in an actual healthy relationship. it would've just hit a lot harder and felt more meaningful if the post-breakup section with Mamura was fleshed out more and given more time to breathe.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship