"We can't see inside each other's heads. That's why we have to talk it out. So we can know what everyone's thinking, and find what will make us all happy. Isn't that why words exist?"
My heart feels SOOOOOO much better! Goodness, I was upset at the end of the previous volume, but I should have just trusted the mangaka because based on my experience of reading her other series, good communication ALWAYS happens followed by a breakthrough.
That is exactly what happened here.
One thing I deeply appreciated about this volume is the focus on reconciliation between family members and using your words (as simple as that sounds). There have been many assumptions made and plenty of hurt when it comes to Rei's family, but Midori has been so insistent that Rei genuinely communicate with his family, especially his father. I thought it very profound and moving in regards to this story and thankful that even if this IS a romantic series, there is healing in other areas of these characters' lives outside of the romance.
I LOVE Kon-chan! I have loved him the whole series, but this volume specifically was VERY good seeing him and his actions! I'm so thankful that Midori loves her family and always makes time to spend with him (and his mom) because that means we see more of him in this story, and I am ALWAYS here for that!
A very very very lovely volume and bummed that this series is almost over! This volume was moving and love seeing our characters grow in boldness!
This book was just delivered 31 minutes ago on release day and I just devoured reading it. Now I have to wait for three whole months until the last volume releases. :(
Ah! I was waiting for this volume so much after the cliffhanger in the prior book. I really, really enjoyed this one and am so thrilled that conversations happened (!!) (Can every high school k-drama do this as well please?? No angst and no second lead syndrome, I beg of you!) and it won't be stretch out over to the last volume. A++
"Those Not-So-Sweet Boys" is definitely on it's way to becoming my favorite manga series.
Content for this volume: 1 'stupid', 1 'damn', and 1 'dammit'.
I am so relieved that the angst portion wasn't drawn out to tedious lengths. Yoko Nogiri is a prime example of knowing how to work well within the confines of a trope-laden genre.
Ichijo and Nanami are dating. Were dating. After what happened with his mom, Ichijo decides that he can’t put Nanami through the same thing, which leads to a surprising turn from Ieiri and a bit of adolescent idiocy from Ichijo. But what are friends for, if not to point out when you’re being dumb?
So, there’s the good version of this story where what happens is believable and completely makes sense given what we’ve learned of our characters and their bad decisions. Then there’s the other version, which is trite and incredibly dumb and based on our characters throwing all their growth clear out the window for the sake of making things awkward for an entire volume.
It probably falls somewhere in the middle, which is largely where I find myself on this one, which is equal parts solid and incredibly overwrought and features wild swings and corporate involvement and the class struggle as applies to high school students.
Ichijo gets this ball rolling by deciding his course of action all on his own, no need to consult his girlfriend (bodes real well for their communication in future and Nanami thankfully takes him to task for this later). Needless to say, this turns out to be an incredibly bad idea.
Thus, he makes the supreme leap in logic that she can’t get hurt if they’re not together so he does everything short of ascending to the astral plane to start ghosting her. This is exactly as awkward as it sounds, especially in the face of Nanami’s relentless nature (her speech on communication is more of what this manga needed by half).
On the plus side, this gives the other boys something to do, as the are quick to point out how incredibly stupid this, not to mention unfair to Nanami. I think the biggest problem is how quickly Ichijo just sides with his evil grandmother. Family loyalty and all, but sheesh.
Of course, there are reasons, but they don’t hold up to a lot of scrutiny, but do make a sort of logical sense in a ‘I am teenager and must take on the world myself’ sort of way. The reason also brings Ichijo’s absentee father into the picture and they have an actual talk that’s one of the other better parts of the volume.
Ieiri really has a heel turn this time and turns out to be a huge ally for Nanami when the chips are down. His ridiculous un-date is incredibly sneaky and one of the more clever tricks in here as it goes a long way to making up for some of his earlier plotting in a fairly organic way. It’s also emblematic of how your friends often know the best way to get your hackles up.
Naturally the day is saved by speechifying and it turns out that having some spine was all that was needed and, while this led us down some good pathways, the resolution for this really, really feels like a ‘we need to end this storyline and move to the next arc’ moment. I get that you want your character empowerment, but it doesn’t feel earned and that’s a big issue when you’re tackling family.
There’s just something that doesn’t sit right here, maybe the shocking uptick in big melodrama when the story was quite fine with its regular levels before? Naturally we end on a suggestion that even more of this is coming our way and I question throwing this much parent drama into the story in rapid succession.
3.5 stars - sigh, this is really good in many individual moments but something just felt off to me about it. Moment to moment there is some great stuff, but it doesn’t feel like the series I’ve come to enjoy when looking at the overall experience. I’ll let the good parts tug it upward, but it’s a 3.5 stars as it can get.
The drama continues and I am all here for it. I liked the groveling and angst after the party and how Yuki instigated it. I also really liked that we got more insight about Rei and his dad's relationship. I've been waiting to see Midori's dad come back in the picture to see how that plays out since he's one of hte only people that Midori actually dislikes so that's fun to look foward too.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
This is my most favourite volume along with vol. 4 in this series. Throughout this volume, I had thought Midori was a female Naruto in a contemporary world, but then she proved me wrong when she was talking to Yuki about how sometimes there are just some people you can’t just have a talk with *cough* Naruto constantly chasing after Sasuke like an obsessed boyfriend *cough* (that plot point from Naruto still annoys me, just give up already, no one that far gone will change). Midori is a lot more self aware and smarter than other shojo and shonen main characters, which I really liked. Although, it was pretty obvious that Yuki was trying to make Rei jealous so that he would talk to Midori, yet she didn’t realize it!? That didn’t make sense to me, she should have realized it sooner I also liked that Yuki is becoming closer to Midori and they’re kind of like a brother and sister and that we see a different side to him. He doesn’t annoy me anymore.
When Nanami realizes that Rei is purposely avoiding her, she decides she doesn't want to give up but is unsure of how to get his attention so they can talk. Yuki helps Nanami out by giving Rei an ultimatum and showing what Rei would be missing out on by taking Nanami on a "date." Rei has to figure out how to balance being in a relationship and also appease his family. He makes up his mind and admits he doesn't want to lose Nanami.
There is more background to Rei's character as he shows Nanami his family home and goes to his mother's grave on the day of her anniversary. While there, they see Rei's father and communicate about what Rei wants to do with his future as heir to the company.
This was an okay volume, and I did like it, but with there only being one more volume left, I was hoping for more story and dialog between characters.
I'm hoping we will get more out of the final volume.
I definitely liked this volume a lot more than the previous one, in huge part because of Ieiri's role in it. My favorite character for sure. In regards to the main plot with Ichijo, it's fine. I'm underwhelmed, but not mad about it. And it looks like the series is almost over? Cool.
This volume was beautiful! I love how Nanami has such a realistic view on life. She’s right there are times you have to communicate with people to better understand each other, but there are times where it is better to just give up. I love how the relationship develop every volume. It makes it so they don’t feel forced. Ieiri really shines in this volume I feel. Not going to lie he’s causing me to have some second lead syndrome… Goshima is a great wing man and I love how he supports the relationship regardless of his feelings. I’m interested in what’s going to happen in the next volume seeing how this one ended 👀
To see Midori persevere and try to understand what happened with Rei after the party was heart breaking and moving. To see Yuki help Midori was brilliant and so well thought out. The way Rei actually pursued Midori and gave voice to his true feelings was brilliant and stunning at the same time. Midori learned so much more about Rei's family and his situation, she was stunning in her warmth and comfort that she gave to Rei. It was fantastic to see Rei stand up to his grandmother and give his all to the relationship. Yuki was so loveable and I feel for him watching his friends become even closer. This was a brilliant and enjoyable read, so worth the read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I'll admit it: I read the entire series in one day, and loved it.
I did struggle to distinguish some of the characters for a few chapters (specifically Chihiro & Yuki), but the overall illustrative style was very sweet.
THE GOOD: 🐕 Overall just so adorable with good illustrations 🐕 A fun cast of characters 🐕 A nice slice-of-life romance
THE NOT-SO-GOOD: ☔ Midori was very much a Mary Sue character, which was a bit annoying ☔ Took me a minute to be able to tell apart Yuki & Chihiro ☔ I was left wanting more! The ending was good, but there were still more stories to be told (especially after the bonus Yuki chapter!)
this volume explores the aftermath of Rei's family/grandmother drama. I was very underwhelmed by both Midori and Rei's reactions and reconciliation, if I'm being totally honest...I like the message of 'communication is key' though. Yuki continues to be a weird third wheel and not like a true contributor to the love triangle. Chihiro is not present for more of this. And now that Rei cleares up most of his drama with his dad, suddenly Midori's dad is in the picture again. RAAAUGHHH I'm bummed that the series seems to be petering out...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Some parts were really good and some parts were just okay. And the drama got resolved quickly which I like a lot as it was not a drawn out mess. I love Nanami, she just said hey communication is important to me so get your shit together, and I will not be taking shit from your family either. However the actual confrontation between Itchijo and his grandmother was a little quick but there’s only a short amount of pages to get done in so I don’t mind to much. But it would have made it a lot nicer if we got to expand on/ flesh it out a bit more before getting resolved.
Yuki pretending to steal our girl around he says it’s only to cheer her up but I feel like he low key likes how cheerful she is. Then we met dad who honestly after the last volume I thought maybe was the chairman but that was quickly put down. Now we have her dad coming home???? Is the chairman her dad???? Plus I’ve heard there’s only one volume left?!?!? But I need more of the little twins in my life.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
This volume kinda clear up the drama from Rei's grand/parent and then move on to the drama with Nanami's parent.. zz Well at least they didn't end this volume with more heartache between the couple.
Also just occurred to me that Ichijou's parents had it worse than he does because they were the 2nd gen, but the grandma is more lenient towards Ichijou now, because he's only her grandson, not her son. Classic asian parenting. This trope here, makes perfect 'art imitates life'.
I just love this series so much. It’s wholesome, sweet, a little sad but also so happy, and all of the friendships that have formed are gold. I’m obsessed with these characters and how much they care for each other. Midori’s little brother is adorable and so funny when it comes to protecting Midori’s feelings. Also the twins. And the spontaneous friend date thing was so sweet! I’m so happy Rei and his dad got to talk too.
واقعا نمیفهمم این موجودات رو 😑 میری با یه دختری وارد رابطه میشی که میدونی از نظر سطح خانوادگی متفاوتین از نظر فرهنگ سطح مالی و خیلی چیزا و ممکنه کلی داستان پیش بیاد بعد تا یه تلنگر از سمت خانواده لعنتیتون میاد تازه یادتون میفته که ااااا همچین مشکلاتی هم هست 👀😂جیزز ار یو کیدینگ می😒 بعدشم وقتی حس طرف مقابل رو برانگیخته کردین با خودتون میگین ااااا بهتره فاصله بگیرم بیشتر صدمه نبینه 🤔😒😂فاککککککک
I'm so glad that we got some communication in this book - I feel like it's easier for the characters to go up against big (and sometimes bad) things when they're able to talk to each other!
Thankfully this volume settled things from volume 5. I was seriously worried at what direction this series was going in. I still am not positive as to what's going to happen in the end. This volume came to a decent climax so we will see what happens next! Really enjoying it though!
So glad the Rei family story arc came to a close in this volume. I didn't like it and was glad to see it wasn't drawn out. Yay for Yukinojo and his scheming tactics! A good friend knows exactly when to provoke you into action.
even though I had a feeling ichijo and nanami would get back together, I was still scared 😭 but it was smart on ieiri’s part to make ichijo jealous, and I like ieiri’s friendship with nanami, even though he pushes her buttons sometimes.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Another good volume some character growth for Reí. I continue to like the friend group and her family. The conflict is pretty low stakes but I like the resolution. I didn’t like the cliff hanger, I would prefer the ending give everyone a happy ending then set up a final conflict.