Right from the beginning of 'Looking the Wrong Way,' KCayu does a great job of catching the reader's attention. Immediately, we can see the love that the main character, Miyo, feels for the man she is interested in. She's gone out of her way to be brave and prepare a romantic (albeit childish) confession to him, and just needs to get it to him when he isn't looking. That's when fate bumps into her, and we, the readers, begin our wonderful journey of learning about love through the eyes of our hopeless protagonist.
The characters of this story are written really well, and each has a very unique personality that works well with the others and on their own. KCayo does a fantastic job providing the perspectives of different characters instead of only following Miyo. Don't get me wrong, the protagonist is positively wonderful, but our love-niave heroine would have definitely left out some aspects of the story. Miyo is a fantastic lovesick protagonist, eager to be in love, but also so dense as to any hints or clues being thrown her way. She's like a lovely little puppy that you just want to take care of, something that I found many of the side characters felt similarly.
On the other hand, Akio, one of the main male leads of the story, has a strong personality, sometimes coming off brash, while other times presenting himself as witty. But you can see as the story goes on that he holds a lot of compassion and experience that he quietly carries, only to be given to those he trusts. He really holds his own as he interacts with Miyo and those around him, and, at times, seems to be the only one who has any idea what's going on. Shinichi, the other male lead, is a blast to get to know. I found my opinion of him regularly changing. His early confidence sets him up in one way, but as you get to know him, you begin to question everything! Eventually, I found myself wanting to grab that boy by the face and march him into the uncomfortable situations he masterfully avoided. Regularly and unknowingly. He was also a puppy, just a little bit of a dumb one.
The story had a few twists and turns that caught me off guard, which was really nice to experience. KCayu did a fantastic job weaving a truly wonderful and romantic tale that is sweet, wholesome, and really leaves the reader cheering for the characters to express their feelings. It was a delight to read from chapter to chapter, and it made it really easy to continue. With just the right amount of details where needed and wonderful moments of conversation, I felt that the author really nailed down the social interactions between the characters. Work and romance can be hard, but that just made the tension between everyone even better.
I'm giving this story 5/5 stars because the author really did a fantastic job writing a tried-and-true romance. While I felt there could have been a little more comedy overall, the tensions that KCayu wove into this tale did more than their fair share to make this story truly amazing. And don't get me wrong, the moments of this story that were fun were absolutely hilarious, especially if you love watching characters struggle to really see what is directly in front of them.
In the end, it would be my recommendation to sit down with someone you care about, or maybe ran into at the office, enjoy a nice cup of tea, and take a look this way for a good read!
