flat is about a laid back teenager who takes care of his reliable, younger cousin. Admittedly, I started reading this today because of a recommendation that someone made about My Girl (Mizu Sahara). The artwork is pleasant to look at, and it reminds me of Mizu Sahara's art (and her couple other pen names). Although it's categorized as "shoujo," flat doesn't have a typical shoujo storyline and characters and art, which is precisely why I liked this. No huge eyes, no girl falling in love (though [spoiler?] there is one girl who falls in love with the main character, but her personality is such that shedoesn't blush or stutter -- rather, she's blunt and straightforward [/spoiler?]).

I liked the slice-of-life story, which made the episodes not so episodic, and throughout this series, we learn more about the characters, not just the main characters, but also their relationships with others as well as implications of their pasts. Which were more noticeable in the protagonist's friends. flat is a rather well-paced story that allows your mind to absorb information and the panel work is not too detailed nor jarring to the eye.

As for the characters, they seem normal and act realistically given their situations. However, the cousin can easily become emotional which can annoy some people, but it's understandable due to his family life and lack of friends. The mangaka uses that to her advantage to worry the other characters and advance the story.

One small improvement would be coloring the manga pages. It seems to be watercolor, but I would like to see these pages more integrated with that medium, perhaps similar to Mizu Sahara's colored manga pages.

For a debuting mangaka, this is already a great manga and I hope to see more works from her. Apparently, this manga was serialized due to popular demand!