Wave, Listen to Me! Volume 9 Review
Please note that this review contains spoilers for Volume 9 of Wave, Listen to Me!
Wave, Listen to Me! is a series by mangaka Hiroaki Samura (Blade of the Immortal) which centres on Minare Koda, an almost 30-year-old woman struggling with her personal issues and frustrations, who happens upon circumstances which lead to her becoming a popular radio personality.
Mizuho and Minare make their way to Moiwayama Radio Station (MRS) as lead director Mato has a job for Minare to handle – a special broadcast of Wave which will run nonstop until morning, to help calm people’s fears and concerns about the earthquake that occurred previously and its after-effects. Highlights of the broadcast included Minare giving advice to a pair of teen listeners trying to understand each other better and also meeting a Glass Trader otaku who is not only a big admirer but is also a former radio production company head, making him a seasoned pro and prime guest to feature on Wave!
Volume 9 opens with a drunken back-and-forth QA session, with Minare also giving shout-outs to listeners who have called in in the past, and concluding with Thomas, Minare’s co-host and previously discussed Glass Trader Otaku, falling unconscious live on-air, after being bested by excessive alcohol consumption.
We then switch gears as the employees of Voyager get more than they bargained for, when a regular customer who eats enough for an entire family concocts a brew made from various dishes and spices found on the menu and makes Tachibana try it – only for said concoction to produce a peculiar reaction, that is rather NSFW to describe here. The customer gets barred from the restaurant (the fourth one to date) and is described as a person we’ll see more of later on. This mysterious person’s actions gives Minare the idea for Voyager to concoct a curry that acts as an aphrodisiac, similar to the one Tachibana unknowingly ingested, as a way to promote Valentine’s Day, which is just around the corner – the idea humorously does not go down well.
Speaking of things not going down too well, the bulk of the volume focuses on Mizuho accepting an interview request by a publication known as Radio Noah, who were dormant for a while but are starting up again in the spring. Despite her co-workers identifying this set-up for the shady venture it is, Mizuho storms off feeling belittled and subsequently meets the contact the following day. Said contact is a handsome charmer called Otaki, who Mizuho swears she’s met before. The conversation progresses and Otaki asks her to take a drive, which raises immediate red flags as Mizuho realises her situation and tries to exit the car mid-journey, only to end up locked in a shed, which Otaki damningly reassures her is only for the next few days.
Whilst that drama is unfolding, Minare finds herself back in the recording booth with colleague Madoka Chishiro, and the two drink and converse (there’s a lot of that in this manga). Before they can properly kick anything off, however, Mizuho sends a text explaining the events above, and Minare and Madoka spring into action to find her and free her from her captors. Said captors are revealed to possibly be in league with Shiomichi Itakura, an electronics repair man who became indoctrinated into a religious cult and his skills have been put to use by them. These events also tie into a character we met in earlier volumes, Ritsuko Azahara, girlfriend to Shinji Oka, who has apparent ties to this cult. The volume ends with Madoka packing a shotgun as she and Minare seek out Mizuho, who has escape plans of her own.
Translation for Wave, Listen to Me! has once again been carried out by Adam Hirsch whose work on the series so far has been very solid, especially with the included translation notes and bonus in-character employment application form from Minare.
Overall, Volume 9 was a mixed bag for me from a story perspective, as the cult and kidnapping elements have already been explored in earlier volumes, so it remains to be seen if the next volume can stick the landing. I did enjoy some of the quieter moments though, including a discussion between Mizuho and Minare about overseas broadcasters (in this case the BBC) offering donations and well-wishes in the aftermath of the earthquake that occurred previously in the story. I also enjoyed the little bonding session between Hiromi (who, along with his mother, has blackmailed Minare into staying with her) and Minare as they try and tune into a radio station as part of an effort to drive some overseas broadcasting. I hope that Volume 10 will be a more consistent read.
