In Volume 1, we met Ohsawa Aya, a fashionable girl in most ways – except for her retro taste in music. When she walks into a shabby CD store Aya goes gaga over the cool person working behind the counter. Aya falls hard for the person, not realizing that it is the same person she sits next to every single day at school – the apparently aloof Koga Mitsuki. They bond over their shared love of Gen X music.

In Volume 2, the two girls start to think a little bit about their feelings, about each other’s feelings and about their feelings about those feelings.  ^_^ They have little time to process this, though, as student life continues apace. Introverted Mitsuki is scandalized when Aya and her friends include her in their group for the class trip! She appreciates the gesture – but all that socializing, and hair, makeup, boys conversation exhausts her. And of course exam time creates a whole new burden to get past. Koga’s good at what she’s good at…but really bad at everything else. (Well…duh.)

In an interesting turn, we meet Mitsuki’s Uncle Joe’s ex, Kanna, who lives in the US. Kanna is a force of nature, getting to know Aya and even goes so far as to invite Mitsuki to stay with her. I really enjoyed that Joe and Kanna both speak about their history together, so they aren’t just being weird adults with a history, but become fully fleshed out for us. Joe, in particular. Other than a smoking habit, he seems a standup kinda guy. His affection for his niece is very apparent and sincere. I love that, honestly.

Finally, Mitsuki and Aya get a moment alone…and it’s as wonderful as you might imagine. The thing that has brought them together is music. Mitsuki plays for Aya and asked her to share “her rock” with her. At this point, they both know what is going on between them, but they are working hard to make it their own.

This volume was much tighter narratively than the first. Arai-sensei’s art has has  a nice balance between the textured perspectives of street art  she was exploring online and a more standard manga style. Panels are often broken out from and angles are still creative – as one can see from the cover.

And what good timing that this was on the to-review pile for today because Manga Mogura – who is usually very good with insider knowledge – broke the news on Twitter that this series has been picked up for an English language release….and maybe Denpa Books has the license.

Muzzle Inc notes that there is a second Kininatteru Hito Ga Otoko Janakatta Pop-Up Shop in the Ginza and Umeda Loft stores this month. And, finally, the Kininatteru Hito Ga Otoko Janakatta Drama CD will be available next month from Frontierworks (who did such an outstanding job on the Hayate x Blade Drama CDs that I still think about scenes from them all the time.)

So it’s a good week for fans of Arai-sensei’s series all around. ^_^

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 8
Characters – 8 I definitely like the uncle
Service – 2 Mitsuki being cool is this series’ service
Yuri – 6

Overall – 8

The Yuri has landed, they will probably make great music together. What songs will we hear? Keep up to date with new chapters on Comic Walker! or we’ll see you in Volume 3!