Love Mode Hot

I gave this story a shot, because I really wanted to a long series. And what I got was a long, rollercoaster of emotions that ranged from happy to sad to very happy. This series introduces us to many characters who's storylines intertwines and connects with one another.

The story starts out with the first set of characters who surprisingly don't make much of an appearance in the rest of the story. The storyline of Izumi and Takimaya resembles the storyline in Junjou Romantica of Mizaki and Usagi-san. It's funny and cute, but the storyline gets pretty old, which is why I really liked that the mangaka instead veered off and made the rest of the series about the characters of Reiji and Naoya and their entire lifestory. Reiji and Naoya both have dark and depressing pasts, so dark I don't know how they dealt with it, but in the end the two find comfort in one another and make one heck of a great series.

The series switches back and forth a bit between Izumi/Takimaya and Reiji/Naoya while introducing us to one-shot storylines that are just as touching and sad. My favorite has to be the Tomoyaki/Seiichi storyline. It lasts about 2 chapters, but in the end I cried like a baby.

It was a really great story and HIGHLY recommend this one, if you want to sit down for a few days and get enraptured by the stories that are weaved in this one. The art isn't great, especially in the beginning, but as the storyline progresses, through the 60+ chapters the artwork improves and you forget all about the art and focus on the beautiful storyline. All in all A MUST READ!

Didn't love this series as much as I was hoping I would. I definitely liked it -- there were some lovely short stories that I thought were genuinely romantic and moving, a rarity in yaoi manga for me. On the whole, however, it just didn't wow me. The art isn’t fantastic and I got a little tired of the fact that the vast majority of the pairings featured older men with young, often high school aged, boys. While age gaps don't bother me -- I actually quite like them most of the time -- I would've liked a little more variety in the pairings. It would've been nice to see two older characters or two younger characters get involved with one another as well.

The art in the series is, really, not very good, even considering the time when the series was started. I'm not a huge fan of early to mid 90s manga art, but art sometimes tends to grow on me a little bit if I really love the story and characters in a series. This time around, none of it did enough for me and I just didn't fall in love with it (although the art does improve to a great extent by the end of the series). I honestly don't really get why the series is so well-loved. I get why it's liked, but not loved.

Just as BLU has summarized, this series is full of strange events and wonderful characters. The different couples keep the story interesting while the plot keeps you waiting for certain couples. The personalities of each character differ from the next, which only makes things more interesting.
When comparing the first and eight volume, you can tell that Shimizu's art has improved tremendously (or if you compare it with her newer series). Even so, I'd have to say this is my favourite series from her (go and read Ze though!).
Have a good read!