My Noisy Roommate: The Roof Over My Head Comes With Monsters and a Hottie Volume 4 Review

Osuke and Nijio are working as a pair for the Divine Inspiration Real Estate, a ‘unique’ firm that deals with troublesome hauntings and other supernatural occurrences. Things have become a little tense between the two as Nijio has come to realize that he has feelings for Osuke and he doesn’t know what he should do about them. But then flamboyant Ten (one half of the firm’s other pair of investigators) whisks Osuke away to a new job at a hot springs resort in a remote village in the Kinki region. It seems that the local deity, Ujigami, wishes to leave the village – even though the villagers hold a ceremony every twenty years to thank the god for their prosperity. This sounds like an ideal assignment and as the two get the chance to chat while soaking in the hot springs, Ten can’t resist quizzing Osuke about Nijio, as well as offering some unexpectedly wise advice.

Meanwhile Nijio and Takao (Ten’s partner) are waiting to hear how things are going and whether to intervene or not… but the signal is so poor that they can’t make contact. And the special ceremony? Osuke goes out to try to find a place where he can get a signal and encounters smiling villagers who surround him, telling him to go to ask the god at the shrine, assuring him that Ujigami-sama will grant his wish. It’s then that Osuke realizes that he and Ten have been trapped. Every twenty years, the villagers have been giving a bride to their god – and this time, he and Ten are to be the sacrificed brides!

A new volume of My Noisy Roommate has rapidly become something to look forward to as Kaho Ozaki’s supernatural BL series has proved itself to be a delicious tease of a treat. The mangaka’s art is always a pleasure to look at and she knows how to tell a page-turning story. The supernatural elements are not too scary and the peril is mostly mild but the dynamics between the four undeniably hot main characters (and the cute little zashiki-warashi) are always entertaining. The mangaka knows just how to advance the will-they, won’t they? relationship between Osuke and Nijio a little at a time to keep the tension without it beginning to drag or lose credibility. Also pleasing to see is the way Osuke is becoming more self-confident and pro-active, especially when Ten’s sake is drugged by the villagers and he has to try to protect the two of them.

The zashiki-warashi gets a whole adventure (chapter) to himself when he decides that Nijio and Osuke haven’t been paying him any attention and runs away. The main story ‘A Village of Tradition’ gets a whole three chapters so has enough time to develop the legend of Ujigami-sama and his bride in an interesting and convincing way.

Translation for the trade paperback Kodansha edition is by the ever-reliable Jacqueline Fung who also provides some very helpful translation notes at the end; lettering is ably provided by Dietrich Premier.

A spicy new case begins for Osuke and Nijio in the final chapter. ‘The Love Hotel Ghost’, sees the two investigating a ghost that has been ruining business for a love hotel by haunting couples spending a night there and causing them to break up! Osuke insists that he’s familiar with the concept of a love hotel but once the two enter the room where they’re going to be investigating the hauntings, he keeps innocently discovering the various trappings of a love hotel bedroom: he suggests watching a film but the TV inevitably shows erotic entertainment and Nijio has to hastily change channels to find less titillating fare. The chapter ends on a major cliffhanger (like previous volumes) – we then have a charming little Extra story and a final teaser page with the mangaka’s acknowledgments but – as yet – no date for Volume 5 from Kodansha (although it’s out in Japan).

My Noisy Roommate: The Roof Over My Head Comes with Monsters and a Hottie © Kaho Ozaki/Kodansha Ltd.

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