Hearts will be mended, broken friendships healed, and drunken cab rides will be shared.
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Yuuki Obata
Translation: Tetsuichiro Miyaki
Adaptation: Nancy Thistlewaite
What They Say
More than anything else…
…you must have wanted…
…to live up to Nanami’s expectations.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
It took a long time for everyone in We Were There to finally start following their hearts, but at long last their shackles of self doubt and past regrets are coming off. These characters spent so much time worrying about whether they’re doing the right thing that they couldn’t see that they were doing everything wrong.
It’s about damn time!
Yano and Take’s fishing excursion clears the air for the two old friends. Takeuchi and Yano’s friendship has certainly been a troubled one, with both interested in Nanami and Takeuchi almost tying the knot with her. However, both Takeuchi and Nana knew that Nana still loved Yano, and Takeuchi surrenders to the inevitable conclusion that her heart will always belong to him in some way. So what else is there to do but push Yano to pursue her?
Nanami, meanwhile, is still thinking about Yano, and buying lots of wine. Her friend tries to intervene on her behalf, again, and calls out Yano on his fear of commitment. Despite being pretty accurate with his fear of being hurt, she doesn’t quite understand his whole situation he shared with Yuri Yamamoto.
Yano sticks besides Yuri as her mother lies in a coma, stopping her from doing anything that she might regret in the future. When Yuri tries to stop her estranged father from seeing his ex-wife, Yano intervenes. If there is one thing Yano knows, it’s what it’s like to loose family, and he doesn’t want Yuri to shares those regrets.
With all the hurt going around, Yano finally finds his way back to Nanami. Of course the reunion would happen on a cold, snowy night. All of those pent up emotions and fears are admitted to, a few red bean buns are shared, and Yano disappears back into the night.
The last lingering regret from Yano’s past is cleared up by a thankful, and no longer spiteful, Yuri. She tells Yano that her sister hadn’t been cheating on him, and the only reason she had gone off with her ex-boyfriend that day long ago was to tell him off, for Yano and her’s sake. Why it took that long for Yuri to come clean with that information, who knows. Of course, Yano might have taken it the wrong way and blamed himself for her death. Instead, he accepts it and moves on.
The character design in this series still bothers me. I still think everyone looks too young, which results in unintentional hilarity whenever anyone is drinking to excess. The cherubic design of Nanami is intentional, but that doesn’t really excuse everyone else. The light and airy artwork still looks lovely though, especially in the closing scenes in this volume.
In Summary
We Were There is drawing to a close. After all of the handwringing, missteps, broken hearts and failed good intentions, forgiveness and understanding arrive. Nanami and Yano are finally realizing that maybe they are meant for each other, and that no relationship is perfect. Take what you can grab kids, no regrets! It seems to be that things are wrapping up almost too nice and neatly here, after the complete and total mess these character’s lives have been. I’m not sure what’s left to cover in the final volume, but maybe that’s where the characters will finally commit to relationships that actually work.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: B –
Packaging Grade: B
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: November 6th, 2012
MSRP: $9.99
