Baby & Me 2
Posted: December 18, 2009 Filed under: Baby & Me 1 Comment »Marimo Ragawa – Viz – 2006 – 18 volumes
I really liked the themes of growing up in this volume. I noticed that Minoru’s age is left ambiguous, which leaves room for things like seeing him growing more independent of Takuya by doing things like dressing himself and speaking a little more. There’s also cute coming-of-age-type stories for both boys, though Minoru’s story of a love triangle in preschool between two younger sisters of Takuya’s friends is a little more silly than Takuya’s story about going through the first stages of maturity and feeling alienated from Minoru as he grows older.
There are also cute family chapters. I’m a little surprised that the father isn’t featured more prominently, but I suppose that’s to give the impression that the boys really do take care of themselves frequently. There were still one or two really adorable family stories in this volume, something else I love reading here since the familial relationships are so genuinely sweet and aren’t over-dramatic or ruined with bad humor, something you frequently see.
I also liked that this volume was a little less dark and depressing. I wouldn’t mind seeing chapters like that come up again, since it’s true that Takuya does have a lot to deal with since the death of his mother, but the two or so chapters of it in the last volume was probably too large a dose.
With the heavy maturity focus, I would love to see the characters age and progress as the series progresses. I’m not sure that happens (I seem to remember Minoru still being a baby in volume 13), but even if it’s just small things like in this volume, I don’t mind a little progress.
Good stuff. Good characters, mostly, which makes the slice-of-life stories a pleasure to read. Very touching.
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