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avjung27 's review for:
My Love Mix-Up!, Vol. 4
by Aruko, Wataru Hinekure
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
With the winter chill, love lives should be warming up, but not for Aoki and Ida. Instead after Aoki suddenly breaks it off with Ida, they’re stuck right back where they started. Confused. Uncertain of the future. Lonely? Hashimoto and Aida, on the other hand, start to find common ground that might bring them together just yet.
Not gonna lie, part way through I thought this volume might bring me back to a 5 star for the series. I liked the way that Aoki and Ida handled their newest drama, and it was easy to understand why Aoki was getting worried. I was thinking that we hadn’t got too much push back since they’re a gay couple. It was kind of nice not having to center too much around the fears that came with that, but fair enough. It’s not like I’m too surprised about the fears of being treated differently just because they’re not straight young men.
Hashimoto is attempting to move forward, and Aida seems to be responding to it. He might be a playboy, fool of a guy, but he’s listening to her the best that he can. It’s pretty sweet of him. I like this couple, even if they fall to the wayside a bit.
Let’s get into why this didn’t rise up in stars again, falling instead. I get that this manga is centered around teen drama. The relationship is going to come and go in waves. We’re going to get confused. We’re going to see the characters get confused. Sometimes, they might get confused for no good reason. That’s fine. That’s understandable. What I’m not digging as much is the sudden doubting for no real reason. It’s one thing for there to be a misunderstanding or miscommunication. For the sudden jump back into drama at the end of this volume it just felt sudden and not super believable. I think it could have been handled better, basically. If we got a page or two of Aoki realizing that Ida acts the exact same way with him as he does the rest of the group at the shrine. Or heck, I would have even taken some jealousy of him with Kokoro over him just suddenly being depressed again. I get that he was freaking out over the fact that Ida hadn’t said whether he likes him or not, but there didn’t seem to be much of a catalyst as to why he was suddenly freaking out about that again.
There’s nothing here that’s big enough to stop me from reading on in the series. I’m pretty excited for the next volume, but I hope we can have some other reasons for drama in their relationship than Aoki just not vocalizing enough. I get that it’s not something that can be fixed in a day, and he’s not just going to suddenly be okay with speaking his thoughts towards the relationship but it is starting to get a little dry for drama. I want something a little more juicy. Even some jealousy from Ida might be a good way to bring a new old twist.