[Review] Ao Haru Ride, Vol. 5 - Io Sakisaka

Summary: Futaba Yoshioka thought all boys were loud and obnoxious until she met Kou Tanaka in junior high. But as soon as she realized she really liked him, he had already moved away because of family issues. Now, in high school, Kou has reappeared, but is he still the same boy she fell in love with?

Futaba Yoshioka has encountered her first love again in high school, but he seems different from the boy she once knew. She realizes her feelings for Kou are not because of who he was in the past, but who he is now. When she discovers that her friend Yuri has a crush on him, Futaba is unsure what to do. (Pub Date: Jun 04, 2019)

If you haven't read the first volume yet, this is the story of Futaba, who meets her first love some years after never getting to fulfill her feelings for him. Now he even goes by another family name so much he's changed, but deep down the kindness from those days shows.

You can check our review here!

Surely my favorite manga among the ones I've been reading and this volume is keeping it up, even though it wasn't as exciting as the previous one, so I'd call it a rounded-up 3.5. Still, the scenes with the main couple are totally wort it, any reader would fall in love with the chemistry between Futaba and Kou. It's also a very quick read so much you feel engrossed, you won't regret giving this a try.

There'll be spoilers for those who haven't read volume 4 from here on, so please do not proceed.

It seems we're in the middle of a love triangle about to turn into a double triangle, which is something I'm not fond of. Honestly, it's not what happened that turned me off, but seeing what seems to be the route the author has picked for the next volumes. In other words, I think my anxiousness may have gotten in the way of my enjoyment.

We continue being introduced to the other guy, who is actually cute. He's interested in Futaba, but we get to see his interest deepen and by the time the volume is over I'd say he's become quite serious about her. I really like him, but at least not enough to hope for him to get Futaba in the end. I'm team Kou. The thing is Kou now has a friend, who we readers assume is a girl though no one really says so, so there we have our double triangle, though the story is clearly not about who'll get the girl (like Parfait Tic or even Hana Yori Dango were).

This volume was prologue to a new part of the story and I hope it continues to be as good as it's been so far. It wasn't that fun but we get many cute scenes between the couple and even more than that. This mangaka does know how to make our hearts flutter, you can bet on that.



Honest review based on an ARC provided by Edelweiss. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.

Rating: 4 out of 5.