Finally fleshing out Ichi’s character, Yoi becoming bolder, THE RAPID DEVELOPMENT, the Tone and Kuwa ship that’s about to sail now!! How can I keep calm? Please tell me how!
Tome 8 de la saga, toujours aussi mignon. Un shojo qui shojo quoi ! Je mets seulement 3 étoiles car bien qu'agréable à lire, je trouve qu'après 8 tomes, la complexité des personnages et de leur relation reste encore trop superficielle et prévisible... mais peut être ai-je juste passé l'âge d'apprécier les shojos lycée ! Ayant été habituée à Io Sakisaka je suis un peu exigeante, mais je pense aussi que c'est peut etre trop léger comme type de lecture pour moi à l'heure actuelle. Néanmoins, c'est agréable à lire. Je ne sais pas si j'achèterai la suite.
'i wish i had the power to make up for what you have lost and to restore what has been worn away, at least a little bit. even if our current daily life and the days we take for granted disappear in the future, may you always be next to me, and may i always be with you in my future.'
Except for this next moment where I belabour the point, I won’t belabour the point that this story doesn’t land with me all that much and I think it’s kind of middling.
That all being said, this particular volume is inarguably the best one yet and, to be honest, a pretty dang good time. Notably, it doesn’t have any appearances by Ohji, the rival who is a way better character than actual male lead, Kohaku.
Instead, we get the fallout from Kohaku’s very public declaration of love and him basically stoking the fire immediately afterwards. Yoi having to deal with three sets of fan groups, one of which wants the two of them together because they look like a pair from BL story, is terribly amusing.
This leads to a lot of dating and, while I wish Yoi was a little more present in her own story, the two of them have more chemistry now that they’re together than they ever did during the preceding volumes of courtship.
Most of Yoi’s time is spent being in awe of Kohaku and wondering how she can support him. I keep feeling like there’s a character imbalance here that is the sort of thing that would annoy the biscuits out of me and probably has already.
Even the revelation of Kohaku’s incredibly stressful home life and the expectations on him doesn’t really gin up much interest from me. This is likely due to my apathy over his character, but it’s also the sort of thing we’ve seen before.
The real meat of this one for me, however, is the delightfully awkward Nobara, Yoi’s otaku friend who has developed a crush on Koharu’s friend, Shun. Even if the otaku finds love concept is hardly new, having it be a female and putting it in the hands of Mika Yamamori makes it feel fresher.
Nobara’s shyness and sudden semi-confidence is a hoot, even if Shun seems… a little boring this volume. I loved the way Nobara’s home life is depicted - you can see the how and why of her development into a withdrawn girl who thinks she deserves nothing. It’s the best characterization in the whole series and done with both economy and aplomb.
I’d read a whole book about Nobara, frankly, so her continued tribulations will absolutely bring me back for the next time out. I’m also marginally more okay with Yoi and Kohaku too, so I won’t be upset to see them date a little more as we go. That’s good enough.
3.5 stars - side characters trump main characters, but the mains get less underwhelming. Not perfect, but lots of change for the better all over this volume.
After the official announcement of the Yoi/Koharu couple, this volume goes a little empty and, to fill in the mundane everyday life of our high school students, develops classic subplots with Nobara and Shun on one side and Koharu's relationship with his parents on the other. Shojo romance 101.
Yamamori's drawing is as beautiful as ever though and remains a strong motivation to read the series.
Amo questo manga sempre di più 💛💛💛 Per chi non lo sapesse gira la voce che sarà adattato in un animeeeee!!!! Non sono pronta a vedere Kohaku animato 🫠
Pensare che Yoi e Kohaku si erano messi tanto per provarci e ora piano piano stanno instaurando un rapporto sempre più solido e sincero. Che bello che stia filando tutto liscio, niente malintesi o allontanamenti (spero di non aver parlato troppo in fretta ahah)!
Finalmente si scopre qualcos’altro sulla situazione familiare di Kohaku. Onestamente mi aspettavo tutto questo, era abbastanza scontato, ma sono convinta ci sia dell’altro. L’autrice è stata bravissima a trasmettere le emozioni di Kohaku, assurdo come sia riuscita a disegnare benissimo lui che sorride in maniera forzata.
E poi che dire? Ma che bella è la seconda coppia?! Non so quando “salperà” questa ship ma spero presto!!! Il pov da parte di lei mi è piaciuto particolarmente perché rappresenta benissimo le insicurezze che abbiamo provato tutte almeno una volta nella vita. Lei comunque è dolcissima e amo il suo lato più vivace, mi ci rivedo molto! Lui invece…mamma mia troppo figo, la Yamamori è riuscita a creare un personaggio che può benissimo contendersela con il mio amato Kohaku! E il fatto che sia un po’ tonto me lo fa piacere ancora di più!
Koharu is cementing himself as one of my fave manga leads!
Really great volume with some character development, side character relationships, and some backstory.
Recap: they’re publicallydating after Koharu kisses Yoi on stage in front of the school. Tone has some developments with Kuwa. We learn he’s super oblivious. Yoi meets Koharu’s uncle and realizes she doesn’t know Koharu that well. She goes with him to his parents house and learns the kind of childhood and relationships he has with his parents. Ends with her hugging him to comfort him.
It's a bit sad that at this point, I'm way more invested in the side couple. Fortunately for me, I suppose, about half of this volume was dedicated to them! Or, mainly, to Nobara having a lot of severe self-worth issues.
After all, she's not the heroine of a shoujo story...that's her friend, Yoi, who is beautiful and kind and absolutely stands out in a crowd, even when she's not dating the richest and most popular guy in school, or being kissed by said boyfriend on stage during the school's culture festival.
Nobara is plain, boring, and entirely ordinary, and has gotten some unreasonable expectations about her own chances at love, simply because her friend is dating her crush's friend. Because yes, she is very much into Kohaku's best friend, Kuwa, whom she fully believes is way out of her league.
Kuwa is very handsome but is also very friendly and kind, and he has little to no idea why this girl has suddenly started following him home from school and then running away whenever she sees him. So he waits for her the next afternoon and apologies for his own rudeness...when he'd accidentally insinuated that she might've been stalking him.
She kind of was, but not in an intentionally weird way...she'd just been trying to find a way to thank him for the food he'd given her at the end of the festival, but she got caught up in her own head and ended up walking behind him for an unreasonable amount of time without actually speaking to him at all. Too caught up in daydreams about the kinds of things that would happen in a fictional romance, that don't line up with the reality of two human beings interacting in the real world...
Nobara is ordinary, in that she's probably a lot more like most of the people binge-reading these kinds of shoujo series. And definitely a lot more like I was in high school! More interested in the fantasy of imagining relationships than in actually being in one, honestly, but also periodically feeling down about the fact that you were supposed to be finding romance and all that in school, like all the regular/cool people.
So even though aspects of Nobara's personality could potentially be grating if she doesn't start showing some growth, I do find her pretty relatable. And she is trying: she keeps talking herself out of her funks and putting on a good face for her friends. Yoi doesn't like that, though...her friends helped her out so much when she was agonizing over her relationship, and it makes her feel sad and useless when Nobara isn't asking for help in turn.
Definitely interested to see how their relationship progresses, particularly since Kuwa's friends say he's completely clueless about romance and won't realize when someone has a crush on him...and Nobara doesn't really seem like she has the confidence to make the first move.
Meanwhile, Yoi and Kohaku are in a pretty strong honeymoon stage. I wasn't entirely thrilled with that kiss in front of their entire school, and neither was Yoi, who elbowed Kohaku in the ribs and then lectured him about it later. But it really does fit with his personality, and I love how playful he's becoming now that he's with someone who really sees the true him behind the princely exterior.
Kohaku's uncle, whom they run into on the street outside his clothing shop, even comments on the difference in his personality and actions. Kohaku's becoming a lot more cheerful and free-spirited - he's happy, and it shows.
I was really surprised when Yoi invited herself along to meet Kohaku's parents, but it turns out she wasn't actually supposed to...he went to their house to retrieve winter clothes at a time when he'd thought they wouldn't be home. Which, of course, turned into exactly the type of awkward, uncomfortable interaction he didn't want Yoi to see, but was ultimately okay with her witnessing because her presence always gives him strength.
I'm still so utterly confused by the deal with Kohaku's brother. His mother was almost talking about him like he's dead. Are they ever going to explain this???
Otherwise, it's typical brother complex type stuff, with Kohaku's parents adoring his older brother and mostly ignoring him until they realized he was going to be the heir after all...and then trying to control his life and his future so he can slot into that role.
Hopefully the next volume gets more into the plotty side of all of that, since it seems like the central relationship's pretty much smooth sailing now.