The longest (and sexiest!) Shoulder Wars bout ever finally comes to a shocking end; but the future holds changes for everyone as we near the series finale!
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Akira Hiramoto
Translation/Adaptation: Ko Ransom
What They Say
Shoulder Wars has taken a turn for the extreme as the Chairman’s helicopter is about to crash into the academy! Time is of the essence, but who will survive?! It’s the conclusion to the Sports Festival arc!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The Chairman’s bizarre adventures and the shoulder wars finally collide in the most outstanding conclusion possible!
The Chairman thought using a helicopter to land on the school field would be a big hit with the students. Unfortunately for everyone involved, his helicopter is doing more crashing than landing. He is also crashing at the exact moment that Mari and Kate are coming together in their final clash to determine victory. But before the helicopter can kill everyone involved, Gackt of all people manages to save everyone!
Obviously, this instantly rockets Gackt to superstardom around campus. Shockingly, it even lets the girls forget that this was the same guy that shit his pants in class at the start of the school year. But, to be fair, when someone saves your life, you kind of quickly forget any of the dislikes you may have had for that person.
Interestingly, where Kiyoshi is quick to take advantage of Gackt’s newfound popularity, Shingo and Joe actually distance themselves from Gackt. They are worried that the girl’s hatred for them will pull down Gackt and destroy his new fame. Considering everything we have seen from these guys, especially Shingo, I’m shocked to see them do something as magnanimous as this. On the other hand, Kiyoshi is just lost in his own world as he chases his opportunity to confess his love for Chiyo and everyone around him is just a speed bump.
Kiyoshi has sort of taken Gackt’s old position as the most hated boy in school. Exposing himself to all the girls on campus earned him the nickname Kiyo-Stiffy and he is unlikely to outlive that taunt. It is an amazing fall for him considering he has helped the Shadow Student Council repeatedly over the last few weeks. You would think all the girls that like the Shadow Student Council would applaud Kiyoshi for his sacrifices. But I guess they just can’t get over seeing his manhood.
Surprisingly, none of that seems to get Kiyoshi down because he believes Chiyo still likes him. So, the rest of the student body be damned, he can ignore it all if it means he gets to be with Chiyo in the end. However, I belong to Team Hana and I would like to see her end up with Kiyoshi. Things get interesting as Hana tries to play the foil between the other two. But even as she tries to thwart Chiyo’s advances and capture Kiyoshi’s attention, she struggles with why she is doing it. The idea that she likes Kiyoshi makes her physically ill. But it is disgust or love? Who will Kiyoshi ultimately choose, and will that girl even have him?
In Summary:
With the most insane Shoulder Wars bout ever played finally finished, the kids are left to sort out their feelings for the outcome and for each other. Meiko is back to herself and more than happy to beat the living crap out of Andre in hopes of getting back in shape. Whereas Risa has realized that she loves Andre and tries to get between them. Where both girls are happy to be Andre’s dominatrix, only one of them loves him so who will he choose?
Gackt is crazy popular, but with that popularity comes plenty of friction in his budding relationship with Mitsuko. Seemingly most girls on campus would love to be his girlfriend and one forward girl goes out of her way to make her desires for Gackt known. Who will Gackt choose to date; the meeker Mitsuko who is a fellow Romance of the Three Kingdoms buff or the super sexy new girl?
Kiyoshi almost has a four-way love (square?) going on at this point. But while Mari has seen flashes of manliness in Kiyoshi, she has mostly given up any secret affection she might have for him. On the other hand, her sister, Chiyo, and Hana seem to be all in. Chiyo likes him openly and Kiyoshi likes her. But Kiyoshi is most comfortable being around Hana and the two of them have shared some insane instances of romantic weirdness over the course of the school year. So at this point, there is no telling how this love triangle will sort itself out in the final volume.
I love this series and the idea of the next volume being the last saddens me. But it will be great to see how it all plays out!
Content Grade: A-
Art Grade: A
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: Mature
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: June 18, 2019
MSRP: $20.00
