Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

Title: Jellicoe Road (On the Jellicoe Road)
Author: Melina Marchetta
Publication Date: 2006

In this lyrical, absorbing, award-winning novel, nothing is as it seems, and every clue leads to more questions.

At age eleven, Taylor Markham was abandoned by her mother. At fourteen, she ran away from boarding school, only to be tracked down and brought back by a mysterious stranger. Now seventeen, Taylor's the reluctant leader of her school's underground community, whose annual territory war with the Townies and visiting Cadets has just begun. This year, though, the Cadets are led by Jonah Griggs, and Taylor can't avoid his intense gaze for long. To make matters worse, Hannah, the one adult Taylor trusts, has disappeared. But if Taylor can piece together the clues Hannah left behind, the truth she uncovers might not just settle her past, but also change her future.

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Spoiler free review...because it’s too good to be spoiled.

So if you have a lot of book friends, you’re no stranger to book pushing. How they’ll recommend this book or that book and then keep nagging you until you read said book. Usually, I ignore these requests, but when the book pusher is one of your best friends you really have no choice, but to eventually read it. (I can’t tell you the amount of nagging I was subjected to beforehand...months and months worth.)

This is one time that I was grateful for the nagging. Overjoyed really. I’m not quite sure how to put all my feelings into words to adequately describe the effect this book had on me. This book will change your life and will stay with you long after you’ve read the last page. In fact you’ll find yourself re-reading this book...several times and each time you’ll discover something more and you’ll feel something new and different. (I’ve read it four times already and plan on a fifth reading in the next month or so.)

The writing in Jellicoe Road is absolutely beautiful and profound. From the first two lines, I was hooked: “My father took one hundred and thirty-two minutes to die. I counted.” This passage won’t be ignored and dares you to stop reading. This is one of those books where I’ve literally underlined passages on every other page. The writing speaks to me on every level.

I feel like I went through every range of emotion while reading this book. Primarily because this book has so much emotion in it, without being melodramatic. You feel with the characters and for the characters.

The main protagonist in this novel, Taylor Markham, isn’t immediately likeable (and some readers may never like her). At times I found myself repulsed by her actions and yet strangely sympathetic to them. While I didn’t always agree with her, I understood her. She’s a complex character with complex emotions, or in other words she’s human. She’s someone who I can imagine in real life.

Like her characters, the plot of this book is complex and can seem confusing and disorienting through the first several chapters as there are essentially two stories being told. I’m going to tell you what I’ve told every person I’ve since recommended this book to. Keep with it. There will be a moment when the flow will start to make sense and where everything begins to come together. The gradual piecing together of the stories is a work of art. You will have that “aha!” moment and you will have visceral reaction to it. It will be both beautiful and heartrending at once. I have come full circle as I am now the book pusher telling you to “READ THIS BOOK!”

We Were There by Yuki Obata

Title: We Were There (Bokura ga Ita)
Author: Yuki Obata
Volumes: 16 (completed)
Volumes (English): 16 (completed)


Nanami Takahashi falls for Motoharu Yano, the most popular, carefree boy in class. For Nanami, it's first love, but Yano is still grieving the death of his girlfriend who died the year before.




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This post is nothing, but spoilers. Scroll to the bottom for final thoughts if you want to avoid them.

We Were There has an emotional complexity that isn’t always present in manga, while exploring some of the darker aspects of relationships. The series follows Nanami "Nana" Takhashi as a high schooler and into early adulthood. In fact the first thing that drew me to this series was the long time span between the protagonists first meeting and them finally ending up together.

Takhashi is an average teenage girl who falls in love with her charismatic classmate Motoharu "Moto" Yano. His apparent carefree and confident manner draws Takhashi to him and it's not until she gets to know him better that she realizes he's still grieving for his dead girlfriend and isn't as confident or carefree as his appearance suggests.

Of course Yano can't admit he's grieving, due to his overwhelming anger towards his dead girlfriend, Nana Yamamoto. (You may have noticed there are two Nanas in this series, so from here on out I'll be referring to Yano's dead girlfriend as Nana and his living one as Takhashi.) On the surface his anger seems to stem from the way his girlfriend died, she died in a car crash while riding around with her abusive ex-boyfriend. At times, he's quite callous when he talks about Nana, but later when he has a sort of breakdown begging her to not be dead, you realize that his unfeeling behavior towards her memory was a sort of self preservation. His ego couldn't deal with the betrayal and abandonment of her death.

These feelings are compounded by his mom committing suicide shortly after he moves away from Takhashi during his last year of highschool. It's another woman he loves choosing to leave him. This episode is his breaking point and he pretty much abandons Takhashi and everyone in his past life. This abandonment in turn kind of causes a break in Takhashi who never gets over it. It's like her life stopped at the moment he leaves her on the train station and in a way his does too. His disappearance shadows every aspect of her life. One of the saddest things about the series is seeing the emotional damage inflicted on both Yano and Takhashi. Because of this, neither one is able to fully move on.

There are two secondary characters worth mentioning in the series, Masafumi "Take" Takeuchi, Yano's best friend and later Takhashi's confidant and love interest, and Yuri Yamamoto, Nana's sister and Yano's stalker. Take is the steadfast and loyal friend that any sensible person would fall in love with, but this is shojo so of course he's not going to end up with the girl. While there is some competition between Yano and Take, it's not until Yano abandons Takhashi that Take truly pursues her. I liked Take and would have liked to see Takhashi and him end up together.
At one point in the series, he has a revelation that it's better for him to be with Takhashi, not because he loves her more, but that his love won't hurt her, unlike Yano whose love is always coupled with heartache and pain. He truly wanted what was best for Takhashi, and while it might be a bit arrogant to think he's what's best for her, his motives were good. I mean when you see someone you love, pining for someone who has abandoned them and you know you can love them best, why wouldn't you try your best to win their heart?

I felt for Take and I knew he'd get the short of the stick when all was said and done. He probably had the clearest vision of all the characters in the series. At one point in the series when Take discovers that Yano has been living with Yuri (who we'll visit later in this post) during his missing years and Yano's response to his finding out is "If you were on a boat with 2 people and that boat were to sink, who would you save? The one you like more? The one who's prettier? Or the one who's nicer? I would save the one who can't swim. Nana [Takhashi] is strong. She can swim on her own. Yamamoto needs my help." Take fires back saying something about Takhashi drowning and Yano being too obtuse to see it. Yano is obviously taken aback by this information and I think it's what motivates Yano to reevaluate some of the life decisions he's made. It's a scene that stuck with me. I also think that if this scene hadn't happened, that Yano would have continued living in the emotional void he'd created for himself. He never would have made his way back to Takhashi because I don't think he would have realized the damage he'd done there.

So in a round about way this brings us to Yuri. Yuri is probably the most emotionally complex and fucked up character in the series. She grew up with a mother who always put her more beautiful and popular sister first. Yuri lived in her sister's shadow when Nana was alive and continued to live in her shadow even after Nana's death, believing her mom would have preferred her death instead. She couldn't break free from her sister. Her dad abandoned the family while her sister was still alive, so she didn't have any support there either.

She had formed an unhealthy infatuation for Yano before he even started dating her sister. She kind of saw her sister's death as an opportunity to win Yano. They have sexual relations soon after Nana's death and so begins a truly fucked up one sided love story. Yano feels intense guilt over this incident, not only because he used Nana's sister to get back at her for cheating on him and dying, but also because it was Yuri's first time. This part of his past almost causes Yano and Takhashi to break up in high school and it causes a lot of the future drama he deals with.

Yuri pretty much stalks Yano to the point where Yano alternates between treating her with contempt or callous disregard. Yuri, feeling abandoned and unloved by everyone around her, threatens suicide. I don't think she would have done it. I honestly think she used it as a ploy to manipulate Yano into a relationship and it worked. Yano has a bit of the savior complex. It's like he actively looks for broken people to protect. (Who doesn't have a friend like that?) This kind of gives meaning to his own life and I think made him feel like he was somehow making up for not being able to save his mom or Nana.

Eventually, Yano and Takhashi find their way back to each other. This of course is after Yuri finally admits that the reason her sister was in the car with her ex-boyfriend was to finally and completely break it off with him. (Essentially, Nana was trying to protect Yano who had been beaten up by her ex-boyfriend when they first started dating.) I have never wanted to punch a fictional character so much as I did Yuri when she made this confession. What kind of person watches someone suffer (for years!) and withholds vital information that could ease said suffering? It's such a dick move. I guess I should be glad she bothered to give the information to him at all. Giving him this information severed their hold over each other and allowed Yano to not just forgive Nana, but himself as well. In cutting this tie with Yano, Yuri frees herself from the codependent relationship she initiated and you get the idea that she's not only going to be fine, but she'll thrive on her own.

I'll be honest, I had mixed feelings about Takhashi and Yano ending up together. On the one hand, I was glad that Takhashi and Yano were able to deal with the ghosts in their pasts and move forward in a relationship together, but on the other hand I really liked the idea of Take and Takhashi together. I know Take will be fine and he'll eventually find someone, but I kind of wanted his someone to be Takhashi. Of course, I wouldn't have been able to stand it if Yano and Yuri had maintained their relationship, and Yano was only ever going to leave Yuri for Takhashi. He wouldn't have for anyone else, so I guess it's good they ended up together. I also like the idea that second chances are possible and can be lasting. The last volume in this series is especially good and just powerful.

The writing in this series is beautiful. There are some truly profound observations in the series, reflecting on love, loss, and just plain life. The emotions in this series felt authentic and I found it easy to relate to the characters, even those I wanted to shake. It's interesting, because I didn't hate anyone in the series, not even Yuri. I didn't always like what they did, but I genuinely hoped that they all found happiness in the end. Speaking of the end, I loved the ending to the series. It's basically just Yano and Takhashi going through the routine of being together again doing normal things. It was a well earned normalcy and I know I had a ridiculous smile on my face while reading the ending.

Final Thoughts

I loved this series! Its realism will illicit strong emotions from readers, making it difficult to not feel along with the characters during the series. You'll have moments when you might love and hate a character all at the same time, which I think shows that the author nailed the complexity of the human condition. The writing is amazing and I wish the author would write more and it would be translated into English. Given the opportunity, I would read pretty much anything this author puts out. I think this series would appeal to people who liked Say I Love You, Sand Chronicles, or Ao Haru Ride. All of these series deal with some heavy issues and are a bit edgy compared to other series.

On a side note, I watched the two live action movies of this series and loved them! They're a great adaptation of the manga series, and the music is beautiful. If you get a chance I highly recommend watching the movies.

High School Debut by Kazune Kawahara

Title: High School Debut (Kōkō Debut, Koukou Debut)
Author: Kazune Kawahara
Volumes: 13 (completed)
Volumes (English): 13 (completed)
Original Run: 2003 - 2008

When Haruna Nagashima was in junior high her life consisted of playing softball and reading comics. But now that she's going to high school, Haruna decides to put all of her energy towards getting a boyfriend and having the high school romance of a lifetime. To help in her quest, she enlists cute upperclassman Yoh Komiyama to coach her as she eschews her jock tendencies and turns herself into the kind of girl who can catch a guy. Yoh agrees, with one catch: Haruna had better not fall for him!

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All the spoils! If you want to avoid them you should really skip to the bottom.

High School Debut is one of my all time favorite manga series! This is a series that I reread when I need a laugh, a swoon worthy moment, an escape from reality, or an escape from boredom. It has everything a shojo should have: an unlikely, but quirky premise, a plucky heroine, a sexy, yet aloof love interest, meddling friends, and unconventional antagonists.

1. An unlikely, but quirky premise.

High School Debut has a fun, quirky premise that seems ludicrous on the surface, but works well in moving the plot along. Haruna Nagashima has spent her entire junior high career focusing on softball. Once she enters high school she decides to give it all up and focus on finding a boyfriend.


Unfortunately for Haruna, she has poor fashion sense and doesn't really understand how to attract the opposite sex. She takes several trips to the local hangouts trying to pick up guys with no success. On one of these outings she meets Yoh Komiyama when she loses a shoe. This chance encounter shapes the rest of the series rather delightfully and might be one of my favorite first meetings ever.


Later Haruna sees Yoh at school and is eventually able to convince him to become her "love coach," but on one condition, that she not fall in love with him. If you've read any shojo, you know this rule is going to be broken...in fact you're anticipating their eventual relationship from their very first meeting. Watching their relationship develop is a pure joy and the hilarity that ensues during their courtship and coupling is highly entertaining!

2. A plucky heroine.

Haruna Nagashima is an endearing character who is a combination of naivete, eternal optimism, and perseverance. She's one of those characters who you root for regardless of the circumstances. This determination is what ultimately draws Yoh to Haruna and convinces him to coach her.

Haruna isn't a delicate heroine who needs a handsome prince to come to her rescue. In fact, she is more likely to do the rescuing. One of my favorite scenes is when Yoh and Haruna are locked up in the gym supply closet and Haruna sets out to rescue him. In the end they rescue each other, which just about sums up their relationship.

3. A sexy, yet aloof love interest.

I LOVE Yoh Komiyama! Haruna and Yoh are my OTP and I was shipping them before the end of the first volume. They're the couple I want to have a happily ever after forever type of relationship. I love Haruna and Yoh together. Her optimism balances out his cynicism in the best possible way. They each bring out the best in the other.



My favorite part in the series is when Haruna cries with Yoh about his leaving and they're so caught up in the moment and their emotions, but unsure how to express their feelings. It's the most beautiful scene in the entire series and their commitment for one another comes across really well during this scene. Their love truly seems endearing and I can't help but hope that they beat the odds.

I like how Yoh's dork side comes out more as he dates Haruna. Most of the time he's cool and sexy, only with Haruna does he let his guard down and relax. He doesn't have to put on a show with her and she doesn't have to for him either. They both accept each other as they are, flaws and all, but more importantly they value each other.

4. Meddling friends.

This series has some of the most entertaining and outlandish secondary characters I've come across in a manga series.

Yui Asaoka - He's one of my favorite characters in the series. His mischievous nature and perverse sense of humor makes scenes with him immensely entertaining. One never quite knows when he's being serious or not. He develops feelings for Haruna, but his constant teasing leads Haruna to think he's joking when he finally confesses to her. His attraction to Haruna causes tension between Yoh and him, leading to a hilarious sports competition. The thing I like about this sort of love triangle is that Asaoka moves on when Haruna doesn't return his feelings.

The author hints at an attraction between Mami and Asaoka by the end of the series. Mami is the only character who can tell whether or not he's being serious. I would have liked for the author to have done more with their relationship and I'm not insistent that it need be a romantic one. I thought Mami and Asaoka would have made great friends. My all time favorite scene with Asaoka is at the end of the "date" he goes on with Haruna and he tries to kiss her to make Yoh jealous. He is completely unapologetic when Yoh finally admits he's been following them.

Mami Takahashi - Mami is Haruna's best friend and probably one of the most intuitive characters in the series. She's one of the most decent characters in the series as well and I admired her loyalty to her friend. No matter how ridiculous the situation, she always managed to retain some sense of decorum. Throughout the series it's obvious how much Haruna cares about and respects Mami, but you don't get a sense of the depth of Mami's feelings until they go on a school holiday together and Mami admits a betrayal. The best part is that Haruna instantly forgives her, saying there was no betrayal (and she's right, Mami shouldn't have been feeling guilty).

Asami Komiyama - Yoh's sister is a hard character to like. While I don't hate her, I usually found myself wanting to punch her in the face. Asa basically likes causing as much mischief as possible...as long as she isn't put out by it. She's not a good person and is incredibly selfish, but to her credit she knows this. She also has a serious brother complex. I cheered aloud when Haruna calls Asa out on it. Haruna is probably one of the only people to accept Asa for who she is, but also isn't afraid of confronting her when she's acting inconsiderate, especially in her relationship with Fumi.

Fumiya Tamura - Fumi is probably one of my least favorite characters. It's not that I hate him, he's just kind of boring. He's a bit dim, but with a gentle nature. Haruna and him get along quite well and he was her first crush. His hooking up with Asa helps push Haruna and Yoh together so I wasn't complaining when Asa snaked him from Haruna. He's a bit of a pushover and honestly needs to break it off with Asa and find someone better. I think that's the main reason I don't like him; he's willing to stay with someone who treats him like crap and refuses to recognize it's happening.

5. Unconventional antagonists.

The antagonists in this series range from love sick to deranged. (But in the best possible way.)

Makoto - Yoh's ex-girlfriend and one of the more interesting plot twists. She's an unhateable character...even Haruna likes her. True to Haruna form, she rescues Makoto from unwanted advances while riding the subway (might be train) and they become instant friends. Haruna goes so far as to encourage Makoto to try and win back her ex-boyfriend. Of course Haruna has no idea she's Yoh's ex, so it's quite funny watching Haruna unwittingly play matchmaker with Yoh and his ex.

While Makoto a bit weak and acts like a damsel, she's still an interesting character. One of my favorite moments in the series is directly because of this character trying to win Yoh back. A truly swoon worthy moment, Yoh meets with her for closure and after basically saying that the reason he is someone Makoto could even want to be with again is because of Haruna, he runs back to Haruna and affirms his feelings for her. (It was even snowing! C'est très romantique !)

Leona - Haruna's nemesis turn kind-of-friend. Her sole purpose when transferring to Haruna's high school is for a rematch. She wants to prove that she's the better softball player and when she finds out Haruna isn't playing any longer she tries other means to get her revenge. I loved this character and I loved the scenario she created in her head when she locked Haruna and Yoh in the gym closet. Yoh's comment, "It seems as though even her enemies are from some alternate dimension" defines Leona's character perfectly. She's quite intense and persistent.

Miyabi - Leona is merely bizarre, Miyabi might be psychotic. She's one of Yoh's classmates in cram school who develops a strong obsession towards Yoh after he basically treats her like a human being. Miyabi is a clever, yet plain and overweight girl, who hates herself and everyone around her. Her attitude at first is combative towards Yoh, calling him shallow and then proceeding to insult Haruna. Her attitude towards him does a complete 180 after Yoh comes to her aid when she is hurt. It's one thing to crush on someone, it's another thing to stalk them.

Miyabi does everything in her power to break up Yoh and Haruna, even going so far as sending a breakup text to Haruna from Yoh's phone and then deleting Haruna's number and changing it to her own number. It's some crazy shit. Even with all the crazy, I can't bring myself to hate Miyabi. I relate to her self loathing and the need to feel loved. Instead I feel a mixture of pity and hope. I pity her current mental state, but the end of her arc gives me hope that she's reevaluating her life and trying to put it back in order.

Another reason I can't bring myself to hate her, is that I have a soft spot for her brother Akito. Akito is a freshman who has a bit of a crush on Haruna and a misunderstanding, exacerbated by Miyabi, leads Yoh to think Haruna might be into Akito as well. I also hope that Akito and Miyabi can finally grow close and have a better relationship now that Miyabi is actually trying to improve her life.

The ending of this series was perfect! From the airport departure scene to their reunion in Tokyo. I loved every moment of it. Yoh's reaction in Tokyo to the newly grown up Haruna brings the series back around to it's beginning.

Final Thoughts

This is one of my favorite manga series! I love everything about it. I've lost count of how many times I've read this series. It's one of my go to comfort series when I'm feeling down or feeling bored. It's a fun read that never fails to make me happy. I highly recommend this series.

I also recommend reading the one shot Enren Debut. When I first read this, I had to rely on the online scanning sites because it hadn't been translated into English. Luckily for you, it's finally being translated into English and is going to be published early February!!! (Fangirling so hard right now!) What's even better about this, is that the other one shot she wrote, that's never been translated into English (even on the online scan sites) is going to be published as well!!! So excited and so buying this volume when it comes out!


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Strobe Edge by Io Sakisaka

Title: Strobe Edge
Author: Io Sakisaka
Volumes: 10 (completed)
Volumes (English): 10 (completed)

What is love, anyway? Ninako Kinoshita’s friends tell her it’s one thing, but Ninako wonders what this mysterious feeling really is. When she meets Ren Ichinose, the handsome, enigmatic guy that all the girls worship, her life takes an unexpected turn. With just a few words and a smile, he changes her world...

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This actually manages to be a somewhat spoiler free review, but only somewhat, so skip to the bottom to avoid spoilers.

Strobe Edge quickly became one of my favorite shojo manga series. While it wasn't love at first sight, my love for the series grew with each new release. One reason this wasn't a case of instant love is that the plot isn't overly original -- girl likes guy, guy has girlfriend thus forming a love triangle, guy's best friend falls for girl, after a breakup guy falls for girl, dissolving one love triangle only to form a new love triangle, at which point guy's best friend's ex girlfriend enters the picture forming a sort of love square.

What makes this a stand out series isn't the plot, but the character development which is phenomenal. The characters have depth and real emotion that isn't an exaggerated version of the emotion the author is trying to express. The characters feel real, like ordinary people you might meet one day. I think what I like best about the characters is that they're all decent people just trying to make it through life the best they can. I didn't hate any of them. This is a rare phenomenon in shojo, where love rivals are often drawn in a dark light.

I wanted all of them to have a happy ending, something that I doubted could be achieved based on the characters' conflicting desires. (Weirdly, at one point I wanted Ren, Ninako, Andou, and Mayuka to form one large group and just all date each other as a group. It was the only way I thought there could be any chance at a happy ending for characters that I genuinely cared about.) Luckily, Io Sakisaka actually manages to deliver both a believable and happy-ish ending for all characters involved and she didn't have to resort to my brilliantly stupid idea of group dating.

The other issue I had with the series is the artwork. Although it does steadily improve throughout the series, there were times, early on in the series, when I would confuse the female characters because of how closely they resemble each other. Particularly, with regards to Mayuka, Sayuri (Sayu), and Ninako. This caused some confusion in volume two when Sayu confesses her feelings to Daiki. I had to re-read the panels because for a moment it looked like Mayuka, Daiki's sister, was confessing her love for him. (There are brother complexes and then there are brother complexes, and I did not sign up for a Flowers in the Attic relationship when I picked up this series.) The good thing is that the artwork does improve and the female characters become more defined and individualized by the end of the series.

Another aspect that saves this series from being just another shojo, is the secondary characters and complex subplots. While the main story focuses on Ninako and Ren there are other stories being weaved throughout the narrative that add depth to the series. One such subplot focuses on Daiki and Sayu's relationship. Their relationship has major hurdles to overcome and the way they handle each issue is honest. In some ways Daiki and Sayu are dealing with the more serious side of being in a relationship while Ninako and Ren's relationship is still in its infancy.

Ninako is a heroine that's impossible to hate. She's genuinely kind and her optimism in the face of unrequited love is refreshing. She's happy to be in love and holds tight to the feeling even when she knows Ren is unavailable. She doesn't sulk and try to manipulate any given situation. She accepts here feelings and embraces them without trying to force them on Ren. (If I had to put a song to her feelings I'd assign Frou Frou's "It's Good to be in Love.")

I think that's one of the reasons Ren is able to eventually fall for her when he does become emotionally available. Speaking of Ren, I genuinely liked him as a hero. While he is somewhat reserved, he's also honest and doesn't send mixed signals to Ninako while he's dating Mayuka. In the series he attracts every girl, because that's how it is in shojo, but he doesn't take people's feelings lightly and he doesn't toy with people's emotions.



One of the things I liked about the series is the way in which Mayuka and Ren ended their relationship. There wasn't ridiculous amounts of drama and hatred for each other. Instead, there's a natural gradual decline in their relationship where they eventually realize they're at different places in their lives and what they once got from being together wasn't there anymore. It doesn't mean it wasn't painful for them, but it didn't have melodrama. It's honest and quite beautiful in its own way. You could tell that they still cared about each other and wanted the other to be happy even though they knew they wouldn't be the ones doing that for each other anymore.

I also liked how friendship is portrayed in this series, especially between Ren and Andou. They have a history that's a bit painful and watching them rebuild these tenuous bonds of friendship is quite lovely. There's a sense that history is repeating itself when they both fall for the same girl and I was honestly worried that their friendship may not be able to suffer another blow. One of the reasons I think it was able to hold fast is because of Ninako. She's not the type of person to allow herself to become a bone of contention. Even as Andou is essentially asking her to use him to get over Ren, she doesn't take him up on his offer. She actually cares about their friendship.

I adored Andou. His character is a bit jaded and his heart's been bruised, but he's fearless in love. He falls for Ninako, and even though he knows she's crushing on his friend he pursues her and is just so damn sincere in his feelings for her. He fights for her affections until the very end, even when it's obvious Ren and Ninako are both into each other. I think what I find so moving about him is that when he sees Ninako is being hurt by the obligations of his affections, he lets her go. And while he needs space after Ren and Ninako get together, it's obvious they're all going to remain friends. There is also a hint that his ex-girlfriend, Mao, and Andou may eventually get together again.

I really liked Mao by the end of the series. I love when she challenges Andou in the last volume and declares a sort of storming of his heart. After watching him fight so hard for Ninako she's going to give it her all and fight for him. His reaction was perfect. Her story is almost one of redemption and I can't help but hope that it works out for them and that second chances are possible.

The ending to Strobe Edge is perfect! It tied so well to the rest of the series, even alluding back to important moments from Ren and Ninako's interactions in earlier volumes. I also love the scene in the last few pages of the volume, when Ninako and Ren have just gotten over a misunderstanding and you see their different thought bubbles. It had me laughing because they're thinking such different things in that moment.



The extra story at the end of the volume featuring Manabu was precious. Manabu is a wonderful character who doesn't get as much face time as the other characters, so it's refreshing to read something from his perspective. Throughout the series he's playing cupid to Ren and Ninako and has no clue that as he tries to bring two of his friends together, he's kind of interfering with his other friend Andou's bid for Ninako's affections. Scenes that featured him generally had me smiling. What made the bonus story about him so great is that it adds another layer to his character. Generally, he's the happy-go-lucky sort of character, but with the bonus story you see that not everything is that simple.

Final Thoughts

I love this series! While the artwork has some issues in the early volumes and the plot isn't unique,  the character development is amazing. They are three dimensional and fully developed characters rather than stock caricatures. There is strong emotion throughout the series without it becoming melodramatic. Foremost, the characters are believable and it's easy to relate to Ninako's unrequited love, Andou's cynicism, Sayu's insecurity, Mayuka's drive, Ren's reservedness, and Mao's quest for redemption. (There isn't really a character in this series that I didn't relate to on some level.)

The author also does a good job of exploring relationships, from it's inception to it's eventual end. And not just romantic relationships, but friendship and even familial as well.  I recommend this to those who like Kimi ni Todoke, We Were There, Say I Love You, and Ao Haru Ride.

Side note:

In general Strobe Edge has some of the best bonus stories that I've read in a shojo. One stand alone story called "Colorless Dreamer" is especially good. The main character Rena could be a grown up version of Ninako, they look so similar, but the story is moving. It's in volume six if you're interested in reading it. Also, Ao Haru Ride, Io Sakisaka's current project, is shaping up to be an even better series than Strobe Edge, so check it out if you haven't already.