”In No Hurry’s just the sort of band that’s more entertaining when something’s gone wrong”
Creative Staff
Story & Art: Ryoko Fukuyama
Translation: Casey Loe
What They Say
We’ve been hiding our true feelings.
Nino Arisugawa, a girl who loves to sing, experiences her first heart-wrenching goodbye when her beloved childhood friend, Momo, moves away. And after Nino befriends Yuzu, a music composer, she experiences another sad parting! Luckily, Nino reunites with Momo and Yuzu in high school, but things haven’t played out the way anyone expected…
With their nationwide tour in full swing, the members of In No Hurry to Shout witness a true miracle. Unable to contain his soaring spirits, Yuzu approaches Nino… Will he finally make his move?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Shojo manga is an art form. Not just in a literal manner, but in how it’s written as well. There’s a certain amount of talent needed to weave a story where the promise of romance takes precedence over actually seeing the romance itself take off. And in the case of author Ryoko Fukuyama, she’s pretty much got the carrot-dangling promise of romance down to an art form.
Very early on this volume, we have Yuzu finally confess his love to Nino. For one of the points in the love triangle to get this far at all is a momentous occasion and should lead to subsequent chapters to only further nail this pairing home. And yet for the remainder of the volume, we don’t get much in the way of Nino giving Yuzu a definitive response back to him. In less skilled hands, this would come off as painfully frustrating, but in execution, Fukuyama never gives the impression that you as the reader have been cheated or lied to in any way. Rather, her writing style is such that everything is presented very matter-of-factly. One plot point happens, and you don’t really have much time to think about it, before a couple other vaguely related plot points keep the story going. It’s in this way that Fukuyama has always written Anonymous Noise, and it’s in this way that she continues to write the manga regardless of how major or minor the plot points that occur are.
This isn’t to say that there’s absolutely no fanfare over Yuzu’s confession. Shortly after Yuzu confesses to Nino, the two do get some time alone where they begin to unpack their feelings for each other in more detail only to have the conversation get de-railed when the subject of Momo comes up. Even with Yuzu playing the confession card, Fukuyama is here to remind readers that 1) her characters are teenagers who aren’t always honest or direct with their thoughts and 2) this is still a love triangle story, and for it to be anything else would betray the point of the story in the first place.
Outside of the two’s clear lack of maturity to really progress their relationship, we are met with a slew of other events that do justify why there just isn’t enough hours in the day (er… “pages in a single volume?”) for romance. For one, Yuzu ends up being unmasked on-stage during a performance. In general, the drama directly surrounding In No Hurry as a band is downplayed, and it remains such this volume. However, the plot point does boomerang back into the story come later in the volume and will more than likely be better inspected come next volume. Likewise, In No Hurry’s rivalry with Silent Black Kitty has taken another step forward as the latter comes dangerously close to upstaging them as they open for the former near the end of their tour. The band drama in general is oddly present, yet never the main focus. Progression in general is very sparse and yet Fukuyama makes it seem like you’re getting more than you’re actually offered. Is this cheap? Yes. But I’m having fun reading, so I say play with my emotions as much as you want at this point.
In Summary:
Anonymous Noise volume 10 is full of well-timed half-measures. Between Yuzu’s confession of love to Nino and the band slowly gaining some drama as Yuzu is unmasked on-stage, there’s a lot of big moments that aren’t really given time to feel fully unpacked. And yet as sparingly as these moments are treated, you never feel fully cheated while reading because author Fukuyama knows just how much to tease her readers. She gives just enough of semblance of story progression to want you reading more—a tried and true trope to all shojo that’s not going anywhere any time soon.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: Teen
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: September 4, 2018
MSRP: $9.99
