Manga Review: Missions of Love, Volume 2, by Ema Toyama

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5

Publisher: Kodansha Comics

Release Date: January, 2013

Volumes: 14+

Spoilers?: Not really.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells. RightStuf.

Volume: 1. 3.

Goodreads Synopsis:

In class, she's a sort of zoned-out girl, and he's the year one class' most perfect, good-looking guy. But the two of them have a secret, and their extraordinary "love experience" will start now!

Himuro Yukina, known as the "Absolute Zero Snow-woman" is a cold and observant girl. In addition, she is actually a popular cell phone novelist who goes by the name of Yupina. Sadly, with no other human contact than her cousin, Yukina is unable to express more romance in her novels. Kitami Shigure, your so-called "typical bishounen", who is really a womanizer, has fallen into Yukina's trap when she blackmails him, and they end up "love-acting" for the sake of their secrets.

Review:

I’ve taken a bit of break from this series, and I’m still very behind, but I think I’m going to try to start picking it up again. Toyama’s other series, I Am Here! has also been pushed up on my list, though, because it looks extremely adorable.

The romance is being a bit slow right now, though, or at least it’s not dragging me in.

Yukina is actually being pretty up front about what she wants, which surprises me. She’s still a bit manipulative and insecure, but I don’t mind that. But then there’s Shigure.

Shigure is purely conflicted about his feelings. He’s starting to enjoy Yukina’s company, but he doesn’t want to, so he’s being stupid. That’s pretty much it—he’s being dumb, and that’s how the volume ended.

Yukina’s cousin Akira, on the other hand, is taking his chance. I like Akira, at least so far. He seems sweet, and like he really likes Yukina, but I already think that she’s going to choose Shigure, so I’m feeling a little bad for him, like he’s fighting a losing battle.

I’m also enjoying Yukina’s searching for ideas. She went over the plotline to her series in this volume, and I enjoyed that, as well as seeing her struggle for ideas and get excited when one occurs to her. I still enjoy seeing her use the people around her, namely Shigure, to come up with ideas and scenes.

Oh, we also saw another glimpse of her parents. I kind of think they’re adorable. Her father is cute, and I like seeing him overprotective and sad that she’s growing up, and her mom is just adorable and sweet.

I hope to pick up the next book soon, because I do want to get caught up in this series.