Shungiku Nakamura

Okay, this one is full of goodness; this is probably my favorite volume of the series so far, and certainly my favorite one that dealt mostly with Usagi and Misaki. Again, Misaki is being pushed and is more unsure of himself and what he wants to do with life, but the character has developed and seems more of an adult, and thus the connection with Usagi seems easier to deal with, as well. His worries about what he'll do with his life are fleshed out more, as Usagi's cousin Mizuki pushes his show more buttons about being too casual and relying too much on Usagi. Misaki joins his new friend Toudou at a job fair, and gets bogged down immediately, and lost in his thoughts, pretty realistically. Another of Usagi's cousins, Kaoruko, also makes an appearance, and her connection with the characters - annoyed arguing with Mizuki, touchiness with Usagi, interest in Misaki - serves the story well. And now, there's a big trip coming with Toudou and the currently relevant Usami relatives to Fukuoka to attend a signing for Misaki and Toudou's favorite manga author! This is all good, the art feels even better, and the romance feels... nicer? More level? I like it.

There are two stories at the end in the Hiroki / Nowaki line - a little kid Nowaki at the foster house story where he meets with Hiroki as a kid in that way grown-ups who fall in love always do in Japanese stories, and one around Nowaki's birthday where his work and work colleagues sort of get in the way of the celebration; those are both well done, too. Now that I think on it more, this is probably my favorite in the series, yeah. If you can make it this far, it's worth it! show less

Now this is more like it! A good story for Misaki and Usagi, dealing with Usagi's father coming with pictures of potential marriage candidates for Usagi, and the aftermath of that, which is pretty well considered... and then a time jump from Misaki's first year at university to his fourth, and a bunch of new characters and challenges. Misaki's now being pushed to think about what he wants to do when he's done; he gets a new friend who's cute and different from the rest of the male cast in show more his set of stories in not being apparently interested in Misaki; the household gets a visit from Usagi's cousin Shiiba, who's been working abroad, and needles Misaki about not taking his responsibilities or the world seriously. All the changes definitely make for a lively story, and on top of that, there's a cute story about Misaki as a kid around Christmas-time with his older brother, and then a sweet short piece on the Miyagi/Shinobu line where Shinobu's sister comes back to try to repair ties with Miyagi. That one reminded me more about why I like that couple. I do wish Nakamura would use the other couples more, but if the Misaki and Usagi stories get better, then maybe it's fine. Now I'm actually looking forward to the next one. show less

I LOVED it. And I didn't expect to at all! I thought I might like it, but was super-surprised that I really, really fell in love! The translation I read was very well done, but since I believe scanlators usually try to be true to the original, I can only assume that the original is just as well-written. It truly felt life-like, which I adored, really! I know that Nakamura Shungiko can draw MUCH more beautiful than the images I saw. Despite that the characters were so well-rounded and show more hinteresting. I love Nakamura's manga she has the ability to portray relationships and their intricacies really well. show less

Another very strong volume, all around: again, it's mostly Misaki and Usagi, though. This volume has the rest of the trip to Fukuoka, with more character detail for Misaki's new friend Toudou and especially the author of Misaki's favorite manga, The Kan, Ijuuin. Misaki gets drawn more into the publishing world as he tries to figure out what to do with his life, as well. There's a good set of payoffs for Shiiba and Kaoruko, Usagi's cousins - I particularly liked the stuff with Shiiba, by the show more end. So the art was good, the story was cute for now and good for setting up what's next, and it was all enjoyable. There was also a cute short story with the pair set at the previous time, for Usagi's birthday, for which they plan a picnic that (predictably) goes awry. And finally, there is a sweet little Miyagi / Shinobu story, with Miyagi trying to do stuff more in line with Shinobu's interests. I had almost given up on this series, but now I'm glad I stuck with it, and I'm definitely looking forward to the next one. show less