Maddies Manga

After going on a date with Shishima, Kuroda is all up in her feelings. While he was able to help bring her out of her shell, the shyness she now feels when around him has her right back at square one. Will she be able to gain the confidence to meet him and continue their relationship?

You can check out volume two of this series for yourself below!

Author

This series was written by Tina Yamashina. X, Instagram

She also wrote Virgin Love. (English, Japanese)

Genre & Tropes

High school romance, light comedy.

Info about this volume (complete)

There are 2 volumes in this series.

This series is currently only being published digitally in English.

TL;DR rating

I thought this was an all-around cute read, but I’m so sad it was only two volumes! It would have benefitted from being even just one volume longer, IMO.

My thoughts on this volume (Spoilers!)

In volume two, we get to see Kuroda and Shishima’s relationship slowly develop from that awkward stage of “will they, won’t they?” to officially dating! I have to say, when it comes to younger (high school / university) romance series, that “will they, won’t they?” stage is my absolute favourite. The tension and slight drama it tends to bring is just so addictive!

I was very happy to see this stage of their relationship drag on for just about the entirety of this volume, as we were gifted with quite a lot of Shishima lightly teasing Kuroda, and Kuroda struggling with how to react. The two of them are just so cute together! I only wish that we were given a full volume with them officially dating! I would have loved to see them slowly grow together, and how maybe Kuroda could have improved Shishima’s standing within their class.

Just like in volume one, Shishima has a rather bad reputation around their school. I had actually forgotten about that, as I quickly became very invested in their relationship. I felt like I was a member of their little bubble for a little while when reading, I’m a little embarrassed to admit. So, when a new character asks Kuroda is Shishima wasn’t leveraging her and forcing her to hang around him, I was a little confused. I was thinking “Hey! How dare you question my cute almost-couple!?” But then I was brought back down to reality.

Thankfully there was no big misunderstanding plotline, as Kuroda was very quick to defend her man. It was so sweet watching her grow through the two volumes! As while in volume one we has to watch her do everyone else’s work and watch them enjoy the fruits of her labours from the shadows, in this volume we get to see her actively go on dates, and even refuse to do other peoples work for them! While it was initiated by Shishima, I still take it as a win for Kuroda. My girl grew so much!!

The overall tone and art found in this series is something that quickly grew on me, as it’s pretty unique! I think the author had a lot of fun with the villain motif, as she took as many opportunities to give the characters little horns and tails and cute-but-scary expressions. It allowed for the story to be more lighthearted and comedic in tone, but without any overtly comedic gags—something I tend to dislike.

As a whole, I would recommend this series to any shoujo romance lover! While it’s unfortunately a little shorter than I would have liked, it still tells a complete, very cute story.