In Volume 7, Shiho finally addressed the elephant in her room and admitted that the source of her bad temper was unrequited love. Having shot her shot, it remains for Aki to respond. In Sasayakuyouni Koi wo Utau, Volume 8, (ささやくように恋を唄う) she does, in a very public way.

Remember – it is still the Battle of the Bands during the school festival. Aki chooses the intro of their final song…a song she changes the set list to include…to explain to Shiho that she has never rejected her, and would actually be happy being together. Their rivalry was mostly created out of whole cloth by Shiho as a way to deny her feelings and Aki’s response is to do a cover of a song she and Shiho performed when they were in their original band together. Once again, Himari has to be the crowbar that makes Shiho’s immovable object move. Of course Shiho was going to run from Aki…because that’s what she’s been doing for this entire time. Thanks to Himari, Shiho was right there to jump on stage and accept Aki’s feelings.

And then we learn that despite that added bit of show, the SSGirls still came in second to Lorelei. Boo. But it was all in good fun and now Shiho has got to learn how to be a human again. ^_^

This volume has fantastic paneling, absolutely wonderful. When contrasted with the sad little affair of the anime, the pages here are even more vibrant, fluid, varied and imaginative. How frustrating to have had one’s work mauled by a low budget and uncaring production committee. I really feel for Takeshima-sensei, the animators and seiyuu who all worked so hard. The battle of the bands would have been terrific musically, even if the animation was basically PowerPoint slides. Instead of gnashing my teeth, I’ll recommend reading this volume and imagining how amazing it might have been.

Ratings:

Art – 9
Story – 8
Characters – 8
Service – 0
Yuri – 8

Himari and Yori are a couple, now Aki and Shiho…who is even left at this school unpaired? Well, there is someone. But first, Shiho has got to learn to be a human again. ^_^

Whisper Me A Love Song, Volume 8 is out now from Kodansha, so we’re caught up to this point in English. Volume 9 and Volume 10 are out in Japanese and I have to catch up!