Something’s Wrong With Us Volumes 13 and 14 Review

The last time I reviewed Something’s Wrong With Us, the drama was at an all-time high as our lead characters Tsubaki and Nao competed to become the rightful owner of the Kogetsuan. Unfortunately, the Old Master (Tsubaki’s grandfather) passed away, but not before selecting who would inherit the store. Now as we dive into another two volumes of the series, it’s time to find out how this decision has changed the lives of Nao and Tsubaki!

In the end, Nao was selected to take over Kogetsuan which left Tsubaki devastated after all he’d done to protect the store and earn his grandfather’s favour. Nevertheless, life must go on and while Nao struggles with taking on the day-to-day running of an establishment as prolific as Kogetsuan, Tsubaki finally seeks the surgery needed to correct his failing eyesight.

Now able to work again, Tsubaki returns to Kogetsuan and asks Nao to hire him as a confectioner. Having sustained an injury of her own, Nao agrees in a bid to keep the shop running smoothly since Tsubaki already knows everything required to do the job. But Tsubaki working at the store means the two are now living under the same roof, which offers plenty of opportunity for their old feelings to reignite…

Of course, there are plenty of people unhappy about Tsubaki and Nao living together. Not least of all is Takigawa who has been helping Nao behind the scenes for some time now. In Volume 11, he asked Nao to consider marrying him, but that’s been put on the backburner now our heroine is busy running Kogetsuan.

But Takigawa hasn’t given up on his pursuit of Nao, a fact that hasn’t gone unnoticed by his ex-girlfriend and childhood friend Yukari who wants Nao out of the picture so she can rekindle their old relationship. In a fit of jealousy, Yukari reveals to Nao that Takigawa was the one who sent the email that got her fired from her confectionary job right at the beginning of the series and that’s not the only thing she does to our long-suffering protagonist.

That leads us to Volume 14, where Nao is briefly in the hospital having been pushed down a flight of stairs ahead of an event she desperately needs to attend. As Takigawa rushes to her side, Tsubaki takes charge at the Burokukai ceremony where a good presentation will secure Kogetsuan’s future.

This gives Nao the opportunity to finally confront Takigawa about his actions and figure out why he’s so interested in her and went to the effort of getting her fired from her job so long ago. As we find out, Takigawa has a surprising history with Nao’s mother as well as Kogetsuan which finally explains his motivations in all of this. I’m glad author Natsumi Ando decided to finally reveal all this as it feels like a missing piece of the puzzle that we’ve needed recently.

And all of this ties in well with the running theme of these two volumes. Now that Nao is the head of Kogetsuan, Takigawa thinks she should settle down and consider her happiness rather than continue to investigate the events of the murder her mother was framed for. Surely having taken Kogetsuan is revenge enough for everything Nao and her mother were put through?

Nao isn’t the only one who wants to get to the bottom of events that night, however. Tsubaki now fully understands why Nao came to Kogetsuan in the first place and also wishes to know the truth. As long as he’s helping Nao investigate, our heroine finds it increasingly difficult to let go of the past knowing that both their lives and happiness have been forever affected by what happened that day.

The preview for Volume 15 at the back of the book advertises it as the “true climax of the series”, so although the manga has continued to run afterwards, it seems we will finally be at an ending for the story so far. Having read so much of this now, I’m certainly eager to see how Ando intends to bring it all together and I’m sure if you’ve made it this far, you are as well.

This is a series that has never been afraid of presenting us with some absurd twists and turns, befitting of being almost like a primetime drama series, but I hope whatever happens, it makes sense. It’s not that I’ve not enjoyed the many dramatic moments we’ve had throughout Something’s Wrong With Us, but sometimes it doesn’t feel like the story is treated with the same seriousness as it was back at the beginning and that may end up undermining the whole thing.

Something’s Wrong With Us Volumes 13 and 14 come to the West thanks to Kodansha. Both instalments continue to be translated by Sawa Matsueda Savage with lettering by Nicole Roderick and, as you’d expect, read well with no problems. Included at the back of the release are translation notes, often talking about the sweets featured in the story. As always these are very insightful and well worth the read.

Since I last reviewed this series, Kodansha has finished releasing it in its entirety. Volume 15 and 16 seem to conclude the main story while #17 through #19 each have individual subtitles, so I suspect they’re ‘after stories’ of some description.

Overall, these two instalments of Something’s Wrong With Us set up the climax of the series while also shedding light on Takigawa’s role in the story so far. Will anyone come out of this happy? That remains to be seen, but in the meantime at least this continues to be a compelling read.

Our review copies from Kodansha were supplied by Diamond Book Distributors UK.