13012 cr points
Send Message:
M
 Offline
|
So... if you loved the anime adaptation of March comes in like a lion...
Spoiler Alert! Click to show or hide you really should read the manga.
I'm not going to try to recap everything that happened after the anime ended, but just write some reactions to the most recent volume. Rei's shocking (if weirdly logical from his perspective) confession to Hina is sort of left hanging for a while, although the immediate problem of the Kawamoto's derelict father is resolved. While Hina and Rei are close, as a romantic relationship, it's portrayed as rather one-sided--but we never are really allowed into Hina's point of view of the matter. At the close of volume 13, a repentant Kyouko makes an appearance, which only highlights the loose end that is her deeply unhealthy relationship with Rei. But while she now has a sense of how poorly she treated him, and the significance of Rei's new life with the Kawamotos, they never meet--and my original expectation was that she would serve as a plot device with regards to Hina and Rei.
To her credit, Umino does NOT at all do that in volume 14, but instead lets us into Hina's perspective of her relationship with Rei. IMO, it's made pretty clear Hina has romantic feelings for Rei, but the main obstacles are her insecurities with regards to her own father's abandonment, and how she compares to the older and seemingly perfect Akari. After the manga spending a lot of time on the issue of finding a match for Akari, who in addition to taking care of her sisters also bore the burden of seeing her father abandon her mother, it's made clear that Hina also desperately fears Rei leaving the Kawamotos, as her father did. And in Hina's view, the solution to this fear is Akari, whose beauty, kindness, and cooking are sure to keep Rei around. The reader knows this is a mis-perception, but it makes sense that Hina would see things this way. Even though both Hina and Rei go to the same high school, Rei has always been in the world of adults since they met, and his closeness to Akari is pretty clear to everyone (although the adults can see it's not at all romantic). I also don't think Hina has a real sense of the depths of Rei's prior depression, and her own importance in pulling him out of that. And it's also made clear that Hina's love and admiration for her sister leads her to think of herself as an inferior match, and the issue of Akari's long term happiness also weighs on her mind. But despite her words to the contrary, Hina's true desires are reflected in the tears she sheds as she claims that she wants Rei to be with Akari, her almost desperate hope that Rei can see how happy she is at the cultural festival, and her desire to thank him for all he's done for *her* specifically. And Rei, being Rei, makes it back in time despite his un-hinged teachers, and they have their moment. There's no explicit confession, but I see flags everywhere, and it's a sweet moment.
I still think Rei will need to meet Kyouko again, and some closure will be needed there, but it was nice to see Umino NOT use a cliche like a meeting that revives Hina's jealousy to get some movement on that front.
|
33086 cr points
Send Message:
26 / M / U.S.A.
 Offline
|
I recently caught up myself because I really like Umino Chica's work. Is the vol out already?
|
13012 cr points
Send Message:
M
 Offline
|
Yes, vol. 14 is out.
|