Creative Staff
Story/Art: Kanae Hazuki
Translation: Alethea and Athena Nibley
What They Say
It’s hard for the once-loner Mei to believe that she’s been going out with Yamato for six whole months! He’s taught her a lot about how sweet love can be, but now she’s about to learn a new lesson: love can be war! When a serious rival arises for Yamato’s affections (and a roundhouse kick isn’t an option), how will Mei handle it? Let the battle begin!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Continuing from the last volume, we find Aiko still frustrated that Yamato is with Mei. She turns towards sex, especially with Masashi, but she still ends up pretty much constantly frustrated. Eventually she works up the guts to confess to Yamato, even showing him her scars, but he of course politely lets her down gently. Eventually Aiko’s sleeping around starts to cause trouble as one of her former partners badmouths her, but surprisingly Mei ends up coming to her defense. Though Aiko doesn’t exactly become Mei’s friend in the process, she’s able to move on, and even seems to realize at least a little what she has with Masashi.
Next up Mei ends up visiting Yamato’s house, where she unexpectedly ends up meeting his ten-year-old sister, Nagi. At first Nagi seems combative, but we soon learn that she’s actually been staying at home because her “friends” used and backstabbed her. Having some experience in the matter, Mei is able to get through to the girl, cheering her up and befriending her in the process. Next up comes Valentine’s Day, and with the help of Nagi Mei ends up working as hard as she can to make something delicious (or at least edible) for her lover. Though a chance run in with a girl model almost ruins things, the pair is able to deepen their bond even further in the end.
When the model, Meg, ends up in class with the lovers, will their relationship feel the stress, or will they manage to hold together in the face of adversity?
In Summary
Considering the strength displayed by the first two volumes, it’s a bit of a shame to see that this volume ended up so ultimately flat. For the most part what we have here is your generic romantic tropes, nothing terrible but certainly nothing too special. Aiko’s story especially comes to a particularly bland close, doing the absolute bare minimum, though she at least gets a decent moment with Mei. Nagi is also a nice addition to the cast, but her plot is mostly a light redo of stuff we’ve already seen discussed earlier, though she does have some good chemistry with our heroine. It is also a bit of a shame that Meg seems to appear to fill in a rather cliché role that always seems to pop up in romance stories, though hopefully her character will at least get some fleshing out in the future. All in all, this is a completely serviceable book, though it’s definitely disappointing to see the series turn into something so generic so soon.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: B-
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Kodansha Comics
Release Date: August 26th, 2014
MSRP: $10.99