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┊Review ˚➶ ｡˚ ☁️

Author . . . ⇢ ˗ˏˋ [butterballchoco]࿐ྂ

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Alright, first off... I'm a HUGE sucker for one-word titles. I don't know if you noticed, but I try to make all the titles of my stories have a single word. Normally, I'd search for ideas for words and their meanings on Pinterest as I love using words with beautiful meanings that connect deeply to the story.

And in this case, you checked the box quite effortlessly! The word "muses" gave me a general perspective of the story's overall plot of a girl who loves to draw and Kenma becomes the center of her inspiration. The title is simple, yet it hooks you in to read!

Nevertheless, great choice with the title!

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Now, for the meat and potatoes.

The plot is quite simple, yet in a good way. Who said that the story has to be overly complicated to be enjoyable? Nuh-uh, fam. Sometimes, beauty can be found in simplicity. I loved how the titles of each chapter are titled over the main focus of what it'll cover instead of being numbered and then titled like in most stories.

I've seen the school festival and summer festival tropes in an unprecedented number of works that it became really boring and basic with time, but there's something in the way that you portrayed them that really stood out to me. Maybe it's because of the calm and serene atmosphere between Kenma and Azumi or how the two of them are always charmed by each other.

I also liked the fact that those chapters focused on the development of Kenma and Azumi's relationship. Like that scene with the two of them alone while Haruka and Kuroo went to get food is just... wow. Then how all the group went to view the wisteria flowers, like sthap! Wisterias became my weakness especially after watching Demon Slayer!

Ah, I also looked it up online, and apparently, wisterias are a sign of love and longevity in Japan. I don't know if it was intentional on your part to foreshadow Kenma and Azumi's budding romance, and if it is... then you've done a freaking PHENOMENAL job with the symbolism! Haha, don't mind me. I just enjoy looking through small details like this. 😅

And I should mention that the traditional clothes worn during festivals in Japan aren't the kimono, but the yukata. Festivals normally take place during summer and the yukata is a much lighter version of the kimono as its cloth is really thick for summer. Kimonos are dressed during winter, like in Hatsumode, or the first shrine visit on New Year. I know all of this information from my 9-year-long journey with anime so I'm pretty familiar with the Japanese culture. 😂

Additionally, the school festival chapter showed us the preparations for the said event rather than the ACTUAL thing, which is something new for me. And the whole thing focused more on showcasing Kenma's jealousy of Tamaki about his supposed date with Azumi. Of course, I wouldn't forget the fact of Kyo and Lev worked as wholesome and cute butlers. Like... just shut up and take my money--

And ah yes, the beach chapter. The trope that we all love and love to hate. Most animes have a beach episode and it really started to get on my nerves since it became an opportunity for unneeded fanservice. Thank GOD Haikyuu doesn't have such an episode in canon, otherwise, I wouldn't have loved the show as much as I do right now.

HOWEVER...!

For Muses, it felt refreshingly different from what I've seen thus far. Sure, we got glimpses of some of the Karasuno boys being chaotic like we know and love them (thank you so much for doing those bois just). But what I really liked about this chapter is that it marked the official first meeting in person between Hinata and Azumi as well as her just filling her sketchbook with Kenma. Plus, seeing our soft boi in a hat is something I didn't know that I needed--

It was fun, sweet, and a much-appreciated wholesome break from all the drama that was yet to come. Just seeing our beloved characters having fun and goofing around!

Tropes aren't a bad thing, not in the slightest. But they can become uninteresting and a little annoying if not held right. And you, my friend, carried such an overly repeated concept in your hand and molded it into something that has your print in it. And I loved every single bit of it while reading and re-reading to write this review!

I do have a few nitpicks though that I'll go through in detail a bit later on with the review.

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Can I just say that I absolutely LOVE the way you handled the canon characters?

Like I swear, I feel like I'm seeing Kenma, Kuroo, and Lev straight out of the anime! All of their dialogues and actions feel so canon that I can PERFECTLY imagine them in my mind! I always pay close attention to characters and analyze them deeply and thoroughly and HATE whenever they feel out of character, so me praising their writing like that means that their characterization is pretty much flawless!

Kuroo is the same hot nerd we all know and love, and sometimes even hate to love, LMAO. Nah, nah, jokes aside, I honestly loved the way you portrayed him in your story. I believe that in canon he likes science and I can see the way you played on that string with how constantly he talks about chemistry while badmouthing physics. Like dude... I relate to that SO HARD that it makes me wanna cry! I adore chemistry a lot ever since high school (even though I'm studying computer engineering at the university) and physics is like my living nightmare. 🤣

In your story, Kuroo is funny, geeky, the ultimate wingman (with some shameless daddy energy, cOUgH--), and I'm LOVING every single moment of his on-page!

And bruh, that "We smashing?" line gets me cackling like a hyena EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. 😂😂

A freaking masterpiece *chef's kiss* 👌🏻👌🏻

Kenma is still the awkward and adorable mess that he is while Kuroo is just, well... Kuroo. He's still the same cocky nerd that I know and love so much and I LOVE you for that! XD

He's basically SCREAMING "social awkwardness" exactly the same way in canon! He can be so confused and doesn't know what to do with his feelings even before realizing them and while he's struggling with them, hence led to his jealousy. Knowing Kenma, I think he'd be the jealous type but would keep it to himself instead of being outspoken with his feelings, and I'm glad you thought of the same approach. It's also nice to see him not being toxic, just plainly sassy with Tamaki and I was like "DAMN SON!" So it was a really greatly solid characterization on your part! Kudos to you!

We all know how much of a hard-core gamer Kenma is, so having him ACTUALLY pause the game to observe Azumi proves just how serious he is when it comes to her. It's a subtle detail but I just HAD to mention it! 😭❤

Lev is also simply the exact sweet muffin that I recognize from the show and you made me fall in love even more with him, like sthap, my heart can't take it-- 😭😭

Another small detail I'd like to point out about Lev is that scene in Azumi's house when she asked to draw him and he questioned whether he should pose. Like, dude... am I tripping or were you foreshadowing his career as a model post the timeskip? 👀

Despite his limited screen time in the story (I wanted moooore of himmmm thooooooo!), every scene he was present in was an absolute treat. Lev is the kind of character who'd give intimidating vibes at the beginning, but he's an actual goofball and a big child at that. And from my perspective, you kept that side of his pretty constant and obvious throughout the story and I'll give you major respect for that! Each line and action he did never felt weird or out of place, instead they were pretty imaginable that he'd act that way in that situation. I'd pay ANYTHING to see him wearing a butler uniform with a small bowtie, like sign me up now. ✋🏻

And of course, I cannot end the canon cast without a shoutout to our beloved chibi-chan, Hinata! Although he barely appeared in the story outside of small cameos, he was still so sweet and wholesome that had me SQUEALING! That scene with him and Kenma in the "crows" chapter during the summer training camp was P E A K! 💅

That particular scene where they talked about Azumi and Kenma's feelings toward her is actually my favorite one in the whole book and had me rolling! It was pure perfection in my opinion as it seemed and felt like a genuine canon scene from the anime to the point I imagined it quite vividly in my mind while hearing Ayumu Murase and Yuki Kaji's voices (their Japanese VAs) delivering the lines! It was realistic to THAT degree! Each dialogue by the two of them was so well fleshed out and fell into their characters perfectly!

And can we talk about when they played Minecraft in the extra chapter?! Having Hinata pick up flowers to decorate the house is just SOOOOO CUTEEEEEE!!! SHABLQOEHEKSLJSGAJA-- 😭😭😭❤

Now, onto the OCs!~

Azumi is such a well-written character! I can totally relate to her on so many levels, especially with my love for sketching! I'm a fellow artist myself and I used to carry my sketchbook around when I was younger, absentmindedly lost in my little world while sketching whatever my eyes laid on. Seeing Azumi is like seeing a past version of myself, which made me connect with her on a much deeper spiritual level, something that I adored to bits and allowed me to have a walk down memory lane.

Her awkwardness is so adorable and relatable to many from what I've seen in the comments. I can't personally relate to everything as I'm an outspoken person, but I still enjoyed reading her! Her interactions with Kenma and Kuroo are also pretty well-written to the point that I strongly wished she was a canon character and see all of them hang around and have fun for real. 😭

I also liked the way you emphasized in the summer festival how Azumi even forgot to sketch while she was watching the wisteria, it's a small detail but speaks volumes about her character! She was having so much fun with her friends (and future hubby--) that the thought of sketching completely slipped off her mind!

However, I didn't like the way she was using poor Tamaki just to prove her point, but I can excuse her actions. She never liked or dated anyone before, so she had absolutely no idea what to do. I get it, we all make stupid decisions so I can't even judge her. Azumi is only a human like all of us, she makes mistakes and learns from them. And that's the real beauty behind her growth and development as a character.

Her relationship with Kenma is nothing less than wholesome! Just two socially awkward adorable beans chilling out while doing their thing. Them catching feelings for one another was inevitable (yeah, no shit--), also slow yet subtle. Seeing Kenma smile more frequently and even blush around Azumi simply added 10 years to my lifespan. 😩😩

I thought Kenma would feel really awkward having someone sketch him frequently, but he's actually really chill about it. I believe it's because he feels really comfortable around Azumi that he's more open with her around. He's so thoughtful of her and pays close attention to her without her even realizing it. And that scene where he got her a pink Wii remote had me SQUEALING!!! It was just so effin cute that my heart melted on spot! 😩

Kyo is a really adorable little cinnamon roll! Like... please, where can I have a brother like him? 😭😭

He's a gamer and a certified weeb like myself in real life! Even if we're not related, I feel like we can simply vibe together. Also, him trying to defend his older sis from Kenma and Kuroo at the festival upon meeting for the first time is just so CUUUUUTE!!! And the two siblings playing games and watching anime together is the most wholesome sibling relationship I've ever seen! I wish me and my brother were like this! 😭

And Haruka... ah, where do I even begin? She resembles me in a lot of things; being loud, chaotic, and a bit of a tomboy. And when I first saw that her last name is Yaku I was like... wait, is she Morisuke's sister?! I was thrilled when the story confirmed it, but at the same time disappointed when I didn't see any interaction between them at all. I really wished there were moments between the two of them and know what kind of a relationship they shared.

Her relationship with Kuroo is nothing short of god-tier! They constantly tease one another and she takes absolutely no shit from him while both working together to set up Kenma and Azumi. They're the ultimate wingman and wingwoman! I crossed my fingers in the hope to see a budding side romance between the two of them, so seeing that Haruka used to like him in the past and got a girlfriend, later on, was really unexpected. It was like such a hard slap on my face! 😂😂

Overall, I really loved Haruka and the way she always supports Azumi and has her back while encouraging her about her drawing skills. We all can be insecure about the things we love and enjoy so having someone who'd always push us forward is the best thing you can ask for. And that's exactly what Haruka has managed to do!

Tamaki is the kind of character who'd be extremely sus of him at the beginning and would SCREAM "red flag" all over the place. I felt that way about him at first as well and was really annoyed with his constant approach to Azumi to spend time with her regardless of her being uncomfortable. That was until Kenma came to her help and push him away like the boss he was. 💅

But as the story progressed, I realized that Tamaki wasn't a bad guy at all. In fact, he was really sweet and kind that it left me regretting my early prejudices against him. Not that only, but my heart also shattered knowing that Azumi was basically using him just to prove to Haruka that she didn't harbor any feelings for Kenma on their second date. Like, seriously... my heart legitimately broke for him. 💔

He even knew it all along and took it so well like a true champ, making me respect him even more. At least, he got his happy ending and is married and doing what he loves.

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Now, here's where things get real.

The writing style is generally decent compared to most of the stories I found on Wattpad which completely threw me off with their poor writing from the first few paragraphs. I didn't catch any major grammatical mistakes or typos, which is incredible on your part. The separation between the paragraphs is good and doesn't feel overwhelming to the eyes. However, I'll be real with you here... and this is purely my own personal opinion so you can simply ignore it, and I apologize in advance if I ever offend you in any way.

My issue is that the writing is way too simple. Just hear me out first, there's nothing wrong with that as not all of us are fluent in English to understand complex words. What I'm trying to say is that you could've worked more on your vocabulary as it was pretty basic, adding vast words can do wonders to any literal work. Having one or two uncommon words as synonyms here and there is never a bad idea as it strengthens proficiency and fluency in my opinion.

Also, the key moments in the story felt way too short. Especially during the most important interactions between Kenma and Azumi. The description was very curt and abrupt which left me wanting to know more; more about their thoughts, feelings, and such. I understand if you had criteria for the word count in each chapter, but having such short paragraphs in such central parts was underwhelming and took a bit from the experience. I'd suggest you make the chapters a bit longer by expanding the description and not adding anything new whatsoever.

Your writing style isn't flat-out bad, but you CAN work more on it! It has so much potential that I hate seeing it go to waste.

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In the end, Muses was such an enjoyable short story. It came out as a pure coincidence in my recommendations when I was looking for good Haikyuu fan fictions to read after catching up with the anime recently. Honestly, I had to re-read the whole thing a second time to write this review as I felt myself slowly forgetting it since I read several works after this, lol. Another reason is that I wanted to do this review just, so I had to make sure that I remember everything so I can put all of my thoughts in detail.

Your strongest point was definitely the characterization of the canon. That's the thing I adored the most in this book and it's obvious how much effort you put into fleshing them out so well in an original setting. It's not easy as I also struggle with challenging characters in my own stories, not wanting them to feel out of character.

The writing style is decent and can be improved with time and practice. I also look back at my much older drafts and realize that I can improve them now at my current level, especially when it comes to descriptions. I tried so hard to expand my vocabulary in English for that sole reason knowing that it's my second language. Aside from those small nitpicks, there isn't anything major to cry about at all.

Lastly, I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for creating such a heartwarming story that I thoroughly enjoyed! I really appreciate all the hard work you poured your heart, mind, and soul into and I wish you all the best with your future works!

Much love! ❤

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