Manga Review: Shortcake Cake, Volume 3, by suu Morishita

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Publisher: Shojo Beat (VIZ Media)

Release Date: February 2019

Volumes: 11+

Spoilers?: No.

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

Volume: 1. 2. 4.

Goodreads Synopsis:

An unflappable girl and a cast of lovable male roommates at a boardinghouse create bonds of friendship and romance.

When Ten moves out of her parents’ home in the mountains to live in a boardinghouse, she finds herself becoming fast friends with her male roommates. But can love and romance be far behind?

Chiaki and Ten pretend they’re dating to dissuade Rei, Riku’s younger brother, from continuing to bother her. But Chiaki believes that Riku still has feelings for Ten and tries to bring them together.

Review:

I feel like I should be enjoying this series a lot more than I am. It definitely feels like my type of shojo, cute and a little understated, with a lot of thoughtful panels, and switching points of view. But for some reason, it's just not quite hitting me. I'm not sure if its the emotions, the characters, or even the plot. I don't get it.

Most of this volume focused on the forming love triangle. Now that things have calmed down for the moment, the boys get to deal with their conflicting bromance, and Ten gets to reflect on her feelings for both of them. She hasn't really considered Chiaki, but she's starting to feel more for Riku.

The friendship between Chiaki and Riku is probably my favorite thing so far. They're friends who think a lot of each other. Chiaki is probably my most relate-able character, but I'm rooting for Riku for the romance. And I don't mind Ten, but I don't really think too much of her at this point.

I don't know, I just really want to feel more for this series than I do at this point.