Jun ist deprimiert: Seine Probleme mit den Mädchen treiben ihn in den Wahnsinn. Nur die schöne Hana zeigt sich von dem Mädchenschwarm unbeeindruckt. Prompt glaubt Jun in ihr die richtige Partnerin gefunden zu haben. Nur Partnerin wofür genau? Hat er sich etwa verliebt??? Mei hat ein ganz anderes Problem. In letzter Zeit hat sie Hana sehr selten gesehen, doch als der Chef des Romans Hilfe benötigt, ergreift sie die Chance, um an Hanas Seite zu arbeiten …
. TORU-SAN ISNT PREGNANT BUT THEY ARE ALWAYS DELIVERING WITH THIS SERIES!!!! I love this series so much. It has the stupidity of the miraculous love square but is so funny and genuinely amazing. 10/10 amazing series
Boy oh boy oh boy oh boy (oh boy). Mei and Hana are still circling one another in both their female alter-egos and their day life as students. As usual, the connections are still muddled and the reactions extreme, to both the benefit and detriment of all concerned.
Situationally and moment-to-moment there are fun moments here. The dialogue is not brutally funny, but it is reactionary as all get out and the scenarios are decent enough to move the pieces in place to keep our leads around one another.
This time out, Mei winds up working alongside Hana at the maid cafe, Mei also winds up with a fever that really knocks her sensibilities for a loop, and both our boys start to realize that maybe the other isn’t as bad as they thought they were when not in their crossplay.
It’s the tone that’s still giving me fits. This story wants to have both its cakes (beef and cheese) and eat them too, but really loves to reach for the cheap gay panic jokes for something that you’d like to hope is halfway progressive given its premise. Yes, I know, this is your basic ‘guys in women’s clothing’ trope from a billion years of media, but still…
There’s also the sense that this is all moving incredibly slowly, but without the strong plot machinations or writing to necessary justify the waiting around. Some of it is fun - Hana’s face game is very strong (and incredibly bloody) - but it is inching towards its reveals rather than having high energy about it along the way.
Last volume didn’t have this problem, but last volume was largely this volume except the plotting wasn’t as good this time. That’s not exactly a recipe for my continued high level enjoyment, honestly, and I wish it had tried to do a little more of anything.
I get that communicating is nobody’s strong suit, but the whole Hana photo shoot mess is so… uninspired. Also, the story ham hands its revelations of who is related to who with so much signposting you might as well be on the Vegas strip. It’s competently written, but not strongly and that does hurt it.
It’s an okay story and I still get a chuckle from it and the art’s fine. It just doesn’t have quite what it needs to keep itself aloft in the upper echelons of books I’m reading. Also, a large chunk of the volume is straight omake and that’s always a big old ‘boo’ from me if the reader is being shortchanged.
3 stars - it’s not bad, it just isn’t as good as it could be. With a journey that should be relatively short going this long it really needs to either step up the writing or just get to the destination sooner rather than later.
Y'know I expected Nakamura's brother to be a lot older, but they're twins?? It's crazy how everyone is connected. I love the friendships in this although I can't fully grasp Yuzuru's feelings about Shuumei. Honestly both brothers are kind of hard for me to understand lol. I just have no idea what to expect from the relationships. It does feel like things are going to start progressing soon. Anyway, I do want to see more of the cosplay crew. I like the little bonus bits of them.
I appreciate that this is actually moving along at a pretty decent pace instead of being a repetitive joke comic. There are a ton of interactions among the different characters, in and out of cosplay, with all of them getting to know each other in different ways.
In this volume, Mei runs into Hanae and offers to pretend to be his girlfriend so Hanae can go into a couples' cafe to get an exclusive item for his little sister. (Is this actually a thing in Japan? I've seen scenes in a few manga where people are forced to hold hands in shops and things and I find that...really weird and invasive...)
What I like is that Shuumei's starting to pay closer attention to Hanae and even calls him cute, once he gets a solid enough look at his face to realize he "looks like a girl." Which, since he looks girly like Hana, whom Shuumei is head over heels for, means a part of him actually finds Hanae attractive. Add in the scene where Shuumei gets cuddly and affectionate with a fever and slings his arm around Hanae and tells him he's funny and he wants to get to know him better...it's such fun progress.
Then we get a scene a bit later on where Hanae is kind to Shuumei's little brother and hears about his big brother, who sounds really cool...until he finds out who the brother is. Love all these little moments of them slowly breaking down some of their preconceptions about each other.
Meanwhile, Yuzuru has finally taken a close enough look at Hanae to realize that he's Hana. Which leaves him really torn when it comes to his best friend's love life. Should he tell him...? Or just let him struggle through his feelings and bravely work his way to a confession that likely won't go so well once Hana realizes that Mei is Shuumei?
For now, he's just watching over them...but it might be more complicated now that his own little brother is also developing an interest in Hana!
JUN UND YUZURU?! War bisschen perplex als ich das gelesen hab. Aber ist interessamt schätze ich, besonders hinsichtlich des Aspekts, dass Yuzuru jetzt drauf und dran ist etwas Ordnung in das Chaos zu bringen und Jun da irgendwie reingerutscht ist. Shumei und Somei's Beziehung ist sehr seltsam! Da saß ich auch erstmal perplex da. Aber ich bin gespannt auf mehr Kontakt zwischen Shumei und Yuma. Wovon ich im nächsten Band aber wirklich mehr brauche ist MEI UND HANA CONTENT!! Ich bin am verhungern. Bitte verabredet euch und macht einfach irgendwas. Bitte bitte bitte. Wirklich, ich brauche eine eigene Manga-Reihe wo es NUR Mei und Hana gibt. Bin ein bisschen obsessed mit den beiden. Mei sah auch so gut aus in dem Kimonoverschnitt?? Hoffe wir sehen sie öfter mal bei den Roman-Events! Freue mich schon auf Band 05 :)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Both yuuma and shuumei are nice characters, despite shuumei being more on the violent side, but this series just works and you can't help but want to know what's going to happen next. This series is in my 'favourites' manga section of bookcase. I like that the characters' thoughts are just like ones we all have and I absolutely love yuuma (hana). The artwork is very cute and emotive and I can't recommend this series enough.
Somehow still enjoying myself? I think I'm just going to keep reading until I get bored or tired. So far this is an incredibly buoyant manga despite its exceedingly simplistic premise... but I suspect if I stopped reading for a few days, I'd forget who everyone was and how they were connected. I need a chart.
I absolutely love this series, so the only reason I have this a bit lower is that this volume just feels like a pinch of a lull, but I get the feeling the next one is going to pick right back up. It still has a ton of cute and funny moments though, so it was still very much worth the read!
The story is fine, but quite forgettable, like the average sitcom. Sometimes, it honestly feels like I'm reading a story about black cats, as difficult as it is for me to tell some of the characters apart.
Sure, some have specific traits that make them stand out, like piercings and wearing a cap, but the uniformity of Japanese folk (and reflecting this in the art) makes it harder to tell who is being talking about. Other than "Hana" and "Mei" (and their real selves), I have trouble remembering who is who, and who KNOWS who, and actually is this guy supposed to be Hanae, I can't tell.
So the parts that aren't directly about the main two, I'm a little lost. I suppose it helps having the complete series on hand and bingeing it at once, but I (and the bookstore) only have so much shelf space.
Anyway, cool that this exists, but I almost want it to end soon, just so I can properly piece everything together in a post-mortem. "Unfortunately," this volume thwarts that by ending early and instead including three exclusive short stories about in-between things that happened with the cosplay idols; one of Hana's café co-workers; and Shuumei as a bully (arguably, fighting back instead of "just" being a punk).
(re-read)
So, guess who forgot to update the "next book in the series to get" list and re-bought the same book and didn't realise it until halfway through reading? Huh. I guess that speaks to how forgettable the story is. I mean, it's not as such BAD, and I still *sort of* enjoy it? Clearly not enough to remember the story and avoid buying the book a SECOND time, though. (I don't mind rebuying books—I just prefer to do it for five-star titles!)