If you found yourself confused about Yuushi’s motivations after reading volume one, you’ll find this a very satisfying read! A good majority of this volume is spent following Yuushi’s past, showing exactly what happened to cause his wife, and later him, to join the Smiling Hearts Society.
You can check out a sample of this series for yourself below!
Author
Genre & Tropes
Info about this series (complete)
This series is complete in Japanese with 11 volumes. There are currently three volumes released in English.
My thoughts on this volume (Spoilers!)
Reading this volume actually reminded me a bit of Adabana at first! Both series spend the first volume showing our protagonist’s current situations, and both spend a good majority of the second volume showing what happened in the past to cause the events of volume one. Both are fantastic series, so if you like one, I recommend checking out the other!
It quickly becomes clear that Yuushi has always been a rather obsessive character—something obviously necessary for an investigative journalist. While reading volume one I had a slightly different opinion of him. I originally thought that he was more of a lazy character who snapped when his wife left him, causing him to go all out to find her. This was a very mistaken take, as we’re shown that even before the incident, he would do just about anything to get a story.
He wasn’t above creating fake articles to cite, bribery, and doing overall morally corrupt things to further his career. Unfortunately, it’s this drive that partially causes the big accident to happen, leading to the events of volume one.
As this volume spends a good amount of time exploring the past, we don’t learn all that much about the cult. I was actually okay with this, as the more backstory we’re given, the easier it is to enjoy the story!
While we didn’t spend all that much time exploring the cult in this volume, we did learn a lot about a certain cult member. To be honest, I was rather shocked when it was all revealed! After we learned about what happened to her husband and what she did for Yuushi’s wife, I decided that this is the type of story where you absolutely cannot trust anyones introduction. I mean, she was depicted in such a creepy, off putting manner in the previous volume… I found myself really doubting her right until they started exchanging those secret notes.
Come the end of this volume I was left with two big questions: is there really a mole at the journalism agency? With the way this story is told, I won’t believe there actually is one until we see their face—everyone is just so paranoid!
My second question is exactly what is going to happen in that tunnel..? It definitely can’t be something good, but it would be too obvious for a member of the cult to pop up and attack.
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