Manga Review: Behind the Scenes!!, Volume 5, by Bisco Hatori

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5-4

Publisher: Shojo Beat (VIZ Media)

Release Date: February 2018

Volumes: 7.

Spoilers?: No.

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

Volume: 1. 4. 6.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Ranmaru Kurisu comes from a family of hardy, rough-and-tumble fisherfolk and he sticks out at home like a delicate, artistic sore thumb. It’s given him a raging inferiority complex and a permanently pessimistic outlook. Now that he’s in college, he’s hoping to find a sense of belonging. But after a whole life of being left out, does he even know how to fit in?!

Love is in the air at Shichikoku University, until it plummets to the ground to be trampled into the dirt by uncaring feet! Ranmaru, Ruka and Soh are all suffering from various levels of unrequited interests, and all three deal with their painful affections in different ways. Will any of their strategies succeed, or will they just get further tangled in the tortuous net of love?

Review:

So the theatre group does a lot this volume. They help make fans for a boy band, they help make costumes for halloween, and they help on a set for a play Soh is in. Maasa helps a girl find out how to really represent herself, though that ends unhappily for Maasa, who's oblivious to the one guy who actually pays attention to her.

During all this, Ranmaru is struggling with his feelings of insecurity around Goda, because he wants to be like him, and because of his feelings for Ruka. Ruka is dealing with some family stuff at the same time, and Goda is acting indifferent to her. There's a lot of unrequited feelings going around right now.

This is a fun series, and the releases are much too far apart. I forget how much I miss Hatori's humor and characters between each book, because it's such a fun ride when I pick them up.