Title: I Belong to the Baddest Girl at School Vol. 2
Author: Ui Kashima
Publisher: One Peace Books
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 184
Genre: Romance, Comedy
Publication Date: November 9, 2021
The Story
The second volume of I Belong to the Baddest Girl at School continues the hilarious inner turmoil between Toramaru and Unoki. Toramaru continues to believe that Unoki is her boyfriend while Unoki continues to think that he’s just her gopher. This time around, things take a little bit of a turn when we learn who the person was at the end of volume one that showed up looking for Toramaru. If you guessed older brother… you would be wrong. He’s actually her younger brother despite looking much older than she is! His name is Tasuku and while he looks like a mean character, he’s actually a softy that loves all things romance. He buys into Toramaru’s lie about Unoki being her boyfriend and occasionally helps her with advice on how to take things further with him!
This sets up the running gag that encompasses the entirety of the second volume. We get a few hilarious moments such as Toramaru and Unoki discovering each other’s last names, Toramaru getting Unoki’s contact information, and… even inviting him out on a date!
While on the date, the two of them are completely frozen; however, Yutaka and Matsuri show up out of the blue and they end up going on a double date which ends in a bit of a heartwarming moment between Unoki and Toramaru. The volume comes to an end when Unoki begins to question some things about that moment.
Characters
Tasuku, for being a background character, played a pretty significant role here as Toramaru’s guiding light on her quest for love. I still think it’s hilarious that she can flat out admit that she’s in love to her brother but can’t admit it to anyone else… even Yutaka and Matsuri. That kind of speaks to the relationship the two of them have as siblings. I like his gimmick of always having a book on him to reference relationship advice to and despite the book being different every time, he claims it’s his favorite. What started out as a dark and brooding character turned out to be quite the comic relief. I’m really liking him so far.
As far as Toramaru and Unoki, they share the same development in the fact that they managed to go on a date together and while Toramaru already knows that she’s in love with Unoki, those thoughts are now starting to creep into his head as well. Before that, the development belongs all to Toramaru by way of her inner thoughts. All she can do is think of Unoki. She went to gym class for the first time in ages because of him and is starting to do other things she doesn’t normally do all because she gets to be around Unoki.
I’m really happy that Unoki is not remaining a dense main character. This entire time he felt as if he was nothing more than just a gopher and when Toramaru going psycho a few times, it’s easy to see why he would just continually think that. But, at the end, those feelings begin to change… especially when Toramaru invites him out. He immediately thought it was a date which was the catalyst for the change in his character. This is a rather short series at just seven volumes so it makes sense to try and start a push here in the second volume. I don’t know what the third volume will hold for him but I’m hoping he doesn’t do a 180 and just thinks it was a coincidence.
Final Thoughts
The first volume reeled you in and the second volume has enough going for it to solidify this as a great series in the making. I love the playfulness between Toramaru and Unoki and while Yutaka and Matsuri have their own thing going, they quickly went from Toramaru’s sidekicks to just more comedic relief. Normally, I would dislike characters fading away or having their roles downgraded but in this instance, the chemistry between Toramaru and Unoki is just so strong that I don’t mind this happening one bit. I WANT to see more these two together. I WANT to see more interactions and if it means pushing other characters to the side to make that happen, then so be it.
Needless to say, I’m enjoying this manga, and only after two volumes I already think of it as one of the better romcoms that I’ve read. We still have five volumes to go before I can fully judge it but this one is off to an amazing start!
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