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Reader’s Corner: The Oblivious Girl and the Maidenly Man, The Credits Roll into the Sea, and Daydream Darling
Romance, creativity, anxiety, ambition, and more are all on the menu in this week’s Reader’s Corner! We’re falling for the adorably earnest The Oblivious Girl and the Maidenly Man, watching a sixty-five-year-old widow discover an unexpected new passion in The Credits Roll into the Sea, and exploring the blurry line between imagination and reality in Io Sakisaka’s newest release, Daydream Darling. And that’s just the start of a lineup featuring idols, delinquents, and one very committed chuunibyou!
It doesn’t seem to matter how hard Momo tries; she just can’t seem to stop bumping into Yachiyo. While she’s trying to avoid him, he ends up confessing that he likes her! Not wanting to upset Ichikura, she decides not to say anything, but unfortunately for her, he does find out, and things might get a little awkward…or will they? I love them, I love them, I love them, I love them, I love them, I love them, I love them… Did I mention I love Momo and Ichikura as a couple?! I really, really loved how the school arc wrapped up and how Ichikura was finally able to convey his feelings! Not only that, but both of them were able to talk and go on a date shortly afterwards! Eeeepppp! And not to go into details about said date, but Momo has the widest range of expressions! I loved how she would swing from super bright and excited to super sad and bummed. I’m with Ichikura—how could he not have fun with how over the top her reactions were?! Plus, it was just so cute to see them together! The start of this new arc is such a painful one, though! While I’m thankful some of the newest characters we have met are still getting some page time, it hurts to see how deeply invested one of them is in someone who obviously is not good news for them. Like, please, listen to your friends! Overall, I absolutely loved rereading this volume and knew I would (even though I confess that I was sad at how many words were missing a space between them—it was becoming increasingly distracting by the end)! These characters, especially Momo and Ichikura, are so fun, and I’m excited to see how things unfold in the next volume! ~ Laura A. Grace
Glasses with a Chance of Delinquent is published by Seven Seas.
The Oblivious Girl and the Maidenly Man, Manga Vol. 1
Sweet Rintaro is a soft-spoken cafe owner who secretly has a crush on one of his regular female customers. He always stays respectable and keeps his feelings under wraps—that is, until she tells him that she’s deeply afraid of men and would appreciate him helping her become less afraid. He agrees to help, but the more he tries to aid her by holding hands and giving each other gifts, the harder it is to hide his feelings! This was too adorable! I would have enjoyed it more if half of the volume chapters didn’t open the same way, but I totally get that this started on Twitter (I’m pretty sure at least!) and then got picked up by a publisher; however, that was definitely no deal breaker in enjoying this! The main reason I mention it is because I’m like, those panels could have been used for more and cuter moments of Rintaro! And goodness, was he cute! I deeply enjoyed and loved his character! It speaks volumes that he would be willing to help his romantic crush in a variety of ways to overcome her fear of men, when each of these ways had him wanting to confess his feelings or made his feelings for her grow! However, not once did he say anything about those feelings, and he instead cheered her on and supported her with all he could! It was super lovely, even if I felt bad for just how oblivious Luna was! Howeverrrrr, I think the closer we got to the end of the volume, the more it showed that maybe she’s not as oblivious as she seems? For sure, at first she was! But that cliffhanger at the end leads me to believe that she’s feeling maybe more than just friendship for him? I definitely want to get the next volume to find out because this was the perfect read to decompress with at the end of the day! Highly recommend if you like seeing cute, blushy guys and want an easygoing slice-of-life read! ~ Laura A. Grace
The Oblivious Girl and the Maidenly Man is published by Seven Seas.
The Credits Roll into the Sea, Manga Vol. 1
Umiko is a sixty-five-year-old woman who questions what she should do with her time after the loss of her husband and the departure of her children, now grown and raising their own kids. Through an unexpected conversation, she finds herself in a movie theater, but it’s not the movie she’s watching; it’s the people. When the movie ends, she bumps into a college student who is studying how to make films, and Umiko’s whole world flips upside down when he states that she should start making films too! This was far more…emotional? thought-provoking?…than I expected! I really wasn’t sure how I would feel about this story due to the immense hype for it, but I think it’s warranted after reading, because I would love to see what movie Umiko is going to make! Speaking of her, she was such a fun and compelling heroine! I really loved how, for being labeled “old lady” and “grandma,” she had a lot of energy and was full of surprises! I especially enjoyed her little comebacks in her head, when people would mention she had a good memory for her age, about how she wasn’t that old. Or how she would view Kai as a hissy cat and was excited when she got him to come around and eat dinner with her! Ha! She’s very lovely, and I deeply enjoyed seeing this new passion ignite in her! With that, though, my heart hurts for her and Kai: It’s too easy to say our passions are just “hobbies” because we’re unsure how people will react to what we’ve created or because we think we won’t be successful. I felt myself getting a little choked up when Kai was sharing something that happened in the past and how Umiko unknowingly hurt him with her words. Both characters and their perspectives felt far too relatable to me. Overall, I would recommend this first volume! It’s heartfelt, fun, and inspiring, I think, for any reader, regardless of age! ~ Laura A. Grace
The Credits Roll into the Sea is published by Dark Horse.
Girl Crush, Manga Vol. 8
Tenka and her new team have been working tirelessly for the upcoming monthly evaluation, which will be a huge factor in whether these girls are able to fulfill their dreams of becoming idols. When the day arrives, Tenka and her team feel more unified than ever and eager to show off their skills, but when Sua has a wardrobe malfunction of sorts, what’s going to happen to all these girls in this evaluation? Please, please, please tell me we will see this volume animated in the upcoming anime, because it was amazing! Seriously, another I wish I could give ten out of ten stars! Everything was perfection, and I was moved to tears by Tenka and her team bonding in such a real and supportive way! The way they were transparent with one another carried over so strongly into their performance that I can easily see why it stood out all on its own compared to the other performances! And Suaaaaa! I never expected to get as invested in her story as Tenka’s! I could not help but get emotional at the end, with her part specifically! I’m still so blown away by how powerful the art is, in that you can feel the music and hear the singing! I feel like I’m watching a show pop off the page and totally get “the one guy” in wanting to dance because same! From start to finish, I could not get enough of this volume! I had goosebumps, I cried, and I cheered by doing my own dance because of how much excitement and intensity there was in this volume! I don’t think I’ll ever get over how incredible this series is! Do yourself a favor and give it a try! It is good! ~ Laura A. Grace
Iroha would love to make friends and casually talk with her classmates, but her anxious heart struggles to find the right words, and she ends up not saying anything at all. Thankfully, she unexpectedly made one friend, Sou, right before school started, and he has become her solace during school breaks. However, when a classmate points out that he’s not real, Iroha’s world quickly starts to fall apart in the worst of ways. That is until Sou walks through that very classroom door! This was everything I was hoping it would be and more! Honestly, I’m really impressed with this volume because, while I definitely would not say that Io Sakisaka’s other titles have been on the “immature” side, I do think there is a deeper theme of communication that we haven’t seen from her before. I think a large part of that is because I often feel her stories have long-running issues with characters not communicating or miscommunicating, so having a female lead who deeply struggles to talk and communicate with others, but longs to, was very refreshing in terms of her work. And speaking of our female lead, I adored Iroha so much! The way it was illustrated in her struggle really hurt and gripped my heart because, as someone who used to be very shy growing up, I too felt deeply about not being able to say the words I wanted to. On the flip side, I found it fascinating how the story presented the male lead and her interactions with him, as there were times I questioned which was the real one. I appreciated how the story went on and how the male lead refused to lose to an imaginary “him.” How that comes into play, and seeing Iroha slowly want to find out about the real him compared to the imaginary one, had me deeply hooked—he sure knows how to make your heart skip a beat! I am so excited to read the next volume and see where the story goes! The art is as lovely as ever, and I deeply loved these characters! I’m very much cheering for them both! ~ Laura A. Grace
Rascal Does Not Dream of a Beach Queen +, Light Novel
Rascal Does Not Dream of a Beach Queen + (and yes, the plus sign is part of the title) is a collection of three short stories that take place at various points in the timeline of the main series. The first two, “Rascal Does Not Dream of a Beach Queen” and “Rascal Does Dream of a White Christmas” (no, there is no “not” in this title), have been previously published; the third, “Rascal Does Not Dream of a Tropical Summer,” is a new story for this volume. Truly dedicated fans of the Rascal series may want to acquire this for their libraries, but otherwise there is no particular reason to pick it up: the stories themselves do not particularly add much to the world of Rascal. This is true even of the one (I won’t spoil which it is) that is the first Rascal story to center LGBTQ themes (at least, if memory serves). The most interesting part of the volume for me, in fact, was the author’s afterword, thanking the fans for their support over the years and reflecting on what it means for a story to come to an end. Also, this being a Rascal story, not everyone will be comfortable with some of the content (e.g., sexist humor); but if you have dipped your toes into the story, you already know what you’re getting into. ~ Dr. Steve
Rascal Does Not Dream of a Beach Queen + is published by Yen Press.
The Eminence in Shadow, Manga Vol. 15
Conspiracies deepen in volume fifteen of The Eminence in Shadow, meaning that Cid gets to ham it up even more as Shadow. In this volume, Alexia and Cid’s sister, Claire, team up to discover what the cult of Diablos is hiding on campus, while Zeta has her own agenda that might run contrary to Shadow Garden’s. Cid is in the middle, as usual, slaughtering librarians and assassins alike, though not before taking one of thelatter’s really cool cloak. What a consistent series this has been—full of tropey goodness that gets you both excited to see how the story progresses and impresses you with how well the series pokes fun at it, while the humor is always spot on. I swear, I laughed about once a page as I read this volume, which is nothing new for one of the funniest series in manga. We don’t seem anywhere near an end, which is great because I could do with at least another fifteen volumes of this hilarious series! ~ Twwk
“Reader’s Corner” is our weekly celebration of manga, light novels, and visual novels—the creative works most closely tied to anime, yet with a magic all their own. Each week, our writers share their honest take on what they’re reading: new releases as they hit shelves, so you’re always in the loop on the latest manga and light novel news, alongside older titles we revisit because they’re just as unforgettable—for better or worse.
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