Title: Rainbow Days Vol. 2
Author: Minami Mizuno
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 185
Genre: Romance, Comedy
Publication Date: February 7, 2023
The Story
The second volume of Rainbow Days had more bonus content than actual content! In the two chapters of the continuing story, Natsuki is starting to get to know Anna (last name really long) more and more. He goes on an unofficial date with her where they walk home from school and ends up eating some sweets. Meanwhile, Tsutsui (aka Spit Girl… HA!) is still constantly running into Tomoya and getting peeved that they keep meeting.
Then, the school festival drops upon them and Natsuki makes plans to spend some time with Anna. She happily accepts and even daydreams about the time they will be spending with one another; however, Keiichi ends up roping Natsuki into filling in for Boo, who is out with a cold, for a certain festival event… a cross-dressing contest! The only problem is that the contest is at the same time he was to spend with Anna. This leads to Natsuki breaking off plans with her which ends up hurting her feelings. Realizing it’s partially his fault (It was ALL his fault…) Keiichi offers to try and patch things up by finding Anna first after Spit Girl comes to their meeting and blames them for her disappearance.
Outside of these two chapters, we end up getting some bonus content… including a look at all of the girls. In that chapter, we get a better idea of Anna and Spit Girl’s (I love this nickname lol) relationship and how they can even be a bit competitive with each other. Also, it solidifies Anna’s claim for loving sweets (She ordered three cakes!)
Characters
A little nitpick I have with this volume is that now that all of the character introductions are taken care of, they all seemed to have settled into their roles… except… they all seem a bit toned down from the first volume. I was kind of hoping this didn’t happen but a lot of them just felt flatter than how they were originally presented. The only one that was pretty consistent was Natsuki but that’s because he’s the pure naïve one of the bunch so it’s easy to maintain his character.
Keiichi did have a few moments where his “M” side shone through but… what was odd was that the group was afraid he was turning into a masochist when they already know he is one? That just felt a bit odd. Maybe I read it wrong and misunderstood the joke but it just seemed a bit strange that they were afraid of him turning into something that he already was.
Tsutsui and Tomoya are still going to end up together… I can feel it. There seems to be a less than zero chance of it happening now but it’s all building up to something… calling it now!
Anna, on the other hand, was so sweet in this volume. Just her demeanor and how she has a crush on Natsuki was so precious! How she felt sad when he broke off their plans for the cross-dressing event tugged at your heartstrings just a bit. The reader knew it was just a misunderstanding but for the character who didn’t know that yet… you kind of felt her pain. Natsuki keeping the reason from her was both foolish and understandable. On the one hand, how do you tell the girl you like that you’re going to be busy cross-dressing as a girl and still have her take you seriously? On the other, not telling her came with risks but it was understandable that he didn’t want to embarrass himself in front of the girl he likes. Any guy with a crush wants to avoid embarrassment. Why risk making the girl you like, think weirdly about you and then lose all hope?
Spit girl… hehe
Final Thoughts
The bonus content was fine. I like the competitiveness between Anna and Tsutsui. We get a short story about a fresh new college student named Junpei Tazaki moving in and meeting someone in his dorm named Yoichi Nakagawa and how the two of them hit it off as friends and more.
I still would prefer some more main content, though… especially since the dynamite between Natsuki and Anna is so compelling. Hopefully, in the next volume, we can get 3-4 continuous chapters. Then again, that’s just my personal preference as some people love extra side content but as for me… I just prefer main story content more than anything. I don’t like little detours when I know that there is more story to be told… especially since we only get volume release every couple of months.
That’s just me though but as such, I’d have to say this volume was both good and disappointing at the same time. The main content we got was good and the fact that I wanted more of it is a testament to how good it was. I just wish the fluff was saved for a special volume or spinoff series… even though it does expand on the characters a bit. It’s a tough call. Just one of those volumes where you’ll either love it or hate it.
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This item was provided for review by Viz Media
