Morita-san ha Mukuchi Manga, Volume 2

August 2nd, 2010

In Volume 1 of Morita-san ha Mukuchi (森田さんは無口,) we met Morita Mayu, a girl who is, compared with other high school girls, very quiet. We also learn that it’s not because she can’t talk or doesn’t want to talk, she just never manages to spit it out fast enough.

In Volume 2, Mayu still doesn’t quite manage to get the words out, but that isn’t stopping her from having fun with her friends, making fun of her parents or bonding with her pet fish. In fact, because she keeps her mouth shut, doesn’t interrupt, always pays attention to the speaker and doesn’t do something else while they talk, we learn, she’s a favorite among her peers. There’s still one girl (unnamed so far) that has a crush on Mayu and a number of girls would rather be with Mayu than with one of the guys in the school.

In a sweet scene, Mayu’s best friend Hana is having boyfriend problems. They, and some other schoolfriends, go to a shrine for New Year’s Day. Mayu receives a fortune of “Half-luck,” which puzzles her. After helping cheer Hana up, Mayu and she eat some hot anpan. When Mayu loses her her grip and drops hers, Hana immediately breaks hers in half to share. Mayu thinks to herself that maybe this is what “half luck” meant.

In the main, this is a typical one-gag 4-koma, but there’s enough charm and reality in the characters that it doesn’t wear on the reader.

As with the first volume, the Yuri is scattered here and there throughout the story. Mayu’s unnamed admirer pops up from time to time to remind you that she exists, and there’s a general feeling that if Mayu should ever break her silence, the girls around her would swoon. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 6
Story – 6
Characters – 9
Yuri – 4
Service – 1

Overall – 8

In general, Morita-san ha Mukuchi is a silly, light-hearted comic strip that asks very little of the reader, except to accept that Mayu is not a big talker.

One Response

  1. Anonymous says:

    Man, I really want to read this. I have done since I read your review of the first volume. I hope someone licenses it one day.

    Or else I’ll have to learn Japanese. I wonder which one would be quicker.

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