Hello, Melancholic!, Volume 2 is, quite possibly, my favorite single volume of a school life Yuri story ever. ^_^
Minato faces her greatest challenge – performing with the band in public. We understood that she was traumatized by her former bandmates. But here, she is in the unenviable position of facing them down once again. Not only does she rise to the occasion, she excels! Minato, bolstered by Hibiki, Chika, Sachiko and Emma, faces down the fears of her previous self and moves past them.
For that alone, I loved this book. It’s not enough to know what’s held us back – we also have to keep moving forward. Minato takes a whopping huge step forward when she takes control of the audience. It won’t fix all her self-esteem issues, but it puts her in a much better place from which to address the rest.
From there on, this becomes a much more conventional Yuri romance story, but now, here, we’re open to it. The Minato that was terrified of standing out could never have been a partner to anyone, but the Minato that can confidently stand on the stage, can. And so we turn our attention to Chika and Sachiko and find out that there’s a whole lot we don’t know about them.
There’s still a lot for Minato and Hibiki to work through. As I said of this volume in Japanese, “I cannot tell you why, exactly, I want Minato to be happy – although there are a lot of superficially obvious reasons that I might feel that way – but I really want Minato to be happy. If Hibiki can make her happy, I’m all in for them. But I also know that there’s a lot standing between them before they get there…among them Minato herself. She’s a walking bundle of insecurity and hesitation. Ohsawa Yayoi’s come so far in the last few years – Minato’s expressions are really something. ^_^”
That said, as we get ready for Volume 3 to come out in November, we are right there with them, ready to lend our good wishes. ^_^
Ratings:
Art – 9
Story – 9 More conflict in this volume is a good thing, as Minato becomes less passive
Characters – 9
Service – 1
Yuri – 9
Overall – 9
Another fantastic effort from Margaret Ngo, Marykate Jasper, Mo Harrison, H. Qi, Leighhanna DeRouen, B.Lillian Martin, Jenn Grunigen, and everyone on the Seven Seas team! This manga makes me cheer, every time. ^_^
I knew something special was going on when I saw their proposal for audience participation, thought “this would be a disaster in real life, but hey, this is a manga,” and then saw how it played out.
It was a terrific resolution -and one that would have worked in real life.
I will never underestimate Ohsawa Yayoi again!
Lesson learned. ^_^
I wasn’t sure of the premise of this manga at first since I’m not a musician, but I totally agree that it is a winner in the school category.
Also, I like it when good side stories are included in a series, and I personally think the Chika/Sachiko arc is one of the best I’ve seen – partly because it’s not unrelated to the main arc as some side stories are, and partly because I like the scrappy, wiser-than-her-years younger sister who, along with Sachiko, also causes self-reflection by Chika.