[Review] Ao Haru Ride, Vol. 9 - 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. Futaba does her best to let Kou out of her heart. Toma and Futaba grow closer, and Kou realizes he doesn’t have much time to win her back… (Pub Date: Feb 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!

Be aware of spoilers for the previous volumes. I try not to go into details, but I couldn't review a ninth volume without spoiling one through eight. 

This story is going the love triangle path and I wish I liked love triangles because I actually like a lot the other boy but I can only pity him at this point. And I'm not even sure how the author could do this triangle in a way that would really make anyone think Futaba shouldn't stay with Kou. I have no idea how this story ends but I'll be pissed if she doesn't, so I can't say I'm cheering for someone else, as much as I like him.

But let's be sadists and look this from Kou's point of view. It's surely fun to see him suffer for not being able to just break that final barrier. Thanks to the love triangle developing, we get super cute scenes of longing. I don't like triangles but I do like getting-together's, so I'm super glad we still haven't gotten to a point the two are an item (I mean, Futaba and Kou). From how the manga was going in the beginning I feared this would turn into a story story on relationship issues à la KareKano. So yay, this volume specifically is filled with super cute moments of them touching and having to break contact, of Kou suffering in silence for not being able to put things in order with Futaba etc. It's wonderful! And of course, also bittersweet.

It's incredible that after so many volumes I'm still this into a series, but it's very well drawn, all characters are sweet (I really don't know the last time I loved everyone in a manga), and even when the story goes a route I'm not into, it still makes me happy.



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

Rating: 4 out of 5.