I was surprised by how disappointed I was in this manga. It (and the anime adaptation) had been highly recommended to me by several friends back at the height of its popularity in the US. I do always take recommendations with a grain of salt—often folks are thinking more about their own experience of a thing, than how my preferences might influence my experience—but this was well beyond the normal range of that disconnect. Still, in hindsight it is obvious that the people who loved this story so much shared a lot of personality traits that now make sense when thinking about their recommendation. To me, though, this was an extremely juvenile, whiny, and, as a female reader, degrading manga. I didn't enjoy it at all.