We Were There 3
March 18, 2009
This series still reminds me a lot of Sand Chronicles. Both are very quiet and understated, and rely more on small events in day-to-day life rather than big dramatic events to drive the plot. Both also have a character death hanging over one member of the couple that quietly influences everything.
This volume is full of little hints of larger things to come. Takahashi is friends with Takeuchi, Yano’s friend, and it’s clear that Takeuchi has a crush on Takahashi (or Nanami, as I will call her, because the Takahashi/Takeuchi names tripped me up a bit while I was reading). Yano also seems to be both bad about keeping secrets from Nanami and jealous of secrets she keeps from him, even if they are as innocent as shopping for a Christmas present. He also seems to have something for his old girlfriend’s younger sister, which is unfortunate because I like the relationship between Nanami and Yano so much.
As Michelle pointed out in her review of volume 2, this series has really, really shoujo-y art. I think it has a lot to do with the shooting stars screentone that appears frequently. It would be laughable if the series didn’t do absolutely everything with a straight face. The first page is pretty shoujo-y, with the star screentone broken out over a full page once again with some fairly girly dialogue.
This series is quite good, and I think it’s safe to say that I enjoy this just as much and for the same reasons I enjoy Sand Chronicles. It’s different in its seriousness, its mood, its outlook… it’s just kind of a breath of fresh air as far as the usual high school shoujo romance goes. It’s definitely worth a read. I’ve got the first volume I still need to read, and I should probably do that just to see how hard Nanami worked to win Yano over.
This was a review copy provided by Viz.
March 18, 2009 at 12:11 pm
[...] of Totally Captivated (Manga Recon) Julie on vol. 6 of Vampire Knight (Manga Maniac Cafe) Connie on vol. 3 of We Were There (Slightly Biased [...]
March 18, 2009 at 12:46 pm
Yano is kind of scary, I think. Or maybe just intimidating. I’ve yet to read vol. 3 but I got a seriously ominous vibe from vol. 2. I keep thinking he’s going to go off in some violent way.
March 20, 2009 at 7:00 am
He is kind of scary, actually. His opinions and stuff tend to be all over the place too, which is a little disconcerting. One thing I forgot to mention in the review, but found a little weird, was how sexually forward Yano was in this volume. He’s not forceful, but he brings it up a lot, and the main character usually shoots him down, but it’s a little weird given how understated the rest of the emotional stuff has been treated. Normally I root for a little sexual exploration (not necessarily for the sex, just because such things are usually left alone and it seems like it could open up a lot of story possibilities), but here it seems weirdly out of place.