Yoko Nogiri

Published: October 19, 2021

Genres: Romance, Shojo, Young Adult

Pages: 512

Female Main Character - Mako

It is refreshing to see a FMC who has her own personality that isn’t solely focused around romance. She had her own goals and inspirations, even if she progressively forgot about her grandfather who began her journey with photography. Mako is willing to do things without letting other people get in the way and she’s unlike those FMCs who seem weak, although there’s nothing wrong with being powerless. She is a romantic person at heart, but that isn’t the sole purpose of her character.

Secondary Male Main Character - Kei

Kei is one of those characters that help me to realise niceness doesn’t necessarily mean compatibility. Kei is nice to everyone, but that doesn’t mean everyone suits him romantically, and that includes Mako. It’s easy to see why the childhood friends don’t get together with the MC - their past experiences shouldn’t define their current relationship. People change and especially in between their child and teen years. It’s easy to fade away from their childhood friend, but it’s okay to let go of someone who no longer is apart of their life.

Out of the two love interests, I did prefer Kei over Mitsuru since Kei was much nicer at the beginning. While he’s always maintained the same level of niceness, my preference over him faded away from his sudden possessiveness when he said Mitsuru can’t have Mako. She is her own individual, meaning she can’t be chosen by another person. Relationships are an equal choice between two willing participants, not one. Although, it is sad to see his unrequited love because I can relate to his feelings that are tucked deep inside him. I can also relate to his immaturity and desperation when it comes to romance, especially when you think that a close friend would easily vanish. Out of the two love interests character development, I would have to say Kei strengthened himself greatly when he learnt how to let go of Mako.

Primary Male Main Character - Mitsuru

I’m unsure what to think about Mitsuru as a character. While he is unique in his own way, he is also another cliche shoujo character. The mysterious black haired guy whose eyes are blue. It’s nice to see that these authors have clear preferences, but it only takes away the individuality from the character as they all seem the same. Another example is how he dresses to hide away his modelling identity, which seems cliche given that there are many movies and books where the love interest suddenly becomes attractive the moment they take their glasses off. I would be okay if he didn’t have a reason to have glasses or longer hair. In fact, I would be completely fine if he never changed in the manga. The change of physical appearance shouldn’t need to be a necessity for character development.

However, I did like how Mitsuru shed light upon the toxic culture of the modelling industry, even if it’s only for so little pages. It’s so easy for children to become hurt by it, especially when there’s fans who invade their life. His long hair only served as a defence system from the suffering that he had gone through, which is natural for depressed people to grow their hair and avoid maintaining their appearance. Throughout the manga, it seemed that Mitsuru came to understand what makes portraits meaningful, thanks to Mako. But I think they could’ve expanded on that and have a proper discussion about photography.

Overall

Love in Focus is a nice and simple shoujo manga, but that’s all I can really think of. It has all the typical cliches, for better or worse. I think it is a good starter manga for shoujo manga, which good art and story, but nothing that is overly exciting or rememberable. I think there was lost potential, especially surrounding the topic of photography. After all, it is supposed to be a story about photography. Majority of the photos taken in this manga was Mitsuru, which is okay if it weren’t for the fact it’s just to progress their love connection. Yet if you take away a few photography scenes, it’s easily another cliche romance story.