This is a mini review for volume 2! If you haven’t checked out my review of volume one yet, you can read it here.
A quick recap
In volume 2, Iroha and Kusakabe are going as strong as ever, despite the new challenge. A rival for Kusakabe has found his way to Iroha, and he’s quickly found himself catching feelings for her.
Kusakabe, who can’t stand it when a random man looks at Iroha, let alone talk to her, obviously, is having a bit of difficulty with his presence. As he’s at least trying to be a better boyfriend, he tells Iroha that he doesn’t mind her having a relationship with him – but that she needs to set up proper boundaries.
Later on in the volume, their grade is on their way to Kyoto as a end-of-the-year school trip. This is where things get rather heated between Kusakabe and his rival, and the rival actually confesses his feelings to Iroha in front of all of her friends, and Kusakabe. Kusakabe then throws a fit, and runs off with Iroha until she calms him down.
After they arrive in Kyoto, while the group of friends wanted to stick together, Kusakabe decided that he wanted to spend the day alone with Iroha. Scheduling literally everything he wanted to do with her down to the smallest detail – he literally scheduled trying to make out with her.
Iroha insists that she wants to spend her time in Kyoto together with everyone, and they eventually compromise at spending half the day alone.
While their time alone does start off well, Kusakabe makes an off-handed comment that sets Iroha off, and the two become separated. While his words are what caused the disagreement though, what actually physically separated the two was the love rival swooping in and running off with Iroha.
While the two are alone, Iroha admits that she knows Kusakabe is a terrible person, but she still likes him all the same. The rival tries to shoot his shot one more time for some reason, and gets politely turned down yet again…
My Thoughts on the Volume
While the previous volume had me rather interested in Kusakabe, this volume had me rather disliking him… He was so incredibly childish so many times, and clearly has difficulties thinking of those around him. While it’s been clear that he sees just about everyone, male and female, as competition when it comes to Iroha, that really doesn’t excuse his behaviour.
Iroha also wasn’t my favourite character in this volume, as she was way too passive for her own good. I understand female leads in shoujo manga are often portrayed as being Disney princess level kind, however it really didn’t fit the narrative in this series, in my opinion. Her allowing Kusakabe to treat people poorly shows a personality flaw in her as well – she’s choosing to date him knowing that he acts like this.
To me, the only saving grace in this volume was Iroha’s friends.
Interested in reading this yourself? You can read a free sample of volume 1 here on Amazon Japan!
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