Omega Megaera Volume 4 Review

Mamiya (the omega pretending to be an alpha son of Zenjiro Hanabusa) has been caught up in the bitter rivalry for the presidency of the student council between his half-sister Reiko and Lily, Reiko’s flamboyant, cross-dressing childhood friend. Lily has persuaded Mamiya to help his cause and to this end they’ve forged a letter implicating Reiko and blaming her brother Iori for a cover-up of current president Hirose’s misdeeds. Mamiya feels really bad about what this means for Iori but is under considerable pressure to prevent Reiko from winning the election.

However, Mamiya is unaware that Reiko has been spying on him and has seen him taking his daily dose of estrus suppressants (although she has no idea exactly what he’s taking). She swaps the pills for vitamins with the inevitable results that one day, Mamiya is talking with Lily and begins to feel hot and ill. Lily realizes that he’s really an omega and can’t hold himself back. Mamiya manages to break free and, knowing he’s in heat – but not why, runs away, eventually collapsing, exhausted, in the shelter of an old boathouse. News of his disappearance gets out and Iori goes searching for him, eventually tracking him down – and recognizing, as soon as he finds him, his true omega identity. Mamiya kisses him – and it’s all Iori can do to push him away, realizing the danger Mamiya will be in if he gives in to his true omega nature. “Forget about this,” he tells him. “It’s just a dream.” And then he leaves to get Shiba and Saimon. When Mamiya comes back to his senses, he remembers nothing of what happened with Iori. But Saimon has examined his medication and discovered the swap; he suspects Reiko but has no proof…

Meanwhile, the school election is a day away and Reiko goes to see Iori, saying how unhappy she is with the way he’s been made to take the rap for current president Hirose’s appalling behaviour. She stirs up Iori’s latent anger against Hirose – so that when she and Lily address the school before the election takes place, Iori suddenly appears, dragging Hirose, and threatens to force him to tell the school the truth. What will Mamiya do now?

As many skeletons fall out of the Hanabusa family’s cupboards and even the head of the family Zenjiro comes to learn some deeply shocking truths about his children, Volume 4 of Omega Megaera delivers and then some! Several of the plot lines set up in the preceding volumes pay off and there are some deliciously shocking and surprising revelations. A family saga with more twists and reveals than a soap opera? A guilty pleasure? Maybe… but when it’s as well written and drawn as Omega Megaera, it’s definitely worth your time! If you’re an omegaverse fan, Maki Marukido’s take on the well-worn trope also makes this worth investigating. (I hope we won’t have to wait too long for Asada Nemui’s Takatora and the Omegas from Kuma which is another refreshing and satisfyingly different exploration of the omegaverse concept.)

For several chapters, there have been hints about Lily/Asanori’s strong feelings for Reiko. In this omegaverse, an alpha can never marry another alpha – but Lily has never stopped caring deeply for his childhood friend. And the little hints that Iori and Mamiya are unconsciously drawn to each other begin to come to the fore. Mamiya begins to suspect that Iori has considerable influence over him and that if he commands him to do something, such as forgetting their boathouse encounter, he has to obey. When Saimon finds Mamiya reading Plato and Mamiya asks him about what it’s like to have a fated soulmate, Saimon doesn’t put two and two together. Iori is sent far away as punishment for the events at school… and when he comes to say goodbye to Mamiya, Mamiya refuses to see him face-to-face. Iori’s last words to him before leaving for good are heart-breaking…

Translation is again by Kevin Steinbach with lettering by Madeleine Jose and both combine to deliver a good reading experience. As before, there’s a useful character guide/family tree at the beginning with a plot summary of what’s gone before and a couple of translation notes at the end. There’s another illustrated afterword by Maki Marukido, this time focusing on sisters Kayo and Reiko, and the volume ends with a two-page ominous preview of Volume 5.

The final chapter shows us the family meeting at which the ailing patriarch Zenjiro announces who will succeed him. But this announcement only leads to more shocking revelations which will turn the family upside-down. Volume 5 is due out in July and I confess I can’t wait to see what happens next!

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