Why can’t girls and guys be friends?
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Kaito
Translation/Adaptation: Adrienne Beck
What They Say
Love is already hard enough, but it become an unnavigable maze for unassuming high school student Taichi Ichinose and his shy classmate Futaba Kuze when they begin to fall for each other after their same sex best friends have already fallen for them.
School is back in session after summer break, and Taichi and Futaba are slowly transitioning their relationship to something more. Suddenly, Mami starts being unusually friendly with Taichi, leaving Futaba feeling anxious. Taichi, unsure of Mami’s true intent, can’t help but get dragged along in her wake. Their situation attracts attention, more people become involved, and soon everyone is questioning everyone else’s relationship!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
At the end of the fireworks display, everyone wishes Taichi a happy birthday. When Taichi tells Toma that he and Futaba have decided to date. However, when the new trimester begins, Taichi feels overly self-conscious with Futaba. But, soon after he tells his friends he has a girlfriend, Mami starts hanging around him more, which causes a lot of speculation. It also seems that Futaba has not told her friends about her new boyfriend, Taichi, so the gossiping leads to even more confusion.
Taichi realizes that Futaba and him don’t interact at school as much since they started dating, so Taichi makes an effort to spend more time with Futaba and less with his friends. However, it seems their awkwardness has only intensified. Taichi also realizes he really doesn’t know much about Futaba either and vice versa. So, when Mami and her friends ask if Taichi and Futaba are dating, Futaba is quiet when Mami fawns over Taichi. Even Futaba’s friends confront Taichi about his relationship with Mami. Now, Taichi is feeling uneasy when he sees Toma with Futaba, so he decides to try to make things clear with Mami, but it ends in another misunderstanding. Everything leads up to a sit down with Taichi, Futaba, Mami and Masumi trying to clear the air. Mami makes a good point stating that she really only wants to be friends with Taichi, and she is tired of always being accused of other things when she is only genuinely looking for friendship.
In Summary:
This series has been one of my absolute favorites of all time. The reason why I say that is because first, the art itself conveys feelings where dialogue is not needed at all. There are several instances through the volume, but the very beginning creates a scene and fills it with context and emotions and not a single word is spoken. That’s not just good art skills. That’s great storytelling and imagination. Second, some very real topics come up. Though in the US girls and guys being friends is a bit more natural than it is in Japan, it’s something addressed straightforwardly. The very idea of gender is questioned by illustrating double standards over and over again. And it does all in the package of this high school slice of life story. It’s truly brilliant.
There is bonus content, sketches, shorts at the end of the book. Other than the larger Viz Signature book size, the packaging is standards.
Content Grade: A
Art Grade: A
Packaging Grade: B
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: Teen Plus
Released By: Viz Signature
Release Date: December 15, 2020
MSRP: $12.99
