There’s nothing worse than a manga brought down by a single moment that is so ill-advised that it makes you wonder how it went through editorial with nobody noticing. The moment here isn’t quite that bad, perhaps, but it did take me right out of the story.
Which is a shame because this continues to be a really fun time for a story that was meant to be done in two volumes (that explains the ending and bonus pages last time).
Momose and Ichikura being forced to help at the festival is a brutally funny set-up, which leads to both the expected romantic moments along with Ichikura happily re-interpreting his promise to not fight any more so he can take down a bunch of punks.
It’s such a fun scenario for them to play off one another and they’re such a good pairing. From Ichikura’s bottomless appetite and Momose’s constant short circuiting to Ichikura’s crazy talent for carnival games (this has the funniest fishing game sequence I’ve ever seen), there’s a lot of great stuff.
The follow-up is also a great time, as the thug who kidnapped Mimose transfers to their class, but not for the reasons you’d suspect. This is one of the more clever takes on the No Hope Rival I’ve seen in ages.
Precisely because he isn’t a rival. Igarashi is there because he wants to be friends with Ichikura, not due to any designs on Mimose. And Mimose knows that as well, but she wants Igarashi to fit in and Ichikura to be able to stay as the brainy nerd he’s become. So she meddles.
Which is very thoughtful, except she forgets to talk to Ichikura about any of this and, as they all manage to get everything wrong, the jealousy that has no need to actually exist starts building.
It makes for a pretty good time, minus the moment where Ichikura manhandles Mimose to remind her that she’s his. The sentiment is okay, simply because that reverse declaration happened already, but the physicality is drawn so harshly that I found it really off-putting.
That’s dang unfortunate because it is the thing I’m going to remember most from this volume and there’s a lot more good than bad. It’s just silly enough and charming enough, when it isn’t grabbing faces, to be a real satisfying way to spend some reading time. If you aren’t bothered by it the same way, it’s as good as it’s always been.
Everything else, including a sports day team up for great justice and Mimose’s mental image of Igarashi, works really well. My ratings on this keep slipping, but I do think it’s one of the better shojo I’m reading right now.
3.5 stars - if it wasn’t for that moment, I’d absolutely round this up. It’s going to be one of those things that doesn’t bother everybody, but I felt it was a bit much and couldn’t personally get over it. Otherwise recommended.