Here we are at Hirao Auri’s latest attempt to drive me into an early grave. In Oshi ga Budokan Ittekuretara Shinu, Volume 4 ( 推しが武道館いってくれたら死ぬ ) nothing happens. Nothing happens in the most dramatic and frustrating way possible, which I grudgingly admit is the creator’s style, after all. A style I named manga interruptus, in between fantasies of strangling the author while reading Manga No Tsukurikata.

On their way to Budokan (which is the end goal, as the title clearly states) the ladies of Cham Jam participate in other group idol festivals, including one in far-off Hiroshima. Tickets are hard to come by and super-fans’ lives are put on hold to make it possible for them to be there to root their special idols on. 

Cham Jam runs into a former member who now has a new act, and we spend time with a few of the idols – Maki gets a lot of page count this time – getting a better idea of their internal lives, so the author can derail his own story and delay any conclusion. Manga interruptus indeed.

Superfan Eripyo and idol Maina are all pained, intense, needy looks from about 8 feet apart, but every time they are standing face-to-face, touching hands for the prescribed number of seconds allowed per purchase, they become tongue-tied and incoherent. That happens several times this volume, so it can be more and more fun as the story creeps along. 

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – Argh
Character – 8
Service – 1
Yuri – Argh

Overall – Argh

I never learn, do I?