Maddies Manga

Can you really be just friends with your ex?

You can sample this series for yourself below!

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My thoughts on this volume (Spoilers!)

This series continues to be one of my favourite ongoing Dessert series! Personally, I find it to be one of those stories that you really need to read for yourself to understand the magic behind it, so if you haven’t at least sampled it yet, I recommend you do!

In the previous volume, we see Hatsuho and Yori agree to try to be actual friends. With how much Yori had been trying to sway Hatsuho in the previous two volumes though, there was never a doubt in my mind that them being just friends would be nearly impossible for her. We see that she often gets flashbacks to how he used to be when they dated in middle school, but once she remembers how horrific their break-up was she’s brought straight back to reality. If just being around him in a casual manner is enough to bring her so much emotional distress, will they ever be able to truly mend their relationship?

I’ve been really enjoying how the author portrays the internal conflict Hatsuho has been dealing with all this time. She still likes Yori enough that she doesn’t want to seriously push him away, but she’s still hurt enough that she can’t fully let him in. Their current relationship is delicate and fully dependant on how much Hatsuho can handle. I’m thankful that Yori seems to understand his current place in her life, as while he is a bit pushy, he never actually breaks her boundaries.

In the previous volumes, it’s made to seem like Yori is strongheadded enough to never regret his past wrongdoings—he doesn’t even apologize to Hatsuho for ghosting her until she demands an apology from him. In this volume however, we finally see things from Yori’s perspective! We learn that he actually is nowhere near as confident as he tries to portray himself as, and we finally see a side of him that even Hatsuho never got to see. While I liked his character since the moment he was first introduced, this volume finally gives insight and explanation to his less than desirable personality traits.

We learn all of this from a flashback to their time in middle school set in his perspective. In his eyes, Hatsuho was the more confident one, as while both of them developed feelings for the other at the same time, she was the one to confess. While he liked her, he never was able to think up a good enough reason to talk to her, resulting in them never talking. Learning about his past like this, a lot of his later actions line up. It isn’t until university that he’s able to strike up a conversation with her for no real reason besides wanting to talk to her, and since he struggles with leaving so many things unsaid, he’s saying every little thing he wants her to know.

While I do really want the two of them to have their happy ending, I worry about Hatsuho. After that scene on the beach, I’m not confident that she’s able to handle any semblance of a relationship with Yori, romantic or platonic. I hope that Yori gets the chance to fully explain his actions to Hatsuho in volume four, as if he doesn’t, I fear they’re doomed to crash and burn. They’ll never be able to heal if they can’t even bring up the subject properly!

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Things I particularly enjoyed (spoilers)

❤️ Shimon claiming to not be able to draw, but still giving his all to draw the stills for the scene they were shooting. I love how much focus he gets despite being a side character, as I find his character to be very interesting!

🧡 Hatsuho and Yori both buying overnight bus tickets on the same bus to return to their hometown for the holidays—you can’t tell me that’s not fate.

💚 Hatsuho explaining her whole situation with Yori to her friends from her hometown. While she is able to get some advice from her new university friends, I find the advice she gets from the friends who knew both her and Yori from when they dated to be more impactful.

💛 Watching the movies everyone made while on their trip, especially the shrimp and crab love story.~

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