Suki♥Doki is a shoujo manga written by Yoshi and drawn by Watanabe Ayu. Yoshi is the very same person who brought us such excellent pieces of work as the Deep Love series, Dear Friends: Rina and Maki, and Motto Ikitai. All three took peeks at the human condition and psychology, and had fairly interesting stories to tell (if sad). Is Suki♥Doki any different? Well, that's up to you to find out, dear reader. This manga contains two stories. The first is the titular Suki♥Doki, which concerns a young high school girl named Emi who falls in love with Takeshita, a boy at her school. Heseems like the perfect guy anyone would dream about. He almost fits the bill, too – except he's a notorious play boy. At first, this tale seems to depict a typical, senseless girl chasing after a handsome heartthrob who only looks at her in her dreams. The difference is that Yoshi is behind the story of this manga. If you read with a critical eye, you'll notice that Takeshita is merely playing Emi herself as well. She throws herself at him and she's freely available to him whenever he wants, because she'll lap up any smidgen of attention he bestows upon her. Why should he toss her aside when he can encourage her instead?

In essence, it's the same sort of story as Itazura na Kiss (wherein the male protagonist uses the girl), except the romance here isn't played straight and there's no verbal abuse. Rather, it's all in Emi's head, as it is pretty obvious Takeshita is just using her and the whole shtick is completely one-sided. In that regard, I suppose the manga does deserve some respect for depicting that sort of relationship, although that doesn't mean it was any more pleasant to read. All the characters were rather static, so there isn't really much to describe in terms of character development.

The second story is called Koibana: The Ex-Boyfriend and is a welcome change to the first one. The main character, Maho, has difficulty forgetting about her ex-boyfriend, Shun, who broke up with her via text message while he was on a road trip. To that end, she sleeps with men who remind her of him, only to wind up broken-hearted because of her actions. She slowly begins to realize that her best friend, Shunsuke, likes her for who she is and decides to explore her feelings for him. While the plot certainly isn't anything mind-blowing or spectacular, it is still a pleasant read that manages to bring my overall opinion of the manga up. Unlike Suki♥Doki, the characters actually do undergo a modicum of character development, even if it is minor.

Watanabe Ayu's art is very typical of the shoujo demographic. If one were to put a few of her panels beside any generic manga, I doubt I'd be able to tell if the artists were different people. The lack of stylization in the shoujo manga world makes me just a bit sad.

Overall, while not Yoshi's best work by far, it's still an acceptable read when you're bored with absolutely nothing else to do. It is not, however, a very good introduction to Yoshi's writing, and I highly recommend checking out Deep Love, Dear Friends, or Motto Ikitai if this is your first foray into his writing.