Capping this weird, and horrible and amazing year off is the volume that I have been waiting for since April, when I raved about the Japanese edition. At last I can share with you, the joyousness of Bloom Into You Regarding Saeki Sayaka, Volume 3!
Saeki Sayaka, a girl who tends overthink most things, is confronted by a situation that requires faith in the future.
I almost don’t want to tell you anything about it, because I want you to enjoy the whole thing on your own, without my prompts. I’m also tempted to just quote huge chunks of my initial review at you, since the things I loved about the book in Japanese hold up beautifully in English, thanks to the deft translation by Jan Cash and Vincent Castaneda and Jenny McKeon’s adaptation. They captured Sayaka’s cool, reflective, outside voice and the increasing turmoil inside her head beautifully.
The humor fit perfectly, even the one thing I *felt* but wasn’t entirely sure was real, was communicated well. Everything here is as polished as it needed to be, with the result that I picked this long-waited volume up after dinner and did not put it down until I had finished it.
The Regarding Saeki Sayaka series was an unexpected bonus for this reader of Bloom Into You. Sayaka was the reason I kept tuning in. This novel reminded us again of the importance of Miyako as an older role model for Sayaka. How much angst and loneliness might she have to struggle with without someone to just talk to? Instead, this series had carefully, cleanly laid the path out for us to see Sayaka become a person who understands she likes women and feels neither shame nor confusion about it. Having cleared the way of negativity, we are allowed to watch Sayaka become interested in someone for their own sake, for the first time in her life. And, so, we can fully enjoy that moment, alone in her room, when Sayaka says, “I have a girlfriend.” out loud, to her own amazement. ^_^
I tip my hat to Hitoma Iruma whose work here – which included a brief conversation about gaydar, as well – is some of the best they’ve done. I am so very much looking forward to Iruma and Nakatani’s next collaboration. With this book, Bloom Into You is over, but we have End Blue (エンドブルー) to look forward to. They really seemed to bring out the best in each other, and here we are, able to reap the benefits. Even if you weren’t a huge Bloom Into You fan, I recommend this LN series.
My sincerest thanks to the folks at Seven Seas for their work on this series. Clay Garderner’s interior design was lovely, Nicky Lam’s cover, as well. And thank you Seven Seas for crediting *everyone* who worked on the book. It’s a pleasure to see the team get their due.
Ratings:
Art – 10
Story – 9
Character – 10
Service – 3
Yuri – 9
Overall – 9
Spending time watching Sayaka bloom into herself is absolutely worth your time.
This was a lovely epilogue to the series, and a fantastic time watching Sayaka find the happiness us readers wanted her to have. I know it’s a ‘light novel,’ but I was still surprised at what a quick, enjoyable read it was.
Also, I didn’t realize how much importance Sayaka would place on culinary skills, but there we are ;D
It’s always amazing having a partner who cooks. ^_^
Spring comes for Sayaka[1].
A delightful read.
I was amused by an early remark in the novel that Sayaka was never much interested in science, but then a little later she engages in an experiment with Midori and Manaka to see how it feels to be told “I love you”, by various people, in contrast to hearing it from Edomoto-san.
[1] Someone had to say it, though perhaps the last line of the novel does as well.
Indeed it does. ^_^
I just came to the whole series a month or so before this last novel dropped, so I was pretty hyped for this. I have a few thoughts on the LN series in general:
-I like how Sayaka gets closer to Yuu and maintains a bit of emotional distance from Touko because of her lingering feelings. That feels really realistic to me.
-I really enjoyed the depiction of Manaka and Midori’s fast friendship. The way they become very comfortable with each other without thinking too hard about it is very endearing. Though, I feel like the implications in the third book are gilding the lily (pun intended).
-What bums me out about the third LN is that it feels like Sayaka has been in arrested development between the end of the manga (pre-time jump) and meeting Haru. There just isn’t a sense that she established much of a college life which makes the narrative feel very tunnel-visioned in a way that hurt the realism for me. I think that’s a limitation of the medium i.e. page length.
-I am glad you also side-eyed Sayaka and Haru’s meet-cute for being the same as Riko and Miyako’s. Felt pretty lazy to me.
Overall I felt the series just made me want a more in-depth treatment of Sayaka’s story in college.
I don’t disagree that she’s been in a bit of a holding pattern, but I also don’t think a year is a *particularly* long time when one is also acclimating to a whole new phase of life. In my opinion, Sayaka wasn’t ever going to be outgoing, meeting new folks for the sake of it. So it didn’t read as particular out of character, again , in my opinion.
I really enjoyed the series. Funnily enough, I actually liked it more and more with each volume, the final one being my favorite, since I thought the process of Sayaka’s growth was conveyed very well. I also loved guest appearances by the old gang and the bittersweet way Sayaka’s relationship with Touko’s was handled in the end.
There is one thing that bothers me though. Fair warning: I’m going into the spoiler territory here.
During the final scene there is a piece of conversation I find very baffling. I wouldn’t care so much if it wasn’t such a pivotal moment. The text goes like this:
“But I’m not here because I’m holding something back.”
“Me either.”
Our chilliness and the slow itchiness that was coming about and the warmth…
Those all seemed to make small lights twinkle in the back of my head.
But…
“…Much…”
Much? I wished she wouldn’t say things that would ruin me.
My heart complained happily.
“Of course, I’m working hard so that won’t happen. I realized that was important after I was dumped.”
At Haru’s bashful voice, my earlobes felt ticklish.
It was the same answer I once found in one of my own past failures.
I wonder if it’s my lack of linguistic competence or maybe something was lost in translation, but I can’t figure out what “much” refers to here. Any pointers would be appreciated.
I’d have to actually look at the translation and read the context, but I’d guess it was a verbalized part of “too much”, that is there was too much -everything- to express.
Thank you! It helps a little but the passage as a whole remains a bit unclear to me. I always strive for getting every single nuance, especially in the works I care about, so I guess that’s why I became frustrated.
Still, to use one of Haru’s expressions, I loved it lots :-)
I wasn’t a big fan of Sayaka when I read the BIY manga. I did feel for her being on the wrong end of a love triangle. Maybe I didn’t like her cautiousness and overthinking matters because I don’t really like that about myself. After reading your reviews of the light novels, I took a chance and bought them. I could not put them down. By the third book I was rooting for Sayaka with all my heart. I’m SO happy she found real love and was able to take a chance on the future. I really like Haru and think she’s perfect for getting Sayaka out of her comfort zone. My head knows these characters are not real but they are in my heart.
That’s it exactly – they are real in our hearts