Manga Review: Strobe Edge, Volume 5, by Io Sakisaka

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Publisher: VIZ Media (Shojo Beat)

Publish Year: July, 2013

Spoilers?: Yes, with warning.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Powells. RightStuf!

Goodreads Synopsis:

A heartwarming story about first love that’s one of the most hotly anticipated new shojo series among U.S. fans.What is love, anyway? Ninako Kinoshita’s friends tell her it’s one thing, but Ninako wonders what this mysterious feeling really is. When she meets Ren Ichinose, the handsome, enigmatic guy that all the girls worship, her life takes an unexpected turn. With just a few words and a smile, he changes her world...

Reads R to L (Japanese Style) for teen audiences.

Something Specific:

Quotes:

• "'Liking someone…is so easy. So how come it’s so difficult…when it comes to love?’”
• "‘But if you try and succeed, it means the bond between them…wasn’t that strong.’ […] ‘It made me think that…it might’ve been partly my fault.’ […] ‘You have to hold hands and move forward together. A one-sided relationship won’t grow.’” Sayuri’s thoughts on cheating/a third part moving in on a relationship, and how it really only works if the relationship isn’t that strong. I fully agree.

Review:

This series, for some reason, I’m not very excited for anymore. I’m still sticking with it, and enjoying it, but I’m not fangirling so much.

Well, maybe that’s not true. I love Ando. I love him a lot. That hasn’t changed.

I don’t want to go into too much detail, but a good lot happened this volume.

Ando was adorable with Ninako. He’s just adorable, all the time, but still. He confessed to her, and is really trying to get him to like her, but her feelings are set on Ren. I feel bad for Ando here. I don’t know what’s going to happen with him. Hopefully something good, and soon.

Ninako is trying to deal with her feelings for Ren. Distancing herself, and acting normal, because she just doesn’t know what to do. I feel bad for her here, but I also… I just don’t like Ren.

Ren is trying very hard to focus solely on Mayuka, which is really good of him, but also not. I mean, he shouldn’t be with her if he doesn’t actually want to be, and he doesn’t. But, (SPOILERS), turns out he doesn’t have to worry about that, because Mayuka finally takes it into her own hands and breaks up with him. (Whoa! I know! WHAT!) At the end of this, there’s a really interesting, well-done, touching scene where Ren kind of talks to his past self. It was surprisingly really good. That scene kind of makes the rating bump up to a four, really.

It's also good to see Mayuka growing, accepting where things are going in her life, moving forward. I don't know if we'll get to see more of her, though.

I don’t really know what’s going to happen now, but I’m looking forward to finding out.

There’s also a couple nice moments with Sayuri and Daiki, who I just love. I really hope to get more of them.

At the end, we get a special chapter of some Ando history. It shows how Ando and Ren became friends, what happened with the girl who used Ando and broke his heart, and why he decided to start fooling around with a bunch of girls. It was nice, and heartbreaking, and I love Ando. I just love Ando, you guys. I just do.

So. Next volume, here I come.