I think Arina Tanemura is one of those authors who I intend to read the complete English translated bibliography of. It wasnt what I intended to do but Sakurahime included some tiein bonus chapters to short Tanemura manga I never read and so I read them in order to understand the oneshots. I.O.N was my favorite of the two the other being Mistress Fortune as a fun read despite being very cliche and ridiculous Ion always chants the letters of her name as a jinx to bring herself good luck. One day desperate to escape the obsessively lovestruck student council president she encounters Mikado Hourai. Mikado is a nerdy type extremely interested in psychic research going so far as to create an unofficial club. Ion begins to fall for him and wants to assist him with his club activities. However Mikados research is destroyed but before that happens the object hes researching triggers psychic powers in Ion. Mikado can now continue his work but does he see Ion as a test subject or as a potential girlfriend? I.O.N is Arina Tanemuras first work and it shows. Its not as polished art or storywise and its very generic and very silly. We get standard high school romance instead of her usual magical girls though with a dash of psychic powers. Ion and Mikado very much embody the popular classic shoujo protagonist and the attractive yet appealing outcast boy. Theyre cute and have chemistry but they arent anything unique or groundbreaking. It just has the classic retro shoujo feel and it reminded me of Good Morning Call. The biggest conflict of their relationship is how Mikado seems to see Ion more as a test subject than a girl. http://images4.fanpop.com/image/photos/19400000/Ionarinatanemura194850546651000.jpg Theres a love rival for both characters. Theres the student council president who is in love with Ion though hes not really meant to be taken seriously. He kind of reminds me of a character my sister and I made up for all our stories and paper doll games whos just super bizarre while horribly pretending to be a stereotypical cool kid and obsessed with a certain female character. Of course the character my sister and I made is much weirder than the student council president ever could be in an I make necklaces out of grapes and give them to my crush way and not an Im hiding in your closet and taking pictures through my window way. The two just have the same energy as chaotic gag characters. The president also has a silly little sidekick and theyre always up to shenanigans sometimes for no discernable reason. The other love rival character was a former test subject and girlfriend of Mikados. She had strong intuition but she developed it into genuine psychic powers out of her sheer desire to be his girlfriend. She challenges Ion to a psychic battle for Mikados heart. Honestly her character was also ridiculous and I wondered why she wanted to be with Mikado so badly since it didnt seem like he was that special and Im sure she broke up with him in the first place. Im a bit fuzzy on the details since I got a bit distracted and its been a few days since I read the manga. https://i.pin.com/736x/d4/2b/3a/d42b3a38aa44b7272451093a5527d79a.jpg The art is a bit rougher than what Arina Tanemura usually offers due to I.O.N being her first work. Its cute and has an appealing vibe something about late 90s shoujo manga but its nowhere near as distinctive or elegant as her later art. It still has her distinctive huge eyes which influenced a plethora of shoujo mangaka especially those writing for the same young audience as Tanemura. I.O.N is a very silly manga and its nothing to write home about in terms of plot or characters. However its a charming read that I personally enjoyed. Its interesting to see what Tanemuras manga was like before her trademark dramaheavy magical girl series. If you want some unabashedly ridiculous psychic powered romance and that late 90s shoujo style I recommend checking this out. Its only one volume long so it wouldnt hurt to read.