Title: Shortcake Cake Vol. 12
Author: suu Morishita
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Digital
Pages: 177
Genre: Slice-of-Life, Romance
Publication Date: May 4, 2021
Final Thoughts
We have arrived at the conclusion to suu Morishita’s Shortcake Cake. As with all final volumes, I’m simply offering up my final thoughts as all story elements and character development come to a conclusion.
The final story itself is rather short, comprising of only half of the volume. The back half is filled with bonus stories that serve as epilogues for the main story, showing what life is like after the main story had concluded. I found this to be a bit odd because the main portion of the story does its fair share of time skipping so it made me wonder why the bonus chapters weren’t just added on as regular, additional chapters?
Be that as it may, as would be expected of a series such as this, we ended up with our happy ending with a couple of surprises here and there. The biggest one dealt with Ran. I won’t go into much of what happened but it seemed a bit out of left field but, at the same time, also felt a bit appropriate. I also really love how Rei turned out as he seemed to have shed his brashness (for the most part) and became much more understanding, forgiving, and accepting of others around him. He did have a bit of a flash of his old self when it came to Ran’s story which I found a bit humorous!
Of course, Riku and Ten got their fairy tale ending as everyone would have expected. That made you wonder what would happen with Chiaki who had clearly lost in the end (was there ever a competition, though?) Chiaki sets off on a bit of a business venture and the main story of the manga concludes with him on the way to the grand opening of that venture with him quoting a book… as he always does. The bonus chapters expand on that a little bit and serves as a nice bow to tie everything up!
Overall, I enjoyed this series. At first, it presented itself as a love triangle; however, I made the comment where I wondered if there was any competition because Chiaki kind of conceded very early on and never looked back. He ended up becoming a secondary support character that selflessly supported Riku and Ten’s relationship. Riku and Ten’s relationship felt very natural as they definitely had some love there between them but they played it cautiously. There were quite a few things that they needed to sort out before they could officially date and, like any two people in love, they worked those out. Then, there were some personal challenges Riku had while they were dating and their relationship got put on hold.
This was something that bothered me because I didn’t think it was necessary for the two of them to stop dating… even if it was temporary. Ten could have played the role of the girlfriend better and supported Riku to her fullest in order to reaffirm her love for him. The whole stop and start aspect just seemed a bit weird and really selfish on Riku’s part. Given the fact that they just ended back up together and got their happy ending makes me question what the entire point of that was outside of stirring up some cheap and unneeded drama?
My only other complaint was that a lot of the secondary characters at the house were so far in the background, that I couldn’t even remember their names (and still can’t) after twelve volumes of the manga. I understand that they were filler characters in order to make the house seem alive and full; however, some more attention could have been paid to them. I guess I’m spoiled by series like Fullmetal Alchemist where even the smallest characters got their time to shine but I digress.
Outside of those minor gripes, this was a straightforward romance story from beginning to end. The main cast of characters each played their roles nicely and although some of them were very predictable to where you would know how they would end up when everything was said and done, it still felt rewarding to take that journey with them. While some might want a hook, a gimmick, or some extra spice to make their romance stories unique, sometimes sticking to the plain and simple works best and I really think that suu Morishita made the right choice in doing just that with Shortcake Cake.
In fact, I’m very happy that he dropped the whole love triangle thing early on and just focused on Ten and Riku. Reflecting back, I don’t think the love triangle aspect was ever needed but, in reality, it served as a nice swerve to people who saw it and expected a battle between Riku and Chiaki throughout the series. It was a nice fake-out move to where even I had to smile when I realized that it was simply just misdirection that led us straight into a typical love story.
Allowing the love story to breathe without much opposition or distraction, to put all of the focus on the main characters and make you care about them is a risky move because of those people who want something more… who want that extra drama or that special hook. However, since Shortcake Cake was written so well and its main cast of characters was developed so well, it didn’t need that hook. It became an enjoyable story from beginning to end. While it had its faults, it is still worth the read if you are a fan of romance.
If you haven’t read it, give it a try! Even if you prefer rocky road, cookies n’ cream, or birthday cake… it’s perfectly fine to go back and enjoy a couple of scoops of vanilla from time to time. Oftentimes, vanilla tastes best.
I don’t know why I used an ice cream analogy for a series with the word shortcake in its title… oh well. Eat up anyway!
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This item was provided for review by VIZ Media
