I Hate You More Than Anyone 4

One thing I don’t like about this series is the excessive use of violence as a sight gag.  I figured this would settle down after a few volumes, but it’s still out in full force.  Particularly any scene with Maki and any scene with both Kazuha and Senko.  The friendship between Kazuha and Senko is a really sweet one, but they’re both just so violent towards one another that it makes it hard to appreciate sometimes.

The one thing this series does have is amazing characters, which makes up for a lot.   I’ve fallen in love with the entire Honjo family at this point.  Elder and younger brother along with mother are just too good at being creepy and giving good advice.  The elder Honjo is a particularly good character, as he’s a good friend to Maki, gives good advice to Kazuha, and seems to be a potential love interest for Senko.  He’s also awesomely apathetic and great at putdowns.  I love him.  I want to be him when I grow up.

Maki is also pretty awesome.  Not just because he’s a total girl when it comes to Kazuha, but he also gets a really great scene with Senko towards the end of the volume, too.

The romance between Maki and Kazuha has stalled a bit.  They are still on good terms and everything seems to be mutual at this point, but it doesn’t really move forward.  I have a feeling it will remain in tepid waters like this for a long time.  With a cast of secondary characters like this series has, it’s easy to avoid the big issues like this one while still delivering decent shoujo moments between the two.

Most of the volume is actually about Kazuha getting a job as a part-timer at the Honjo salon.  She starts at the bottom and is apparently going to work her way up.  This is where the Honjo mother is introduced, and we also get a new character named Moritaka that provides some turmoil for the duration of the volume.  She looks like she’ll be hanging around in the cast of secondary characters too, which is fine because she’s got plenty of personality and definition to stick around.  Again, I am in awe over how good the characters are in this series.

I’ve got one more volume of this in reserve, but I’m liking it enough that I’ll probably go out and buy 6 and 7 as well.  I just like shoujo.  I can’t help it.