We Were There 10

Yuki Obata – Viz – 2010 – 13+ volumes

As much as I love this series, I think I will dread reading every new volume after the things we learned in the last one.  This volume starts what is at least a 2-volume flashback telling Yano’s story while he was in high school.  I know it doesn’t go anywhere I want it to.  I keep thinking that the information we received in the last volume won’t be what I think it is, but… yeah.  The end of this volume leaves very little room for doubt.

To be fair, I like the technique, in retrospect.  We are learning Yano’s side of the story firsthand, so we can see just how badly things went for him in Tokyo.  We aren’t tainted by Nanami’s feelings or anything like that… we are just seeing things how they happen.  I also like the way Sengenji is being handled, too.  She’s sympathetic, and nothing she does is particularly underhand or even mean-spirited, it’s just how any normal, nice high school girl with a crush would act.  It’s hard to hate her in Yano’s version of the story, as you inevitably would if we were learning things from Nana’s side.

The dread I felt in reading this, knowing it was going into a slow crash-and-burn, was nothing compared to what was happening to Yano.  The bad feelings just stacked up as his mother began having money problems, he began working whenever he wasn’t at school and letting his studies slide, and then something terrible happened to his mother.  Even the good things he tries to call to himself, like Lalami, just aren’t working for him.

How depressing.  On one hand, I think the next volume will be more uplifting because Sengenji will be there for him.  On the other hand, the Sengenji issue could have been avoided if he would only open up to Nanami more.  Yano isn’t exactly a sympathetic character.  At all.  Actually, yes, there’s even more Yamamoto abuse in this volume, although I just… hate her role.  I hate how both she and Yano act, and Yano finally makes things clear between them.

Depressing, but still an excellent read.  Probably still at the very top of my good, non-trashy shoujo stack, although I have to admit the downers in every volume do wear on you after awhile.  That’s just what it does, though.

This was a review copy provided by Viz.