Beginnings are easy. You have an idea. There’s this character and stuff happens and it affects them and they react. Why are they there, what happens, how it affects them, can all be built up over time. But beginnings, they’re easy. The hard part is what happens after you’ve explained why they are there, and why that thing that happened affected them that way. Then, you have to buckle down and show what happened after that.

In Volume 1, we met Minato, an introverted and unusually tall first-year in high school whose love of music had been ruined, when she was traumatized by bandmates in her previous school. She is recruited by Hibiki, a second-year, to join an impromptu band club. It was a beginning that hit me hard. Re-learning to enjoy music, struggling to fit in, typical school stuff. We’ve all been some part of “there.”

In Volume 2, Minato and the rest of the band gel, and they give an amazing live performance. Minato takes her first steps out of her shell and in a moment of having had too much fun, admits she likes Hibiki.

Now we are at Volume 3 of Hello, Melancholic! by Ohsawa Yayoi and all the beginning stuff has been laid out. What can possibly happen? Well..a lot.

Hibiki will be graduating. Minato’s basically in denial about that. She concerned that Hibiki (and the rest of the band) will reject her. And in the middle of this, Hibiki, ignoring everything that is laying between them, pushes Minato to take the chance of a lifetime. It doesn’t go well when they try and talk it out the first time. Minato is concerned that every joy she has is too fragile to survive the moment.

I loved this series when I reviewed it in Japanese and my fondness for it carries over into the final volume of the English language edition. Girls finding love in band…well, I’ve been there, so yeah. ^_^ Ohsawa Yayoi’s art continues to improve, her characters’ expressions of shock and pain and joy are just fantastic.

The translation by Margaret Ngo and adaptation by MaryKate Jasper was terrific. You could *hear* their voices as Hibiki and Minato have it all out. Extra props to Seven Seas for bumping up almost all the lettering to full retouch. It looks fantastic. I know it’s harder and takes longer, but thank you Mo Harrison for the effort.  Once again a top effort from the team at Seven Seas and an outstanding reading experience. Now can we get 2DK, GPen Meshamashitokei, I wonder?

Beginnings are easy, but picking the first manga I review of the year is hard.  Hello, Melancholic! wraps up something that feels like it began a long time ago, and now we’re all ready to move on into what’s ahead. ^_^

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

I’d give this adorable 3-volume series to anyone who wanted a feel-good schoolgirl Yuri story.