Tamon’s B-Side, Vol. 6

多聞くん今どっち!? [Tamon-kun Ima Docchi!?] #6

by Yuki Shiwasu

F/ACE member Natsuki has been struggling to write the band a new song, and nothing seems to help—especially not a run-in with his ex! Can he snap out of his funk in time for F/ACE’s surprise performance at Utage’s school festival?

Genres: Manga, Romance, Shojo, Young Adult, Graphic Novels, Contemporary, Humor

168 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 20, 2023

About the author

Name (in native language) : 師走ゆき

Associated Names:
СИВАСУ Юки
师走ゆき

Reviews

[DianaRose · Rating 5 out of 5]

omg my libby hold FINALLY came in after weeks!

not to mention this is the first volume i really really enjoyed! we focus on natsuki’s backstory, and there’s also a school festival!

i’m glad we shifted away from every volume being some sort of repetitive rendition of solely focusing on tamon being depressed lol that got old quick.

and that ending!! omgg🤯

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm so sad that they got interrupted!!!!!!!!! I need the next volume asap. Hopefully they don't leave us hanging and continue from the end of this one.

I like that we are getting to see Kinoshita's view of Tamon change. Her starting to see him as an actual person and not just an idol is everything.

I also really loved Natsuki and Asuka, I hope they end up together.

Thank you Viz Media for the arc!

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

I sometimes feel like Yuki Shiwasu and I have very different ideas of what makes a good series and that’s why I don’t mesh with her series as much as I’d like. I’m not the one with two successful series under their belt though, so it’s probably me.

Parts of this story are undeniably hysterical. When F/Ace decides to crash Utage’s school festival, they all start mimicking Tamon and using masks to conceal their identity. Some of these are deadly hilarious - Natsuki smoking through a traffic cone has to be seen to be believed.

This arc lets the school setting breathe a bit and, as usual, amps up the fandom to near-psychotic levels. The entire glee club doing a F/Ace medley feels more like a cult that’s about to kill itself if they’re told to than a well-adjusted bunch.

The extremes this goes to are part of the joke, but sometimes this backfires. Whenever Tamon threatens to kill himself it is a bump I can’t manage to get over. This is down to my own personal experiences, I’ve said as much before, but it always feels tacky.

I’m similarly perplexed by the whole Asuka (Utage’s teacher) and Natsuki storyline, just because the narrative seems to be that Asuka should be the one apologizing for breaking things off with Natsuki when they dated.

Except he got into a confrontation with his deadbeat dad and she stepped in, then got shoved down a flight of stairs for her trouble, injuring herself before an important sports meet. It’s not Natsuki’s fault, but it sure as heck has nothing to do with her either.

She gets mad because he threw away his big chance to be there for her, which I think is fairly reasonable. Then again, I am very pragmatic and of the opinion that he could do the audition and then apologize and nothing would really change.

Anyway, it’s just my view versus the story. The rest is the wild insanity of idol fandom, which is fitfully amusing, but tends to weird me out more than make me laugh. Like I said, I just don’t feel like this one is for me, much as I enjoy some aspects.

I run so hot and cold on this series that it’s ridiculous, even by my own non-existent standards. Still, lots of other people love this and if you’ve been more than happy with it up to this point I doubt it will be any different here. We all have things that stick in our craw, basically.

3 stars - less suicide jokes would be nice. Between that and the Natsuki backstory being a bit daft, no traffic cone on earth is going to save this one from being anything but just okay for me.

[Ami_is_tired · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ending...

[**Sognatrice di libri** · Rating 4 out of 5]

Continuo questa divertente serie, mi sta piacendo molto anche perchè oltre ai personaggi principali fa conoscere i personaggi a loro vicini.

[dora♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved the school festival and natsuki's backstory but the ending has me in chokehold🧍🏼‍♀️ i beg the author to stop making the cliffhangers after every single volume😁 thank you.

[Kaitlynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

HOW DARE THEY GET INTERUPTEEEEDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!

Things are starting to move forward... for someone at least... I think.

Hopefully things will continue to move forward in the next volume, because I AM DYING.

Thank you SO! MUCH! to VIZ Media for the ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions expressed are entirely my own.

[Laura A. Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

VIDEO REVIEW HERE: https://youtu.be/HTi6ADNKLbA

"Some people will appreciate a show of concern. Others will be annoyed by it. You don't know how someone will react until you try."

I love how this series is becoming more heartfelt as it goes because I feel I am increasingly surprised with how we get to know each of these characters in a real way. Natsuki was so different than I expected, and definitely was not anticipating for us to get his backstory and how it shaped him to be the person he is today! I am VERY invested in him as a character because I want to see restoration between him and another character so desperately. I guess there WAS, but I am already shipping him and X character and want to see the ship sail! LOL!

The few moments between Tamon and Utage were SOOOOOO good! I never imagined I would be so excited to see a slowburn romance unfold between them, but those are some of the best moments in this series I think! Tamon speaks a line directly to Utage that directly addresses their relationship and was SO bummed Utage couldn't bare her heart at the end because I was completely leaning forward when reading, just waiting with bated breath to see it unfold…only for it not to happen!

And once again there was ANOTHER massive cliffhanger!!!! Compared to previous cliffhangers though, this one was really hard though! I'm not even fully sure what's going to happen next, but I'm thankful I have the next volume on hand!

[Readergirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Check out my complete review of the series (till volume 12, the up-till-date available to me) here -
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Annalise · Rating 5 out of 5]

WHAT DO YOU MEAN UTAGE???! I’ll crash out rn🫠

[Kastie Pavlik · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this one has a decent and consistent flow, like author found a good rhythm. Things start out a bit serious getting Natsuki's back story, but then take a hilarious turn as the guys invade Kinoshita's school festival. It's not too wordy or narrowly focused like the last volume. We even get some character growth... Until... cliffhanger. Dun. Dun. DUNNNNN!

Plus, Kinoshita has finally brainwashed Tamon. He'll suddenly get a mental reminder that "Tamon is a god!" and remember to mind himself. (⁠✷⁠ ⁠ᴗ⁠ ✷⁠)

Aw, man. I don't wanna wait! (⁠ꏿ⁠﹏⁠ꏿ⁠;⁠)

[BrynneJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good volume in a great series that is cute and comedic.

This series has been a solid, go-to, pure entertainment manga for me since I randomly decided to buy the first volume. I'll admit, getting too in depth (off track?) with all the members could be a deterrent for readers who want the main couple, but I've enjoyed the consistent gag of meeting the true personalities and backgrounds of the members! The plot/characters/dialogue/drawings all contribute to hilarious moments.

[Zephorah Dove · Rating 4 out of 5]

The cliffhanger, nooooo!

Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for the DRC. I've been out of the F/ACE world for a bit so it was nice to dive back in and get some more background on another character, Natsuki.

I really like how our FMC accepts the real personalities of the celebs and steers them back to their persona in public. She does it so seamlessly that they can't even be mad since she's saving their image. But they all feel comfortable around her, especially sir Ori who is trying his hardest to catch her eye.

But her and Mr. Gloomy...why do we keep getting interrupted when it's getting good?! Volume 7 needs to come out like tomorrow.

[Heather D-G · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars rounded up ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

This was a fun volume with a story arc about F/ACE member Natsuki. What are the odds that he used to date Utage’s teacher? Pretty wild, huh? Tokyo feels tiny here as the different characters’ paths collide.
When F/ACE wants to film a video at a school culture festival, where do you think they go? To Utage’s school, of course!
My only real complaint is the ending. The whole “I’m endangering the idol’s career by interacting with him” thing is getting a little thin. Somebody give Utage a gentle smack!

[reese ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Utage Kinoshita is back to school and is assigned to be the head of the kitchen for the upcoming school festival. She seeks help from her homeroom teacher, Asuka, but when she was trying to find her around the school, Utage finds Asuka tackling F/ACE's songwriter, Natsuki Ishibashi! After she confronts Asuka and Natsuki, she feels like the both of them are not letting more than they let on. Is Asuka the key to Natsuki's writer's block to writing another song of the year?

--

Tamon's B-side (Volume 6) revolves around F/ACE's talented songwriter, Natsuki Ishibashi. Continuing from where the last volume left off, Natsuki is still struggling with writing the perfect song for one of F/ACE's biggest project on the upcoming year. It gets revealed later on that the key to this writer's block is in Utage's homeroom teacher and fellow F/ACE fan, Asuka.

Compared to the other F/ACE members, Natsuki's struggles felt especially relatable, and learning more about his background made it easy to root for him. He and Asuka genuinely care for each other, but were separated by the guilt Natsuki carried after a tragic accident that ended Asuka's judo career. A part of me still hopes that they get the chance to rekindle their relationship in the future volumes.

Utage and Tamon both teamed up in order to help Natsuki with his writer's block. Though there were moments that are genuine and wholesome between them, what stood up to me in this volume is Tamon's character growth. Sure, he is still gloomy as usual, but he does his best in the only way he knows how.

Speaking of character development, Keito finally apologizing to Utage after what he said to her from the previous chapter was another cherry on top for me. We love to see characters growing over time in this series.

And there's another cliffhanger... What would even happen in the next volume after that?!

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, when I finish a book on Goodreads, it automatically sends me an email with links to either the three most recent or three most popular reviews others have written about the book. I usually read or at least skim those. And with this series there have been one or two going on and on about how each volume has ended on a major cliffhanger. It may be true. Since I have through volume 10, I haven’t yet hit the end of one where I can’t go immediately on to the next, and this series has been so over the top that I haven’t really taken it seriously enough to be distressed over anything that happens (except the suicide threats and controlling behavior stuff, which I think is problematic, especially if the series is being read by adolescents…but even that stuff I don’t think the author meant to be taken seriously). Anyway, this volume is the first where I’ve felt the ending is a true cliffhanger. I’m more interested to see how Shiwasu writes herself back out of the situation than I am distressed over it.

I had more “feels” in this volume than I have in the previous ones. Not so much for Utage and Tamon. Mostly for her teacher and the other band member, Natsugi - Natsuki? I don’t remember - sorry. Anyway, I enjoyed. I am enjoying this more overall now that I’ve got a better feel for the story style and that the reader is supposed to be actively suspending disbelief pretty much all the time over pretty much everything and that’s part of the fun of it. It’s sort of like a melodrama in the way that the reader is supposed to react to it, I guess.

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly wondering why Tamon and Utage get interrupted, she realized she has feelings for Tamon, but being the fan she is, she’s going to distance herself from him. I loved the side story of Asuka and Natsuki, we got to see a new side of him, not only the lazy person but also the person who always thought that he had messed her life. Natsuki cares so much about Asuka, and Asuka has always been supporting him!

[Rella · Rating 4 out of 5]

no puede ser que el cute tiene esa historia de transfondo con una ex cuando el estaba en un pésimo espacio en la vida, hubo un gran malententido por muchas cosas que pasaron y se dejaron de ver. pero nunca dejaron de quererse y desear que el otro estuviera en lo mejor awwwwwwwwwwww
lastima que la prota dándose cuenta que gusta de tamon significa que debe retirarse de su trabajo, el cual le da contacto a tamon. super profesional de su parte.

[Cassandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this volume and will for sure read the next. But this volume was just a lot of why I don’t get in to fandoms of Asian pop stars. I don’t understand this whole thing about how they can’t date and have to be for the fans and it was a lot front and center with two stories in this volume. When have one more member grunty Mr muscles. I wonder what his separate personality will be? And because if the first topic I didn’t like the ending of this volume and found it frustrating.

[The Book Dragon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, we got Tamon, Ori, and Keito... Now it's Natsumi's turn for his totally opposite personality to reveal itself along side his tragic backstory... which gets spouted pretty easily after he gets drunk.

But then there's the school festival and the ridiculous masks plus Utage finally sorting through her feelings has me rolling.

Now we only have one member of F/ACE left.

[Shirin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one was thankfully a turning point in the series I believe/hope. Tamon is really starting to come out of his shell and the other member is resolving his issue. And the housekeeper is finally beginning to realize her true feelings for Tamon. I hope things continue to go in a positive direction/have the two pair up and progress the story. I would hate for there to be a terrible slow burn.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

( . w. ) -b

I'm waiting for the translation of volume 8 to see Rintarou Kai! He is the cool, collected one in F/ACE if I remember correctly. Me and my sister think he will turn out to be a total drama queen or a softie like Azazel in "As Miss Beelzebub Likes".

[-moonprismpower- · Rating 5 out of 5]

Natsuki and Asuka… reunited. Ohhh had me crying. “I pulled it off. I became a singer.”

And UTAGE!!! Girl, wtf!!!? The end of this volume was the opposite of what I expected… Put the fan girl shit down and get your man!!! Lol

[Fen · Rating 4 out of 5]

i’m so happy to see asuka and natsuki become a subplot. they’re really entertaining and i like the history they have and how it keeps them apart while also intertwining them. utage’s decision at the end killed me but i think it’ll be short lived lolol

[Jess | jadecanread · Rating 3 out of 5]

lol this one made me cry.

overall though, it's ridiculous but I don't mind it.

RECAP: Her homeroom teacher runs into Natsuki and we get backstory. School festival. F/ACE surprise. All the guys are there but in incognito. and an ALMOST confession before she resigns.

[SK.Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm going to binge this entire series in one day. I can't get enough. Tamon is so cute! This story follows alot of the same romance tropes as other romance manga's. Miscommunication trope, the love triangle trope (not really a triangle if Utage is single-minded and selfless).

[Olwyne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ce tome confirme la lenteur du récit. Les relations dans le groupe me semblent de plus en plus toxiques, notamment avec la jalousie omniprésente. J’aurais aimé voir les personnages grandir davantage à ce stade de l’histoire.

[Somu · Rating 4 out of 5]

*4.5. Another brilliant read. I loved seeing the progression and acknowledgement of feelings. Was getting ready to rejoice only to see the ending and miss mamas decision is annoying again but can’t say I’m shocked. Curious to see how this is resolved in the next volume.

[devynreads · Rating 5 out of 5]

NOT THIS CLIFFHANGER!!!!

[Mayar Mahdy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't think I've added reviews to the first 5 volumes of this, but I really like it. The premise is pretty funny and the art is good.