Manga Review: Sweet Rein, Volume 2, by Sakura Tsukuba

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5-4

Publisher: Shojo Beat (VIZ Media)

Release Date: April 2014

Volumes: 3

Spoilers?: Not really.

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

Volume: 1. 3.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Sad at the thought of spending Christmas alone, Kurumi Sagara goes out for a walk. While she's crossing the street, a boy bumps into her, and a rein suddenly appears that binds them together. The overjoyed boy tells her she's his master and that she's a Santa Claus. Kurumi dismisses him as a crazy person, but then he transforms into a reindeer?!

Kurumi and Kaito have remained together for a year, but a Dark Santa appears, intent on breaking the two apart. Kurumi and Kaito's rein is severed, and the Dark Santa takes control of Kaito. Can Kurumi manage to get Kaito back, even when she’s still unsure if he's truly happy as her servant?

Review:

This is really just a cute, light-hearted shojo series, full of Christmas, with lots of good-hearted moments.

Kaito is adorable, and his devotion to Kurumi is so sweet. Kurumi is a nice heroine, and I do enjoy reading about her.

Another reindeer-santa pair makes some trouble for Kaito and Kurumi, there are a few episodic Christmas chapters, and at one point Kurumi gets sick and Kaito worries and is generally adorable as he helps her. It also seems like three years have passed since the series started, but instead no time has actually changed in the timeline, but the authors commenting on this makes it more laughable than anything else.

The other main plot in this volume was that a family member of Kaito found his santa. Rihito does not want to be a reindeer, and his santa doesn’t really want anything to do with it either, but they slowly get used to it. And, weirdly enough for me, I felt quite a bit of yaoi vibes between them. I’m not usually one to really see the yaoi thing between characters when there isn’t actually anything, but I saw it here. I’m not sure if anything will come of it, though probably not, but still. I saw it. But even without it, I liked their storyline.

Then there was an extra story at the end, an earlier story of Tsukaba’s I think, and it was cute.

I’m rather enjoying this series, and how cute it is. The next volume is the last, and I look forward to seeing how it all wraps up.