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Aoki
Kotomi is probably more well-known for her series Boku wa Imouto ni Koi
wo Suru (damn, I didn't think I'll be able to remember the whole title,
but I did). Shoujomagic fondly nicknames
this title as twincest, because it involves...sex between twins (surprise,
surprise).
But Boku wa Imouto is not the title featured here. It's Ijiwaru Shinaide, another one of Aoki-sensei's works, which translates to "Don't be Mean." And no, it doesn't have taboo stuff. It's one of those nice series where two unrelated people fall in love with each other, with of course some obstacles along the way. It's nice and short at two volumes. Well... *thinks* actually, I think it could've gone longer, but it's still nice. This is one of those series that had pretty good re-read value for me. Part of me wonders if it has something to do with the hero's name being Chiaki, which is also the hero's name in Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne. Both Chiakis are total bishounen. They look kinda similar too <3
Synopsis
Hashimoto Mari made a wish, that she will meet her ideal guy. In her wish,
she specified that he should be tall and handsome with a sexy voice. Unfortunately,
she forgot to specify the personality. And that's exactly what she got:
a gorgeous guy with a crappy personality :P
Their meeting went okay enough. Mari fell and lots of guys saw her froggy undies. Then a gorgeous guy came from out of nowhere and helped her up. Even better, he told off the other guys and had them stop making fun of her. Mari came back to her classroom and told her best friend, You-chan, about it. You-chan then told her it must be the new international exchange student, which got Mari even more excited.
Then Mari goes home to help her parents prepare for the arrival of her dad's friend's daughter, who will be coming from Switzerland to go to Mari's school. Then Mari's dad comes home with...the guy who rescued Mari earlier that day. His name is Hamada Chiaki, which was misleading and made them think he was a girl.
Naturally, Mari was thrilled.
However, when the two of them were finally alone and Mari started talking
to him, Chiaki straight out told her that he's not into niceties and that
she's too noisy. And then he made fun of her froggy undies 
XD Turns out he's nice only to strangers.
Chiaki may be pretty rude, but he definitely likes Mari and went to extreme lengths to harass her and let other guys know that she's not available. It was hard to hide their relationship from Mari's parents, but they didn't have to do so for long. Chiaki's parents decided that it was time for him to return to Switzerland. And then...well, there's really not much left to the story after that, save a love scene or two, so I'll just leave it at that :P
Ijiwaru Shinaide also has a short story that involves love between cousins (you can see that Aoki-sensei is particularly fascinated with relatives) and has an omake about Chiaki and Mari's life 10 years into the future :) I like those kinds of omake.
Review
Like I mentioned earlier, this story could've been longer. I won't have
minded. It felt like it went by so fast. I have to remind myself that
this came out in chapter installments and it probably felt long enough
for the mangaka. I really do think Aoki-sensei could've developed Chiaki's
character more. Some more drama wouldn't hurt, either. This story is just
so good, mainly because Aoki-sensei's guy artwork is just swoonworthy.
Chiaki's hot. The chibi versions are really adorable too.
Mari's character is not as well-developed as Chiaki's. Part of me feels like she's just reacting to stuff that Chiaki does instead of doing her own thing. Oh yeah, and she's incredibly insecure in herself. But she can be adorable at times. It's just the nature of Aoki-sensei's artwork again, I guess. But when I re-read Ijiwaru Shinaide now, I'm then reminded of Boku wa Imouto. Yay twincest...um, ahem. Where was I? Oh yeah, characters. Uh, yeah, so Mari's okay.
If you're looking for a good, quick, romantic read, you might like this series. Not to mention the eye candy. The eye candy! I still stare at Chiaki chiseled features and think about how hot he is. Oh well. Go. Read this. Now.