Literally picking up where we left off, the gang is prepping for summer shenanigans, where Izumi’s male gaze may cause Shikimori to make a rash decision. We also see Izumi’s secret skills and, between video games and the fireworks festival, there might not be any tropes left to hit.
Okay, I give up. I like this now. Turning this into an ensemble piece that happens to focus on Shikimori and Izumi was definitely the right choice as it really helped break up that endless repetition and continues to do so here.
Outside of our leads, these aren’t great characters, although Hachimitsu, the short one, is so incredibly odd that she’s starting to steal scenes now and then. They get the job done though. If that first volume was like eating nothing but bread, we’ve at least added some peanut butter and jelly to the mix.
They also let Izumi get a few wins so this isn’t constantly about Shikimori looking cool while saving his butt and that makes their relationship a lot more fun. They seem more like partners - Izumi turns out to have wasted a year, we learn in a very cute exchange, and it turns out Shikimori is really getting used to sweets because she enjoys the look on Izumi’s face when they have them.
And for mostly being a low-key sort of romantic banter, these two definitely manage to be more than that on occasion. Shikimori is practically sultry over a little bit of cooking, twice in fact, and Izumi comes through like a champion for the fireworks. It adds a little spark and also makes them a lot more believably in love than they were initially - Shikimori is especially smooth with her line delivery.
I’ve often said that you can make any trope work if you do something unique with it and this volume really proves that since it’s basically ALL trope, yet still manages to be pretty entertaining. Largely this is down to some fun tweaks, although some things are less successful than others (the shooting gallery is super obvious, even though it does have a cute moment afterward).
Generic Mario Kart is never a huge draw, but this is the second time in recent weeks that one has made me laugh. The specificity of Izumi’s bad luck causing him to get nothing but banana peels even though he’s in last place and to also clip into the scenery is very inside nerd baseball but in a way I absolutely loved. They also have a great parody of a broadcast sporting event when they change games that was pretty clever.
As before, this is all still fluff. It’s fluff that figured out exactly how to maximize its fluffiness, but if you’re looking for a plot other than two people are in love and they have some good friends and fun times together, you won’t find it here. On the one hand, it’s a negative, but on the other it’s always good to have a fun series that has literally no intent other than to entertain (it reminds me of the very slight nature of the similarly enjoyable Futaribeya.
3.5 stars - no rounding up. This is a potato chip series; it has practically no nutritional value, but dang if it isn’t very addictive and easy to consume a whole bunch without noticing. And if you aren’t careful you’ll be done the entire thing before you know it.