Manga Maniac Cafe For the Geek in all of us

Title: Love*Com Vol 10

Author:  Aya Nakahara

Publisher: Viz

ISBN:  9781421517438

May Contain Spoilers

Sigh.  I just don’t know what to make of Risa.  Either she truly is as dumb, and I mean this with all due respect, as a rock, or she is the most heartless female in manga. Why’s that, you ask.  Let me tell you – and I’m sure that after enumerating her sins, you’ll doubt that even she could be this stupid.  So, let’s begin!

First, she’s not exactly the most supportive of girlfriends.  Sure, sure, she’s behind Otani’s efforts to make it into college, but only after mocking him for almost an entire volume.  Next to her, he has to be one of the dumbest characters in comics, so I can understand why she has doubts.  School work and studying have never been high on the agenda, so both of them are sadly lacking in the reading and writing department.  Still, when Otani declared with such determination that he was going to make it into college, what did Risa do? Laugh!  And remind him repeatedly that a few months of cramming can’t make up for years of neglecting one’s brain matter.  A caring girlfriend would have been there with snacks and tea, ready to give a shoulder rub! (Ok, only in Otani’s dreams.)

Crime number two – Risa keeps letting herself get into compromising positions.  Who cares that she was asleep when co-worker Kohori leans over to give her a kiss?  Otani certainly didn’t , and he had the bad timing to catching them in the act.  And when Kohori is suffering from a fever, Risa just can’t stop from taking him home so he can rest.  How can she explain that to Otani, when Haruka blabs about seeing another shrimpy guy on the back of her bicycle? Otani doesn’t care that Kohori became ill because he lent his umbrella to Risa on a stormy day.  She shouldn’t have been caught in the rain without one!

The worst of her offenses – Risa loves Umibozu, and like chocolate or flowers to most girls, that’s the path straight to her heart.  How did little Kohori discover this weakness?  When he offers up a ticket to an intimate Umibozu concert, does Risa turn him down and remind him that she’s got a boyfriend?  No!  She jumps at the chance to go see her idol in a closer setting than normal.  She’ll sell her soul to see Umibozu, and that’s just about what happens here.  When Otani finds out, he is less than thrilled, though maybe it’s because he’s jealous that he didn’t get to go??

Yes, Risa learns the hard way that trust, once lost, is hard to win back.  And that all of her classmates think that she digs really short guys because she’s gotten herself in such a tangle with Otani and Kohori.  How did her selfish desire to see Umibozu cost her Otani’s love?  I couldn’t decide whether to feel sorry for her or wish that someone would knock some common sense into her thick skull.  Bad luck can’t explain everything that happened, but an utter lack of common sense can.  So, brainless or heartless?  I’ll let you be the judge.

Grade: B+

Rated for Teen

Review copy provided by Viz