Manga Review: Strobe Edge

Name: Strobe Edge
Author & Artist: Sakisaka Io
Status: Completed
Chapters: 39
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance, School Life, Shoujo, Slice Of Life
Plot:
Having no experience in romance, the vibrant Ninako curiously explores the meaning of what "love" really is, and is surprised to feel a colorful range of emotions as she grows closer to the school heartthrob, the quiet yet gentle Ren, who also happens to be involved in a longtime relationship. With every intention of keeping her head held high, Ninako prepares to face the mental pain of this one-sided love that she had allowed to take root, facing a series of trials that would either contribute to her growth as a headstrong woman, or break her as it did with other girls.

However, is this really a one-sided love? Or had something been silently sown in the most hidden area of Ren's heart?
Review:
A first glance, it looks like your average shoujo where there's a really naive girl who hasn't fallen in love in her whole life and suddenly this hot guy appears and it suddenly sparks her interest. And wow a love triangle involving a childhood friend; sound original? No not really. A lot of people at this point would probably go search to read another manga at this point...
Although there are major cliches in this story, there aren't many plot holes and the characters were portrayed very realistically in this "it only happens in shoujo manga land" kind of situation. Reading this manga made me realise that the characters are very important to a story; maybe even more so.


Ninako is seen as this pretty naive girl who has absolutely 0% in love but fate suddenly decides to change this and put her on this wild, emotional roller coaster. The way she handles her situation makes her really likeable and realistic (if such a girl existed). Throughout the manga, she keeps true to her feelings and she isn't the type to think:

OMG which one of the hot guys do I like? Hot guy #1 or hot guy #2?
My life is so hard blah blah blah. -cries-
I think I like both of them!
No wait I like the mean one :D

She's a really strong character who always tries do what is right and make other people happy.

Ren (the main love interest) is what we call a really realistic looking hot guy XD
(Like his hair follows the rules of gravity).
He is described as:

A "...horribly awkward guy who's just now showing himself by having people who accept him... At heart, he's just a shy guy who had the misfortune of being good looking." - HashtheNash

The art is really nice and refreshingly different but it may not look too appealing on the cover; so the moral is "Never judge a book by its cover". I could rant on about how awesome this story is (like seriously) but I'd probably spoil a lot and end up making this longer then it already is, so read it for yourself.

More Info:
I'd like to thank all the translators for Stobe Edge and anyone who contributed but especially Bikkuri for translating the last part of this in record time. I imagined this manga going on for a couple more months but she really sped up the story for all us Strobe Edge fans. I was pretty obsessed with this XD
And one last thing before I go: What exactly does "Stobe Edge" mean in this manga?
If anyone could answer that would be really helpful ^^
Ok this is getting seriously long now...
Bye...