Title: Ao Haru Ride Vol. 13
Author: Io Sakisaka
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Digital
Pages: 184
Genre: Slice of Life, Romance
Publication Date: October 6, 2020
The Story
We have finally arrived at the final volume of Ao Haru Ride! Things wrap up pretty nicely as we get to see how Futaba and Kou’s relationship progresses. We also get to see Kominato and Shuko’s situation come to a conclusion as well as see things happen with Kou’s brother.
From a story perspective, there really wasn’t much here as the volume simply felt as if it were just tying up the loose ends With the main goal of Futaba x Kou being achieved in the last volume, I kind of felt as if this volume would serve as an epilogue of sorts and with the way things panned out for Shuko, Kominato, and Mr. Tanaka (as well as a nice little cameo for Kikuchi), it really did feel that way. Of course, being the end of the series, I don’t want to ruin the ending for anyone who hasn’t read it yet.
Final Thoughts
As with most of my final volume reviews, I am skipping the characters section as either there is no more development left to be had or the development of some of the supporting characters is heavy on the spoilers and ruins the culmination of their individual stories.
Overall, I did enjoy this series. I’m sure if you’ve read any of my other reviews of the different volumes, you know that I had a bit of an issue with the way Kou was handled as a character. I just can’t buy the aspect of a girl falling in love with someone who acts like they don’t really care. The whole “that’s not how I remember you” angle has been done in other series and while I can understand the need to hold onto childhood memories, it kind of paints a picture of delusion or desperation on the girl’s part (or guy’s if it happens to be the inverse.)
Pining over someone who can’t return their feelings to you, or has changed so much that they are not the same person anymore seems like chasing an unobtainable dream. Yet, these series find a way to push through in order to create the “happy end” that everyone can see from a mile away. As soon as you see this angle play out, you end up realizing what the end goal is and it becomes painfully obvious that’s the way things will end up. Still, you continue to read in order to see how the series arrives at that conclusion. That’s what makes the series fun and entertaining… even if you can’t logically understand why the main character continues to pursue the love interest that just doesn’t give a damn anymore.
Maybe it is because of my own way of thinking. If there was a girl I like back in… let’s say… 5th grade… and then I suddenly reacquaint myself with her in high school and notice that instead of the sweet, innocent girl I knew her as she turned out to be some sort of stuck up snob with a bad attitude, I’m not going to continue to hold onto my feelings that I once had. I’m just going to shake my head at the way she had become and move on with my life. It’s kind of the rational thing to do, to be honest. That’s why I have a real hard time buying into these kinds of stories that take the route of trying to make unrequited love work out.
Another thing that happens in a series like this is that you end up rooting for the supporting characters more than you do the main characters because their love stories just seem way more natural. That was the case here as I was rooting for Shuko and Kominato WAY more than I was rooting for Futaba and Kou. In fact, seeing the conclusion to their story in this volume was the highlight for me. I got to see the outcome of something that was building up for several volumes and despite the outcome, we received a conclusion that we could all come to understand and accept.
Their story felt more natural, felt more realistic, and felt more engaging than Kou and Futaba’s journey… at least it did for me.
That’s not to say that, in the end, Kou didn’t do some low-key sweet things. Slight spoilers here but we found out the true name for his cat. It wasn’t Chibisuke or Kuro as you once thought… the name of the cat was actually Yoshioka… he named it after Futaba which embarrassed the crap out of him! It’s sweet little moments like that which made me wish they were sprinkled into the series from the very beginning. Seeing more of those would have made the journey a bit smoother and wouldn’t have had Kou come off as such a cold and calloused character at times. Giving little shreds of hope like that throughout the book wouldn’t make made me feel like Futaba should have just given up and settled for Kikuchi.
I know I’m offering up a bunch of negative critiques here so it might be a good idea to reiterate that despite my qualms with the way some things were handled, I still really enjoyed this series from beginning to end. I am a sucker for romance stories and this one had a pretty good plot. The side characters helped to prop up the story when the main characters seemed hopeless so there was always a reason to be invested and interested in what was happening.
Now that I’m done with the manga, I think that I might go and binge-watch the anime!
If you’re looking for a pretty good romance series, I highly recommend picking this up. I know that not everyone is going to have the same issues with Kou as I did. There are some people who absolutely love this kind of love story. If so, this is a can’t miss series for you!
Overall score: 3.5 / 5 or 7 / 10 depending on your preferred scale!
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This item was provided for review by VIZ Media
