Finally slowing down, but still plenty to love
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Go Ikeyamada
Translation/Adaptation: Tomo Kimura
What They Say
Megumu is considering a career as a manga artist, but as Mitsuru so helpfully points out, her drawing skills could use a lot of improvement. That doesn’t dim her enthusiasm, and she vows to practice drawing every day. But her first sketching session in a park is interrupted by an intense young man who goes ballistic when he sees the portrait of Aoi in her sketchbook! Who is this stranger, and why does he want to destroy her boyfriend?!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Things start out relatively slow this time around, with little more than Megumu gaining interest in drawing manga and Aoi and Mitsuru having a bit of a heart to heart. As a result of these facts, Megumu ends up drawing quite a few sketches using her romance as a theme, just in time for her to nod off and her brother to bring Aoi to her room. And to be fair this does result in a nice chuckle as it turns out our heroine has a rather unusual quirk to her art. This is followed by some further silliness when Megumu wakes up in a daze, as well as some familial bonding later on. It’s all well and good, though it’s hardly anything groundbreaking or especially exciting.
The key moment of the volume occurs when Megumu goes to a park to practice sketching, where she runs into the mysterious fellow from last volume. This results in some surprisingly cute moments revolving around a little bird and some shockingly pleasant conversation in general. Of course, that comes to an abrupt close when he sees Aoi in her sketchbook, which causes him to literally punch a hole through the thing! With this Megumu rightfully flees, and is actually helped out in her escape by Tokugawa of all people. So while it’s more than a little odd, this certainly makes for an interesting introduction for the new character.
Oh, and Azusa actually got a threatening letter earlier in the volume, which cumulates in a stalker coming after her. She does an amusingly good job of putting him in his place, but she ends up shaken by the incident and doesn’t notice when he gets back up. Which of course creates a nice moment for Mitsuru to swoop in and play the hero without undermining her character, which is appreciated. And though the culprit escapes, this does obviously make for a nice bonding moment for the pair.
As the volume ends, the twins switch once more due to the issues causing them concern, and we FINALLY learn the mystery guy’s name (Chiharu Uesugi for those who are curious) when he enrolls at Aoi’s school as part of his enigmatic plot.
In Summary
After five incredibly strong, mold breaking volumes, we finally get an entry that feels a bit average. That’s not to say it’s bad, as it’s most certainly not, with an intriguing new character introduction and several solid bonding moments for the cast, as well as some humor and rather cute moments. Instead, it speaks to how high the quality of the series has been thus far, as an absolutely solid book like this still feels like a disappointment by comparison. Even so, it does enough that it should tide fans over, so hopefully by the next volume the magic will be back in full force. For now, though, this volume is a worthwhile entry as long as you temper your expectations and go in understanding that it doesn’t quite reach the heights of what came before it.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: B
Packaging Grade: A-
Text/Translation Grade: A-
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: April 5th, 2016
MSRP: $9.99
