In Volume 1, we met Akira, a high school student who tended to avoid other people and Pure the transfer student who calmly informs Akira that in 7 years, they will be lovers. In Volume 2, we watch Akira warm up to the other girl. The book ends as Pure confesses her feeling (once again) in front of the whole school. Akira, finally ready to reciprocate Pure’s feelings, runs after her, only to find her…gone.
In Strawberry Fields wo Mou Ichido, Volume 3 ( ストロベリー・フィールズをもう一度), we find out that we’ve been reading a book about time-travel all along. Pure wasn’t making it up – she came from a future in which they had been lovers. So, why was she traveling backwards at all? Because Akira’s brother Ruri had caused the timeline to diverge from its original path.
Ruri meets a woman, Sumire, with the ability to reverse time and hopes that, by using her power, he can save his mother from dying in an accident and keep his family together. But the more they meddle, the further away they get from his desired outcome. And, Sumire realizes that if he brings his mother back, he and Akira will never be born. So they decide to try to re-establish the right timeline. Pure discovers their time machine and reverses time to find Akira again.
We see alternate timelines with Pure and Akira missing each other over and over, then further alternate timelines where one or the other of them is hurt in an accident, but they stick together and eventually they manage to find their original timeline…or one that is functionally the same. They do indeed become lovers and while Mom remains deceased. Ruri and Akira are never going to be friends with their Dad’s new wife, but they do like their younger half-sister. Pure and Akira are married and they live happily every after, as we see in a short epilogue.
Because I hadn’t really taken the time-travel thing seriously at the beginning, this book took me three readthroughs to make it make sense. And then I double checked myself against the author’s note, where the correct order is laid out. The alternate timelines in the middle of volume three confused me the first time around and I almost gave it up as a series that was just messy…until it all clicked. Then I re-read it to make sure I caught everything that was said. I don’t think I’ve given too many books that kind of time, honestly. And I’m not entirely sure this series was worth it. The plot felt like it had been run through a blender a bit with a lot of exposition at the end. The author’s note felt exactly like a waiter “explaining” food that was pointlessly overcomplicated. ^_^;
But the girls get each other and it does end with a big old wedding (which makes no sense, but why would we insist on sense now?) which was kind of nice so I let it go and just enjoyed the whole mess for what it was. The art was nice enough.
Ratings:
Art – 7
Story – 7
Character – 7
Service – 2
Yuri – 6
Overall – 7
Not super memorable except for the whole time-travel thing, but it was a pleasant diversion.
