I'm sad for the whole situation, the main problem is Geisen, but his mother was also responsible, for not taking action to shelter her son who was only doing it to please her, this guilt eats her inside to this day, and seeing Masachika express himself on the piano again, opened the wound.
It is an ugly situation because Masachika ends up being the source for all of this too, their parents still love one another but know they need time away, and to try to heal Masachika they are separated to this day, the pressure this puts on Masachika doesn't help to all the complex feelings he already felt about the situation, things were already twisted, and it seems it will need to crack and split apart before Masachika can make his mind.
Alisa is the only one who can help with his trauma, I don't feel he alone can process it, and his mother, dad, and sister depend on him to fix the situation, there is no other way, and until Masachika comes to terms with what he has to do, he will only be running away.
Asking him to come to terms, process it, and consider forgiving is likewise asking him to swallow bread full of needles, but time will run out.
Masachika's dad will stay in Japan for longer this time, I see this as the writer setting up the stage to eventually solve the family's conflict, thought I have my qualms about Geisen's situation, he seems as stubborn as a mule, his tough teachings are what put Masachika in this position for starters, I just can't see things ending well, until that old fart has a change of mind, admits his mistakes and tries to do better, the possibility for that seems negative zero at this point...
There is a lot of drama with Nonoa in this volume that left me worried, I was not expecting it to go this way with her, the writer really wants the reader to be wary of her, I would prefer to see her as a friend, someone that was slowly getting more human, but it was all just a farse, maybe it is slowly happening, but it will take a lot of time to finally see it ourselves, because right I feel like she is just here to create drama and move the plot forward which is what I felt she did, being the root that originated Alisa hearing that from Masachika, which influences the very end of this volume.
It kinda sucks but Yuusho is right, I hope Masachika can see what was happening and realize before she does something too bad, I also do not want that kind of development for her, her character has the potential to be enjoyable, and quirky, having her become a villain... (that skirt flip was great though, I love how she teases him but I would love it to stay on that, and no backstabbing happening)
Alya tells him she loves him, in a way she never said before, so he must be aware she has realized her feelings, but I have not seen any change from him in this regard, I guess the next volume with development this better.
Gotta thank Maria and Elena-senpai for the awesome fanservice provided, I could easily see Maria behaving like that, but Elena is much more naughty than I first thought and it lewd to such a funny game, honestly I feel she is an Ilegal Girl, mostly due to her borderline cosplay rather than anything else, she is almost doing something illegal there, besides magical girls not having such revealing outfits. That illustration of her lifting her skirt and saying such words will reach a new pinnacle if it ever gets adapted.
She is a refreshing character, but all the silliness aside she can also be very compassionable to her kouhai, honestly if there was not already Alisa, and then Maria, I would ship her with Masachika, I love their chemistry, and would like to read more about his misadventures in the Ensemble Club.
Alya's birthday party was a good way to learn more about her family, and her dad felt like the typical Russian dad I could be expecting, hard to show emotions, thus intimidating but also just nervous and shy inside.
Seeing Alya tearing up from happiness was warming inside, and the mood was good for their relationship to progress further...
And then that ending, I already knew it was coming, I appreciate the confession finally happening, but I dislike cliffhangers, but they serve a purpose and I'm definitely hyped to read what comes next, the start of the volume should be terrific, and the most likely it will be one of the best, if not the best volume in the series so far, depending how it goes.
Volume 9 is not far, but from the afterword, the writer indeed planned to release it at the start of July along with the anime debut, so these delays suck, all more so for long-time followers, guess that is what I become now.
I want to comment on the writer's decision to only have Alya know this in volume 8 when already so much has happened, he wanted to give more weight to such a turning point because it is not only about Alya knowing Yuki is Masachika lil sister, and what comes from that, but also she finally understanding Masachika character and the emotions he wanted to keep hidden, and this will lead to changes in their relationship.
Alya will probably be more aggressive in pursuing him after this (but then the whole Maa and Saa-kun thing will be revealed, and lots of tension will surround the sisters), but I hope to see also supporting him more, able to read into his thoughts more now, which is something only Maria herself was able to truly achieve so far, since she must understand a bit of his past, all the more so from all her interactions with him after volume 4.
Volume 9 will sure be a deciding factor, but I hope they don't solve the family situation on it, it would feel too rushed and easy after all this build-up, the writer shaped up things to be very complex and traumatic, and would be anticlimatic to have all of that drama solved in volume 9.
Volume 8 was another solid volume, with some needed development and unexpected development too, but it really feels like the next volume will be the climax, it almost feels like the writer is planning these arcs with the structure of having 3 volumes, and at the end of each, a really strong climax. Volumes 3 and 6 especially were that for me.
WHOEVER I dunno if I will manage to follow this LN's new releases after volume 9, it sucks to wait, read in bulk I immerse myself much better, so I dunno when I will come back to the series after volume 9, but maybe a possible S2 or part two would help the hype going.
The manga is also something I want to read since I heard the mangaka is adding tons of fun fanservice and extra scenes.
Anyway, once spoilers for volume 9 are out, I will probably want to discuss them with people, otherwise, I still have volume 4.5 to read, and I'm happy I saved it because I want to prolong the time I spent reading this LN a bit more~~
Mod Edit: Modified title for clarity and/or easier searching. |