The crush continues!
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Io Sakisaka
English Adaptation: Ysabet MacFarlane
Translation: JN Productions
What They Say:
Once Ninako realizes that she’s fallen for Ren, she confesses her feelings to him even though she knows he has a girlfriend! Meanwhile, a new semester brings an outgoing guy called Ando into Ninako’s life. Is Ando just an outrageous flirt or will he turn out to be Ninako’s savior?
Content:
Even after being turned down by Ren, life for Ninako goes on. Of course, once school starts up again, Ninako is left a nervous wreck, wondering how she should great Ren. However, her carefully laid plans fall apart when she runs into a guy named Ando instead, who immediately starts flirting with her. Fortunately, she is still able to reconcile with Ren, and even learns that he is on the cultural festival planning committee, along with her and Ando. Ando turns out to be quite the player, and quickly manages to pressure both Ninako and Sayuri into giving him their cell numbers.
Later on, we find Ninako surrounded by what appears to be your typical crowd of female bullies. Just when things start to look bad for our heroine, the gang of girls announce themselves as the “rejected alliance,” a group of girls who’ve been turned down by Ren. They invite Ninako into the club and begin griping about their former crush, only for Ninako to snap at them for being so petty. From there, Ren, Ando, and Ninako continue to bond, until they all end up running into Ren’s girlfiend Mayuka while shopping for the committee. Ninako does her best to endure, but when it clearly proves too much for her Ando steps in and cuts things short, running off with Ninako and abandoning the shopping to Ren and Mayuka.
As the volume comes to a close, Ren and Ando clash, each harshly criticizing one another’s actions towards Ninako. This results in Ando giving up his playboy ways and Ren acting more coldly towards Ninako, in an attempt not to lead her on any further. Unfortunately, Ninako doesn’t quite catch on, thinking Ren simply hates her, which leaves her as an emotional mess once again.
The bonus chapter shows how Ren and Mayuka met and ended up falling in love.
In Summary:
Things keep on rolling on with this latest volume, bringing plenty of changes to the status quo. Ando makes for a rather nice new addition to the cast, and even in this volume he undergoes a good bit of growth. Meanwhile, we get a little more insight into what makes Ren tick, with his positive and negative sides more clearly on display. On the other hand, Ninako feels like a bit of a step down, with her goofy klutzy nature from the first volume evaporating pretty much entirely to make room for more emotional turmoil. It’s a shame, as she was actually a pretty fun character for a lot of the last book, but here she’s drifting more into the traditional role of a romance story heroine. On the plus side, the character of Mayuka also seems to have an increased role here, and especially after the time spent on her in the bonus chapter, it’ll definitely be interesting to see how her presence is handled from here on out. All in all, this book feels like a bit of step down from the original volume, but it hasn’t lost all of its bite just yet.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: B+
Package Rating: B+
Text/Translation Rating: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released by: Viz Media
Release Date: January 1st, 2013
MSRP: $9.99