I Cannot Reach You Volume 9 Review

During the first term of the third year at my high school… something sorta, kinda… went wrong…? Kakeru

It’s the end of spring break and Kakeru, Yamoto and their friends in Year 2 Class 6 are celebrating Hanami with a picnic in the park under the flowering cherry trees. But when they return to school, it’s the start of their third and final year and – to Kakeru’s dismay – they find out that he and Yamato are no longer in the same class. In the following days, he does his best to come to terms with it, snatching the odd meeting with Yamato on the school roof – but then an incident occurs in Yamato’s class that causes a buzz of excitement throughout the school. Yamato emerges from the classroom carrying one of the girls – the beautiful Azusa Fujiwara – and rushes her to the nurse’s room. An accident in hanging the classroom clock has led to her falling and hurting her arm. All the phones start clicking and soon afterward, a video goes viral, leading to much gossip and conjecture. Next day, Azusa appears with her arm in a sling; it’s not broken but she can’t use it yet, so Yamato is going to act as her amanuensis, helping her out in class.

Soon, everyone has paired the two up: the prince and the model. They’d make the ideal couple: beautiful to look at and gifted in class. Why wouldn’t they go out with each other? Kakeru is confused at first – and then quietly devastated, although he puts on a brave face around his friends. Yamato asks him to go to the beach after school with him – and sitting looking out at the sea, Kakeru remembers an earlier beach trip they made together (when he fell in and got soaked to the skin). Somehow, when the two of them are together, everything feels all right again and he can recharge himself.

However, in Yamato’s class, Yamato is trying to distance himself from Azusa and all the swirling rumours. But Kakeru happens to encounter her by chance when he has to return to the classroom after a meeting of class reps and she’s the only one still there. What happens next catches him completely unawares – and reveals a very different side to her character to the one she presents to everyone else!

It’s been eighteen months since Yen Press brought us the last volume of I Cannot Reach You and yet we rejoin the students of Year 2 Class 6 just a week or two after we last saw them. But as they’re poised on the brink of entering their final year at high school, it’s a pivotal moment in their lives. Mangaka Mika’s skill is in portraying in often minute day-to-day detail the little highs and lows of her teenaged characters’ lives that feel true to life. After eight volumes, we’ve come to know Yamato and Kakeru’s friendship group really well and if I have any criticism to make, it’s only that – and this is the mangaka’s drawing style – they all still look young for 17/18-year-olds, especially Kakeru. Having said that, Mika’s drawing style is attractive and accomplished and her chibi versions, especially of Kakeru (whose viewpoint still dominates the narrative) are affectionate as well as cute and amusing.

The scene at the beach is especially significant as Yamato explains what really happened in his classroom and how he felt a little responsible for Azusa’s accident. The way Kakeru reacts shows how much he has matured; he’s able to tell Yamato, “It’s okay. It kinda makes me feel better since it’s you!” but then, after a pause, he admits, “But… on the inside… a tiny part of me… didn’t like it.” Even though he then covers himself by laughing it off and hastily saying, “Just kidding!” Yet the fact that he was able to reveal how he really felt to Yamato is a big step forward for him in admitting to his feelings and sharing them. And the fact that Yamato is able to reply, “Your feelings are important… so I’ll remember how you feel” is another important moment in the development of their relationship. Little scenes like this are what make I Cannot Reach You stand out from so many other high school BL manga as Mika manages to make the way her teenaged characters interact feel authentic. It’s difficult not to empathize with good-hearted Kakeru’s confusion as others try to manipulate him.

The translation for Yen Press is by Jan Mitsuko Cash with lettering by Alexis Eckerman and both work very well together to make this another good reading experience. There’s an extra story Summer Rain (in 4-koma) and an interesting afterword from the mangaka, introducing five of Kakeru’s new classmates whom he is getting to know in his role as class rep. There’s a helpful page of translation notes too and – a nice touch as Mika’s colour work is so attractive – three colour pages at the front.

Volume 10 came out in November 2025 in Japan and the series is very much ongoing, so I fondly hope that Yen Press will not wait a year and a half before bringing us the next volume.

Read a free preview on the Yen Press website here. 

Our review copy was supplied by the publisher Yen Press.