▪	RELEASED BY:		DEL REY
		▪	AUTHOR / ART:		TOSHIHIKO KOBAYSAHI
		▪	FORMAT:		JAPANESE  / BW
		▪	PAGES:		217
		▪	RATING:		OT
		▪	RELEASE DATE:		06/26/2007
		▪	REVIEW DATE:		07/01/2007
		▪	REVIEWED BY:		CHRISTOPHER SEAMAN

Yuu is back.  Mugi is happy.  But what is this?  Only the beginning of Volume Seven of PASTEL?  Indeed, and thus the story is far from over.  In fact, in some ways, it is just beginning…

PASTEL is a sweet, funny and even poignant romantic comedy from Del Rey.  The story is centered on the life of Mugi, a teenaged boy who has a flare for cooking, and his housemate and love interest Yuu, who must masquerade as his cousin so as not to scandalize the neighbors.  We have seen these two grow closer together in the face of various calamities as each volume came out.  In the last volume, Yuu and her little sister, Tsukasa, left Mugi’s home to go live with their recently divorced mother in Tokyo.  After a year of Yuu and Tsukasa’s company, Mugi was back to living alone while his photographer father traveled the world.  Volume Six was probably the bleakest of the books up to that point.

Then Yuu returned.  Attending college locally, she moved back in with Mugi, but without Tsukasa in tow.  Mugi is overjoyed, but now the problems started again.   

PASTEL Volume Seven is something of a departure from the other volumes in the series.  We now have Yuu and Mugi living together without any distractions from little sisters, kooky parents, or guest pests of other descriptions (except for Sayuri at the beginning, who scandalizes them by walking around practically naked in the house).  It is like Toshihiko Kobayashi has reset the clock in the narrative, and is now taking us in a new direction.  Clearly where the sexual tension between Yuu and Mugi is concerned, this is true.  In the previous volumes fan service and cute bedroom farce type scenarios played out in the story, causing laughter and embarrassment at almost every turn for Mugi.  We still have some of that.  However, with the two characters alone in the house, the sexual tension has taken on a new dimension, and Mugi is finding he is having more fantasies about Yuu than before, and the nature of these daydreams is becoming harder to conceal from her.  Add to that the cheerleaders he has working in his corner- Sayuri and Kazuki- are pushing him hard to make his move on her.  Kazuki even goes so far as to give Mugi a condom, to prove he is a man. 

Complications arise, however, when Yuu accidentally breaks the bathtub, forcing Mugi to get some extra work to pay for the damage so as not to embarrass her or force her to dip into some inheritance money she has.  In pursuing this, Mugi ends up for working for Hana, a young restauranteur who has a sparky, highly combustible personality, and who looks almost exactly like his old girlfriend from before he met Yuu.  It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out what happens next…

Or will it?

This is where PASTEL works so well, but where it is also becoming a bit tedious.  As in other romance comedy manga from Japan, PASTEL has this tortuous narrative of repressed feelings, where the boy or girl in question is tearing apart inside with angst over unexpressed love.  “I can’t say anything, because then…” is a line often repeated in these stories.  Perhaps it is a Japanese thing, but we forthright North Americans may find this a bit annoying after awhile.  Honestly, Mugi…declare, or shut the heck up!  And now that Hana is on the scene, we can expect this horror of the heart to be stretched out for at least another volume.  Yuu is portrayed as being a bit clueless in understanding Mugi’s feelings, but Mugi goes so far to hide them one cannot really blame her.  On the other hand, if Mugi is seen near Hana, Yuu becomes very jealous.  These two need help from those relationship experts we see on television.

Seriously, though, the artwork, design, and dialogue still shine in this story.  The plot is fast paced, and the characters remain as endearing as ever.  PASTEL has some useful notes provided by Del Rey at the end of the story, helping us non-Japanese understand the culture better.      

IN SUMMARY:
If wizards and demons aren’t to your liking this summer, read PASTEL.  PASTEL is a romance comedy this tickles our sense of humor, teases us with its romantic misadventures, and delights us with its cheerful spirit and irresistible charm.  Summer reading is about as much as it gets in PASTEL.