Nothing says “first love” like reading your fiance’s diary, kissing a man you don’t like, and becoming jealous over a fifth grader’s secret liaisons.
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Akira Hiyoshimaru
Translation/Adaptation: Alethea and Athena Nibley
What They Say
Snooping into Kanade’s diary has yielded more questions than answers for Kaho. She is no closer to learning the nature of her fifth-grade boyfriend’s feelings for her, but she has discovered a rather passionate entry about another girl! Just who is “Sadako”?!! The uncertainty only adds to her anxiety, which has been steadily building since Taga’s stolen kiss. As obstacles (and a crazy supporting cast) compound, will Kaho and Kanade be able to sustain their first love?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Akira Hiyoshimaru continues to repurpose the characters of First Love Monster to create chapters with style and emotional variety while extending the slowly developing main story arc.
This series is based on how Kaho comes to terms with what is a relationship and what is love. As a rich, protected girl, her lack of friends and romantic interests have created a void that would normally be filled with experiences that occur during elementary school, so it is no surprise that she engages in a relationship with the first person who treats her as an equal. As a first year high school student, Kaho still can’t decide how she should interact and communicate with Kanade, her fifth grade fiance. She pledges her commitment, but she has no ability to communicate with the object of her affection. As has been played out in earlier chapters, Kaho continues to be harassed by the college freshman, Taga. I use “harass” purposefully. He sees Kaho in a state of undress and holds that over her, knowing that her fifth grade love interest also saw her and did not react. Taga kissed Kaho against her will, and now he continues to taunt her because she will not tell Kanade. Finally, and this is what really stands out in this volume, Taga continues to call Kaho derogatory names and talk down to her about her relationship.
Taga seems to be a trickster figure. This is a character who purposefully puts people in bad situations where the confrontation creates some kind of self-awareness that allows the character to grow. I believe this is the purpose of Taga, but Kaho never ends up gaining the self-knowledge that would help her mature. This could be an example of “growing up is hard to do,” but I don’t see Kaho maturing. Also neither Kaho or anyone other than Kanade will confront Taga when he makes claims about Kaho and women in general. Depending on how the mangaka progresses the story, we may see more growth, and we may also see Taga acts not only as a catalyst for Kaho’s growth but maybe even for Kanade to develop into a self-aware man. These questions will not be answered in this volume, and probably not anytime soon.
As with previous volumes, the side characters get plenty of time for humorous situations. In this volume, some of these stories push all the wrong buttons for me. Extra episode 7 picks up the running “poop” joke sections. I don’t understand who the audience would be for watching fifth grade boys make jokes about saying “poop.” Also, the weird dynamic between fifth grader Kaz and his gushing butler takes another creepy step when we see the butler keeps photographs of Kaz growing up, including his bath time. I often feel that this is supposed to be an homage to Ceil and Sebastian from Black Butler, but instead of a devil waiting to eat the boy’s soul, the butler is a pervert spying on his every moment.
The better side story returns as Kaz encounters his crush, Kouta, dressed as a girl. While I find the narrative of this story somewhat cruel because no one will tell Kaz the truth about Kouta’s gender, the suspense and the strange BL element create a funny juxtaposition against the serious and flawed pragmatism of Kaho and Kanade’s relationship.
Artwork in this collection once again offers spare backgrounds with expressive faces. The pages where Kaho meets Sadako probably offer the high point of the series as the artwork must convey a wide series of emotions.
In Summary
Akira Hiyoshimaru again creates a compelling series of chapters that explores the learning curve of being in a relationship. Both the main story and the side chapters run the gamut from humorous to mean-spirited to childishly gross.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: B
Text/Translation Grade: B+
Age Rating: Teen
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: September 27th, 2016
MSRP: $13.00