The world’s most awkward book signing continues, as Katsura quietly shoves Fumi to the sidelines so she can make time with Akatsuki. Not that Akatsuki has any concept of romance, mind you. But that just might work out in Fumi’s favour.
Boy, I wish there was a word for a series that you’re reading that you don’t necessarily like but is written incredibly well. It would make this review a lot easier since I love a lot of what this story is doing with its characters, but less so vis-a-vis the plot itself.
I get it, I get it, this is designed to cater to a specific fantasy of the hot, mature mysterious guy who you can’t stop crushing on coming around on you. And it sells that premise darn well, make no mistake, I just don’t loooooove it.
Fumi’s characterization is absolutely top-notch. She might be a hard worker, she might be strong-willed, she might be independent, but when it comes to romance she is completely and totally portrayed as the incredibly inexperienced young woman she actually is.
And, as somebody who rises and falls in this volume faster than the Roman Empire on crank, Katsura makes a meal of being a complete and utter misery of a rival, with a deliciously shrewish quality that we don’t see as much any more. She’s so wonderfully easy to shoot daggers at for most of the volume.
I mean, she’s just leaning hard into the ‘run along, little girl’ that I don’t necessarily blame her for having, but she’s just totally ruthless (and a wee bit aggressive about her attacks) and poor Fumi’s heart on her sleeve personality just absorbs the shaming like a sponge.
And that makes sense. Fumi just doesn’t have the experience here and she can’t really hide how she’s feeling and relies on her coping mechanisms from when she was young. It’s a dollop of reality in midst of this scenario.
Akatsuki is certainly trying his best, or whatever he perceives to be his best, with Fumi, even if his obliviousness leads him to cut just as harsh as some of Katsura’s deliberate barbs just through his actions.
I like there interactions a lot - Akatsuki treats Fumi better than even he realizes and he might be consequently realizing that he cares more than he thinks. Fumi, faced with an adult who is actually responsible for a change of pace, is letting her guard down so hard and it wouldn’t be wrong to say that part of Akatsuki’s attractiveness is his reliability.
Plus Fumi’s friends are a lot of fun. It’s the perfect volume if you can get past the older guy and his underage housekeeper fast-tracking their romantic entanglement. I’m more than prepared to eat crow if this pulls it off, but it still reads like cringe to me.
And, yes, I have read and praised other works in a similar vein - My Darling Next Door immediately comes to mind - but those tend to not have the complete power imbalance that this one does. Fumi is leaning hard on Akatsuki and, on one hand, that’s really sweet, but in context it’s… not so much.
That’s definitely one of those ‘me’ things and if you’re able to see beyond it or don’t mind it being in a work of fiction, then you’ll be eating this with a spoon because it is definitely a very well written thing I just can’t get behind completely, yet recognize how darn well constructed it is.
3.5 stars - my opinion on the plot has not changed, my feelings on how good the writing and art are have not either, so I think this is going to get exactly what the last volume got. I won’t be upset to keep reading, but I may be mildly annoyed.