#whateverthon II

[childofsquidward]

Books I Read In 2022 (and by read I mean actually liked)

Voice Over!: Seiyu Academy, Vol. 10 by Maki Minami

And... I still didn't know... what my actions... had done to him.

⭐⭐⭐⭐(4.5 STARS)

I have so many thoughts. First and foremost, Mizuki Haruyama should hope and pray his ass off that he never runs into me because I will beat him with a hammer. More on that later.

Secondly, my sweet angel baby Senri is finally getting his due diligence because yes, this is Hime’s story, but he’s also the biggest part of it, so it’s his story as well. This volume is very special because it finally starts Senri and Hime’s story because thus far, we’ve seen Senri interact with Shiro while barely being aware of Hime’s existence. It’s also very crucial towards Senri’s arc of letting himself open up to people and start to make friends again because he’s been so alone for so long, that he’s convinced himself that’s enough - that’s what he deserves for whatever he’s done in the past. Can’t believe it took Hime, who is essentially still a stranger to him, to literally say the words ‘don’t self-sabotage’ out loud for him to start letting himself feel worthy of friendship again.

As I said before, fuck Mizuki, I can’t believe he caused a friendship breakup between Shiro and Senri and now they’re both heartbroken… I hope you’re happy you miserable fuck. I think the worst part for me was Senri thinking he hurt Shiro (SENRI KUDO YOU WILL ALWAYS BE LOVED BY ME). But also, Hime having to watch Senri smile and be friendly at school after she just torpedoed her friendship with him was just as cruel. 

Then there was that whole point of her seeing that smile up close and recognizing that it’s not his real smile because Shiro has seen his real smile. I think the little details that show just how well they actually understand each other are so important to me. The parallels of Senri immediately being able to tell that he knows Hime, and Hime reading him so well as a person. All it took was one genuine conversation with Hime for Senri to start clocking that she’s Shiro. They’re soulmates. (Hime giving off genuine stalker vibes did help. Like, my sweet sweet dumb dumb, I need you to remember that you should not know anything about Senri Kudo.

Also, Senri is lowkey the most relatable character to me because him wanting to talk to Takayanagi but immediately backing out is actually so me coded. (Also, Takayanagi is very pretty, I’d be nervous too.) Plus, there was that whole scene of him suggesting that everyone come over to his house and then immediately regretting it, which was hilarious. (Him seeing his old friends in Takayanagi and Mitchy was incredibly mean though, you can’t just make every single volume sad, it’s not fair!)

My one big Hime-related thing was her first real experience with audience critique. Criticism from her superiors and co-workers is one thing, but criticism from fans is something very new to Hime because they’re going to be constructive. It’s a double-edged sword because, on the one hand, learning what exactly fans dislike about your performance will only help your own performance in the long run. But then on the other hand, as Hime’s finding out, fans all have their own interpretations of the show and its characters and their dynamics with each other - it’s impossible to please every fan and trying to do so will literally drive you insane.

Details that I just have to mention because I’m psychotic when it comes to this series.

I completely forgot that Senri bleaches his hair at some point.

TWO STORAGE ROOM SCENES IN ONE MANGA?! (seriously, give me my anime)

Senri being moved by Hime’s performance was drawn beautifully, oh my god, it’s happening!!!

The height difference is killing me. Hime covering Senri’s mouth before he self-sabotages is another scene that lives rent-free in my head, obviously because it’s such a significant scene, but mostly because it highlights how ridiculous Hime and Senri’s height difference is, and her arms look comically long because she has to reach up to cover Senri’s mouth.

Senri’s housekeeper is still having a meltdown over the omelettes, and I love it.

Shout-out to that brief scene in class where Tsukino is holding onto Hime’s arm.

Tsukino approving of Senri for Hime solely because he’s a cat dad - she’s such a good friend.

Another installment of me being sick and tired of Mizuki’s shit. (I literally took 0.5 stars off for Mizuki’s existence, otherwise, this could’ve easily been a 5-star.)

If Mizuki hurts Hime and Senri, I’m killing his ass.

Okay, I know that tough love can be toxic, but Hime responds really well to it when it comes from Senri. I’ve said this before: Mizuki doesn’t know what Hime truly needs as a performer; he was the first person to see her as Yukiru, and he did not give her the response that she needed (also, he was definitely too preoccupied by the Senri of it all).

Oh, Mizuki was watching them record and now I’m supposed to care about him? Ugh.

You know what Mizuki, I hope Fujimori and Hime are best friends forever and you’re nothing but a distant memory to her, you fucking asshole.

Yamada, I swear to god I’m gonna kill you too if you hurt Hime, I don’t play when it comes to my girl.

[childofsquidward]

Books I Read In 2022 (and by read I mean actually liked)

Voice Over!: Seiyu Academy, Vol. 9 by Maki Minami

All I have is acting.

⭐⭐⭐⭐(4.25 STARS)

I have so much to say about this volume! First off, fuck Sakura Aoyama, I will never let her see the pearly gates because what do you mean you’re leaving after your 12 year-old son got hit by car?! You’ve already given him a lifetime of trauma, you could at least stick around long enough for him to get home from the hospital? It really is just a competition between her and Hime’s mom for most evil mother.

Speaking of Senri, someone please get him in therapy. I mean, everyone in this series needs therapy, but especially him. He truly does not understand people and how to read them, and probably can’t tell when someone is being genuine because his mom fucked him up that bad. 

“But… does that mean… I’ve been hurting people.” - OH SWEETIE, NOT ON PURPOSE!!! That slow realization on his face as things start to click - Senri’s story is so heartbreaking and I do understand why it took us so long to dive into his character. We got little snippets of him throughout and then slowly built up to his backstory.

I like to imagine that somewhere down the line, Senri and Kazuma are able to be friends again. Kazuma was a really good friend to Senri because he tried to get through to him in the only he knew, but at the end of the day, he’s also a kid and it’s not his job to dig deep and understand Senri’s trauma at the expense of his own feelings. Also, him telling Senri not to perform is such an important detail because all Senri does is perform, so in telling him not to, Kazuma thought he’d finally see who the real Senri Kudo is, and he probably did, but that’s not something he or Senri had the emotional capacity to understand at that age. 

I also think the distinction between how Hime and Kazuma approach Senri as friends is very important. One is not necessarily a better friend than the other, at least in my opinion, because Kazuma met Senri way back in junior high so he wouldn’t have been older than 12 or 13. Hime’s been shown throughout the series to be a lot more emotionally aware than you’d think, and given her age, she’s had time to experience friendship in a way that these boys hadn’t. She also has friends like Ume and Tsukino, who are similar to Senri in that they would rather push people away than let them in and address their issues, so she can probably recognize Senri’s self-sabotage from a mile away. (Aka, the beginning of Hime starting to connect the dots and realize that Senri is a friendless loser, and that too by choice.)

Once again, I just have to talk about how much I admire Hime’s dedication to her craft. I’m obsessed with the way she researches for a role and her being so open to criticism is such an excellent quality (but it’s also kind of heartbreaking if think too long about how that’s definitely related to how her mother would speak to her and she’s tried to turn that toxicity into a positive thing for herself). Plus, there’s added bonus of Senri starting to admire Shiro as a person once he sees how he is at work.

“It was sort of like… finding out your cat actually belongs to someone else.” - I can’t with him. But at least he��s learning to communicate, even if he doesn’t understand his feelings, I like that he’s comfortable enough to be straight-forward about them. Also, love all the SenrixHime content in general. The fact this volume was the only time that Senri and Mizuki interacted is so funny because Senri lives rent-free in Mizuki’s head the same way that Mizuki’s lives in Fujimori’s. 

“He’s her model…” - Mizuki losing spectacularly to Senri in a competition that Senri’s not even aware of is objectively hilarious. However, I can’t take him seriously when he does nice things for Hime sometimes because like, he took her to this movie after getting jealous over Senri, this is not him being a good friend to Hime or just being a good friend in general. Also, that entire conversation he had with her about how she shouldn’t be friends with Senri made me really uncomfortable, like, leave her alone. (Bringing up her dream the way he did felt like a threat.)

I miss Fujimori, I wish we could take all of Mizuki’s screen time and give it to him.

Details that are relevant to me:

Okay, so it’s very sweet to see Senri apologize, but how did he find Imaizumi?

Cruel Octalia actually sounds like a really cool anime!

Lols, not Hime literally playing a Senri Kudo variant, that is actually hilarious. (Hime please realize that you’re the orphan girl.)

“Maybe it’s because… I never told him Shiro is a voice actor!!” - Gee, you think Hime?! They’re so chaotic, I love them. Senri crashing out, thus heightening Hime’s crash-out… I deserved an anime.

Mizuki immediately resorting to violence every time Shuuma says anything slightly mean about Hime is still my favourite gag.

Senri’s housekeeper having a meltdown and calling his dad because the fridge is full of eggs was so fucking funny.

The art for when Hime’s hair comes down after Mizuki takes off her wig is actually so beautiful. I think this has been a topic of discussion for tons of media that use cross-dressing as a trope where what that actually could mean for someone’s gender identity is never truly explored in the book or show itself. I don’t know, I remember points in the series where Hime kind of seemed to forget she was a girl and got spooked by her own reflection, but they felt like such one-off instances that I didn’t really think too deeply about it.

[childofsquidward]

Books I Read In 2022 (and by read I mean actually liked)

Voice Over!: Seiyu Academy, Vol. 8 by Maki Minami

I learned all my emotions as performances.

⭐⭐⭐⭐(4.5 STARS)

I love this volume so much, it’s probably the best one out of the entire series, and a Senri-centric plot is so rare that I’d give 4 stars for that alone. My one gripe with this volume is that the continuation of Tsukino’s story from the previous volume didn’t fit with having Senri’s story be the focal point of this volume, it felt very disjointed to me. (I will say though, Tsukino turning Mitchy into Hime is the best possible thing that could have ever happened to this series.)

Before I get into all the Senri stuff, I just wanted to mention this one moment surrounding Hime. “You asked me what food I like and if it tastes good and watched me eat it. I realized no one’s ever done that for me.” - Her literally sobbing because Senri went out of his way to make something for her, which not even her own mother could be bothered to do… absolutely unnecessary. Maki Minami was really just like, ‘yeah, so I know everyone’s gonna die over Senri’s childhood trauma, but let’s have some more of Hime’s trauma as a treat’. RUDE.

It only EIGHT fucking volumes, but we’re finally diving into Senri’s trauma backstory.

When I was little, my first thought in the morning was “who is my mother today?”. - Senri having the most tragic, depressing as fuck childhood should’ve been something I expected honestly. He has no real relationship with his mother because he doesn’t know who this woman really is. She’s been playing new characters every day since Senri was three years old. He probably doesn’t even know if she loved him. 

She would tie all my emotions to acting. - Him not being able to recognize or regulate emotions because of his mother’s role-playing and therefore also not be able to make friends because he doesn’t know what friendship is or how to form relationships with people… I think I finally understand Senri as a character, this actually explains so much about him. 

Anyway, so if Sakura Aoyama has zero haters, I am dead. 

“This guy who suddenly showed up is my father.” - Senri’s so funny. I actually wanted to just quickly address Senri’s relationship with his dad because I think that they have an interesting dynamic. I can tell that they care about each other, but they’re not close, yet neither of them seem to hold any resentment over that. I also appreciated that little detail about him getting Senri his first cat, which made me so emotional because what do you mean Gonzales has been with Senri since he was five?!

Last thing I promise, because I can’t not address this point. First Tohru’s parents in Fruits Basket and now this?! There was no need to give Senri’s parents this uncomfy ass age gap. And what’s worse is that it kind of draws parallels to how Yamada stood up for Hime and vowed to help her be successful because I adore the almost parental care that Yamada has for Hime, so Senri’s parents having a similar story gives me such an ick. (I think I completely blocked this from memory.) 

[childofsquidward]

Books I Read In 2022 (and by read I mean actually liked)

Voice Over!: Seiyu Academy, Vol. 7 (Seiyuu ka! #7) by Maki Minami

I'm glad that I was able to make the kids happy!

⭐⭐⭐⭐(3.75 STARS)

Spoilers Below!

This volume was definitely pure filler, but I love that we finally got a Tsukino-centric story. Her having a traumatic backstory is something I should’ve remembered/seen coming because literally everyone in this series has childhood trauma. Kids are so mean in middle school (I know it was 5th grade, but pre-teens are pre-teens), it takes years to try and get over all the things you hear, poor Tsukino. CURSE THEM.

“I don’t care much for her.” - No please Tsukino, give Ume a chance, she loves you! I’m glad we got to see this friendship develop as well because I love found family friend groups like the Stragglers, but I think there’s also a lot of potential for individual friendships within a group like this, so it was just interesting to see. I feel like Maki Minami gives more depth to their supporting characters than (for example) Io Sakisaka with Strobe Edge. That series was about Ninako and her love life and occasionally a few of her friends got to shine. Here, I feel like we learn a lot about Hime’s friends (well not Mitchy but I don’t care about him). 10/10 on the art for Ume’s freakout, by the way - she was terrifying.

Also, Tsukino might be Hime’s ride-or-die, but Hime is her #1 fan/cheerleader/supporter - whatever you wanna call it. Their friendship is so precious to me, it’s genuinely one of my favourite manga friendships and I need everyone to know that.

Hime and those in the professional space around her don’t realize this yet, but seeing Tsukino’s face when Hime mentions what it means to be a pro wasn’t just a profound moment for Tsukino, but also an example of Hime’s growing professionalism and maturity and growth. 

Again, memory nonexistent because I completely forgot that Hime had to wear Shiro’s costume and essentially be a children’s entertainer at the amusement park. Her using what she learned from the previous volume in such a comical way is a very Hime thing to do. She genuinely doesn’t see it as demeaning as was implied, she was just so happy making the kids happy because she wanted to give them that same feeling that she had as a kid. The intention behind her dream has always been so pure, that you can’t help but wish for her to succeed.   

I know this was pure filler, but this volume kind of sold Hime and Senri as a couple for me. I know I said I wanted more Senri, but not like this. But actually exactly like this because of course Hime’s luck is gonna have him sleeping in the storage room that she went to take a nap in. Their height difference is also ridiculous, I’m never gonna shut up about it. And that scene was even funnier with how Senri just looks at her for half a second and then goes back to sleep. But y’all, who puts a fever scene and a ‘oh no we’re locked in at school together’ moment in a fucking filler volume?! Like, Senri grabbed onto one of her hair ties and one of her braids came loose and why the fuck did that feel romantic??? (Hime please let your hair down more) Also, Hime having a meltdown over the binaural recording she did with Senri will never stop being funny to me! I don’t care how traumatized she is, that shit was hilarious and her trying to desensitize herself to his voice by listening to the CD over and over again was absolutely perfect. 

Details that I hyperfocused because why not:

I can’t believe that this is the last we really saw of Fujimori, what a waste, I wanted more of him! (come back to me)

I need to see Tsukino in that high ponytail again because it is just so cute!

Tsukino’s bedroom makes me think of Hana-chan’s from Fruits Basket, but with pastels.

Hime and Sho basically forcing Mitchy to do Tsukino’s script - Hime through her enthusiasm and Sho via insults (affectionate)

Mizuki was tolerable, the support for Hime felt like genuine friendship and I do like his take-charge attitude. I genuinely didn’t mind the more romantic undertones of Mizuki and Hime’s scene with the candy apple, I just think it’s really funny that she left a candy apple for Senri as well and Mizuki is sitting here thinking he’s so fucking special. 

“Mouth to mouth hydration” - Hime be so fucking for real, why is she like this??

OKAY HIME MISS BADASS!!! I mean it was probably a second-story window at best, but my girl still jumped out of a window and landed on her feet with a grace she doesn’t even have while walking. I also really liked the shading choice for that scene to kind of ‘show’ that action of Hime jumping from a window!

Wtf is a mid-vacation school day???

LMFAO at Yamada sitting by her bed all menacing with a sign telling her to rest as if he’s not worried about her, that asshole. You’re not fooling anyone!

Ume please, blushing immediately at Sho’s name and then trying to deny having a crush on him, when no one even accused you of having a crush on him, is truly unhinged behaviour and I love you for it.

Ew, Mitchy’s Room is back too, but at least we get to see Tsukino inflicting pain. 

[childofsquidward]

Books I Read In 2022 (and by read I mean actually liked)

Voice Over!: Seiyu Academy, Vol. 6 by Maki Minami

The waltz is one of our few enjoyments. When the waltz ends.. so does the enjoyment... and endings are sad.

⭐⭐⭐(3.25 STARS)

I don't think anything super important happened in this volume, personally. It was a lot of fun to read, but I was kinda just like "that's it?" It did make me more excited to move on to the next volume immediately though, whereas after I had finished reading Volume 3, I definitely needed a break.

Random thoughts I had (listed in no particular order):

I'm gonna start off by being an absolute jerk because literally why would Yamada not come up with an excuse for Hime to miss classes and for teachers to be more lenient - NDAs exist for a reason! This annoyed me then and it still annoys me now.

That being said, I will never shut up about the Stragglers being the best friend group ever. The way they rallied around Hime was everything to me. Also, Hime and Sho's friendship is annoyingly underrated, they're absolutely best-friends that share a brain cell. Gorilla Princess and Boss forever!

I vaguely recall Hime and Senri having to work together for finals, but I forgot that they did the damn waltz, my bad honestly. The fabric swishing around as they dance looks like it was probably such a pain to get right. It's absolutely gorgeous though. Also, Hime's hair in a ponytail >>>> her hair in braids.

I appreciated that there was some new information about voice acting introduced in this volume. I personally love learning about the different aspects of this industry, I thought the explanation of binaural microphones flowed quite seamlessly with the rest of the story and it was really cool to learn about.

Also, super glad that Mitchy's Room has officially been replaced by Catherine's Diary. This was actually my favourite Catherine's Diary and can I just say? These poor cats. The things they've seen, honestly. Imagine that you're a cat and your owner randomly tears down his curtains one day. I'd be terrified, these cats are the true MVPs of the series.

[childofsquidward]

Books I Read In 2022 (and by read I mean actually liked)

Voice Over!: Seiyu Academy, Vol. 5 by Maki Minami

Fujimori and I are working hard to stand in the light.

⭐⭐⭐⭐(4.25 STARS) 

I absolutely adore this volume, I definitely tend to prefer the volumes that focus on The Stragglers because they have a really cute dynamic and I do wish that they were featured more in the series. Tsukino being too distracted to hate on Mitchy causing Ume to step up to the plate is one of my favourite parts of the book.

I am ride-or-die for Hime and Tsukino's friendship, honestly, they should've been endgame (her only wish was to see Hime smile, Mizuki and Senri could NEVER). Obviously, we all knew that Tsukino was lying to make Hime happy, but the fact that the rest of them also chimed in like "yeah, sure, we like you or whatever" as if they don't love her to bits was so wholesome, I am so upset that we didn't get more group scenes, I will never get over this.

(Also, that sketch of the five of them after they found out all their hard work was for nothing will forever be ingrained into my brain.)

Okay, now that I've rambled about The Stragglers, let's talk about the A plot of this volume. I talked about this in my review for Volume 2 as well with how Ume could've easily been the mean girl, but instead, she became a part of the friend group. And then the series continues with this sort of theme by expanding on Fujimori Toru's character and this is done once again by having Hime feel some sort of connection to him. I think that it was a really great idea to have Hime relate to both Ume and Toru in different ways because it shows that she doesn't come from a place of main character syndrome but from a place of understanding, and with Toru specifically, she instinctively wants to protect him because she's the type of person that would never want anyone to have to go through the same awful experiences that she did.

I thought that Hime's dynamic with Toru was incredibly well-developed! As of right now, I can't recall whether or not Toru ever begins to like her romantically, but I genuinely like them together and would not be opposed to it. The parallel of Hime seeing the way that Toru can't even look at Mizuki immediately reminding her of growing up with Akane was heartbreaking. But what's so great about them to me is that Toru began to trust and genuinely like Hime (or rather, Shiro) not because of their shared insecurities, but because of Hime's work ethic. That one sliver of Toru's face (can't even call it a panel) says so much! It's almost as if you can see a switch go off wherein Toru immediately stops lumping Mizuki and Hime together. I think that whereas Hime sees a lot of her insecurities in Toru, he sees the joy and drive that comes from his craft in Hime - something he has never seen in Mizuki which is why he hates him so much. Damn, I really wish we got more of Toru!

The last thing I wanted to add is that I loved the bonus short of Ume and Sho, it was really cute! And, honestly, this series has some of the coolest bonus content. I don't know if the "IkeMen" magazine cover was a reference to Otomen or LoveCom or both but in my maze of a mind, it absolutely was. (I would also like a Basketball Prince spin-off, please and thank you!)

I lied, that wasn't the last thing. It will never not be funny to me that Senri, aka the hero of this series, was only in bonus content. This man did not appear in a single chapter, poor thing. But also, "Love did not blossom. The end," will always be iconic, nothing will ever touch this.

[childofsquidward]

Books I Read In 2022 (and by read I mean actually liked)

Voice Over!: Seiyu Academy, Vol. 3 by Maki Minami

But... who would understand? No one can perfectly read another person’s feelings.

⭐⭐⭐

This volume was a little boring compared to the previous one, not gonna lie, but it was enjoyable regardless.

My thoughts, in no particular order and therefore entirely incoherent, and other stuff I guess:

Okay, on the one hand, of course Mizuki has a key to Hime's place... but also, why does Mizuki have a key to Hime's place?

I love this trope of amateurs vs professionals because the amateur is always annoyed by how impressed they are/how much they can learn from the professional, and it happens in a lot of the manga series that I read (this one, Skip Beat, Library Wars - there's probably others too).

Senri the cat dad is the best part of this manga and I genuinely believe that.

I love the variation of speech bubbles that are given to Hime's terrible voices, it's a really lovely touch.

Yamada really takes tough love to a whole new level, but then he also became weirdly protective of Hime really quickly, so I don't know how I feel.

I really appreciated the whole "No can perfectly read another person's feelings" bit because I forgot that they didn't immediately go with the whole trope of Mizuki immediately being able to read her emotions because it's like, I don't care how well you know how to read another person, you've known her for like two weeks, calm down. Like, Mizuki was shocked when Hime said that she was frustrated with herself rather than what Yamada was making her do, I think it was a nice change for me personally.

Why does everyone in this series have some sort of trauma? It hurts, okay. Mizuki and Ume's stories are actually kind of similar when you think about it though, especially taking into account the reactions they had to Hime's words/actions respectively. I'm just saying that although I'm already onboard the UmexSho train, Ume and Mizuki could've had a really interesting dynamic (I actually don't even remember if they do).

Sidenote, Mizuki and Tsukino would absolutely be best-friends just based on the fact that they're both ride-or-die for Hime. Like, if you come at Hime, it's on sight. Let them be best-friends, they'd terrorize everyone.

Aw man, it really has been a long time because I do not recall Mizuki and Shuma being childhood friends, that's so cute!

Mizuki and Hime fighting is the most I've liked their dynamic, it feels like he finally stopped putting up the same "prince" act that he does in front of other people, just be the jerk that you know you are deep down Mizuki. (not them already interlocking hands though)

I completely forgot about Hime using Mizuki's glasses as a crutch. It's kind of like when I felt like I truly needed to drop $35 dollars on a Productivity Planner to get things done.

This was my favourite Mitchy's Room because my thoughts exactly! Imagine being the main love interest and only appearing for one chapter.

I don't think they did this last time, but I really enjoyed that they included a bonus page with interviews of voice acting students, it was definitely an interesting read. I can't remember if there are more like this, but I hope that there are.

Panels describing Hime's awful voices (there could be more, I have a terrible attention span, sorry): Hime Act No. 16 - Death Clown

[childofsquidward]

Books I Read In 2022 (and by read I mean actually liked)

Voice Over!: Seiyu Academy, Vol. 2 by Maki Minami

“Today... is a special day. It’s the day I made a special promise.”

⭐⭐⭐⭐(3.75 STARS)

Spoilers Below!

Volume 1 fell flat on its face so that Volume 2 could step on it and soar. I forgot that there was this whole thing in this series where characters that you think are just supposed to be in the background or end up being villains actually have a lot more depth to them and get to be fully fleshed-out characters and I love that.  

Ume as part of the friend group is the best possible thing that they could've done and she should've replaced Mitchy because much like Tsukino, I don't care for him. Mitchy aside, Ume's story and that entire section of the book was so wholesome, I don't think I've ever just smiled so much while reading any manga. Them rallying around her because she might just be working herself sick, the fact that Ume created an entire story expressing her feelings for her new friends and Hime changed the last line from "because you're our dear Beth" to "because you're our dear princess" as a way to get their feelings across to Ume - it's all so cheesy but I needed some fuzzy friend group feels.

Let's talk about the second half of the manga, aka Hime's story with her mom. I knew it was coming and I knew that Hime's mom was a monster, but it still got to me. Hime deserves the world and then some. Take Akane with you too, I don't trust that woman around her either. Haruka's face tells you everything you need to know. This man doesn't have any particular attachment to Hime, or anyone for that matter, not a caring bone in his body... and yet he pulls Hime out of that situation in the blink of an eye and I swear that the look he gave her mom will haunt me forever.

Pros:

Hime and Tsukino's friendship is the best part of this series, fight me.

Ume's bun with the little headband is the cutest thing ever!

Every time someone takes a shot at Mitchy aka let Tsukino put more curses on him.

The panels describing all of Hime's awful voices are so funny! I don't know if this was the only one mentioned in this volume, but this was so funny: Hime Act No. 25 - Bearded Old Man

The "A crush really does... fall out of the blue" bit was unexpected, but welcome. What do you mean Sho and Ume aren't your favourite ship?

Tsukino as Rotten Friend A and Hime as Rotten Friend B (only "Hyuk hyuk" is truly what got me, this part had no right to be as funny as it was).

Senri showing up right when Hime says "My very own... prince?" Brilliant. Incredible. Amazing. Showstopping. Spectacular.

"Takaya-nitwit" Mitchy's alright sometimes, I laughed a lot more than I should have at this.

The fact that Hime stays calling Mizuki "the aqua guy with glasses" and Shuma "the aqua guy without glasses" is one of my favourite things about her.

"Sorry for the nakedness and rejection!" // "That sadistic jerk of intermediate age!" Hime absolutely kills me. (also, shout out to Tsukino cuz all she heard was 'sadistic jerk' and she was like, "hm, what's that? shall I curse him?")

Hime's last outfit before she becomes a Shiro. It's a really cute outfit and I love that her hair ties had stars on them. I also did love her Shiro outfit!

Cons:

Mitchy's existence as a whole.

I don't think I actually like Mizuki either if I'm being completely honest.

This is definitely going to be a volume that I go back and re-read multiple times!