Memory loss is no fun, I can attest to that. When I was younger, I had a mind like a steel trap, now I frequently struggle to remember things that happened moments ago. As I read Cheerful Amnesia, Volume 3, I also struggled with the relationship between Mari and Arisa.

Despite neither of them (or their doctors or the author) creating any plan for Arisa to regain her memories, Arisa and Mari are bullishly moving forward, just sort of pretending that being together is enough. They both think about sex with the other, but neither has the emotional wherewithal to have a real conversation, so they end up missing each other’s meaning. Over and over. It is hard to take them seriously as a couple.

 Arisa and Mari genuinely are interested in one another. Arisa even goes so far to ask Mari to marry her. But Arisa’s memories are not only coming back, she’s losing her memory of nights they spend together now. And no matter how many womp-womp noises you make as you draw that, it’s going to read as a concerning thing, not all that funny.

There is a problem with this sort of “awkward comedy.” It gets really tired after we’ve all heard the joke. And something has to give here, and the thing that gives is the cause of Arisa’s amnesia in the first place. Turns out that it’s because “too many good things happened…!”

I know it’s meant as comedy. I know. I just… . I laughed at loud at She Can’t Say No To The Lonely Girl! I swear I’m not an anti-comedy curmudgeon – I am a profoundly pro-comedy curmudgeon. But this just feels like a thin joke dragged out too long and I have a creeping feeling I know the punchline of this series is going to be Mari losing her memory and we do this all over again….

If you’re used to Oku Tamamushi’s art, Arisa’s gaping mouth won’t come as a surprise  – to me it reads like she’s always inappropriately loud. Mari’s pained reactions in some cases are understandable. This story isn’t complicated, so translator Jenny McKeon has some work to do to make us care about Mari and Arisa. As usual, she is successful. The panels are, likewise very empty, so I’m a bit sad that letter Chiho Chritie was not given time or money to do full retouch.

Next volume  it looks like these two are going to go through a whirlwind journey of getting Arisa to stop collapsing, coming out to their parents and getting married. Can the final volume  take up the slack in the rest of the series? We’ll find out next month, when Volume 4 hits shelves in September, from Yen Press.

Ratings:

Art – 7 Noticeably better again
Story – 7 It’s try, but do what, I’m not sure
Characters – 7 They are adults who need to grow up already
Service – “Sexy” things. Sigh.
Yuri – 9

Overall – 7

Many thanks to Yen Press for the review copy. I’m really hoping Volume 4 makes this story a triumph.

Sakurai Ayaka is an excellent student who sucks at tests. A teacher offers her a recommendation to the college Ayaka aims for with a pretty manipulative twist – get a missing student back into the classroom and she’ll get that recommendation. Ayaka agrees, with some legitimate concerns and finds herself again subject to someone else’s whims. Classmate Honda Sora will only come back if Ayaka succumbs to one request” a day…and that request might even be a kiss!

Volume 1 of this series was very cute and also quite problematic, at the same time.

As I Can’t Say No to the Lonely Girl, Volume 2 evolves, both Ayaka and Sora are trying to understand what they mean to each other. Having met in such an unconventional (and frankly unpleasant) way, neither Ayaka nor Sora really have any way to understand how they feel.

The school sports day festival isn’t helping…but a new transfer student is. Watanabe sees what is going on and jumps right in to make sure they have to talk about it…at least a little. This leads to a chuckle out loud moment when Sora wonders how the costume for three-legged race that she’s just been subbed into fits her so well.

In the meantime, it’s hard to not be rooting for Sora and Ayaka as they navigate other people’s expectations, their own reticence and the unknown.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 7, but climbing
Characters – 8
Service – 0
Yuri – pushing upwards at 6

Overall – 8

If, at this point, you are wondering what the deal is with Sora, her level of disassociation seems really high for no reason, tune back in for Volume 3…there is definitely a reason.

Oh, and I’m sorry. I localized the author’s name as Kashikaze and that’s what Kodansha uses, but just to complicate things, the author localizes their name as Kashykaze in Comic Yuri Hime now. Woops.