Trigger Warning: Death

In this volume, the gang goes to the carnival fair for rides and food. Noaka and Shoko ride the ferris wheel and have an unpleasant interaction. This volume dives a little into the Nishimiya Family’s past - how they reacted to finding out Shoko was deaf and how their mother became a single mom. It also shows how kind and gentle granny is.

This volume shows my deeper hatred for Naoka. I don’t understand how everyone is still dealing with her and her ridiculousness. I’m hoping there may be some kind of character redemption arc or something but I’m not holding my breath for it either…

We also learn so much more about Granny and her relationship with the women of the Nishimiya’s family and it’s so heartbreaking. I was told this was a sad manga, now I know why!

Still can’t wait for the next volume. I’m just glad I found them after they all came out, but having to wait after each volume would have been a killer. ( )

5.0

The best volume so far. Man this manga will punch you in the feels. ( )

Shoya, Shoko, and others have a fun/awkward day at an amusement park. Naoka tries (unsuccessfully) to reunite Shoya and an old school friend of his. She also tries to talk to Shoko, but Shoya later learns that it went badly, with Naoka saying that Shoko ruined things for Shoya and her. Shoko ended the conversation by saying that she hated herself. The volume ends on a sad (but less strained) note, with Shoko and Yuzuru's grandma's death, which is when we learn why Shoko's mom is the way she is. Her husband divorced her for having a deaf child, leaving her to support two kids on her own (she'd only just realized she was pregnant with Yuzuru when her husband ditched her), with only her mother for support.

I liked this volume more than the previous one, because at least the second half was less strained and awful-feeling. I prefer this series when it really digs into the characters' thoughts and lives, and this volume provided a deeper look at the women who raised Shoko and Yuzuru. I still don't really like Shoko and Yuzuru's mom (using sign language at the dinner table is “indecent,” according to her), but this volume left me feeling like I understood her a bit better. Still, thank goodness Shoko and Yuzuru's grandma was warm, gentle, and supportive towards them, because their mother sure wasn't. Ugh.

I am still frustrated with the way this series is avoiding Shoko's POV. The conversation at the amusement park indicated that there's definitely more going on there than she usually lets people see.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) ( )