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Reviews
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Tuesday, 10 June 2008 |
 | | ▪ | RELEASED BY: | | DEL REY | | | ▪ | AUTHOR / ART: | | TOMOKO HAYAKAWA | | | ▪ | FORMAT: | | JAPANESE / B&W | | | ▪ | PAGES: | | 186 | | | ▪ | RATING: | | OT | | | ▪ | RELEASE DATE: | | 04/0152008 | | | ▪ | REVIEW DATE: | | 06/09/2008 | | | ▪ | REVIEWED BY: | | HOLLY ELLINGWOOD |
Growing pains gain a hilarious quality of horror the way only Wallflower can deliver this volume. Shock of all shocks, Sunako has been invited to a mixer and the boys are delighted. She however is not. In fact the mention of boys and love are sending her into the fetal position as the trauma of what made her the scary Goth girl she is today comes back to torment her psyche further. Kyohei again tries to stop her in her tailspin and reaches through to her when nobody else can. But I don’t think anyone had in mind what Sunako would do when she comes out of her funk. First there is the mixer, and then there is a side story with Yuki and his twin siblings which reveals Sunako’s maternal side. Later Takunaga and Noi have an argument and it leads him to working in a host club, something the ultra serious boy would never normally do and intensely hate. But it shows his odd form of devotion to his girl and her reaction has an interesting turn around for him. This volume is full of warm hearted surprises. Sunako evolves a bit this volume, just a little. The big Sunako test happens when she’s invited to a school reunion and ends up having to face not only all the terrible memories from the awful day that catapulted her into the horror fetishist she is now, but also face to face with the very same boy who so cruelly rejected her all that time ago. The result is surprising. As with the mixer, her friendship with the boys at the mansion prove to be a strength (however humorously at times) that helps teach her to accept herself as she is, not who others want to change her into. It’s a set of empowering chapters for Sunako and it was a charming and rewarding read. Manga extras include translation notes.
IN SUMMARY:
Sunako is confronted by the boy who harshly rejected her in the latest volume of Wallflower. |
