By Yuki Yaku and Fly. Released in Japan as “Jaku Chara Tomozaki-kun” by Gagaga Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Winifred Bird.

If you ever wanted to see someone trip on page 1 and spend the next 276 pages falling to the ground, then have I got a book for you. In all fairness, I should have seen this coming. Everything was going far too smoothly for our boy Tomozaki lately. He’s got friends, he’s got a girlfriend, and he’s even teaching his mentor how to not be some sort of Japanese high school girl cyborg, though signs point to that not really working. But one of those things is a very different beast from the others, and as the book goes on the reader starts to notice how Kikuchi just… isn’t in it. She shows up here and there, she and Tomozaki are cute with each other, but she’s not part of the life he’s trying to live right now, she’s a separate entity. And that leads to everything crashing down for the cliffhanger. So it’s a good thing we’re not gonna have another short-story volume next… hrm? What’s that? Volume 8.5? Ah well We must all suffer.

Things start off well, as our new couple go for a New Year’s shrine visit and run into Izumi and Nakamura, and Tomozaki gets to see what an actual long-time couple who are not worried about doing the wrong thing at all times act like. After that, though, it’s back to assignments – for both our protagonists. Tomozaki has to start working towards his next major goal, which is to be the “head” of a clique of friends. As for Hinami, he takes her to an in-person Atafami meet-up, hoping to show her the fun that can be had in gaming and that it does not have to be as analytical as possible. This meet-up is impactful for him as well; first because he ends up meeting a pro gamer who makes Tomozaki wonder if that’s a future he can do himself; and second, because a college-aged girl named Rena starts hitting on him aggressively… something he does not really handle well at all.

I’m going to be honest here: if your mentor is so emotionally broken that you’re trying to get her to have fun as a goal, why are you trusting her with your romantic thermometer at all? Every time he asked Hinami “is this OK” in regards to Kikuchi’s increasing fragility, I wanted to smack him in the face. She is the LAST person he should be asking. Sigh. But that’s Book 9’s problem, I guess, though if this new romance turns out to be only about 2 weeks long, I fear readers may get annoyed. Other than that, though, Tomozaki does pretty well here. He’s gotten better at asking leading questions without suspicion, and is forcing himself to think about his future in ways that aren’t just “college, I guess” like most of his classmates. I really enjoyed the gaming battle with the pro, not because of the endless pages of Atafami description (again, not a gamer), but because it showed off that there’s a different way of thinking you can access when everything you have is on the line.

Let’s hope Tomozaki accesses that when he tries to rescue his relationship next time. Well, next time after the short stories. Till then, this was painful but excellent.

By Yuki Yaku and Fly. Released in Japan as “Jaku Chara Tomozaki-kun” by Gagaga Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Winifred Bird.

If you don’t want to know who Tomozaki ends up with at the end of this book, be warned I talk about that, but not till the third paragraph.

There’s a lot of metatext in the Tomozaki series. To a degree, it’s deconstructing these sorts of high school romcom series, especially the way that the lead tends to be this asocial schlub who nevertheless has the plot revolve around him. As we’ve seen, it’s only when Tomozaki makes an effort that he gets noticed and gets romantic attention. That said, the series has not forgotten that it’s also a real story and that realistic things need to happen, and as such we get a resolution here to the love triangle between Tomozaki, Mimimi and Kikuchi. But there is a little niggling thought at the back of the reader’s head, because at its core this series is about two people: Tomozaki and Hinami. It’s not a matter of “first girl” or anything, it’s a matter of who gets the most narrative attention. And therefore the most interesting part of the book is when Kikuchi, who sees things from an author’s perspective, tries to abandon her own ship and pair Tomozaki with his *real* girlfriend.

Gumi is on the cover but is just a minor part of this book, which revolves around the culture festival. Tomozaki is dividing his energies between Mimimi and her comedy routine and Kikuchi and her play. What’s more, Hinami is setting him goals that require him to enter one of the girls’ “routes” by the end of the festival, without waffling or putting it off. The trouble is, Tomozaki is still trying to figure out how love and romance work. This can be quite funny, especially when he asks Nakamura for advice, but it’s also really making him miss the forest for the trees. In addition to this, Kikuchi is having trouble with the character Hinami is performing in her play, so she and Tomozaki interview people from Hinami’s past… with some very confusing results. Then we get the festival itself… and Tomozaki realizes he may have been rejected by a “Dear John” play.

I have to feel absolutely horrible for Mimimi. She’s a great kid, and a wonderful character, and her reaction to Tomozaki choosing someone else is very well-handled (possibly as it’s not Hinami he chose). But come on, when someone has to choose between two girls and you come in third, that’s just mean. Kikuchi gets it, though. Mimimi isn’t even on her radar, she knows where the narrative of this story is going, and it’s Hinami. That said, thanks especially to Mimimi kicking his ass, Tomozaki won’t let this lie, and reminds Kikuchi that “this is a story” can only take you so far. I also really liked the idea that it’s possible to be an idealist *and* be selfish, and that it’s not wrong to want to have it all. As a result, by the end of the book, he and Kikuchi are a couple.

Will they be a couple by the end of the series? Mmmmmmm… questioning. After all, there sure was a lot of Hinami baggage dropped in the middle of the book and then just left there. She is the other protagonist in this book. (Also, notably, Tomozaki never said “but I’m not romantically interested in Hinami” or tried to contradict Kikuchi’s play, which surprised me.) For the moment, though, Kikuchi is best girl, and they do make a great couple. As for Mimimi fans… at least she gets the manga spinoff?

By Yuki Yaku and Fly. Released in Japan as “Jaku Chara Tomozaki-kun” by Gagaga Bunko. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Winifred Bird.

As you can tell by the volume number, this is a short story collection. That said, definitely don’t read it till you’ve read the 6th book, as a lot of the back half of this volume deals with what happens in that book. For the most part, Tomozaki is not the focus of this book either, though of course a lot of it has his presence. Instead we get each heroine getting approximately a quarter of the book to get short stories giving us insight into how they think and interact with others. (The exception to this is Suzu, who’s barely mentioned here, and it feels odd she’s left out, especially as this volume is rather short.) The good news is that they’re very good stories, with one exception, and Aoi and Mimimi in particular come off with added insight into their character. Indeed, Aoi continues to worry me. I’ve said before that I find her the most interesting heroine, and that hasn’t changed, but boy, she’s set up for a breakdown somewhere down the road if she keeps this up.

The stories are: Aoi in middle school, slowly becoming the perfect girl we know and are wary of, and dealing with her first boyfriend; Aoi and Tomozaki shopping for winter clothing and learning more about fashion; the girls’ side of the cabin conversation from Book 3 (where we saw the boys’ side); Kukichi in middle school, where she discovers Michael Andi and learns to open up to others – slightly – with the help of a kind librarian; Izumi worrying that her boyfriend is cheating on her; Mimimi feeling at a loss and left behind shortly after she quits the track team, and realizing that just because she quit track does not mean she has to stop running; two other Mimimi POV stories from Vol. 6 that give us her side leading up to and right after her confession; and Tsumugi and her friends spotting Takahiro dressed as a bartender and following him… and indeed, he is working at a bar (to help his brother).

First of all, the Izumi story is the one I didn’t enjoy. “I have little self-esteem so am worried my guy is cheating on me but it all turns out to be a big misunderstanding” makes me roll my eyes at the best of times, and this one has no surprises at all. Other than that, this was quite a good book. Aoi’s “how can I manipulate this situation to my advantage” mindset is exactly as you’d expect, and is even more “impressive” given that she hasn’t even gotten into gaming yet at this point in the story. That said, we do also see a nervous middle-schooler at the core of her actions, and are reminded that being a popular girl has its own dangers. Mimimi’s stories are also fantastic, and I feel the most for her, I think, as she also tends to “put on a persona” around others, but isn’t sure how to move on or grow up the way everyone else is. Indeed, Tomozaki’s growth and development both impresses and annoys her, and likely leads to her confession… and immediate complete panic afterwards.

So yes, I do think this is not the usual irrelevant short story collection, but actually has good plot and character beats. The voices of the girls in their narratives all sounded very different as well, so kudos to the author and translator for that. Next time, presumably, we finally resolve the love triangle? Maybe?