Io Sakisaka’s Ao Haru Ride volume 3 brings the students back to the school setting (after the retreat of volume 2) and introduces a new conflict. After having her eyes opened to what friendship should mean in volume 1, Futaba is challenged by a passing comment made by new friend Yuri. Yuri likes Kou, it turns out. Futaba doesn’t want to hurt or compete with her friend, particularly since she’s unsure how deep her feelings for Kou go. Can she […]

When I talked about the previous volume in this series, which came out last year, I was about ready for it to end. (Volume 7, the last, is due out later this year.) I enjoyed Behind the Scenes!! volume 6 more than I did volume 5, but I think the length is about right, with no need to extend further. One thing that helped was re-reading 5 before diving into 6. Although I couldn’t tell you the detailed differences between […]

Unlike my usual practice, this discussion of Everyone’s Getting Married volume 9 will not avoid spoilers. It’s the final volume of the series, anyway, and the happy ending is given away right there on the cover. When we left our troubled couple of Asuka and Ryu at the end of volume 8, she had just declared her intention to break up with him, since he was working for several years in the US and she thought she was distracting him […]

Ao Haru Ride is the current shojo series I’m most invested in. Volume 2 continues its air of melancholic and uncertain young love by moving its leads, Futaba and Kou, into the same school class. Futaba has taken the lessons of the first book to heart, trying to create a friendlier air in her classroom, but she doesn’t have the popularity or leadership to do so. Refusing to give up, and inspired by wanting Kou to think well of her, […]