Katrina's Reviews > Tsubaki-chou Lonely Planet, Vol. 4

The art keeps getting prettier, reminding me why I liked Yamamori to begin with. And the story itself hits some nicely pang-worthy notes in this volume.

Fumi has firmly told herself to give up on Kibikino; it was never realistic to think of him as a romantic possibility to begin with, and he's told her that while he does consider her special, he means it in a family way. Like a dear niece. So all she has to do is keep some distance, get her feelings under control, and enjoy their interactions for what they are.

Except then summer vacation starts, leaving her at home with him all the time, and Kibikino's editor Gorou ropes her into a research trip to Kyoto with the three of them, then leaves them alone while dashing back to Tokyo to hound another author about their deadline.

It gets a little shoujo-tropey, but I'm enjoying it. Fumi's a good mix of very stable, responsible, and mature, but emotionally volatile under the surface, and it's really easy to like her. She's an interesting contrast to Katsura, who should've been a great fit for Kibikino on a number of levels: age, career path, and general interests. But while Kibikino is happy to launch into a big historical lecture at a moment's notice, bewildering Fumi and exhausting Gorou, he doesn't seem all that interested in having someone to sit around and debate things with.

Fumi is gentle and thoughtful and and genuinely interested in a lot of things, with a deep well of loneliness in her that Kibikino instinctively responds to. Not just because there's a part of him that likes helping out when he's needed, but because there's a part of him that's very love-started, too.

Loneliness is, I think, the big theme of this series. Aioi and Fumi's friend Tobiume seem to be shaping up as a second couple, and I'm surprised by how immediately I loved them. Aioi cares about his mom, and she is a good mom, but she's also working a lot and isn't able to be around as much for all the typical household stuff as she was before the divorce. This leaves Aioi forced to trek to the convenience store to buy premade meals for himself and snacks for his hungover mother...a journey that he minds less once he starts talking to Tobiume, who works there.

Loved the angsty pangs when Aioi realized that Tobiume was recommending the same foods to other people, and that he wasn't special. Loved that Tobiume does actually see something special about him, and singled him out in their "bravery challenge" group as the guy she trusted to cling through and reveal her insecurities to.

It's funny to have their story so disconnected from Fumi's, but maybe we'll see the three of them hanging out more after summer vacation.

For now, Fumi has to deal with a tropey "accidentally said I love you sensei in her sleep" incident, which is deeply embarrassing but was actually handled pretty well. Kibikino did bluntly ask her about it much sooner than I expected, and she managed to turn it around into a lame excuse that of course Gorou saw right through.

Kibikino is now convinced that Fumi is in love with some other older man, while Gorou is delighting in having instantly figured out Fumi's terrible lie, and having a chance to push Kibikino's buttons by claiming he might be interested in Fumi.

There's another little glimpse of Kibikino's childhood, which I guess will only come in bits and pieces as we slowly learn more about him. He's very much a slow burn, and you get a lot of his thoughts and emotions from panels where he isn't even speaking. That's what I like about Yamamori's art: you really can read a lot just from the eyes and posture. I love when it's truly the combination of text and art that conveys the whole story.