We Were There 8
Posted: December 15, 2009 Filed under: We Were There Leave a comment »Yuki Obata – Viz – 2010 – 13+ volumes
Hm. The series takes a turn at the end of this volume and sets itself on another track. This happens on the last two pages, so I’m not sure what that means for future volumes. I am both happy and sad. It definitely needed a change of pace so that it didn’t fall into the same sort of rut I dislike about Sand Chronicles, but I think I will miss the happy times that began in this volume.
The plot twist here was a little disappointing, only because it’s the sort of thing serious romances use as a major dramatic twist all the time. This twist always goes the same way, except there was a definite… er, well, they told you that this one doesn’t have a happy ending like they normally do, which is We Were There to a T. There’s not much happy about this series. It takes all the usual romance plot devices and makes them ten times sadder by making them far more subtle and easy to relate to.
But again, this volume is a happy one. Motoharu and Nana work their way out of a rut, and with college hanging over their heads and a major decision for Motoharu to make, they get to act all lovey-dovey and go on a nice trip together for the first time… ever. When they play nice together, it is very sweet, and I am no longer wondering about the sincerity of what they say, because they both seem to genuinely love each other, without a doubt. Removing the doubt from the series is good, but it’ll make it hurt that much worse when something terrible happens down the line. I predict blindness or something, though that’s obviously not the case on that last page.
But there’s still nothing quite as touching and sincere as the drama in We Were There. It can be a serious downer, even when we get a happy volume like this, but it really is a wonderful read, and it looks like it’ll be keeping itself interesting for at least a few more volumes.
This was a review copy provided by Viz.
