Manga Review: Arisa, Volume 3, by Natsumi Ando

3.5 of 5 Stars

Publisher: Kodansha Comics

Goodreads Synopsis:

Tsubasa thinks that her pretty and popular twin sister, Arisa, has the perfect life. Everyone at school loves Arisa—unlike the hot-tempered Tsubasa, whose nickname is “the Demon Princess.” But when Arisa attempts suicide, Tsubasa learns that her seemingly perfect sister has been keeping some dark secrets. Now Tsubasa is going undercover at school—disguised as Arisa—in search of the truth. But will Arisa’s secrets shatter Tsubasa’s life, too?

Tsubasa hunt for The King thickens when Arisa's class goes to a planetarium to watch an eclipse and The King makes a decree that turns the chosen against each other. Later, suspicion mounts on Midori, who asks Tsubasa on a date! Can Tsubasa save the day from The King, and protect the stars in her sister's sky from ill fates?

Includes special extras after the story!

Review:

I'm really quite liking this series so far. I've read Ando's other series, Kitchen Princess, and really liked it, so I was excited to see that another of her series was going to be released.

Arisa is much different from Kitchen Princess, though. Kitchen Princess was more about the characters and romance and food. Whereas Arisa has more mystery, it's much darker.

Arisa is Tsubasa's twin sister, and they were separated by their parents when they were younger and have been talking by sending letters to each other. And then Arisa visits Tsubasa, before throwing herself out a window and going into a coma. Tsubasa, wanting to know what brought her sister to this, since she hadn't told her anything about it, decided to pretend to be her sister by going to her school. Where Arisa was class president and had a boyfriend and a best friend and a ton of secrets. Her class also had this thing where 'The King' would grant a wish from a student at this specific time when everyone sends one in. 'The King' keeps picking very dark, dangerous wishes, and everyone keeps sending in dark and dangerous secrets. And the class is obsessed with it. Tsubasa wants to know what is up with it and what it had to do with her sister.

Tsubasa has teamed up with Manabe, boy from Arisa'a class, as well as Takeru, a boy from her old school. They're trying to find out who the King really is.

There's a bit of the book focused on Mariko, Arisa's supposed best friend, who seems to have something seriously wrong with her. She seems to be working with the King, until the King turns on her and Tsubasa helps her. The King is also changing the rules, so that he will choose five people's numbers and they will be the only ones able to send in a wish for him to grant. Manabe gets chosen, as does Mariko's.

And then they think it's Midori, Arisa's boyfriend, because he's acting really weird. But he goes on a date with Tsubasa/Arisa, and he seems fine. Then they get a transfer student, name Kudo, who's acting really weird. There's a scene on the roof with Tsubasa, and then another near the end of the book. He's talking to a boy, telling him to steal Midori's phone from Tsubasa, if he wants his wish to come true. He's hidden behind a curtain the whole time, and we don't see him until the end of the chapter, with a crazy smile on his face.

I'm really quite liking this series, and I want to know what happens next. The mystery to the book is really good and interesting, but I'm wondering how long the series will last. Because mysteries aren't usually things that can be dragged on too long, or at least they shouldn't be.

Still, I'm excited to read the next one. And I'm hoping the Arisa wakes up or something happens with her soon.