Perfectly Fine on My Own, So My Fiancé Can Twist in the Wind Volume 2 Review

“It isn’t that she doesn’t love me, nor that she doesn’t trust me. What pains me most of all is that she expects nothing of me.” – Keios

Perfectly Fine on My Own, So My Fiancé Can Twist in the Wind Volume 1 introduced us to protagonist Nicole and her fiancé Keios. Having given up on true love, Nicole set out to enjoy life on her own, but Keios has begun to see the error of his ways and wants to fix their relationship before it’s too late. But is that even possible at this late stage? With another volume at hand, let’s find out!

At the end of Volume 1, Nicole decided on asking Keios to enter into a marriage of convenience with no romantic strings attached. She’s sure at this late stage she wouldn’t be able to find another marriage partner, and even if Keios ignores her, it’s not like he mistreats her or anything, so this seems like the best path forward. Keios, who actually does love her, is immediately floored by the proposal and starts racking his brain for ways to resolve the situation.

So in steps Princess Caroline, who feels partly responsible since the rumours that Keios is in love with her started this whole thing. Caroline tries to explain that Keios doesn’t even view her as a woman due to her tomboyish ways, but one thing leads to another and more misunderstandings are born. And soon it becomes apparent that Keios is running out of time to resolve anything. Nicole has become interested in a neighbouring country that offers women the same working opportunities as men, and she’s keen to find out more, not least because she’s already been learning the language and she’d be able to stand on her own doing something she loves.

So Perfectly Fine on My Own Volume 2 continues along in a similar fashion to the first instalment. There are a lot of misunderstandings and general chaos, but this is still a very sweet manga that’s going to great lengths to make us sympathetic to Keios’ plight. He’s under no illusion that he is the cause of the strain between him and Nicole, but he really is trying his best to fix it.

We’re even treated to a flashback chapter that shows the two leads exchanging letters as kids and how much Keios struggled with responding to them for fear he had nothing interesting to say to a girl. And perhaps that’s why I find myself so invested in this series. Because really, neither Keios nor Nicole ever did anything wrong, and the story doesn’t try to pretend that they had. Even now, most of the current misunderstandings are born from how clumsy Keios is when it comes to communicating (and Caroline doesn’t prove a great deal better when she steps in for him!). They’re simply two awkward people who are finding their place in the world.

With this volume we’re getting some very interesting world-building too. The idea of Nicole studying abroad is not one I expected, and because our lead is so free-spirited, it doesn’t seem like her desire to go will change, even if Keios does manage to make her understand his feelings. And that is for the best! She’s a strong, independent lead, and that’s one of the things I appreciate most about her character and would hate to see change just because of Keios. If she does get to go abroad, I’m looking forward to seeing how different society is and how she fares.

If you enjoyed Volume 1 of the series, then this one certainly won’t disappoint. It has the same high-quality artwork and hilarious sense of humour, but rather than continue on in the same vein, it has put the effort into moving the story along while keeping the qualities that made it so entertaining the first time around. I hope it will continue along like this for the foreseeable future.

Perfectly Fine on My Own, So My Fiancé Can Twist in the Wind Volume 2 comes to the West thanks to Kodansha under the Vertical imprint and continues to be translated by Nicole Frasik with lettering by Mercedes McGarry. This release comes complete with a colour page which showcases some of the side cast.

The series is still going in Japan with four volumes currently available. Here in English, Volume 3 is scheduled for a release in August, and then there’s nothing else listed currently, so I suspect #4 will end up a 2027 release. But given we’re so close to being caught up, there’s really nothing to complain about there.

Overall Volume 2 of Perfectly Fine on My Own, So My Fiancé Can Twist in the Wind retains the charms of the first book while successfully building upon those solid foundations. It’s still great fun to read, and I’m looking forward to seeing where the story goes from here in due course.

Our review copy from Kodansha (Vertical) was supplied by Turnaround Comics (Turnaround Publisher Services).