Sakisaka, Drama CD Cover Art, Strobe Edge, Viz Media.
Strobe Edge – Information
Author of Story: Io Sakisaka
Chapter Count: 10 volumes, around 39 chapters including side stories
Status: Completed!
Content Warnings
These content warnings do not reflect the contents of the review below; only the literary work itself.
- Bullying
Spoiler Disclaimer
This recommendation post may contain small plot spoilers for review purposes. Any major spoilers are hidden by default and are able to be revealed via click or tap.
Strobe Edge – Plot Summary
The Strobe Edge manga series is a short and fluffy shoujo that’s great for beginners and seasoned readers alike!
In this manga, we follow the main character Ninako Kinoshita. She is 15 years old, and is a very caring, innocent girl who seems to care a lot about others.
She’s a bit of a crybaby and a daydreamer, but is very respectful of other people’s feelings and is very kind. Throughout Strobe Edge, we get to see Ninako learn about both the ups and downs of falling in love for the first time!
The story primarily follows Ninako during her time at school and focuses on her interactions with friends and love interests. She is very new to feelings of love, and is unsure what it’s supposed to feel like!
While her friends push her toward Daiki, a close friend of hers who is clearly interested, Ninako seems to be distracted by someone else’s presence…
I remember being younger and excited about dating, and now that I’m reading this again as an adult with a long-term partner, it’s reminded me to be thankful for them and to enjoy every little moment! I genuinely enjoyed this manga series, and I hope you will, too!
Why I Enjoyed Strobe Edge
Plot:
Let’s start this Strobe Edge manga review with the positives. Overall, it’s a very sweet story about discovering your first love and learning to understand your own feelings.
The author, Io Sakisaka, seems to often focus on portraying more fluffy, innocent depictions of youthful love. This author also wrote the very popular series Ao Haru Ride, as well as the more recent manga series Love Me, Love Me Not.
Even though the Strobe Edge manga seems as though it was written for a younger audience, the events that happen and feelings of the characters are pretty realistic. The author does a great job showing different hardships of falling in love and maintaining strong relationships.
Io Sakisaka really puts a strong focus and extra detail towards emotions—her writing explores each feeling the heroine experiences throughout each and every event. I really enjoy this aspect of her writing, as I think that at a younger age things can really feel more impactful, exciting, or even like the end of the world.
However, these classic shoujo stories often have tropes that we’ve all seen before. In the case of Strobe Edge, it’s the “girl who falls in love with the most popular guy in school” trope. But in this case, the most popular guy is already taken!
Characters:
The heroine of the story, Ninako, is a cute yet rather gullible young girl. She is very considerate of others—to the point where she sometimes forgets to put her own feelings first at times. However, she begins to slowly learn that feelings of love cannot easily be pushed away.
Ninako slowly begins to understand her own feelings of love better, while also learning to think for herself…and not just listen to what others say or do.
Ren Ichinose, the male lead of the story, is the cool, kind, and popular boy at school who catches Ninako’s eye. We don’t really see much from his perspective, nor do readers get to know much about him other than his popularity and kindness.
We do see glimpses of his own romantic experiences, but this manga focuses heavily on the thoughts and emotions of the heroine. So we truly see Ren mostly through the lens of Ninako’s heart.
Another nice aspect of the Strobe Edge characters is that Ninako’s close friend group is very supportive and understanding of her decisions throughout the series.
They allow her to choose her own path while still offering their support and cheering her on. They don’t get jealous of their own friend, and try their best to offer advice. It’s nice to see a shoujo where the friends are actual friends who support the MC and don’t have nasty jealous secrets or attitudes.
Art:
I have always loved the art style by this author, as she always creates very cute stylistic character designs! It’s very bubbly and almost sort of dreamy. I love that the art style in the Strobe Edge manga series is fitting for the fluffy shoujo vibe, and perfectly matches the main character’s personality!
This art style just has a different feel to it than other manga styles; almost more round or fluffy. And when reading this again in 2023, it’s fun to see the different clothing styles used on the characters that were popular from 2012 (back when this story was published).
Any Cons?
One complaint I have for the Strobe Edge manga is that this sweet story unfortunately ends right after the ship sails. I personally prefer longer stories that show us a successful relationship even after the fact, but the ending is still very wholesome and satisfying.
Readers looking for a speedier romance will love this manga, since it has only around 30 chapters!
Another complaint is the secondary love interests. I personally just felt that they were both a bit pushy, and one of them especially felt out of place personality-wise in this fluffy shoujo. But they likely served as a form of tension for the story’s plot, as many secondary love interests do in shoujo mangas.
Sakisaka, Volume 1 Cover Art, Strobe Edge, Viz Media.
Speaking of typical shoujo manga tropes, the plot and writing style of the Strobe Edge manga does cover quite a few; such as incidents where the MC and her love interest happen to be alone together, or where miscommunication creates tension between characters.
I think these may be less common in more modern manga plots, but I personally can still appreciate this style of writing—I grew up on this style of shoujo, after all. It really just boils down to personal preference, and how complex of a story you’re looking for!
More In-Depth Review (Warning: Spoilers!)
There are a few points I’d like to discuss a bit further for this manga series, so let’s jump right into the in-depth Strobe Edge review!
Firstly, some readers complain that they didn’t like how the MC falls for someone who is already in a relationship. However, I think that Ninako doesn’t intentionally go in between her love interest and his girlfriend.
She initially begins to fall for him before she even knows for sure that he is dating someone. Although she confesses to him while he has a girlfriend, Ninako seems to be actually accepting and expecting rejection, and maybe just wanted relieve herself of her bottled-up feelings.
Personally, I don’t think that’s very harmful; especially considering how Ninako really just isn’t the type to steal someone’s boyfriend. Her actions don’t really scream, “I like you, so break up with your girlfriend and date me instead” at all.
While Ninako has trouble getting over her feelings, she doesn’t necessarily pursue Ren in any way other than being friends. She just wants to cherish her first love experience.
Therefore, I really don’t think Ninako is being portrayed as a “boyfriend thief” type of character. I will say she does spend a bit too much time around someone who is taken, but her intentions are not evil. Not to mention, Ren gives her plenty of extra attention as a friend, too; which is the another thing I want to mention.
As Ren begins to slowly and sort of unconsciously fall for Ninako, he is likely already at a point in his relationship with Mayuka where they are no longer romantically attached. Even as Ren truly realizes that he loves Ninako, he agonizes over this emotion since he is still dating Mayuka and feels guilty.
Mayuka makes only a few appearances in the Strobe Edge manga series, but I did enjoy her backstory and the portrayal of her relationship with Ren. I think that the relationship between them was probably the most realistic in the entire series.
They were two people who originally loved each other and supported each other through hard times. However, as they grew as people (and grew up literally, since they were rather young when they started dating) they began to have different priorities and started to grow apart.
Therefore, just like in real-life experiences, it was hard for them to leave a comfortable relationship. When two people have supported each other, been together for so long, and are used to being able to rely on the other, it can be difficult to part ways. After all, it’s easier being together, right?
But, both Ren and Mayuka had to take a better look into their hearts and realize what they truly wanted… and it was no longer each other. Although they had no ill will towards one another, their lives were heading in different directions.
They once relied on one other, but eventually fell apart and no longer had the strong bond they started with. Their relationship dynamic was such a realistic and rather mature break up!
I also really like how Mayuka was portrayed throughout the Strobe Edge manga series. Although she could have been made out to be an annoying character or a bully, she was actually pretty realistic and maybe even relatable.
She didn’t want to give up on her relationship with Ren, but recognized the change between the two of them and made a mature choice.
Therefore, even though this manga sort of feels close to a cheating trope, it doesn’t necessarily feel that way to me.
Ren knows that Mayuka is relying on him emotionally during her parent’s divorce, and therefore doesn’t cut her off even though that would be the right thing to do (since he is in love with someone else). It’s so dramatic and suspenseful!
Another aspect of this manga that I actually mentioned before is the other love interest, Ando, and how his character just didn’t really fit with Ninako. I thought he was very pushy and persistent—and also lacked an understanding of personal space.
While I did feel a bit bad for him for being used by his ex, I didn’t like his “woe-is-me” personality when it came to getting Ninako to fall for him. However, his character brought up an interesting topic of using others to overcome heartbreak, which added some additional interest to the plot.
The Strobe Edge manga series was a short story filled with heavy, emotional romantic interactions. It holds the usual shoujo tropes such as love triangles and a school setting, but creates some interesting scenarios with mature relationships and a variety of emotions.
Admittedly, these more serious relationship topics made it a very enjoyable read! And, they didn’t take away from the shoujo cuteness.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I have a positive opinion of the Strobe Edge manga series. It was enjoyable back when I first read it at a younger age, and I think it is still a cute and sweet read as an adult.
It might be a shorter and slightly older read, but I still really like this story and recommend it for other manga-enjoyers. If you’ve read any volumes of the Strobe Edge manga series before, go ahead and share your thoughts below!
Disclaimer: Any images used for this blog are for illustrative purposes only, are not owned by me, and are under ownership of the artist or publisher.
Images Credit: Sakisaka, Io. Strobe Edge. VIZ Media LLC, 2012.
