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In Another World with My Smartphone, Vol. 13

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By Patora Fuyuhara and Eiji Usatsuka. Released in Japan as “Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni” by Hobby Japan. Released in North America digitally by J-Novel Club. Translated by Andrew Hodgson.

Smartphone continues to be a series with two very different types of interlocking plots. The first is the “main” plot, showing Touya battling the Phrase, deducing what’s actually going on in this world, and traveling to other worlds and having adventures. The second is Touya basically wandering around, goofing off, and leisurely talking with everyone in his kingdom. The problem is that the author is very good at the second thing but consistently falls down on the first. Oh, the Phrase battle was pretty good, except for one consequence which I’ll get to later. But when Touya comes back to the Reverse World, he promptly runs into a villain. Stop me if this surprises you… the villain is insane to the point of mad laughter, gleefully kills tons of innocents, and is also a bit of a sexual deviant. Touya learns that her personality might be degraded due to the golem she’s contracted with… but then undercuts it by saying “no, I think she’s like that anyway” so as not to upset readers with that fetish. Guh.

Sorry to say that despite the cover we do not get to see Touya and his fiancees racing early 20th century cars around the kingdom here. The majority of the book is supposed to be the Festival that Touya set up last time, and we do get to see the front end. It’s pretty fun, with baseball tournaments, shogi tournaments, lots of shops, lots of food. Touya gets to walk around with a fiancee or two, chat, and just be his usual bland self. It’s refreshing, and it makes it more entertaining when he has to actually try hard NOT to be his bland self. The best joke in the book has him walking with Hilde, one of his more insecure fiancees, and having to reassure her that he loves her by saying it out loud. This gets back to the others… and he now has to say it to all of them, something which causes him to nearly break down in embarrassment. It’s really cute.

Unfortunately, despite setting up for an entire festival (and even bringing God down from Heaven), the Phrase show up somewhere in the smoking remains of not-China and Touya and his mecha army have to go take them out. The plot here is actually interesting. The Phrase seem to be having a civil war, with Phrase that have been infected by the evil God killing the non-infected Phrases in a way that reminds me of the old Dalek civil war in Doctor Who. We also see the return of Gila, the arrogant Phrase construct who looked to be a reoccurring villain… till Touya killed him here, cutting that off pretty rapidly. Touya also has to use God powers to do it, meaning afterwards he falls unconscious… and we miss the entire rest of the festival as a result. This really irritated me, especially as Touya rattled off all the stuff that happened in a couple of paragraphs.

So, cute but also frustrating, bad villains but good fiancees and a bland hero who is at his best (and worst) when he tries not to be bland. In other words, typical Smartphone.

Pick of the Week: Turn Around, Bright Eyes

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SEAN: I have not been able to remotely keep up with Kodansha’s digital-only titles, but I do appreciate them when they give us lots of series that may not have sales that justify a print license. So I’ll make my pick this week Ran the Peerless Beauty, a shoujo series that looks cool and cute. Let’s hope that’s not the slang term for “peerless”, though.

ASH: I’m always happy to see a new volume of Gangsta, but this week the release I’m most excited about is Total Eclipse of the Eternal Heart. I adored Go For It, Nakamura!, so I’m thrilled to see more of the creator’s work in translation.

MICHELLE: I’m definitely going to be checking out both of the titles mentioned already, but I’ll go with the debut of Love in Focus this time. I enjoyed the mangaka’s previous series much more than I expected to. Too bad this one is also quite short!

KATE: Again with Again!! for me. I love the way Mitsurou Kubo resists tidy resolutions for her characters’ dilemmas. Everyone learns lessons in Again!!, but no one has the kind of radical epiphanies that lead to big moments of triumph or change; seven volumes in, it’s still an open question whether the ouendan will survive Imamura and Usami’s tempestuous leadership. Crack pacing and a great cast of supporting characters make this uncertain state of affairs something to savor, rather than something to endure, and crisp artwork helps sell the time-travel angle. I can’t recommend this enough! (Or should that be Enough!!?)

MJ: There are a number of releases that intrigue me this week, including Ran the Peerless Beauty and Love in Focus, but BL horror from Opera wins the day for me. My pick is Total Eclipse of the Eternal Heart.

ANNA: There are so many interesting manga series coming out this week, but it has been such a long time since I’ve seen a new volume of Gangsta. That’s my pick!

5 Centimeters per Second: one more side

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By Makoto Shinkai and Arata Kanoh. Released in Japan by Enterbrain. Released in North America by Vertical, Inc. Translated by Kristi Fernandez.

(This review is based on a review copy provided by the publisher)

I hadn’t initially planned to review this, mostly as I’ve never seen the 5 Centimeters per Second movie, and if I read the manga it was so long ago I’ve forgotten it. But I’m familiar with the author from the your name spinoff he wrote, which I enjoyed, and he also has a Voices of a Distant Star novel coming out over here this summer. So I gave it a try, and I’m glad I did. I knew going in from the start that the overall mood of the book would be ‘wistful verging on bleak’, of course. This is Makoto Shinkai we’re talking about, the creator who surprised everyone by NOT giving your name a bittersweet ending. 5 Centimeters per Second tells the story of a boy, Takaki, and a girl, Akari, who meet as kids, fall in love, separate, try to stay in touch, meet one more time in an ultra romantic scene… and then never meet again. This book tells the story from different perspectives.

I’ll be honest here, I liked Akari a lot more than I liked Takaki. This is deliberate, I suspect. It’s one reason why I think my favorite part of the book was the start, showing us Akari’s perspective of life as a shy, introverted child who had to transfer schools. Her emotions are raw, and mention is made of wanting to “disappear” but not actually having the wherewithal to kill herself, which is really bleak given she’s about nine. Transferring schools is a lot more common in Japan than it is in the West, and the lessons given here on how to fit in – and how hard it is – read very true. Takaki is at his best here, helping Akari with some sound advice and an ear to lend, but even at this age we can see how he tends to withdraw from her when things get too close.

The second part of the book is Takaki’s, showing his middle school life after he moves down South to Tanegashima. He meets a nice girl who falls for him hard, and he clearly likes her, but is also deliberately not doing anything. This compares nicely to the third part of the book, which has interlocking POVs, where he meets a nice woman as an adult who falls for him hard and he clearly likes her but is also deliberately not doing anything. Takaki seems trapped in that one moment he had with Akari at the station when they were thirteen (twelve? Around there), and it’s only at the very, very end of the book that he seems to grow past it. Akari, on the other hand, blossoms into a confident, happy young woman, marries a nice guy, and has a wonderful life. Seeing this made the ending less bittersweet than I’d expected. Sure, young love didn’t work out. That happens all the time. But, helped by Takaki’s advice as a child, Akari has become a wonderful young woman.

I’m not sure how this complements the movie, but I’m pretty sure fans of it will want to pick this up. The prose is gorgeous and evocative, worth the price of the book alone. I’ll definitely want to get more of this author’s take on Shinkai’s works.

Skip Beat! vol 42

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Skip Beat! Volume 42 by Yoshiki Nakamura

With such a long running series like Skip Beat! once it has caught up with Japan, the wait between volumes is long enough that I temporarily lose track of of the plot. But within just a few panels, my memory gets triggered and I’m back in the story again. In this case seeing Ren’s reaction to learning that Sho kissed Kyoko made the wait between volumes all worthwhile. It is always amazing how well Nakamura can portray someone attempting to be stoic when they are filled with turbulent emotions.

Skip Beat 42

Kyoko meanwhile has her own battles to fight, and Skip Beat! always excels when she has to fight for a role. She’s in the middle of a rigged contest, trying to get a role alongside her beloved Moko. Kimiko, the niece of the producer, is determined to use any advantage against Kyoko and she plays up an imaginary relationship with Ren just enough that Kyoko becomes totally distracted and forgets to focus when she’s receiving directions for the next stage of her audition. Moko ends up saving Kyoko by altering her body language just enough that Kyoko is able to intuit the rest of the scene, and she ends up turning in an impressive performance.

One of the most entertaining part of this volume was seeing Ren’s manager accompany Kyoko throughout the audition process. His interior thoughts as he observes Kyoko’s reactions and starts building up theories about Ren and Kyoko’s relationship are priceless. As the audition progresses, Kyoko is able to battle through her emotional turmoil and fully inhabit her character. One of the things about Skip Beat! that I enjoy so much towards the start of a story arc is being able to look forward to all the impending drama. Kimiko seems to be engaged in a strategic retreat, I’m guessing that she’ll return to cause even more chaos. Ren and Kyoko haven’t met yet since Sho kissed her, so I’m looking forward to that scene, I’m guessing in two more volumes or so? Skip Beat! always manages to draw the reader in, and even though the big confrontations and resulting emotional growth for the characters doesn’t happen right away the series always delivers.

Captain Harlock: The Classic Collection, Vol. 3

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By Leiji Matsumoto. Released in Japan as “Uchuu Kaizoku Captain Harlock” by Akita Shoten, serialized in the magazine Play Comic. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Zack Davisson. Adapted by Snati Whitesides.

In many respects this is Daiba’s story more than Harlock’s, and we’ve been following his journey and not really going back to show how Harlock got started, got the crew together, etc. That said, just because we started with Daiba doesn’t mean we get a satisfying ending for him – or anyone. A lot of Matsumoto series, I’ve found, tend to best be described as “a cutout of a larger, more epic tale”, even when they’re being epic tales themselves. And so this volume wraps up with not much having changed, except that we’ve possibly found the Mazon are more similar to humanity than anyone expected – except, of course, the reader. The Arcadia, with its main cast all intact, set sail to further adventures and battles, which we, as a reader will not see, because Matsumoto wrapped up the manga at this point, probably so he could concentrate more on Galaxy Express 999.

A lot of the back half of this volume is concerned with the life and death of Tochiro, who frequently appears posthumously in the Harlockverse (he was in Queen Emeraldas as well) but rarely shows up in the flesh. His death looms over everyone, and is handled with such reverence and dignity that when a rogue Mazon tries to attack Arcadia while they’re at his gravesite, the Queen literally throws her off the ship, where she falls to her death, because let’s face it, these are pirate ships more than spaceships. It’s a bit ridiculous, but fits with the overall mood of the book, which is brooding, somber, and oh so serious. Aside from the occasional stab at humor, such as everyone’s collections falling over in a battle, or Kei getting fall down drunk at one point, the laughs of the last two books are mostly gone. (There is a short Harlock/Emeraldas story added after the main events here, which is meant to show them as almost Rule 63 versions of each other. I didn’t enjoy it much, but it DOES have humor.)

As for Daiba, well, he’s trying hard to grow and learn everything as fast as possible, and that’s not going very well, though he is rather clever. Harlock seems to be grooming him as a sort of heir at times. He also helps to discover the Mazon’s involvement with the Ancient Pyramids, as the Wagnerian myth takes a slight detour and also shows off the Mazon as sort of dandelion spores that will gradually infect everything in the galaxy. Not the world’s most original plot, but that’s fine, as you’re reading a story about space pirates, so originality is not why you’re here. The dialogue continues to be ripe, even with the seriousness, and I think it may actually work even better if you read it aloud in a stentorian voice, sort of like William Daniels as Captain Harlock.

The modern-day reboot of the series, Dimensional Voyage, is still going strong, and adding a bit more depth and characterization that isn’t in this original. But if you want the definitive mood for Harlock, it’s hard to beat this three-volume set, which is dramatic and stentorian to the last. A classic slice of manga history.

Amagi Brilliant Park, Vol. 4

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By Shouji Gatou and Yuka Nakajima. Released in Japan by Enterbrain. Released in North America by J-Novel Club. Translated by Elizabeth Ellis.

I’m still trying to figure out why I find Amagi Brilliant Park so hard to like but difficult to drop. Part of it may simply be an issue that I have with several light novel series, notably Index: the author is trying to be funny but I’m not laughing. As with the third volume, this book consists of one long story and several shorter ones. The long story gives us a deeper look at Bando Biino, one of the part-time staffers we’ve met before, whose gag was that she always wound up bloody due to accidents. The story behind this could actually be very depressing and chilling if the author wanted to (and the afterword hints that he was talked out of doing so), as it turns out that she’s under a very nasty curse that influences all of those around her. The trouble is that the resolution to this is a) a sexually harassing doctor who isn’t as funny as the author imagines, and b) a ritual that is really a parody of TV quiz shows, which is DIRE.

The problem is that when the author isn’t trying to be funny, this is actually rather good. Biino’s situation is horrible, and seeing her perky optimism slowly break down is devastating. We even get some depth added to Tiramii, the lecherous dog mascot thing, who takes a non-lecherous (mostly) shine to Biino and resolves to help her. There’s also some intriguing stuff with Seiya, who spends much of the story irritated at Biino but not to the extent that he actually does anything about it, which is hinted to be due to his strong resolve – the curse can’t make him abuse her. And then we see Biino’s brother, who has now been released from an institution he was put into after trying to kill her, now out, recovered, and ready to love his sister – they’re not really related! – and you just have to facepalm. It feels like I’m reading something where the dials are set in precisely the wrong positions to be fun.

The rest of the short stories run along the same lines. The best shows a curious (and possibly jealous) Isuzu tailing Seiya as he goes to a meeting with what turns out to be his stepsister, who is trying (unsuccessfully) to patch things up between him and his father. Seiya is normally default obnoxious, and it’s nice to see that this comes from a very real difficult childhood, which is not simply easily resolved by a cute little sister type. The one story played entirely for comedy involves one of the park’s staff (a dinosaur mascot thing) trying to make a promotional video of the park, and being told to make it less dull. This is done for pure comedy, which sometimes does actually work (Isuzu’s ongoing reactions) and sometimes doesn’t (everything else).

It’s possible that I’m just a grumpy cuss, and certainly those who watched the anime and enjoyed it should like this. But I really think the author’s strengths lie in more dramatic writing, and all Amagi Brilliant Park does is make me miss Full Metal Panic.

Manga the Week of 3/20/19

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SEAN: Thanks to Yen spacing out its releases more evenly this month, we get TWO crushing weeks in a row instead of just one. So what’s in the first crushing week?

Bookwalker has a 7th volume of shogi and young girls light novel The Ryuo’s Work Is Never Done!.

Dark Horse has, theoretically, Eromanga-sensei 2. (OK, I’ll stop now.)

J-Novel Club gives us the 13th In Another World with My Smartphone, a 4th Sorcerous Stabber Orphen, and the 10th Demon King Daimaou.

Kodansha is making up for being virtually invisible the last two weeks. First, we have three debuts, two in print/digital and one digital only. We’ll start with Gleipnir, a seinen manga from Young Magazine the 3rd, which is about a young man who discovers that he can turn into… a heroic dog mascot thing? Not sure what’s going on here, but one thing I can guarantee, which is the girl who’s the other lead will be beloved by Japan and hated in North America.

Love in Focus (Renzu-Sou no Sankaku) is a shoujo-ish manga from Aria (the magazine of shoujo-ish titles). A girl chooses a high school for its photography program, but also gets involved in teen romance. It’s only 3 volumes.

MICHELLE: Love in Focus is by Yoko Nogiri, whose That Wolf-boy Is Mine! I really liked. I’m looking forward to this one.

ASH: I plan on checking it out, too; I liked what I read of That Wolf-boy Is Mine!.

MJ: I’m up for this!

SEAN: Lastly, the digital debut is Ran the Peerless Beauty (Takane no Ran-san), a shoujo title from Betsufure about a girl who’s so beautiful and stylish that no one approaches her at all… except one guy, of course. This actually looks pretty cute.

MICHELLE: It does!

ANNA: I am for sure curious about it!

MJ: Well, okay!

SEAN: Print Kodansha also has Again!! 7, Aho-Girl 11, Hitorijime My Hero 2, the 3rd Sailor Moon Eternal Edition, and a 16th UQ Holder.

ASH: I’m a bit behind, but I’m looking forward to more Again!!.

SEAN: Digitally there is also All Out!! 8, Back Street Girls 8, Kira-kun Today 5, A Kiss, for Real 8, and Tokyo Revengers 5.

Seven Seas also has a debut next week, and a single-volume debut to boot. Total Eclipse of the Eternal Heart (Gesshoku Kitan) is from Akaneshinsha’s Opera magazine, and thus a must buy. It’s BL but also horror, and is from the author of Go For It, Nakamura!.

MICHELLE: I am so looking forward to more from this author!

ASH: Go For It, Nakamura! was one of my favorite releases from last year. Total Eclipse of the Eternal Heart is supposed to be completely different in tone, but I love a good horror manga, too, so I’m excited.

MJ: Okay, yes, definitely!

SEAN: Seven Seas also has another light novel for The Ancient Magus’ Bride: The Silver Yarn; the 9th volume of Citrus; a print edition for the 5th Make My Abilities Average light novel; The 3rd and final volume of the True Tenchi Muyo! light novels; and a 2nd Versailles of the Dead.

ASH: I’ll be picking up The Silver Yarn. The first volume of Versailles of the Dead intrigued me enough that I’ll be picking that up, too.

SEAN: Vertical gives us the 4th and final volume of The Delinquent Housewife!.

MICHELLE: I’ve been collecting these volumes as they’ve been coming out. Maybe now that it’s complete I’ll actually read them!

SEAN: Viz has a surprise for you! Not only do we get Gangsta 8, the first new volume in two and a half years, but we also get 1-8 digitally now as well! They also have 20th Century Boys: The Perfect Edition 3 and Children of the Whales 9.

ASH: I’m very happy to have a new volume of Gangsta being released!

ANNA: Also super excited about =Gangsta!

SEAN: And so we have Yen Press. We’ll start with Yen On, who moved a few titles (including the month’s debut) to the week after, but that still leaves a lot. The Asterisk War 9, Defeating the Demon Lord’s a Cinch 3, Do You Love Your Mom? 2, The Irregular at Magic High School 11, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? 13, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep (which sounds like a horror title), Magical Girl Raising Project 6, So I’m a Spider, So What? 5, and WorldEnd 3. That’s a lot of light novel.

There’s a bit of manga as well, of course. The debut is a side story, as we get the first volume of Angels of Death Episode 0. A prequel, I assume. And we see Bungo Stray Dogs 10, Chio’s School Road 3, Kakegurui – Compulsive Gambler 9, the 10th manga version of My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As I Expected, a 5th Smokin’ Parade, the 5th volume of the manga version of So I’m a Spider, So What?, and the 5th volume of Sword Art Online spinoff Girls’ Ops.

That is a lot, I just compressed it well. What are you getting?

The Ideal Sponger Life, Vol. 1

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By Tsunehiko Watanabe and Neko Hinotsuki. Released in Japan as “Risou no Himo Seikatsu” by Kadokawa Shoten, serialization ongoing in the magazine Young Ace. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Wesley Bridges. Adapted by Jessica Cluess.

Well, here we are again with another isekai. They tend to be male power fantasies, but this one’s even more blatant about what it is than most. Based on an (as yet unlicensed) light novel, our hero is a Japanese salaryman working for a shady company and not enjoying his life, until he’s transported to another world! (Not hit by a truck, which is honestly what I was expecting.) There he meets the beautiful and busty Queen, ho explains why he’s there. Due to plot reasons, he has royal blood from the other world in him, so he needs to marry the queen and get her producing an heir. That’s all he has to do. Despite this world being pretty patriarchal, he’s not required to rule the land a la Realist Hero or anything. He’s savvy enough to realize that’s the catch (she wants to rule herself, not pass a baton), but decides to go for it anyway. Of course, this being an isekai, he immediately is an influence regardless.

It has to be said, even for a male power fantasy this one’s pretty nice to the hero. He’s briefly threatened by guards when he approaches the queen, but that’s about it. She happily explains everything to him, and even allows him to return to Earth for a month so he can settle his affairs and say goodbye to his family, which is more than 90% of isekai heroes get. He also thinks ahead, taking a portable generator and tons of books/CDs/DVDs/a fridge with him when he goes, as he knows this is standard fantasy world. I’m assuming there will be the typical adventure things later on in the series, but for the moment he is there to marry and knock up the queen. Which he does, or at least presumably. He also needs to learn the language, as it turns out that while he can hear everyone in Japanese, they aren’t really speaking it – it’s a magic ability he has. This means learning to read and write, and also teaching Excel Spreadsheets to the kingdom, which I suspect may win him enemies.

Given that we see it on Page 1 (in a sort of premonition), it should not be a surprise that there IS sex in this, which isn’t 100% explicit but gets as close as it can to that line. I’ll be honest, I was expecting more plot to interfere in the actual consummation, since I’ve seen this type of thing before, but no, this time both hero and heroine are actual adults, and the whole point is to produce an heir, and so coitus ensues. This also allows us a brief look at the queen, Aura, when she isn’t wearing the queenly mask, as we see her on the wedding night trying to act smooth and seductive, but once she’s alone in the bedroom she shows off a blush that suggests she’s just as innocent as he is. Nor is he a majestic lover, either – while they both seem to have happy sex, the line “I guess this means you’ve finished” seems to imply it was better for him than for her.

I’ve heard this series described as “come for the boobs, stay for the political intrigue”, and that seems accurate. Certainly the latter is what motivates me to try another volume. There’s some good setup here, assuming you can get past the sex scenes and objectification of the queen that’s also in these pages.

Division Maneuver: A Hero Reincarnated

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By Shippo Senoo and Nidy-2D-. Released in Japan by Kodansha. Released in North America by Seven Seas. Translated by Andrew Cunningham. Adapted by Dayna Abel.

I’ll freely admit, I had not originally planned to read or review this at all. We have come to a point in the North American light novel market where you simply can’t read absolutely everything. And that cover made me say “Oh boy, another masturbatory aid for teenage boys!” But I had a gap in my schedule before Yen’s March light novels hit like a bat to the head, and I thought “OK, I guess.” In the end, it balances out that I’m pleased that I read the book, and I’ll likely pick up the second (and final) volume. So I’m here to tell you about why yet another book with teens in powered suits at a magical academy is something that you might want to take notice of, rather than, say, Infinite Stratos, or Seirei Gensouki, or The Asterisk War, etc. And I will also warn you that my first impression of the book is ALSO very true. If you’re reading this book, hope you like endless descriptions of boobs.

So once there was a hero. He was a bit headstrong and stubborn. He fought to save the Earth from hideous tentacle monsters (who thankfully only want to eat humanity, not do anything else with it) and he sacrificed himself to take out the evil queen monster. Unfortunately, she’s not quite dead. So he’s reincarnated back into the world as a young man and resolves to get stronger and try again. The big problem there is his new self has virtually no magical aptitude. Fortunately, he runs into his old teacher, who also happens to be the headmaster of the magical academy for awesome magical students. She trains him in fencing, martial arts, and the like to the point where even though he has virtually no magic, he can still beat most everyone. When he arrives at the school, he joins an elite unit, learns to actually use teamwork (something his former self was bad at), and falls in love with his sempai, who is also the little girl saved by his former self right before he died.

I’ll start with positives. Hanabi, the heroine, is not the sort of heroine I was expecting when I picked up this book – cool, hands off, tsundere, constantly yelling at the hero, etc. She’s a bit battle hungry, actually, and falls in love with Kuon faster than he does with her. He’s 13, by the way, which makes this relationship a bit “ergh” (she’s 18), but nothing seems to happen beyond making out. I also liked her best friend, who is a standard character type, but it’s one I like. Honestly, by the end of the book I was thinking that some of the cast were going to die – it gets fairly brutal at times. Now for the downside… well, you saw the cover. The color illustrations merely exacerbate it. Hanabi is a walking pinup and the author and illustrator want you to know it. Kuon thinks about her breasts all the time. It gets very aggravating for anyone over the age of 19. Oh yes, and our hero has no magic aptitude – except that he can STOP TIME. Which is apparently a martial art? I dunno.

So I liked the character relationships and plot enough to read more, but unfortunately, the fanservice and the questionable romance mean we once again have a light novel that I can only recommend to its intended audience. Teenage boys, go get it.

Takane & Hana, vol. 7

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Takane and Hana Volume 7 by Yuki Shiwasu

This volume continues to explore how Takane and Hana deal with his changed circumstances as he adjusts to live as an ordinary businessman. It is a slightly more serious volume than usual, but there’s some great character development.

Takane and Hana 7

Hana continues to show up at Takane’s shabby apartment to feed him dinner, although he’s started to get a little better about fending for himself without the advantages of his former wealth. They share a genuine moment of connection when Takane says “Thank you” without his usual posturing and bizarre grimaces. Hana immediately checks to see if Takane might be coming down with a cold because she’s stunned at his behavior. One thing that this descent into poverty confirms is that Hana is indifferent to Takane’s wealth and status. She’s been commenting all along that his over the top gifts and lifestyle doesn’t impress her, and her willingness to hang out with him in poverty just reinforces everything she was saying earlier. Takane might not totally internalize this shift in their relationship, but he actually starts acting less arrogant in his job, and starts making moves to pull off some complex business deals independently. Takane and Hana eventually achieve a sort of new normal in their relationship, and the roles get reversed a little bit when she gets sick and he has to take care of her. This continues to be an entertaining series, and I’m finding this shift away from over the top wealth-related shenanigans to have more emotional depth and resonance than I was originally expecting. I’m curious to see if the series continues to have more of this emphasis on the character relationships or if it goes back to more broad comedy. Shiwasu is executing this series so well, I’d be fine with either option!