Rentaro’s next girlfriend is another unique one and she’s sophomore college girl Eira Kaho, a half-Brazilian beauty who’s a master in Capoeira (a mix of Brazilian dancing and martial arts) but happens to be extremely afraid of anything she can’t fight physically. After she becomes part of the family, the story takes a serious turn centering on Shizuka and her stern mother. Exasperated that Shizuka still hasn’t been talking with her voice but with her phone, her mother threatens the couple’s happiness until Rentaro’s words of compassion show her daughter has found her own voice and slowly we see the two make up.
Later the gang experiences a scary but funny stargazing night encountering yokai at school, a bread-tasting event and a special vase Yaku received from her late husband decades ago.
The bonus story sees a younger Eira fighting hard and getting scared easily.
I’m more convinced than ever that one’s appreciation of any given volume of 100 Girlfriends, etc. will come down to how much you enjoy the cast member(s) introduced that volume, since the rest of it is (by now) pretty standard.
This volume’s newcomer is a part-Brazilian capoeira expert named Kaho Eira, probably because names are hard. Or to just troll the audience in the most aggressive way possible. Both are reasonably believable.
Eira’s thing is that she is crazy strong, but, when something can’t be defeated by physical strength, she collapses into a heap. Somewhat literally. It’s not especially exciting, if I’m being genuinely honest. The running gag runs its course by volume’s end.
Other parts of the story definitely fare better and, no matter how tired I might get of the story, I will never not turn up to watch the crazy absurdist jokes and see how the authors plan to keep those plates spinning this time out.
In a nice change of pace, the story has a brief serious moment (albeit one with some harsh child slapping and bathing fanservice) when Shizuku has her phone, her primary means of communication, taken by her mother in a spate of ‘this is best for my child’s future’.
Before Rintaro solves the problem, as he is wont to do, this digs hard into the Nano and Shizuku relationship, which is certainly my favourite one after the way Karane and Hakari end up together (and together) constantly.
Nano’s stone-faced visage falling in the face of Shizuku’s attempts to communicate without her phone are easily the most amusing thing in the volume and I enjoyed the way the storyline played out.
The yokai section is a bit hit or miss, though some parts do contain some pretty good gags. It really makes a meal out of the variety of yokai plus the expansive cast and their various tropes. And the bread section is a bit odd, but the joke revelation at the end is a decent capper to the whole thing.
None of this is bad, but even in its absurdity it has become pretty formulaic. I am not so blasé that I won’t get a chuckle out of the ‘so stupid they’re amusing’ place names, like ‘The-Place-To-Stop-For-A-Drink Park’, but this sort of meta lowbrow has been the norm for a bit.
And, genuinely, if you have one girl here whose existence amuses the heck out of you? Well, that’s probably enough. As I’ve mentioned a few times, Uto cracks me up to no end and I was pleased with her bits this volume, so there you go.
3 stars - still fine, if not as audacious as usual. If you have a fave and like the crazy, plus enjoy the incredible strain that keeping this going must be putting on its creators? It’s worth sticking with.
⭐4.5/5 Une lecture sympa avec une nouvelle petite amie atypique. Les histoires racontées sont drôles et émouvantes, notamment l'approfondissement du personnage de Shizuka et sa relation avec sa mère que j'ai trouvé très chouette à lire !
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.