Virgin Love Volume 2 Review
Back in January, I reviewed the first volume of Virgin Love. This josei series introduced us to Shoko Shoji who applied for the reality TV show The Love House along with her new friend Tanaka. Along with four other contestants, the two are now living in a shared house where love is sure to bloom, or at least so Shoko hopes! With Volume 2 in hand, let’s find out how they’re getting on.
As we reunite with the cast, we find things progressing between Shoko and university student Kei. The two have been getting along since the day they moved into the shared house and now they’re making gradual steps forwards in what could be a romantic relationship. Kei even invites Shoko back to his room where she’s fully prepared to become more intimate.
Before going all the way, Shoko realises she has no idea how Kei feels toward her and upon posing the question is met with “I think you’re great”. These are not the words of comfort Shoko is looking for, instead hoping she’d be given some reassurance that Kei might be in love with her, as she’s falling for him.
So Shoko promptly flees the scene and finds comfort with fashion student Rio, who reassures her that she did the right thing in not continuing things with Kei without knowing how he truly feels about her. If she ended up in some kind of ambiguous relationship then she’d likely regret it for the rest of her life. So for now, thanks to Rio’s advice, Shoko decides to take things slowly with Kei.
However, she quickly begins to grow concerned about her decision when she sees Kei and hair stylist Momo enjoying some alone time together. In Kei’s mind, Momo is simply being friendly by inviting him out for dinner, but the truth is Momo is hoping to steal Kei for herself!
While Volume 1 followed Shoko and Tanaka for the most part, for our second instalment, author Tina Yamashina has changed tack. This time a large portion of the book is focused on Momo and told from her perspective. We learn that she’s jealous of Shoko who has her life together and a great career, while Momo is simply doted on for her attractive features rather than her accomplishments. Men see her as a trophy they can show off, swiftly dumping her when someone better comes along.
Despite how she’s been treated in the past, Momo suspects Kei is better than that. He’s disinterested in a lot of the world around him (particularly if it doesn’t involve art) and, with his gentle nature, it seems unlikely he’d mistreat a woman. The fact Shoko is attracted to him only makes Momo all the more interested as she schemes to steal him away.
One of my biggest complaints about Volume 1 of Virgin Love is the fact Shoko has a perfectly good love interest in Tanaka. And while #2 hasn’t done a lot to address that, it at least hasn’t sidelined Tanaka either and he plays a pivotal role in trying to comfort Shoko when things are going poorly with Kei. I also appreciate that the mangaka decided to show us more of Momo and Rio, who are both very underdeveloped in the first book. I’m hoping this means we’ll see more of Akira next time, who is the remaining character not given a lot of page-time so far.
Most importantly I think this book has managed to keep me on the hook for the long-term. I’m more convinced that Yamashina knows where she wants to take the story and while it might still not prove memorable down the road, it will certainly be enjoyable. Plus I have a lot of respect for Shoko not choosing to sleep with Kei, nor being shamed by Rio for running away. Other series would have turned it into a joke or judged Shoko, but being told it’s okay to have not thrown away her virginity at that moment is important. Momo’s story too, is surprisingly deep and easy to empathise with as a reader, whereas again other manga would have left her firmly in the realm of being an antagonist to Shoko.
Virgin Love Volume 2 comes to the West thanks to Kodansha under their Vertical imprint and continues to be translated by JM Iitomo Crandall. As with the first release, this book reads well with no issues to note. No colour pages are included this time around and there aren’t any translation notes of any kind. The only extra is a short side-story of the three female characters dreaming of what it would have been like to attend high school together, which is cute.
Volume 3 of the series is set to release in English later this month with #4 following in September.
Overall, Virgin Love Volume 2 is a notable improvement on the middling start we saw in #1. Thanks to taking the time to develop some of the other characters, it’s getting easier to become invested in the cast and their various storylines which is all that was really missing before. Certainly, I’m now much more interested in seeing where it’s going from here!
Our review copy from Kodansha was supplied by Turnaround Comics (Turnaround Publisher Services).
