I can tell that this is a really charming little series, because this *particular* volume includes a lot of situations that are really annoying…but I liked it anyway. ^_^
Sakura no Kiwa, you may remember, from my review of SnK Volume 1, is manga series about three girls and fourteen cats.
Sakura’s parents have gone off to Brazil, leaving her with her dopey Aunt Takako, who has fourteen cats. Two of the neighboring girls who go to the same school as Sakura, Iichiko and her sister Futako become friendly with Sakura. When we left them all, Takako was away in Europe and Ii-chan and Fu-chan were living with Sakura.
Volume 2 begins with an embarrassing situation – someone notices that Sakura has what looks awfully like a hickey on her neck. She denies this, of course, assuming it was a scratch from one of the cats. Until Futako drops by and comments that, oh, by the way, it *is* a “kiss mark”. Sakura’s a little peeved, but doesn’t manage to find a way to stop Futako from doing it.
Futako’s main defense against Sakura, it seems, is to be oblivious, and just do what she wants. Sakura’s too easy-going…as nearly EVERY SINGLE girl in the school points out. They follow it up by asking how she managed to tame Futako, who never showed any interest in anyone before Sakura showed up. Technically they ask her how she spoils Futako, and she answers cluelessly that she makes her pancakes…a comment which spawns multiple puzzling offers of pancackes when Futako shows up at school the next day.
Sakura stresses about “spoiling” Futako, but comes to the conclusion that she’s pretty much exactly like one of the cats. Iichiko spends much of the rest of the book amusing herself by organizing the cats into mental categories, to one of which she assigns Futako every time.
One month comes with a crisis – they are significantly short on their monthly food allowance. Sakura panics, worrying that the cats, and they, will not have enough food…but more importantly, she worries where the money went. When it turns out that Aunt Takako spent it on books and, oh, sorry, forgot to tell them, Sakura is justifiably upset. Luckily both she and Futako are popular. All their friends and admirirers offer supplements to their bare lunches and they make it through the month.
Back at school, one of the teachers asks Futako to run for student council president. She had been in middle school – and when high school started, everyone still called her President for some time. So it’s no surprise that she wins easily. It’s also no surprise that she’s instantly even *more* popular at school. This begins to worry Sakura, who is lonely at the lack of Futako during summer vacation. But once school starts again, Futako seems to hang (quite literally) on Sakura even more closely than ever before.
Once the weather cools down, Takako comes back from Europe, and obediently Futako and Iichiko move out. And instantly, Sakura becomes lonely. It takes her a while to admit it, but eventually she petitions her aunt to allow Futako to come back. Takako is willing, and so, the book ends with Iichiko and Futako moving back into the house and we live happily ever after, with “To Be Continued in the Third Volume” kisses. ^_^
Ratings:
Art – 7
Story – 7
Characters – 8
Yuri – 7
Service – 0
Overall – 7
Denial, passive-agressive behavior, lack of communication, way too many cats…yup, sounds like lesbians to me. And yet, I like it. Go figure.
