I first encountered this series in 2020 when I found it at Gamers in Akihabara, with bonus clearfile by artist Fly. I reviewed volume 1 and 2 in English and Japanese here on Okazu…then I kind of forgot about it. Volume two had a “Waiting for Godot” feel and even though it was obvious that we were going to learn what happened to Sahoko and Aoi back in high school, I found it hard to care.

As soon as I began reading Chasing After Aoi Koshiba, Volume 4, I remembered why. The high school drama felt very high school, with like and dislikes and confessions and whatnot. It’s not compelling. The entire time I was reading this series, I was really hoping we’d spend more time with the characters ten years later at the reunion.

But this volume did two things that turned everything around and let me tell you how impressed I was!

Firstly, the high school portion of the story ended in a way I did not expect at all. It was the right ending, but I had been steeling myself against the inevitable wrong ending. I was so surprised and pleased. Then the reunion arc also ended in a way that I would not have expected. I don’t know if it was the right way or not – it was a powerful ending that ended the story, for sure. There was no moving forward after that. I wouldn’t call it brave,  but it took some small risk and I appreciate that. More series need to really think about whether relationships ought to work. Takeoka Hazuki put some thought into that. I appreciate it.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 7
Characters – 7
Service – 1
Yuri – 6

Overall – 7

The team at Kodansha did good work with this volume, although I felt that $10.99 price point for a digital was a little much, given that they print price was $12.99.  The ending was better than I expected, but whether it makes the whole series worth a read will be up to you. For me, it was always about the art, which is slick as hell.