A mysterious boy comes to Saku Fujigaya’s rescue when she falls ill on a train, but he leaves before she can thank him. After this experience, Saku never ignores strangers in need of help to emulate the boy who helped her.
After Saku remembered meeting Iryu back when they were children, it brought them closer together and might have started something new stirring in Iryu’s heart. But Saku is focused on her plans to tour the school festival with Haruki. Will their day together turn out as she hopes?
Io Sakisaka (咲坂伊緒) is a Japanese manga artist. She also designed the characters for the anime movie HAL. Her works are:
-Call My Name (2001) -Watashi no Koibito (2002) -Bye-Bye, Little (2002) -Blue (2006) -Mascara Blues (2007) -Strobe Edge (2007) -Ao Haru Ride (2011) -Sono Omokage o Shitteru (2013) (oneshot) -Omoi, Omoware, Furi, Furare (2015) -Otome no Itari (2020) (oneshot) -Sakura, Saku (2021)
School festival time rolls around and even poor Io Sakisaka, queen of shojo drama, admits that she’s having a heck of a time coming up with new booths for her classes to indulge in.
Still, the one she crafts here, which is basically a haunted house combined with a heart rate monitor that disqualifies you if your heartbeat gets too amped up, is incredibly clever at being used to cause the sort of entanglements her manga thrive on.
Poor Saku can’t catch a break this volume, as she’s being pursued by two guys now, but the one she’s really after doesn’t seem to be meshing with her like he should. I definitely buy her putting way too much stock in that quiz that goes disastrously wrong, at least.
The real problem with Saku is that she spends the entire volume assuming everything and always in the way that it would be the most torturous for the story. Some of this is allowable, but she makes so many wrong assumptions and has the worst takes every time this volume. It becomes annoying in a way I don’t enjoy.
Poor Haruki (they have more in common than it seems!) is being so obvious that he could hardly be any more blatant short of using advertising or a flash mob to get his point across. He might be generically nice, but he clearly likes Saku a lot and that does make him a bit more than trophy boy, although his own development this volume isn’t great.
Meanwhile, the overly prickly Iryu steps up his rival game. I really liked the flashback we got to his first meeting with Saku. Who would have thought candy to be so formative? Both he and Haruki make lots of fun trouble for Saku, if you like that sort of thing.
And then there’s Kotono, set adrift with her own feelings towards Saku. She’s got her own struggles to work through, since she’s watching all this play out without even being in the running.
Still, my radar is up on this plotline and her relationship with Mitoshi, who is looking after her while she’s in a funk. It’s not that he’s a bad friend, more like I have a sneaking suspicion that we might be in for straight-up (pardon the term) queer erasure with this. I hope it gets more nuanced and at least hits bisexuality, but we’ll see.
It’s a mostly solid volume with some very fun set pieces and the usual Sakisaka excellence. Where it falls down a bit is with Saku, whose terrible assumptions make her come across as very dense at times rather than a tortured heroine. I like her character a lot, but this isn’t the best she’s been written.
Similarly, that entire side plot with Haruki and a girl he used to know in some capacity could have been entirely jettisoned and nothing would have been lost. Presumably this will become more of a thing later, but in this volume it’s a big old nothing.
It’s kind of a lesson in how great ideas can’t always save you from a couple of bad decisions and the ones chosen for the plotting here really alternate between strong and utter duds. Throw in some character work that doesn’t and it really becomes my main takeaway from the volume.
3.5 stars - I’d give this four, but Saku really does whiff it a little too much here and some of our plots are not quite there for me yet. It’s terribly enjoyable at times, but the consistency isn’t quite what we’ve had before this.
Je commence à être blasée de cette série, en plus je pensais que c'était le dernier tome, mais ce n'est pas le cas. La communication entre les personnages est très mauvaise et les gars sont souvent agaçants.
Qu’est-ce qu’Io Sakisaka nous faire tourner en bourrique dans cette série, elle me donne envie de crêpages de chignons pour enfin faire avancer clairement les choses !
Alors que la série est désormais terminée en 9 tomes au Japon et qu’on en voit le bout, elle prend un malin plaisir à faire tourner en bourrique nos héros, à coup de maladresses et quiproquos à n’en plus finir ! Si elle sait parfaitement maintenir le suspense et rythmer ses chapitres, cela reste parfois frustrant et agaçant tant ils sont près du but et ne parviennent pas à l’atteindre.
Ce tome centré sur le festival de leur école est un modèle du genre, avec chaque héros sachant ce qu’il éprouve, plusieurs amis ayant compris, mais personne ne se déclarant franchement à la bonne personne. Cela donne une valse électrique où personne n’est sûr de rien. Que c’est frustrant ! En tant que lectrice, je me suis forcément amusée à les voir s’approcher, s’approcher pour reculer au dernier moment, mais j’avais aussi envie de leur mettre un coup de pied aux fesses pour avancer enfin et éclaircir tout cela. Car il faut dire que Saku est quand même particulièrement obtuse et Haruki bien peu clair dans ses entreprises… Il faut qu’ils se bougent !
Heureusement que l’ensemble donne lieu à plein de petits moments mignons propices à faire palpiter le coeur des âmes un peu romantiques. Ça aide à patienter. Car clairement le triangle amoureux n’est pas de ceux que j’apprécie. Je trouve Iryu antipathique au possible, physiquement et dans son comportement, je n’arrive pas à accrocher. Je trouve aussi les obstacles qui arrivent au cours de ce tome totalement ridicules et artificiels, pour ne pas dire décevant. L’autrice a déjà fait bien mieux, plus profond et sensible que ça. Ici, j’ai l’impression qu’elle peine à se renouveler, en dehors de l’amitié amoureuse du tome 4. Alors oui, il y a de l’humour, de la sensibilité, des mignonneries, mais c’est un peu fade et convenu. Cela manque de souffle dramatique par rapport à l’habitude.
Un ultime tome où l’on tourne en rond je l’espère car je n’en peux plus de les voir se tourner autour sans que ça aboutisse. L’autrice a perdu un peu de son talent des débuts à force de répéter la même variation sans y ajouter autre chose. C’est mignon, c’est attendrissant mais c’est un peu facile et répétitif. Les quiproquos ont besoin de plus de sel pour divertir le lecteur et les triangles amoureux également. Allez, on se réveille !
this series is so good!!! I can't believe it's been four-ish months since I've read about these characters. I've missed how crazy they make me. can you believe in that time I've gone out and had my own successful romcom story??
anyways. iryu is freaking me out a bit. I find it off-putting how he assumes she's not picking up on his hints because 'she's dense' and I don't like the forcefulness he has at the end there. it reminds me too much of men Ive interacted with who made me so incredibly uncomfortable. I suppose that's always been sakisaka's charm. she is so skilled in character writing that one small scene can evoke such a reaction and draw on so many universal experiences, at least for fem presenting people.
I'm also very excited that things are moving along. Im very excited to see them go on their planetarium date <333 I feel like it's very silly but also very common to be asked out on what is very clearly a date but sit around asking yourself what he could possibly mean by that. no wayyyy he's into me,, he only referred to us brushing faces as his first kiss.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
fujigaya is such a flat character. she’s so boring, naive and annoying. haruki is damn dry too but damn i cant see why he would even like her. all she does is be clueless and oblivious and misunderstand shit & he just wont tell it straight so its frustrating to see them both be on the same freaking place for 6 volumes. only irryuu kun is keeping me going cuz he has somewhat a personality! its insane to me how even the side characters arent doing it to me in this manga when i have LOVED this mangaka’s side characters before. everyone is SO BORING!
Well... it's officially a love triangle... or arrow? since Kotono also likes Fujigaya. Meanwhile, Fujigaya and Haruki keep bouncing off each other, getting so close to admitting that they like each other, only for something to happen and cause a misunderstanding. And Iryu keeps bouncing back and forth between if he admits to himself that he likes Fujigaya or not.
But the use of heartbeat monitors for a school festival haunted house is actually really clever. I love these unique little details.
Queen Sakisaka, come fai a far funzionare tutto con tutti sti cliché? Triangolo amoroso telefonatissimo (moro VS biondo sempre un grande classico degli shojo - e di solito vince il moro), sta cavolatina un po' cringe degli orologi misura battito, la tipa gnocca amica di infanzia di lui che sbuca per rovinare l'idillio, le incomprensioni basate sul nulla... e niente, AMO TUTTO E NE VOGLIO ANCORA!
Vraiment pas mal mais beaucoup d'intrigue est beaucoup de chose que je ne comprenais pas 😂. Une histoire bien complète ce coup ci. J'ai particulièrement bien aimé. Je retire 2 étoiles pour la simple est bonne raison que y'a plein de chose que je ne comprenais pas 😂. Le seul perso pas problématique enfaîte c'est Mitoshi. 😂 J'avoue que depuis le tome 3 je me suis attacher à Iryu. Je pense qu'au fond de lui il a un bon fond. Perso ça me rappelle un peu True beauty avec Cha Eun woo et hwang in-yeop 😂. Choquer que Kotono soit in love de ça pote... On a affaire à un quadrutripe triangle amoureux, 👀
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Seguim amb el drama, aquest cop durant el festival escolar i moltíssima ambigüitat que no cola... ja sap tothom què sent la parella protagonista menys ells dos, a veure si concreten i l'Iryuu queda fora de joc perquè no té res a fer! Més intensitat que en el darrer volum, però amb ganes que progressin perquè estic enganxadíssima!!!
Haruki is starting to piss me off… Iryu seemed the rude one in the beginning, but ever since this arc of Haruki getting jealous started he’s acting very differently than in the beginning - very immaturely and harshly. Kinda rooting for Saku to choose Iryu (or even Kotono), even if I know it won’t happen :/
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Ack, all this drama! And double love triangles? Oof. Anyway, I’m curious how Saku will react to Iryu telling her he likes her. And what will happen when Haruki eventually tells her the same thing on their planetarium date? Also, what will happen to Kotono? I’m curious. I wish these volumes would come out quicker.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Saku's typically playful demeanor takes on a distinctly whimsical edge in this volume, perhaps fueled by the sudden reappearance of a figure from Haruki's past. This unexpected arrival stirs a noticeable anxiety within Saku, hinting at underlying insecurities regarding Haruki's affections. Despite the emotional undercurrents, the narrative unfolds with a smooth, effortless flow.
Why are we taking ten years just to say the most simple things.. 🙄 Everybody pissing me off at this point except Kotono and Mitoshi. Iyru still seems interesting, but I need him to start giving more than annoying and brooding. Guys.. let’s pick up the pace instead of just not saying how we feel for no good reason! Thank you and goodnight, 3 Stars. 🌟🌟🌟
Io Sakisaka loves making me love the second love interest that we all know the mc is not going to pick. Ugh!! Honestly Haruki is not a bad choice so I'm not that upset about their relationship, but I want everyone to be happy :(
This is so cute. The heart monitors on Haruki and Iryu going off is hilarious! As is everyone thinking Saku has a fever. Get on with it Haruki, tell her how you feel because you know you have competition and you clearly don't want to lose.
just... wtd Female lead is freaking more and more annoying as the story goes on. She doesn't seem to like or want anything that strongly. She gets swayed absolutely by everything and hopelessly clueless. I hope this changes on the next volume, cause there is just 3 volumes left!