[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?
Continuing where we left off the last volume--Ashiya is saved and finishes off the competition with a bang!
We then touch on Ashiya's past with her first love, a boy she met while running away from home. It's an insanely cute side-story, very heart-felt. Though in the context of this story as a whole, I'm not sure how much it meshed. I liked it, but it did feel a little out of place.
A new 'rival' of sorts enters the scene, inspiring Ashiya to take action. A photographer, Karasu, has arrived to report on Sano's return to the high jump. And when Ashiya learns that everything she came to know about Sano was from Karasu's articles, she gets a fire in her belly to become stronger. Karasu, meanwhile, is determined to figure out the connection between Ashiya and Sano, along with his reason for his return to the sport. Karasu also has quite the phobia of Dr. Umeda.
Simultaneously, Nakatsu struggles with this feelings for Ashiya, as another girl, Komari, admits her feelings for him. Once they start dating, it hits Nakatsu--he's in love with Ashiya. And just like in the dramas, he decides to be true to himself. (Love that for him ;o; <3)
We also dive into Namba's past, visiting the time where he met and fell in love with Kanako. We had seen the two interact previously, but didn't know their troubled history. And I gotta say, it was a little awkward to read about a college student, hired to tutor a 14 year old child, get in a relationship with said child. As Nanba's insecurity about their age difference grew, he desperately decided to drop out all together to be with her, leaving Kanako to make her ultimate decision to leave him.
Back with Ashiya, a surprise visitor appears--Julia, her best friend from America. As the girls seem close and catch up, Nakatsu is immediately jealous, and Julia gets the idea to pretend date Ashiya to see what Sano's true feelings are. Meanwhile however, Sano has his own distractions, as Ashiya discovers he has a strained relationship with his family.
It was nice to finally see Nakatsu admit his feelings and see a bit more of the boys in general. Though I don't find Sano's interest in Ashiya as believable in the manga as I did the dramas. I appreciated the more 'slow burn' in the dramas, as he grew to respect and appreciate her, until eventually realizing he loved her. Here, it's almost instant, it doesn't feel as strong.
But nevertheless, I enjoyed reading this volume. Sano's family dynamics and problems seem like they'll be different here, so I'm curious to see how things will work out! We do leave on quite a cliff-hanger, as Ashiya overhears some shocking news.
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/
Continuing where we left off the last volume--Ashiya is saved and finishes off the competition with a bang!
We then touch on Ashiya's past with her first love, a boy she met while running away from home. It's an insanely cute side-story, very heart-felt. Though in the context of this story as a whole, I'm not sure how much it meshed. I liked it, but it did feel a little out of place.
A new 'rival' of sorts enters the scene, inspiring Ashiya to take action. A photographer, Karasu, has arrived to report on Sano's return to the high jump. And when Ashiya learns that everything she came to know about Sano was from Karasu's articles, she gets a fire in her belly to become stronger. Karasu, meanwhile, is determined to figure out the connection between Ashiya and Sano, along with his reason for his return to the sport. Karasu also has quite the phobia of Dr. Umeda.
Simultaneously, Nakatsu struggles with this feelings for Ashiya, as another girl, Komari, admits her feelings for him. Once they start dating, it hits Nakatsu--he's in love with Ashiya. And just like in the dramas, he decides to be true to himself. (Love that for him ;o; <3)
We also dive into Namba's past, visiting the time where he met and fell in love with Kanako. We had seen the two interact previously, but didn't know their troubled history. And I gotta say, it was a little awkward to read about a college student, hired to tutor a 14 year old child, get in a relationship with said child. As Nanba's insecurity about their age difference grew, he desperately decided to drop out all together to be with her, leaving Kanako to make her ultimate decision to leave him.
Back with Ashiya, a surprise visitor appears--Julia, her best friend from America. As the girls seem close and catch up, Nakatsu is immediately jealous, and Julia gets the idea to pretend date Ashiya to see what Sano's true feelings are. Meanwhile however, Sano has his own distractions, as Ashiya discovers he has a strained relationship with his family.
It was nice to finally see Nakatsu admit his feelings and see a bit more of the boys in general. Though I don't find Sano's interest in Ashiya as believable in the manga as I did the dramas. I appreciated the more 'slow burn' in the dramas, as he grew to respect and appreciate her, until eventually realizing he loved her. Here, it's almost instant, it doesn't feel as strong.
But nevertheless, I enjoyed reading this volume. Sano's family dynamics and problems seem like they'll be different here, so I'm curious to see how things will work out! We do leave on quite a cliff-hanger, as Ashiya overhears some shocking news.
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/