Creative Staff
Story/Art: Io Sakisaka
Translation: JN Productions
English Adaptation: Ysabet MacFarlane
What They Say
Ren decides to tell Ninako his feelings for her after the Sports Festival, but he’s afraid she may have already moved on! Meanwhile, Ando and his ex, Mao, keep crossing paths… How will Ando react when he hears her shocking revelation?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
After reconciling things with her friends, Ninako ends up spotting Toda at the train station. She runs to thank him for his help earlier, only for Ren to appear and grab her. His jealousy starts to flow out, and he almost admits his feelings for her, though Manabu ends up jumping in at an inopportune time and ruins it. As Ren builds up his courage, the Sports Festival arrives. Thanks to a strange coincidence, Ando ends up competing alongside Mao. They talk after the event, and Mao admits that even though she used him at first, she ended up falling in love with Ando while they were together. Apparently her assaulting Ren was a moment of weakness, and she even enrolled in their school in order to get closer to Ando. Though they don’t get back together, they manage to mend the rift between them at least a little.
As the Sports Festival wraps up, Toda admits that he may have given Ninako poor advice as a result of his own situation. Though Ren tries again to confess to Ninako, the circumstances turn poor and prevent it once again. Later on, Ando ends up walking Ninako back from work, only to run into some thugs along the way. Ando is able to protect Ninako, but he gets beaten rather badly. He lets his feelings out one last time, frustrated in realizing that he doesn’t even have a chance. He also asks Ninako not to tell Ren, because the whole thing makes him feel pathetic.
While Ninako is still completely shaken up by what happened, Ren finally manages to get his feelings out. As much as she wants to be with him, she turns him down, unable to make peace with what happened to Ando. In the aftermath, Ren, Ando, and Ninako all struggle to figure out what they should do with themselves. Will Ninako finally realize that it’s time to accept Ren’s feelings, or will she continue to wallow in confusion and self pity?
In Summary
Though there’s still a lot of self pity and flimsy reasons holding the plot back in this volume, it at least feels a little justified here. The situation that triggers most of it is at least reasonably traumatic, and by the end of the volume it seems like the push to end it is already on the way. Perhaps the most interesting element here, though, is Ando. The expected “redemption” of Mao feels rather flaky, but thankfully it doesn’t instantly stick to give him his easy happy ending. Instead, we get to watch him struggle, realizing that he doesn’t even have a chance. It’s nothing too spectacular, but it does make for a rather interesting element and helps to give this volume a bit of a kick. Hopefully the final volume can follow through and end things on a high note.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: B+
Package Rating: B+
Text/Translation Rating: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released by: Viz Books
Release Date: Mar 4, 2014
MSRP: $9.99
