Sasaki and Miyano Volume 10 Review
Miyano’s time at high school is coming to an end – but not before the annual cultural festival takes place once more, although this one will be his last. Sasaki, his boyfriend, is already at uni and has made new friends there, notably Sora Ugawa, who accompanies him to a comic ‘event’ that Miyano can’t attend because of school festival prep. Ugawa seems to know his way around this kind of event which is helpful for Sasaki as he’s only attending because Miyano has given him a shopping list! But it’s interesting that Ugawa proves surprisingly knowledgeable about Miyano’s favourite BL mangaka…
A typhoon forecast seems about to scupper the cultural festival but luckily, the typhoon doesn’t materialize and everything goes ahead as planned. Sasaki’s uni friend Ugawa tags along too, saying “I’m extremely curious about your boys’ school” as he attended a co-ed high school. They get separated as Sasaki goes off in search off Miyano but Ugawa has already some suspicions that Sasaki’s oft-mentioned ‘partner’ is not a girl but a boy. Does he have an ulterior motive?
Miyano’s bought his first smartphone! Miyano has – somewhat belatedly – joined his peers in owning a piece of the latest technology. Other hot topics currently obsessing Miyano are should he get his ears pierced or not – and has he studied enough to get into the same university that Sasaki already attends? (Kuresawa’s famous girlfriend is, of course, he tells everyone, planning to attend the same university as he is because of course she is.) So, in some ways, more of the same – and yet everything’s changed and is about to change even more when Miyano’s year graduates.
It’s been over a year since Yen Press brought us the ninth volume of Sasaki and Miyano but with Volume 10, we’ve caught up with Japan. Has it been worth the wait? Mangaka Shou Harusono brings us more of the same but it’s precisely that delightfully inconsequential yet endearing slice-of-daily life that she portrays in a blend of 4-koma and ongoing storytelling that lends the series its charm. So yes, this is a volume that will be a must-read for fans who’ve been following the two (and their friends) from the early days – but it’s obviously not a good place for newcomers to start.
Nevertheless, despite all the amusing day-to-day goings-on, the main underlying question in most readers’ minds is how is Sasaki and Miyano’s relationship progressing now that they’re officially going out together. And it’s significant that when they’re at Sasaki’s house, his sister walks in on them without checking first or knocking and although she’s effusively apologetic, we see Sasaki thinking, I should really move out. Both mothers seem to have accepted the relationship, though, and now that Miyano has his smartphone, everyone’s added to a group chat. But when Sasaki bumps into Hirano (both returning to their old school for the cultural festival) we learn that Hirano’s living on his own – and it’s obvious that Sasaki’s very interested in how Hirano’s making this work. It’s inevitable that these young men will want to move away from home and live their lives independently, even if it means taking on part-time work as Hirano has done, to fund their independent lifestyles.
Sasaki and Miyano #10 has been translated for Yen Press by Leighann Harvey and has not one but two helpful pages of translation notes, the first after the first three chapters, the second, two chapters later, before the extra chapter and the bonus material. There’s a brief afterword by the mangaka inside the back cover alongside sketches of the two new characters and the main couple. Lettering is again by Carolina Hdz and shows all the variety necessary for the lively exchanges, inner thoughts and text messages, even handwriting. There are two attractive colour pages at the front of the volume. It could be some time, though, I imagine, until we see Volume 11 which might be the beginning of the ‘college arc’ which Shou Harusono has promised.
Our review copy was supplied by Yen Press.
