How I Met My Soulmate Volumes 2 and 3 Review

Back in January, I reviewed the first instalment of How I Met My Soulmate, which introduced us to heroine Yuuki who is searching for her soulmate, supported by the new friend she’s made, Iori, who is helping her in her search. And now Yuuki has been reunited with her childhood crush, perhaps she’s getting closer to achieving her goal? With another two volumes in hand, let’s find out more!

Volume 2 opens with Yuuki being asked out by her first crush, Jin. She’s so shocked that she finds herself unable to answer in the moment. Her younger self would have been delighted to be asked out by him, but for some reason, Yuuki finds herself wavering.

In the end, Yuuki very quickly turns down Jin having realised she’s in love with Iori but that leads to plenty of problems of its own. After all, Iori believes he’s just a friend who’s supporting Yuuki’s quest to find her soulmate. And then there are rumours that Iori is a playboy who hits on girls all the time and may even have a girlfriend right now, which leads Yuuki to worry he won’t take her feelings seriously.

This leads us to Volume 3, where Yuuki has revealed how she feels to Iori but she’s still worried about rumours of a supposed girlfriend. Jin and their friend Natsuki (originally Iori’s friend but now close to Yuuki) worry for Yuuki as she struggles to figure out the truth behind the accusations. Made worse by the fact they’ve heard that Iori’s potential girlfriend is Airi, his brother’s partner!

While our cast is in college, they’re still at a turbulent point in their lives so it’s understandable that Yuuki is pulled here and there by her emotions. She wants to believe in Iori, not least because she’s worked up the courage to tell him how she feels, but she’s scared of finding out the truth and getting hurt, just as she was by Jin in high school.

Much like when I reviewed Volume 1, I still find that a lot of Yuuki’s reactions would better fit a high school setting better than what we have here. However, given she grew up fairly sheltered in the countryside, there is at least justification for it. Plus Iori, as sweet as he is, does give off the impression of being your traditional Tokyo boy which certainly helps support the fact Yuuki doesn’t know how to handle him.

My complaints about Yuuki aside, I did enjoy the direction of these two volumes. I particularly appreciate that author Anashin didn’t leave things hanging with Jin and closed off that possibility quickly, instead focusing on Iori who we could tell from Volume 1 was the main love interest. Because of this, we get plenty of development for him and there’s a surprising amount of depth to his character. Particularly when it comes to Airi and his brother which I won’t spoil, given that most of our questions are answered at the end of Volume 3.

It’s also refreshing to see how supportive Jin is of Yuuki’s feelings, despite being shot down. He hasn’t entirely given up on her, but he’s not acting like your traditional shojo rival either. It makes his character more likeable and means he’s a reliable ally for Yuuki alongside Natsuki. The drama surrounding Iori is a bit stereotypical, but that too is handled in a way I hadn’t been initially expecting. It’s these subtle changes to tried and true tropes of the genre that make me appreciate this one a great deal.

How I Met My Soulmate Volume 2 and 3 come to the West thanks to Kodansha and have both been translated by Sawa Matsueda Savage with lettering by Lys Blakeslee. Both books read well with relevant translation notes included at the end. They both include colour pages at the beginning as well, which is always a welcome addition.

The Japanese releases are up to Volume 5 with #6 in November. Here in English Kodansha is bringing out #4 in September but there’s no date currently for #5 so I suspect we’ll be in for a break after this.

Overall, How I Met My Soulmate continues to be an entertaining and sweet shojo series. As the author gently sidesteps several of the tropes we’d usually see in this setting, we’re left with something that may not be all that original but is proving itself to be well worth fans of the genre investing in.

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