A rival appears.
Creative Staff:
Story/Art: Maki Minami
Translation: Christine Dashiell
Touch-Up Art & Lettering: John Hunt
Design: Yukiko Whitley
Editor: Nancy Thistlethwaite
What They Say:
Komomo attends her first festival by working in the Méli-Mélo food truck. Natsu keeps snubbing her in front of Noelle Étoile, an entitled rich girl who became attached to him when he lived in France. Komomo realizes that Natsu must be in love with Noelle, but why is Komomo so upset by it?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Shojo manga can be kind of frustrating, yet extremely fulfilling. It’s been four volumes of developing Komomo and Natsu’s relationship, and Komomo is barely beginning to realize she loves Natsu. Natsu, however, has known since he was a wee child that he loves Natsu. Their constant learning of love is frustrating, but oh so real. No one—or at least no one this age—just falls in love and that’s that. Things are much more complicated than that, and one of the greatest things about shojo manga is that it allows that seemingly real-life progression of their human interaction.
There’s always cogs in the machine though. Natsu’s old friend-who-also-loves-him from France, Noelle, comes to town to visit Natsu. She wants to meet the mysterious girl who’s caught Natsu’s attention. But at every turn, she acts as if she’s entitled to Natsu (she is not). The breaking point is when sweets are sacrificed for the greater good of the love between Noelle and Natsu. Komomo is not pleased. Sweets are meant to be eaten, and to be treated with care and love. This is especially true for Natsu’s.
The slow realization of everyone around Komomo that her love for Natsu’s sweets is not only love for his sweets, but also for him, is the key to this volume. They’re moving toward their love for each other!
In Summary:
Komomo Confiserie continues to impress me. I never expect much out of it, but I’m always entertained through a volume’s contents. There’s usually more meat on the bones of a volume, but this one was pretty light in content. I’m coming out satisfied, but I’m missing some of the heartier bits of the earlier volumes. But on to the next volume!
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: B
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: June 7th, 2016
MSRP: $9.99
