This review contains vague mentions of spoilers. 250https://i.ur.com/XlciptF.png Thoughtfulness is something that I adore seeing in media. I love seeing characters slowly develop a sense of care for one another through the experiences that they share. Seeing this care being reflected in the writing as well just sweetens the deal for me. However the presence of care alone does not make an enjoyable story. Futari no Renai Shoka is a romance manga about two bookworms Kanako and Akio with a certain longing which they fulfil from one another. Its a manga where you can almost taste the scent of a yellowing book from the premise alone along with its rosetinted almost saccharine nature. Its such a simple concept and yet I just cant seem to like it. 350https://i.ur.com/hjxPm0W.png This perplexed me. This manga looked like the exact kind of thing that I would fawn over for the next two weeks and parade with an 8/10 rating and somehow I couldnt invest myself in this story. I mean the cute scenes are cute and the funny scenes are funny but somethings definitely missing. Perhaps we should start from the beginning around where Kanako proposes to Akio. The manga begins where our two main characters meet at a book fair and hit it off before they meet each other again at Kanakos bookstore and she proposes to Akio. The second chapter establishes that the two have a sort of familiarity with each other that they couldnt find anywhere else along with a shared trauma from their own upbringing and that Kanako loves Akio from the bottom of her heart before Akio agrees to hand her a marriage certificate in the future. 350https://i.ur.com/WUP6VXw.png Maybe I just cant take this premise seriously. Its a sudden and jarring way to start a romance story. However there are other mangahttps://anilist.co/manga/124621/YaiteruFutari/ that Ive enjoyed that decided to hit the ground running in its romance no filler required. Instant romance isnt inherently bad and I was ever so slightly intrigued by its healing aspect as I was reading it so it couldnt be my main problem with this manga. What about its execution? There are a lot of other promising manga that ended up disappointinghttps://anilist.co/user/ed3d/mangalist/So20mid20that20i20got20upset me rather than entertaining me. As Ive said before it has the bones of a story that I would love and yet it falls short. It touches on the kind of themes that I would adore but its execution does not intrigue me at all and why is that? To begin this section its technical details are decent. The linework is clean the panels flow well and the style fits in with its contemporaries. I would say more about the art if I could. The drama was handled decently enough. We learn more about Kanakos parents and Kanako receives closure from her father. End of story. 350https://i.ur.com/80hpTSa.png I would say that this manga is thoughtful in all the wrong places. There is a lot of thought being put into the most saccharine and nostalgic parts of the manga but its this thought that is lacking in the most important areas. Its inconsistent. This can be attributed to the short runtime of the manga at two volumes along with a lack of foresight but nevertheless it ruins a story that already has good bones. Weve seen Kanakos father what about Akios missing parents? Why did the teacher in the second chapter disappear? Why is everyone so chill about this marriage? How does Akio support himself without his family? maybe his parents send him cash every month but still what happened to his parents?? I could suspend my disbelief in some of these questions in order to prop up its already shaky narrative but even so this manga still fails in providing us answers for the most important questions. The elephant in the room Kanako is a young woman who is running an old book store. One day a customer comes in who shares her taste in books. Hes a teenager named Akio and he and Kanako quickly find that their taste in books is only the first of many ways that they fit together well. Kanako immediately realizes she wants him and soon blurts out awkward things like proposals of marriage and cohabitation. Despite their different ages and their awkwardness it seems like their relationship has the potential to grow into something beautiful. Wait were you waiting for me to address the agegap? The agegap marriage between an adult woman of unknown age and a teenage boy in his first year of high school? I cant just casually avoid this huh? Alright then here we go Conclusion Futari no Renai Shoka is a manga with themes that should resonate with anyone that enjoys the comfort of books but with the amount of plotholes brought on by a stunted development together with some questionable decisions by the mangaka from the start it is anything but great. Its sincere its thoughtful its as gentle as can be. I just wish it was more than mediocre. 350https://i.ur.com/p57ggoR.png