Tomohito Oda

Time for a new friend for Komi! Kiyoki Isagi is a neat freak and germophobe who is running for student council president even though she has effectively shut herself off from interacting with her classmates. She's so strict in her principles, she refuses Komi's help on the campaign so as to avoid the perception that she is using Komi's popularity for votes.

But Komi's gravity well cannot be escaped, and Isagi is drawn in, revealing the person beneath all the quirks and a connection to Shibuki show more Ase, the classmate who is self-conscious about her sweat and body odor. Isagi proves interesting, but I'm not sure she deserves a full book at the expense of the main characters, as no real progress is made with Komi and Tadano, though they have a nice moment in the closing pages.

In many ways, the younger siblings of Komi and Tadano are slowly taking over the book with their comedic B-plot shenanigans, getting more screen time directly interacting than the main characters, including a double date this time.

Still a good time, and I have two more volumes on hand from the library. On to the next! show less

There's lots of fun stuff with Komi's parents this time, crammed in between the parade of students and their several contests at school. Is this series turning into a battle manga? So many showdowns!

I think this series just wants to be Archie Comics at this point but doesn't understand that 90 percent of Archie stories are about a core cast of five surrounded by a dozen or so regulars with the larger universe of characters only dropping in occasionally -- not 50+ characters in every issue!

Having got me all revved up with the last two terrific volumes, this one taps the brakes by doing one of those tours of the ensemble series of short stories. We skip back to see how Nakanaka ended up a band for the school cultural festival. Komi and some girlfriends have an escape room adventure. We flashback to Komi's parents dating as teens. Komi and Tadano's younger siblings have their own cultural festival. Several characters missing from the action for a while get to stick their heads show more into a few panels.

But a few crumbs are tossed our way to tantalize the beast ravenous for details about the romantic triangle. Settling quickly into a Betty and Veronica frenemies vibe, Komi and her rival team up for flirting lessons and prod each other to act on their feelings, but they also get support from separate friends who sympathize with how awful the situation is. Tadano remains as clueless as ever, though the last scene of the book might threaten that status quo too.

So impatient for the next volume! show less

I really wish Tomohito Oda had skipped the last eleven volumes and just jumped to this, the ramp up to the big finale next volume. For the first time in what feels like forever, Komi and Tadano actually get to spend the majority of the pages together instead of playing B-, C-, D-, or E-plot to the rest of the giant ensemble cast's shenanigans.

The couple spends a month at Komi's grandmother's so Tadano can focus on his studying in hopes he'll be able to qualify for a college close to Komi's. show more They get to do cute and awkward relationship stuff under the stern and watchful eye of the grandmother and also enjoy some time with Komi's cousin, Akira.

I hope next volume's conclusion keeps the focus on the main characters, but I fear we'll have to run through all 98 of Komi's friends again in addition to picking up the final two to achieve the big 100 goal.

FOR REFERENCE:

Contents: Chapters 474-487 -- Bonus show less