a good manga series ruined by time and patience- but i still adore it anyways

melamunaJun 12, 202419 of 27 found this helpful

Aka Akasaka is one of the most popular mangakas in recent times. He created the instant romance manga Kaguya-Sama: Love is War. A hilarious romance manga that stretches the boundaries of what it takes to tell a story about adolescent romance that's relatable and enjoyable to read while also packing so much heart into its story that readers gradually get attached to the characters. Aka also made Oshi no Ko, a captivating series that tackles the inner workings of showbiz media while also providing crazy scenarios that keep readers furiously hooked. After all of that, Aka decided to serialize a brand new romance manga called Renai Daikou (Love Agency), which got me excited.

Love Agency is a romance manga that has your typical quirks and qualities that you would get from other romance mangas, but these tropes are used to bend the plot and present you with something interesting and unexpected. We follow the main guy, Masaya Seki, who hired a love agency expert named Kengo Matsuga to help him make the popular girl Mari Nanase fall in love with him. However, Mari also hired a love agency expert named Kokon Aikawa, who’s also trying to get closer to Seki. This is a unique plot line, especially in the oversaturated romance genre. The series even goes one step beyond and presents intriguing directions that's unexpected and can definitely keep you on hook for more chapters. As per usual, it has that typical Akasaka comedy that's not as funny as Kaguya-sama, but it's still fun nonetheless.

Other than the romantic aspects of the series, it also presents something that's dramatic. The dramatic tensions of the series can vary from being subtle, heartwarming, and motivational to something that's dark and despair-like. The contrast of the drama that's presented in the series mixed in with its comedic moments balances out and transitions naturally. It doesn't feel like one genre is ruining or overpowering the other.

The series has all the right ingredients to be an instant hit with its innovative ideas and Aka’s writing style. However, the series fumbled, unfortunately. Reading from Chapters 1 to 10 can make you feel like the series keeps moving from one major plot point to another. Normally, it would be an interesting take that hooks the audience. But as you keep reading, you will eventually realize that it's a major flaw. The series doesn't provide many moments for us to connect with the characters more, and most of the time there are side characters in the series that it's obvious that there are more plans for them but was unfortunately pushed to the side to keep the main plotline moving. And even then, the main plotline moves so fast that it's so rare to have that downtime moment that a romance manga would always use to build a deeper chemistry for our characters. This doesn't help that the series tries to follow too many plotlines that have a lot of potential to have riveting stories but were unfortunately concluded immediately after the next chapter.

This would have been an easy fix if Aka decided to dedicate a couple more chapters to fully flourish the plotlines he had set out, but due to the series’s low appeal and an unexpected ending, it was unfortunately going to end with low chapters from a series that deserved a lot more if it had the time to do so.

If you're a romance junkie like me and planning to read Love Agency, I still think this is a good short read that would entertain you throughout. But the potential to be better than what is right now lingers in you for long.

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