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Saturday, May 24, 2014

Manga Review: Strobe Edge, Volume 10, by Io Sakisaka



Rating (Out of 5): ~4.5
Publisher: Shojo Beat (VIZ Media)
Release Date: May 6, 2014
Volumes: 10
Spoilers?: Not really.
Volume: 1. 9.
Re-readable?: Yes.

Goodreads Synopsis:

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...Ninako loves Ren, but seeing Ando get hurt while protecting her makes her feel sad and confused - to the point where she turns Ren down when he confesses his love for her! Has Ninako lost her chance with Ren? Or will they find a way to be together?

What Will I Miss?:

  • I will absolutely miss the way Sakisaka tells a story; the perfect mix of humor and serious and thoughtful--I love it. It's one of my very favorite thing about this series, how funny it is that it has me grinning, but also how thoughtful it can be, how certain scenes can really stick with you (like Ren's breakup scene), and how perfect the romance builds and how the characters exchange glances and touches. I just love it.
  • I will miss the art. It's kind of charming, particularly how Ninako is drawn, but also just really pretty.
  • The characters. I grew really close to all of them, and they all made me feel a lot of things. I will miss them a lot.

Review:

This was a fantastic ending to a fantastic series. I absolutely love it.
At first, the confession doesn’t quite go where I wanted it to, didn’t stay quite as intense as I wanted it to. But then Ninako has a realization, and she goes after Ren. And then there’s a big, crying, messy confession, and it’s just kind of perfect. It’s very Ninako. And Ren gets it, and he loves her. And I love them. And just… Yes.
I’m not going to spoil too much, but it was just great. I love it. (This is going to be like a mantra in this review, I can already tell.)
Then we got to see the two on an actual date, and see how actually perfect they really are together. I honestly just love how similar they are. They feel and think alike, even if they show it in different ways. And when they finally talk about it, after they’ve misunderstood, I like how easily, how quickly, their entire thought-process changes. The realization they have of “oh, that’s what they were thinking”, and their entire thought on what happened changes.
There was also a short story featuring Manabu, who I have previously stated was a favorite of mine. He’s just such an adorable, fun, sweetheart. And this story really proves that. I loved getting inside his head. For some reason, I didn’t think this was going to be a Happily Ever After for him, but I was still a little upset at the ending. There are obviously good things in store for him, but I think I just wanted to see it happen. I wanted to see him truly happy. 
This was a perfect ending to the series, and I completely love it. This series is definitely a favorite of mine, I would give it five stars overall, and it’s one that I could happily reread. I really hope that VIZ picks up another series by Sakisaka in the future, because I really want to read more of her stuff.

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