The Mimosa Confessions (Light Novel) Vol. 2

ミモザの告白 #2

by Mei Hachimoku, Kukka (illustrator)

TIME TO RAISE THE CURTAIN

After a dramatic first semester, Sakuma and Ushio dive headfirst into summer vacation. Despite their unspoken agreement to not mention the "incident" that occurred on the last day of school, things get real awkward real fast when they meet up with Natsuki on a trip to the aquarium. She asks them a pointed "You two are dating, aren't you?"

The trio will be forced to set their unresolved feelings aside when fall semester arrives--and with it, the annual culture festival. Can Sakuma balance his feelings for both of them in addition to his work on the festival committee, not to mention a starring role in the class production of Romeo and Juliet?

Genres: Light Novel, Romance, LGBT, Japanese Literature, Novels

294 pages, Paperback

Published October 8, 2024

Reviews

[Zevitjoss]

I very much liked the first book but I was hesitant to continue the series because of the ending. To be clear, it was good and intriguing. It's just that I very much hate drama revolving around a simple misunderstanding they have with each other. It's probably one of my most hated tropes/plot structures in all of fiction and the ending of the first book seemed to be setting that up for the second volume.

I still hate the trope but this book did it well. It wasn't dragged out and resolved in natural but interesting way. There was no real antagonists this volume but the drama was still exciting. Each of the 3 main characters experiences some form of self-loathing and the way how each of them responded to their own self-loathing made for an interesting contrast and story.

The prose is great. The way the various vague discomforting feelings the main character experiences over the course of the story was so eloquently described that I was able to understand and in some cases relate to these vague feelings despite them being vague. I never noticed how good the prose was when I read the first book but I think that's just because I'm somewhat more literate then when I read the first volume.

[aurei]

3.5..? A little unsure about what to rate this volume

[Wintergreen]

i think the jury is still out on whether this is going to develop in a direction complex enough to do justice to its subjects. in a lot of a ways it feels like we're no closer to recognizing the heart of the matter than we were at the end of vol. 1, but the characters themselves and those brief intense moments where they get pulled into the vortex of intimacy + the drama of forced proximity to the object of desire make up for the general lack of development. i feel like the author has a firm grasp on human emotions/connections despite the occasional two-dimensional antagonism. this is one of the only books i've ever read depicting a transfem character/queer attraction from the outside in a way that is sufficiently multifaceted, all the way down to addressing that feeling of having outside perspectives about her femininity foisted onto her by well-meaning peers. not a story about "being trans" in a universalizing way so much as it is about coming to terms with the social and emotional upheaval that the mere existence of gender/sexual transgression wreaks on someone who clearly doesn't understand where he belongs in the normative world. i really hope this series sticks the landing--the pieces are all there to take these relationships in a more chaotic direction, but i'm just not sure what the epilogue (interlude) is trying to imply about the future of the narrative.

[Riri]

More like 3.5⭐ because it has so many misunderstandings and it's my least favorite plot device ever, but rounded up due to how well-written it is. For that reason, this volume can be pretty frustrating to go through. Sakuma, Ushio, and Natsuki are all going through various forms of self-loathing in their attempt to deal with conflicting emotions, which depicts the woes of teenagers very accurately.

The underlying issues aren't exactly solved yet, so it feels a bit like middle book syndrome since this volume focuses more on the culture festival instead of advancing the plot. The writing is slightly more introspective too compared to the first book, which might have added to that impression. The next volume sounds interesting though, so hopefully the story picks up there.

[DumbPopcorn]

7,5/10

Me ha gustado mucho que en esta secuela se explore más a Hoshihara y su relación con Ushio, me ha parecido muy tierno. Como punto extra, siempre disfruto cuando algo involucra una obra de teatro así que se me ha hecho súper interesante y entretenido.

[Hailey Yeung]

very cool

[Laura (crofteereader)]

Ugh. This one was AGONIZING! Way too much of Sakuma overthinking conversations and being entirely too paralyzed by his need to over-analyze every situation. And we’re left with things not even feeling resolved on any front! I’ll still read volume 3, but I’m definitely hoping there’s more to it like the first book…

[Jacob Sepkus]

be nice if these characters could just sit down and talk to each other without spiralling into self deprecation

[Alice Marks]

I didn’t enjoy this as much as the first novel but a decent continuation of the series.

[aura]

Not quite four stars, but I will make the leap.

The first ~70% of the novel is rather boring. However, the latter part is very compelling. First, the switch to Hoshihara in the epilogue was pretty cool(though I found her character arc before this to be pretty meh) -- more of her character was shown and it was a pretty good way of restating Sakuma's growth. I also found Ushio to be far more fleshed out in comparison to the previous installation of the series. She is fantastic, and I'm excited to read more about her. Finally, I once again thought that Sakuma was wonderful. I've seen some others say that his self-deprecation was over the top, but I personally disagree. Mostly by personal experience, I find it pretty realistic. I think that with his personal arc is basically done with his main issues of over-analysis, passivity, and biases being resolved or on the way to being improved(I am quite confident based on what I have read so far that Sakuma will not meaningfully regress), his value will now derive in large part from his interactions with others, which is what I found to be one of my favorite aspects of his character in volume one. There were some pretty interesting symbols/metaphors like the play as a whole, Hoshihara's fish metaphor, and some recurring ones like the summer.

As for some things I didn't like
-As I said before, the first ~70% is a bit of a slog to get through since it is basically just preparation for the culture fair
-Many of the same issues the first volume had reappear: the messaging is too in-your-face and a lot of conflicts are expressed in a needlessly philosophical manner when they should really be more personal. I mean they are high schoolers at the end of the day. In this regard, I didn't really think it was an issue with Sakuma, but with Nishizono and Sera. Even if their characterization supports it, it is just too much for me at least.
-Looking back at where we were at the end of the first volume, and where we are at the conclusion of this volume, the plot progression feels a tiny bit inadequate to me.
-Some of the dialogue read a bit like a millennial caricature of how teenagers talk, just very corny at times.


Ultimately, these flaws are pretty minor detractors except for the first one, and I am still very excited to read the next volume.

[Korrin Bolton]

I just finished the whole series in a little over a month and It's really hard to put into words my feelings on the book. Its bitterly sad but also so happy that it just makes me cry. I'm always sad when a story finishes but this one is particularly painful maybe it's because I relate to Ushio so much. I really hate relating to a character and seeing her go through things I also did but never had the words or understanding for until I was older. It should be required reading for anyone who wants to better understand the trans experience and all the joys and hardships it entails. It is well over 1,000 pages all together but I finished each book in about 2-3 days each weekend.

[Marcy Best]

Quizá 2.5 estrellas. Realmente lo que más me molestó fue tener todos los diálogos internos de Kamiki. La historia es interesante, pero cada 5 minutos Kamiki cuestionándose la vida me estresa, y odié que arruinara la obra de teatro solo por sus inseguridades. Lo más curioso es que al final la narradora se vuelve Natsuki por unas cuantas páginas, y el libro se siente muy diferente. Natsuki igual es insegura y funciona para analizar los eventos, pero no al nivel de Kamiki. A veces siento que Kamiki es un viejo interactuando con un montón de niños por la forma en la que piensa. Quizá lea la 3 algún día, pero ya no me emociona.

[Zebean Lee]

I enjoyed it but there were some things I didn’t like just like the first book. It starts great then towards the middle it gets a bit boring and slow and kind of annoying with how the characters act. Then at the end it picked back up for me and it ended on a high note.

I’m excited to read the next book but I hope there’s more progression because to be honest not much happened to progress the main relationships in this book. Still I’m really excited to continue the series.

[Emma Harper]

This book is a bit less exciting than the first. While the first book is almost entirely fairly high stakes (at least for high school) drama this book is about 50% interesting character dynamics and 50% getting ready for the school fair. I suppose it is a cute slice of life but I can't help but want the characters to actually change and grow.

[Hafida]

Like any other light novel: story about Bunkasai. nothing new🤷‍♀️. A lot of Sakuma's monologue.

[Amaila]

rlly good but why cant bitches be honest with themselves ever that would solve all their issues

[Danny]

the way the author writes their character's inner monologue is very fun to read

[Alyce]

Shakespeare-esque, and uses the theme of the "mask" to align with Ushio's identity. I enjoyed it!

[Emmie]

This book really highlights how messy relationships can be. I also loved the premise of Ushio playing Juliet in the school cultural festival.

Also, USHIO LOOKS SO PRETTY IN EVERY OUTFIT!!!

5/5

[Anaboth]

Incredible book, just like the first.

[doo78]

I decided to read volume 2 because volume 1 ended on a cliffhanger and I thought 'why not'? But I regret it. Halfway through I realised it wasn't going anywhere and was pretty much a waste of time, but I was too deep to drop it, so I painstakingly got through it.

The main issue I have is it has no substance---the VAST majority of the book has absolutely nothing going on. No conflict, nothing being set-up, no characters explored, just nothing at all. And that isn't bad on it's own; slice-of-life usually has nothing going on. But those media have comedy, chill vibes, great music, great dialogue etc. Other things going for them. This has nothing. I was reading them preparing for this cultural festival, of course them doing a Romeo & Juliet rendition because what else would they do, thinking to myself there is literally nothing to take or enjoy from this at all, because there's nothing there.

There are a few moments of depth here and there, but they're so brief that they have no impact. And the conflict is just so cheap and scarce. It'll be some silly misunderstanding or some irrational side character being unrealistically mean. And when the conflict really hits the fan, it's 90% of the way into the book and is immediately over. The same thing happened with the last novel. It does nothing the entire time then one big thing right before the end to rope you into the next book. The whole thing just feels like one big chunk of filler, padding out pages to sell more volumes than the story needs. This volume showed this story has nothing left to tell and is being stretched paper-thin.

I don't like speaking negatively about stuff but damn was this boring. I'm moreso mad at myself for not being able to give up on a book I'm half-way into. So yeah, 2/5 because I'm too soft to give anything 1/5 unless it really makes me mad.

[Neil]

This was kind of a drag compared to the first book... The characters' repeated misunderstandings are so hard for me to recall, I might get a headache trying to write a proper review.

Nevertheless, I ate this book up in three days, and I'm looking forward to the next volumes.