If you are looking for a fresh fantasy series filled with interesting characters, a charming location, and a unique plot, then you absolutely must keep Shiokaze to Ryuu no Sumika on your radar.
Check out my review of volume one here!
Before we start the review…
What’s the Japanese level?
I rate this as a late intermediate – early advanced series. To see my reasonings for my rankings, please click here!
Who wrote this manga?
This was written by Asato Shima! You can check out their X here.
Info about the series
- There are currently 2 volumes out in Japanese.
- There is no English adaptation as of yet.
- Volume 2 comes with a one-shot at the end!
You can check out this series for yourself below.
What happens in volume two?
We get to see quite a bit more of the other dragon people in this volume! After being invited to the research facility her uncle works at, Mizuka and Tenshin run into the young Taiju. He quickly warms up to Mizuka, lamenting how difficult it is to make friends at school. It turns out that dragon people are few and far between, with Taiju being the only dragon person in his first-grade classroom. Not wanting to scare his classmates who are not yet accustomed to dragon people, he isn’t quite sure how to go about making friends.
Upon meeting the human Mizuka, who is already accustomed to dragon people thanks to Tenshin, he decides that she is a good fit to be his first friend. While Tenshin is away helping with research, Taiju has Mizuka sneak away with him so they can begin doing “friend” things.
Being just in the first grade, Taiju is quick to get emotional with Mizuka. After a slight misunderstanding, he attempts to fly off the roof they were chatting on, leaving her stranded. Mizuka, knowing that Taiju isn’t allowed to fly by himself yet, attempts to stop him from taking off. Unfortunately, she ends up latching onto him as he takes off. Taiju isn’t able to fly while Mizuka is holding onto his waist, and just as they’re about to plummet into the ocean, Tenshin appears. He takes hold of Mizuka and throws Taiju up into the air. While this allows Taiju to properly fly back down to land, Tenshin isn’t able to regain momentum and crashes into the ground while holding Mizuka.
Because he’s sturdy, Tenshin gets by with just a broken leg. Taiju gets off with just a verbal warning, and Mizuka is only emotionally frazzled. Tenshin and Mizuka leave the research facility after making up with Taiju, promising to hang out as friends in the future.
Although Tenshin has been eating lunch outside with Mizuka every day until now, Mizuka makes him promise to stay in his class, at least until his leg heals. Tenshin protests, saying that as a dragon person, he’s much sturdier than a normal human. Mizuka gets annoyed with him, seeing his attitude as evidence that he’s more than willing to injure himself as he knows he’s quick to heal. Tenshin does give in, and Mizuka eats her lunch in her classroom for the first time in quite a while.
In class, Mizuka ends up spending a lot more time with one of the other dragon people, Kou. While Kou isn’t the friendliest, Mizuka slowly realizes that she’s actually a really good person — she just does what she wants, and doesn’t care about what others think of her. The two of them partner together for art class, eat their lunches together, and Mizuka even goes out of her way for the two of them to be able to do an activity together during gym.
As dragon students are much stronger than regular students, they are typically not allowed to join in during gym class. Kou even recalls her classmates getting upset with her when she didn’t catch fly balls that ended up injuring them. She didn’t see it as her responsibility—if she’s not allowed to play the game, why should she be expected to catch fly balls?
We also learn that Kou has strong feelings for Mizuka’s uncle, claiming him to be the only human she doesn’t dislike when she was child. As Kou slowly begins letting her walls down around Mizuka, she’s quick to let her know that her feelings for her uncle have nothing to do with it. She simply wishes to be near Mizuka, so she is.
Kairi, the third dragon person at school, is still adamant that Tenshin return to his home. He heads over to Tenshin’s part-time job and gives him an ultimatum: Tenshin either returns home, or Kairi will stop going to school. Tenshin tells him that he’s not going to participate in this, which Kairi interprets as Tenshin choosing Mizuka over him.
Tenshin is clearly upset about his current relationship with Kairi, as they used to be very close before Tenshin left his home. Mizuka clearly understands this, so when she spots Kairi standing over a cliff one day, she goes to try to clear the air with him. He responds saying he hates her, grabs her arm, and jumps off the cliff, pulling her down with him. Even after they hit the water, he keeps hold of her, and then we cut to black. Tenshin appears just in time and is able to wake Mizuka up on the shore with no issues.
Tenshin slaps Kairi, who then runs away. Instead of thanking Tenshin for saving her and returning home to rest, Mizuka then runs after Kairi, who clearly just tried to kill her. They are able to talk things out, and Mizuka gives him some talking points to make up with Tenshin.
The volume ends with Tenshin making the decision to return to his familial home.
My thoughts on this volume
Volume Two had all the magic of Volume One, and then some. We were able to see all of the character’s unique personalities really shine, with Mizuka and all three of the dragon high schoolers getting ample time on the page.
We were able to see a lot of Tenshin’s strong-headedness, and it’s through his relationship with Mizuka that we see him begin to change. I was a little bit surprised to see him give in to some of Mizuka’s requests. I am also interested in their unique relationship! While the two of them are very quick to deny any sort of relationship between them, Tenshin is clearly happy when Mizuka explains that their relationship as roommates is more special than friends. I’m really enjoying this unique relationship so far!
The introduction of Taiju led me to wonder about the population of dragon people. If they are so rarely born, does there have to be some special criteria met? I’m enjoying the pace at which the lore of the dragons is being explained, and I can only hope that it continues like this.
My only complaint about this volume is just how quickly Mizuka forgave Kairi. He literally tried to kill her, and then it was all forgiven not one page later. While I understand Mizuka is the type of character to not get upset over little things, any rational person would get upset over this! It’s okay to call people out sometimes, and I really hope she learns this soon.
Art Sample
What I liked most about this volume
❤️ Tenshin always magically swooping in to save Mizuka just at the last second. Call it cliche if you want, but I eat it up every time.
🧡 The little art pages showing Tenshin’s semi-transparent tail – I wish we could see it more often in the story!
💛 The flashback to the three dragon people when they were young. Tenshin helping Kairi conquer his fear of the cliff was very touching, and it was a nice parallel when Kairi pulled Mizuka off.
💚 Mizuka getting upset with Tenshin for being a martyr. While yeah, he’s more capable because he’s a dragon person, that doesn’t mean he’s indestructible!
💛 Kou’s obsession with Mizuka’s uncle. To the point that she loves Mizuka’s eyebrows because they resemble her uncles.
🧡 Kou finally getting more screen time !! I loved learning more about her, she’s such a cool character. I really really hope she continues being a prominent character.
❤️ Tenshin putting up a bit of a fight, but always matching what Mizuka wants of him.
💚 Tenshin’s annoyed face – I’m not sure why, but I just love it so much.
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