Manga Review: Again!!, Volume 2, by Mitsurou Kubo

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5

Publisher: Kodansha Comics

Release Date: April 2018

Volumes: 12.

Spoilers?: No.

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

Volume: 1. 3.

Goodreads Synopsis:

To Keep the Flame Burning

Kinichiro's traveled back in time, and whether this is reality or just an incredibly realistic dream, he's doing high school all over again. He's decided that bringing the school's ouendan cheer squad back from the brink of dissolution is the key to a better high school life, but it might take some begging to get there. Kinichiro's not much good at begging--but a former ouendan member known as the "Master of Groveling" might be able to pull it off...

Review:

Kinichiro is determined to make this ouendan club a success at the assembly, and so he tries to get the old members to come back, and he tries to get the current members to not ditch at the last second. He has quite a failure attempt at it, too, which is disheartening to him, and leads to him going it alone.

It's rather an uphill battle for him.

It leads to a temporary success for him, as he officially gets to join the club. Afterward, we get to see, once again, that Aki is messing up her new school life. She's so used to her great present time, that she's screwed everything up, since she forgot to act like she used to. Ruining the future and acting all uppity has ruined her friendships, and now her future boyfriend thinks she's crazy. It's not going so good for her.

Now that they've passed one hurdle, I'm not sure what's coming up next for the Ouendan club. But I'm definitely enjoying their personal life changes and struggles.

Manga Review: Again!!, Volume 1, by Mitsurou Kubo

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5

Publisher: Kodansha Comics

Release Date: February 2018

Volumes: 12.

Spoilers?: Yes.

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

Volume: 2.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Kinichiro isn’t even that bad. It’s just that on the first day of high school, his narrow eyes made him look shifty, so people assumed he was trouble. Now it’s graduation, and he’s looking back on three years with no friends. He never even joined a club. But after a bloody collision and an accidental fall, he wakes up a high school freshman, with the chance to try it all over… AGAIN!!

Review:

Imamura is going to his graduation ceremony, glad that high school is finally over. All of his classmates fear him and want nothing to do with him, all because of a misguided introduction when school started that was never cleared up. He has no friends, and he's glad to be over it, with all of his regrets and wonders.

Only, when he goes to an abandoned club room, gets caught by a girl, and chases after her, they fall down the stairs, and they wake up back at the entrance ceremony three years ago. It takes a while for them to realize it, and that it's not a dream. Somehow they're the only ones from the future.

Imamura unintentionally starts changing things, reacting differently with foresight, and talking to the Ouendan club leader out of curiousity. He was always curious about her and the club that fell apart, but never thought to do anything. He doesn't really intend to, either, but suddenly new things are happening, and he's making friends.

On the other hand, Aki is experiencing everything very differently than she remembers. She's having a hard time remembering that the future hasn't happened yet, and is ready to speed it up. Like her meeting with her boyfriend, who thinks she's a freak right now for her actions.

Imamura was trying to avoid it at first, but by the end of the volume, he seems determined to help the Ouendan club and find out what happened. Things are going to get dramatic and messy soon, it seems.

This is quite fun so far, and I definitely enjoyed this first volume. I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes next.