Title: The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses Vol. 3
Author: Koume Fujichika
Publisher: Square Enix
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 128
Genre: Slice-of-Life, Romance, Comedy
Publication Date: May 16, 2023
The Story
The third volume of The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses continues the episodic trend of Mie forgetting her glasses.
First, she needs to drop off a points form to get a free dessert but can’t see so Komura offers to walk her; however, Komura is also asked to go check out a new coin arcade after school. Feeling guilty about Komura giving up the chance to do so, Mie says she’ll be fine on her own.
After this, they graduate from their class and head into the next year of school. They get the same teacher but brand-new seats. At first, Mie ends up next to Azuma but then next to a girl named Someya when she got her seat wrong. Komura ends up next to a girl named Hibuchi who hasn’t been in their class before. Immediately, Hibuchi notices Mie looking back to try and find Komura and then notices how bummed out Komura is. She offers to switch seats with Mie so she can be next to Komura again!
Next, we get a bit of a twist on the joke as Mie brought her glasses to school but forgot to take them home with her! Komura ends up taking them since it’s a long weekend. Mie calls him and apologizes for having him take care of her glasses and goes as far as to tell him that it’s like she’s there in the house with him. Thanks to that, Komura can’t sleep at all that weekend!
Much like the first couple of volumes, Mie remembers her glasses in the final chapter and gets a super close-up look at Komura. She then offers Komura the chance to see her up close, too!
Characters
Azuma played the hero in the first volume… here, HIbuchi is the MVP! For a moment, I thought with her being in their class for the first time would begin a love triangle… just like I thought it would with Azuma; however, I was once again proved wrong. Hibuchi read the room and set things back to normal much to Mie and Komura’s delight. I don’t know if we’ll see more of her but she made quite the impact here in her debut.
Someya is already a character that looks to be a repeat presence as she not only was Mie’s original deskmate (after the initial mistake) and she pops up later complimenting Mie’s eyelashes. It would be nice to add a friend for Mie. Maybe she can become the voice to reason to tell her to go after Komura. After a pair of final chapters of Mie getting a good look at Komura, I’m not entirely sure if she’s needed for that but, who knows? Maybe they do need a little push? It’ll be interesting to see what happens with her from here.
Azuma placed a piece of paper ok the blackboard because Komura and Mie couldn’t reach it. That’s it. That was his contribution to the whole volume outside of telling Mie she had the wrong seat the first time. Much support. Very support.
Final Thoughts
The whole “forgot my glasses” gag seems as if it would have run its course by now but it’s just something you accept. It still starts nearly every chapter off but it hasn’t gotten old so far. We’re still getting cute scene after cute scene with them which is what matters most in a romance series such as this. The gimmick is overused but doesn’t really feel that way which means everything else is overshadowing it which is the right call, in my opinion.
A couple of new side characters but given Azuma’s involvement in three volumes, I’m not expecting much from them but should we? Oftentimes, focusing on the two main protagonists is the way to go in a romance series. Side characters can muddy things up if they are overused. I think the right call would be to keep feeding us more and more Mie x Komura situations until we need a break and then call in the backups to offer up a breath of fresh air. As long as the writing and story can keep it interesting while focusing on two characters, the sporadic contributions of the supporting cast can be forgiven.
It’s not always my preferred storytelling style as I love to make support characters feel as important as the main protagonists. After all, they live and exist in the world, too. Why wouldn’t you wonder about them, their pasts, and what they are doing? That makes characters feel alive versus being plot devices. However, despite my preferences, keeping them out of the spotlight can work beautifully if handled correctly. I think we’re still in the honeymoon period with this series so it’s too early to tell if that will be the case but…
It’s working so far and has the makings for a great series.
You can also check out other The Outerhaven reviews on your favorite social media networks:
Subscribe to us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/theouterhaven
Subscribe to us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheOuterHaven
Subscribe to us on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/theouterhavennet
This item was purchased for review.
