Rating (Out of 5): ~4-4.5
Publisher: VIZ Media (Shojo Beat)
Volumes: 13
Goodreads Synopsis:
Reads R to L (Japanese
Style), for audiences rated teen.
Meet Maria Kawai—she’s gorgeous and
whip-smart, a girl who seems to have it all. But when she unleashes her
sharp tongue, it’s no wonder some consider her to be the very devil!
Maria’s difficult ways even get her kicked out of an elite school, but
this particular fall may actually turn out to be her saving grace...
Hana Ibuki, a cheerful soul, waltzes into Maria’s life and befriends her
right away. She even convinces wary classmates to join Maria’s choral
group. There’s something suspicious about Hana’s help, however,
especially since misconceptions about Maria occur every time Hana is
involved. Is Hana really a friend or actually a foe?
Review:
So, I am officially
impressed with this series. I’m not really sure why, or what exactly happened
in this volume to pull me over the edge, but I am now kind of loving this
series. I want the next one, now, and am not looking forward to the wait,
although I know it should be a normal length-ed one.
In this volume,
Maria is still dealing with her jerky classmates, but now there’s another one.
The girl coming back at the end of the last volume shows up, and her name is
Hana, and apparently everyone likes her. She’s practically the exact opposite
of Maria. She ends up taking Maria’s necklace, the one that the teacher took,
and that’s not a very good start. Maria doesn’t make a big deal of it, but
others ask her about it, and like with most things, she plays the victim card
and cries.
She’s nice to
Maria, and doesn’t like that the class is fighting and split up, and so makes
them team up again. She makes Maria uneasy, though, and Maria doesn’t believe
all of the nice things being said to her. They have a falling out, not surprisingly, and Hana does a couple of things to set her up, all of which were cliche and none of which did as much good as she wanted, which I am glad for. Maria
wants to have some kind of relationship with her, though (which I was surprised by, but in a good way), and so, funnily enough, says
that they are ‘frenemies’. Hana doesn’t know how to take Maria’s blunt
personality or odd behavior, at all.
The volume ends
with Maria agreeing to do this big show in front of a TV crew recording her
classes song (which is Amazing Grace, a song that Maria tends to sing to herself
a lot), where her classmates, Hana in particular, will come out looking like
angels making up with Devil Maria. I don’t think it’s a good idea, but I
understand why Maria agrees to it, and I’m intrigued to find out what happens
with it in the next volume.
Also, there’s a
very small extra chapter at the end, showing Shin and Yusuke when they first
met and how they started to hang out. It’s cute, but way too short. I was
hoping for more, more of an insight, as to how they became friends, and hope
there’s more to come, but I still enjoyed it.
I like Maria. I’ve
said this before, but I like how blunt and straightforward she is. She deals
with people in her own way, and keeps things inside most times, and I like it.
It’s very refreshing. In this book, she also realizes that she has friends.
After a small debacle with Hana, she goes up to the roof, upset but still
keeping it mostly inside. Shin, Yusuke, and Tomoyo come up after her, and end
up telling her how they care about her and that they’re friends. It’s the first
time Maria has had friends, and she feels much happier and calmer and reassured
upon realizing this. It was nice to see that. Also, there was a super cute
moment between her and Shin here, in front of everyone, where he gets all
flustered and holds her to his chest. It was just really cute and funny. Oh, and she does finally get her necklace back, which was good.
I just really
enjoyed this book, and am looking forward to the next one. I’m glad that I
enjoyed it so much, too, because I was hoping that it would grow on me, as I
could tell that it would normally be something that I would enjoy. Even the
artwork grew on me more, and I’m liking it as well. And Yusuke.
I wasn’t really too
big a fan of him, which is weird, since I normally like the happy-go-lucky
characters. He’s kind of growing on me, though. Shin is still my favorite,
though, and I really enjoy the scenes between him and Maria. And there was a
chapter in this volume, like in the first volume, in his point of view, which I
enjoyed. He's so awkward and such a loner, and it's just kind of adorable. I don't know, I just like him, I guess.
I’m just
unabashedly enjoying this series now, which was an unexpectedly fast
turnaround. I’m happy about it, though.
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