Title: How Do We Relationship? Vol. 5
Author: Tamifull
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Digital
Pages: 200
Genre: Yuri, Romance, Comedy
Publication Date: February 8, 2022
The Story
Volume five of How Do We Relationship? explores Saeko and Miwa after they have split up. Miwa is planning a trip to see her old friend Shiho who had previously come to visit. In addition, Miwa wants to ask her out! She turns to Saeko for advice; however, Saeko is a bit cold to her by stating that she should expect to be turned down. Even with Saeko trying to salvage that conversation, it doesn’t really make Miwa feel all that much better about going so far to confess.
On the opposite side, people think that Saeko and her co-worker Yuria are now dating; however, Yuria already has a girlfriend. It was a bit of a misunderstanding; however, that gets revisited later on in the volume when Yuria’s relationship doesn’t pan out as she would have liked it to.
The back half of the volume ventures into spoiler territory so I’ll be a bit vague here as I can’t really not talk about it. When Miwa returns from her trip, the results of it have a profound impact on both Miwa and Saeko. So much so that they begin to change and think differently about things… especially when it comes to relationships in general. Saeko develops this different kind of mindset; however, she’s thrown completely off her game when Miwa turns the tables and debuts a type of mindset nobody really saw coming with her!
Our volume ends there with this new Miwa and a completely shocked Saeko!
Characters
Again, being vague here, but the major development here is with Miwa. The person she has changed into is a radical shift away from what we are used to with her… so much so that even Saeko was taken aback by it. Honestly, though, I don’t expect this new persona to last. Miwa just isn’t that type of character and this is, most likely, a phase that she’s going through after being influenced by some events that happened on her trip (not to mention a lot of encouragement from Rika and her “just do it” attitude.) We’ll have to see where this goes but I don’t think even I could get used to this new Miwa.
Saeko, on the other hand, is in a bit of a tug-o-war with her feelings. She still can’t admit that she loved Miwa and it seems as if she’s just been lying to herself the entire time. So much so that she actually thought about dating Yuria until she found out that she had a girlfriend. When Yuria’s relationship goes south, it’s almost too late because now Saeko is truly conflicted as she’s beginning to sort things out in her mind. It’s almost as if she realized she was about to make an impulsive mistake and is now trying to find a way out of it… but she never made the mistake so there’s nothing really to do. Despite that, she still feels a bit awkward about the whole thing which shows just how much she’s living in her own head. This marks a bit of a shift for Saeko as we are seeing the subtle beginnings of a shift in thinking when it comes to love. Plus, we still don’t really know what her true deal is which puts an even bigger “?” on everything. I have a feeling we are being set up for the big reveal, though.
Final Thoughts
I said it in the last volume and the same holds true here… I am more interested in Saeko’s backstory and with the way she was portrayed in this volume, that interest is stronger than ever. Saeko already gave clues about what possibly might have happened in her past (I mean, it’s kind of obvious, isn’t it?) but we still don’t have that official confirmation about anything. We know she hates men, she doesn’t like to have anything done to her sexually, she doesn’t even like having someone touch her hair… even if that someone is Miwa. All of the signs point to the “well, duh” section in the obvious store but maybe Tamifull is building it all up to make us think that when, in reality, it’s something different?
Only time will tell but with Yuria saying she has a girlfriend after Miwa and Saeko just went through a dramatic experience, it serves up as a classic misdirection where I’m more than sure that Yuria and Miwa are not actually together. In fact, if anything, Miwa would end up going back to Shiho if things should get pushed so far in that direction (which I don’t think that they will.)
As I said… that seed was planted early on in the volume which set up the red flag for the dramatic moment. Now, we’ll see if things happen to go in that direction or if Miwa and Saeko can work things out. There are a few ways this could go but we’ll have to wait until Volume 5 to see where that direction takes us.
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This item was provided for review by VIZ Media.
