Faster Than A Kiss by Meca Tanaka

Ah, Valentine's Day, that wonderful holiday where you can reaffirm your love for your significant other, or, if you're single, the holiday where you are pressured to buy way too much candy and eat it all alone. Fluffy shojo is just as satisfying, thank goodness, and, often, three times a sweet. Happy Valentine's Day!

Faster Than A Kiss by Meca Tanaka

Art and story (c) Meca Tanaka

Genre: Shojo
Length: 11 Volumes - 57 Chapters


            The art is definitely shojo, and sometimes that’s a bad thing, but with this manga, its a good thing. The soft art really ups the 'aw' factor and it matches the characters so well. Sure, it also means that the men's hair is really generic and the body shapes aren't very well defined but the over all look is very cohesive through out and the characters are all distinct from one another. The clothes are well done but not overly ornate, and the hair always has good movement. The expressions were done well, with expressive and cute eyes, and the chibi faces had rather unique looking eyes and expressions. I can't really think of anything done badly... perhaps the hands were too large from time to time but that’s about it. I couldn't call it amazing but it is above generic. Meca Tanaka is actually pretty famous, I've read most of her work, and this style is very consistent with all of them.
           Fumiko and her younger brother have been bounced from place to place ever since their parents died, and after a year of struggling to balance the situation and school she finally gives up and quits school all together. That was when her plain, glasses wearing homeroom teacher came to her rescue, offering to take her in. Not wanting his pity, she refuses, blurting out that she doesn't want sympathy but someone who will really take care of her and her brother and if he was serious about it, he should just marry her. Shockingly, her teacher agrees just like that. Now, though there is nothing between them but a student and teacher relationship, Fumiko has found her self to be a wife!
           Faster Than A Kiss is one of those manga that I actually started reading before it was finished and had to wait chapter by chapter for it to finish, something I avoid now a days, though there are still quite a few that I am waiting on still. None of that really has a bearing on anything but, as a manga fan, its a common problem and I wanted to mention it just 'cuz. This manga, though, is super sweet and highly predictable in that romance story way, but it also has a unique way of going about things that is refreshing. I'm pretty sure most 'marriage with out love' stories tend to be arranged marriages and the like, but in Faster Than A Kiss takes the typical 'student and teacher' relationship and merges it with the marriage type with lots of silly consequences. Its just so fluffy all the way through, despite all the drama and emotional bombshells thrown about, that it feels good to read every single chapter. Whats the best about it is that several high-profile tropes are actually missing from the romance, like Valentines day confessions and the weak girl's love wavering when they are apart, and instead this story is about the couple becoming a family before anything else. Teppei, the super cute little brother, is also an interesting addition. Often times a younger sibling is forgotten or minimized, but he's always there to be awesome. There are plenty of

I love this angry cocker spaniel comparison.

tropes that do appear, though, love interests and familial issues abound, and are expected, but none of them are a killjoy to the story. Fumino isn't just a girl clinging to an older man, in fact she's so embarrassed by it she lashes out with mighty fists, and her gradual changing attitude is interesting to watch. Kazuma, the silly-yet-bad-ass type of character, is the perfect character to tame the wild child that is Fumino and he always looks handsome doing it. Now, the big emphasis of their relationship is that though they are married, the two never do anything they really shouldn't be, and its Kazuma's manly point that he doesn't force anything on her but that doesn't mean there aren't lots of steamy poses and moments through out. In fact, Faster Than A Kiss is one of the highest per capita manga of double page spreads, there are often two or three in a row, actually. But its not all love and drama, it also has a ton of humor and running gags. The biggest problem? So many side character who never actually hook it up! Where's the fun in that, huh? *Ahem* The first chapter is very final feeling, the author didn't think it would go any farther than that after all, but that is quickly forgotten. I realize that, perhaps, this manga doesn't go as deep as it could have but shojo romances are supposed to be fun and loving and Faster Than A Kiss does that while also remaining really unique from other school stories. I always enjoy reading it, even if there isn't a lot to be thought about afterward.

5/5 A really good and fluffy shojo with a fun story.

Oh, Teppei, I'd love to see that.