Days with My Stepsister Volume 3 Review

Having enjoyed a successful run, the anime adaptation of Days with My Stepsister came to an end last month. If you’re still hungry for more then the good news is Yen Press are continuing to bring us the original light novels and we’re here to take a look at Volume 3.

Having survived the end-of-term exams, Yuuta and Saki have reached their Summer vacation. Yuuta intends to work as much of his break as he can, but it turns out that Saki has similar plans as she’s taken a job at the same bookstore! Her parents are thrilled since the two can travel there and back together (important if Saki takes a late shift), but Yuuta has mixed feelings about working side-by-side with his stepsister.

Meanwhile, Yuuta’s co-worker and friend Shiori is thrilled to have an opportunity to meet Saki, having heard plenty about her from Yuuta. However, as she watches over Saki she begins to realise how hard she’s pushing herself and that sooner or later she’s going to be overwhelmed. Yuuta is well aware of this, having been by her side since they became stepsiblings, but the two promised not to interfere with one another’s lives so he feels unable to do anything. Will he break their vow and find a way to help her before it’s too late?

While Yuuta is worrying about her well-being, Saki is having a difficult time witnessing first-hand how close he and Shiori are. She was beginning to grow jealous of their friendship in the previous volume after the two went to a movie together, but now she can see just how much they have in common. But at the same time, Saki recognises that nothing can happen between her and Yuuta, given their status as stepsiblings, so she’s left with no other choice but to try and bury these feelings. all the while unaware that Yuuta has been slowly developing romantic feelings for her too…

As Days with My Stepsister goes on, author Ghost Mikawa is not just having the characters deal with difficulties in their day-to-day lives, but also face up to the realities of their living situation. Similar to Domestic Girlfriend or My Stepmom’s Daughter is My Ex, no matter how in love Saki and Yuuta may or may not be, they ultimately don’t want to destroy the happiness their parents have found. I appreciate that the characters have that awareness because yes, finding out your children are dating is the kind of thing that could cause drama in a setting like this and I always prefer it when the writers behind these stories are so keenly aware of it.

I also appreciate that while the romance is slowly sprouting in the background, it’s still not at the forefront of the story. What’s most important in Volume 3 is Yuuta figuring out a way to navigate Saki’s unwillingness to let herself take a break and enjoy the time away from school. Generally speaking, I enjoyed how that storyline progressed as it showed how Yuuta has changed in the months since Saki became his stepsister. Mikawa spends more time exploring the problems that come from daily life as a teenager, someone who gained a considerable amount of independence but isn’t yet an adult with total freedom.

In many ways, this instalment also acts as a turning point for the story as it closes with Saki having decided how to carry on with Yuuta, going forward. Now they’ll both have to face their feelings one way or another and I’m looking forward to seeing how Mikawa handles this in the books to come. It certainly feels like the end of the first arc, which is about the right pacing, given we’re now three volumes in.

As previously mentioned, Days with My Stepsister Volume 3 comes to the West thanks to Yen Press and continues to be translated by Eriko Sugita. The release reads well, although having watched the anime now, I still feel we’re lacking quite a bit of nuance, due to the lack of honorifics. There’s just not a great way of showing how that impacts the dynamic between the characters in English with them removed and I find myself wishing once again that they’d chosen to leave them in instead. Still, apart from that, this is fine and still reads a lot more smoothly than the first book did.

Volume 4 of the series is set for an English release in late November with #5 following in March next year. The Japanese releases for this title are up to Volume 11, so still quite a while until we catch up but slowly we’ll get there.

Overall, Days with My Stepsister Volume 3 marks the end of the first arc as the stepsiblings continue to adjust to their current relationship. Author Ghost Mikawa continues to approach the storytelling with sensitivity and a lack of drama that’s unusual for this genre; it’s far more grounded than you’d expect and that’s why it remains so likable.

Our review copy from Yen Press was supplied by Diamond Book Distributors UK.