A review by akookieforyou
Masukara Burūsu by Io Sakisaka

4.0

*3.75*

“Why... You never spoke to me about this before... How much you're suffering. Why didn't you tell me about it? Why... is the person you fall for never me...”


I'm honestly pretty surprised that I enjoyed this as much as I did, especially considering how I didn't really care for Bye Bye Little by the same mangaka. I guess it's just because her storytelling abilities were greatly improved since then lolol.

Mascara Blues: 4 Stars
Definitely the best of the three oneshots! I really liked the interesting dynamic between our lead and her main love interest, as it's something that's rarely seen, and it was just done really well. The emotions of the characters were really shining through as well (or should I say "sparkling" lol), so much so that I myself got caught up in all of their feelings. And the MC was very likable, not because she starts off that way, but because she grows and becomes better throughout.

Draft of Romance: 3.75 Stars
I originally rated this one as a 4 star story, but I feel that it's just ever so slightly lesser than Mascara Blues. That being said, it's still very fun and enjoyable. The plot is a lot more typical for shoujo, shy girl likes popular guy, but the way it was written and drawn makes it stand out a bit more. And I personally really liked the love interest, he's so sweet to the MC, and it's just so heartwarming.

So I Can Be Myself -A Long Dream-: 2 Stars
There's always one short that drags the whole collection down, and sadly this one was it. Which is such a shame, because it deals with some interesting and important topics, but it didn't execute any of them well. We go through the whole oneshot knowing basically nothing about every single character, especially the MC. All we see is how she's constantly being bullied at school, but we don't get to see why until the very end, and because of that we never get really understand how all of this affected our MC. And don't even get me started on how bland and boring the romance was, especially when you compare it to the other two stories.