[DeepL Translation - needs review] Volume 1: Mizuki, a girl from the U.S. who has lied about her gender to transfer to a boys' school in order to meet Izumi Sano, the man of her dreams. What will happen to her life at the boys' school full of danger?
tl;dr: It's a fine continuation of the story, just wish the characters had more depth. And for a series revolving entirely around characters, that does take away quite a bit from the story.
Not tl;dr:
The gang continue their adventures, this time in Hokkaido, and Julia begins to investigate Sano. Just what is his relationship with Ashiya, and why does he seem to act the way he does around her? Could he know her secret?
Some of this in reminiscent of the Hana Kimi Special, if you've seen that. Though instead of enjoying the summer at the school, the kids all travel to Hokkaido. Nanba is obsessed with Julia, Nakatsu is obsessed with getting Julia away from Ashiya, and Ashiya is doing her best to balance everyone and everything while keeping her secret.
I don't think this volume kept my attention as well as the others. I think things felt like they are moving more slowly. Sano already knows Ashiya's secret and that she likes him, so we're sort of dilly-dallying our way through chapters now. Like I said in my review of volume three, I liked how in the dramas, there was more work for Sano to grow to like Ashiya. It added more tension and interesting moments. Especially with the dynamic of his family.
Which, speaking of, his family in the manga is quite different than in the dramas. At least thus far. He still has issues with them, leaving home as a young kid, causing a wall to be built between him and his younger brother who seemed to feel abandoned. But the drama here doesn't seem to go as deep as the show did. Sano was hurt and angry at his family, and Ashiya continuously crossed the line, as an outsider to the situation, in getting involved, causing difficulties in their friendship. But here in the manga? There's no such issue. Ashiya gets curious and wiggles her way into his family life, and Sano is...absolutely fine with it? It feels a bit Gary Stu in a way. I wish he got a little worked up about something, but he's only incredibly forgiving and kind to her. It makes the characters and story feel more flat.
A photo from the Hokkaido trip of some of the boys goes viral, and the campus is crowded by girls and fans eager to see the cute/hot guys! It causes quite a ruckus. Then out of the blue, a professional photographer, Hara, introduces himself, wanting to do a photoshoot with them. Before much of a decision could be made, their teacher Kitahama gets involved, wanting to punish the boys for the disruptions. Nanba diffuses the situation, but the tension between the teacher and students remain. All leading up to the big moment with Nakatsu, who is found to have a cheat-sheet on his desk during a test.
Definitely a good cliff-hanger for this volume, and for those familiar with the drama, I think we know where this is going. I'm looking forward to seeing how it'll play out in the next volume.
Flipping back through the pages, overall I think this volume was fine, but the initial read through, things felt more slow. I'm not quite sure why. I guess the drama's faster pace and more jokes grabbed my attention more. But we'll see how things go as I keep reading. :)
For Japanese Learners:
As this is a series, my thoughts are the same as volume one, which you can read more about that + my thoughts on the series as a whole here: https://learnnatively.com/review/b012ff0d41/
tl;dr: It's a fine continuation of the story, just wish the characters had more depth. And for a series revolving entirely around characters, that does take away quite a bit from the story.
Not tl;dr:
The gang continue their adventures, this time in Hokkaido, and Julia begins to investigate Sano. Just what is his relationship with Ashiya, and why does he seem to act the way he does around her? Could he know her secret?
Some of this in reminiscent of the Hana Kimi Special, if you've seen that. Though instead of enjoying the summer at the school, the kids all travel to Hokkaido. Nanba is obsessed with Julia, Nakatsu is obsessed with getting Julia away from Ashiya, and Ashiya is doing her best to balance everyone and everything while keeping her secret.
I don't think this volume kept my attention as well as the others. I think things felt like they are moving more slowly. Sano already knows Ashiya's secret and that she likes him, so we're sort of dilly-dallying our way through chapters now. Like I said in my review of volume three, I liked how in the dramas, there was more work for Sano to grow to like Ashiya. It added more tension and interesting moments. Especially with the dynamic of his family.
Which, speaking of, his family in the manga is quite different than in the dramas. At least thus far. He still has issues with them, leaving home as a young kid, causing a wall to be built between him and his younger brother who seemed to feel abandoned. But the drama here doesn't seem to go as deep as the show did. Sano was hurt and angry at his family, and Ashiya continuously crossed the line, as an outsider to the situation, in getting involved, causing difficulties in their friendship. But here in the manga? There's no such issue. Ashiya gets curious and wiggles her way into his family life, and Sano is...absolutely fine with it? It feels a bit Gary Stu in a way. I wish he got a little worked up about something, but he's only incredibly forgiving and kind to her. It makes the characters and story feel more flat.
A photo from the Hokkaido trip of some of the boys goes viral, and the campus is crowded by girls and fans eager to see the cute/hot guys! It causes quite a ruckus. Then out of the blue, a professional photographer, Hara, introduces himself, wanting to do a photoshoot with them. Before much of a decision could be made, their teacher Kitahama gets involved, wanting to punish the boys for the disruptions. Nanba diffuses the situation, but the tension between the teacher and students remain. All leading up to the big moment with Nakatsu, who is found to have a cheat-sheet on his desk during a test.
Definitely a good cliff-hanger for this volume, and for those familiar with the drama, I think we know where this is going. I'm looking forward to seeing how it'll play out in the next volume.
Flipping back through the pages, overall I think this volume was fine, but the initial read through, things felt more slow. I'm not quite sure why. I guess the drama's faster pace and more jokes grabbed my attention more. But we'll see how things go as I keep reading. :)
For Japanese Learners:
As this is a series, my thoughts are the same as volume one, which you can read more about that + my thoughts on the series as a whole here: https://learnnatively.com/review/b012ff0d41/