Yayoi Ogawa

The balance between romance and sports seems to constantly elude the artist as this manga never fully satisfies for either. By the time the story has shifted between scenes with all its extensive cast, it just feels like an old-fashioned soap opera, leaving you anticipating that something is surely about to happen while nothing ever really does. I mean, it's not unpleasant, but I'm getting a little frustrated with everything just going in circles or treading water as Chitose and Kokoro cycle through their on-again, off-again romance.

The big thing this volume is Kokoro discovering that ~gasp~ there are gay men in figure skating. And we finally meet his rumored fiancée who has been teased for a while now. As I've mentioned before, the supporting cast is immensely more interesting than the leads.

I'm sticking with the series for now, but I could see it dropping off my radar without some sort of shake-up in the near future.… (mais)

The main couple is soooo romantically awkward that the evil manager's crassness toward them and manipulation of them are actually seeming more and more reasonable, and she may now be my favorite character in the book.

The cliffhanger tells me there are going to be a lot of artificial obstacles tossed in during the course of this series, but I find myself wanting to continue, so I'm asking the library to buy more. I do worry I will have forgotten most this cast of dozens by the time I have a chance to return to the story.… (mais)