In Anoko ni Kiss to Shirayuri wo, Volume 8 (あの娘にキスと白百合を), it’s student council election time and arumour is floating around that Shiramine will be running. The thought doesn’t make Kurosawa as happy as she thinks she ought to be.
But the true rivals for the position are Tatsumi and Torayama who, although roommates, really don’t much like one another. Forced to live with her rival due to family circumstances, Torayama is determined to beat Tatsumi., only she doesn’t. Annoyingly Tatsumi offers her the VP position, and they seem to have a truce. When at last Torayama is released by her mother to move into the dorm, she comes to the conclusion that she’s been very, very wrong about her rival.
In the meantime, Shiramine has been told by her mother to move out of the dorm and come back home. Kurosawa supports her unconditionally, and the two move even closer than before. They are both getting very close to being people who could be in a relationship with each other and it be good for them.
It’s been 8 volumes and 4 years and finally, I am able to see Shiramine and Kurosawa as a couple without having to squint too hard. I am now looking forward to their story progressing a bit.
Ratings:
Art – 8
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Yuri – 5
Service – 1 on principle only
Overall – 7
As a complete aside, have I mentioned that I really like the creative hairstyles Canno-sensei comes up with for this series? I do. It’s not that easy making a manga about girls in the same uniform that simple to differentiate. She does a really nice job with their hair. ^_^
I am delighted by all the K&WL content this week – hooray! And thank you for writing this :)
I love the callback to Vol.5’s Chapter 23 at the start of the last chapter in this book. It plays out very similarly, too, only both characters have gone through a lot of growth together, and that reflects how things play out: Kurosawa is a lot better at offering help (she’s close to perfect, actually), and Shiramine is a lot better at accepting it. Those two chapters make for a good ‘compare and contrast’ mental exercise.
The two-page illustration that opens the book still baffles me, however – why is everyone up on the roof? How did Kurosawa get up even higher? Why is Torayama squinting so weirdly at Tatsumi? (I only just now noticed that one eye is half-closed). And what is Shiramine *doing*? I won’t say it’s like staring into a Bosch painting or anything, but it does confuse me a little.
It was also nice having a bonus story with Amane, Nina and Ryou (the three cover stars of Vol.6). While I went on record saying I disliked their rocky start, I honestly would like to read more about them.