Title: Rainbow Days Vol. 10
Author: Minami Mizuno
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 193
Genre: Romance, Comedy
Publication Date: April 2, 2024
The Story
The Osaka trip is nearing its end and we start off this volume of Rainbow Days with Anna’s answer to Mocchi’s confession. Just as I (and probably everyone else) predicted, Anna turns him down; however, just the simple fact that he confessed his love to her made her realize just how painful love is but… not for her (at least mostly). She thought about how Mocchi was hurt by her rejection and she felt bad about that. Of course, Hashiba wants to see Anna right away to make sure she’s okay and whatnot; however, he can’t read the room and realize that now isn’t the best time. That’s where Spit Girl comes in. She actually does him a solid and tells him to stay away for now… besides, it’s her turn next!
On the final day of the trip, they go off in their groups but Tsutsui goes off on her own. She runs into Tomoya and he says he’s not a goody two-shoes like everyone thinks and practically kidnaps her! Simply, he wanted to know what was bothering her but she said that she couldn’t talk about it with so many people around so he ran off with her against her will so that they could be alone. This is where we finally get Tsutsui’s backstory and how she ended up the way that she did. Once that’s over, Tomoya makes his move… sort of…
The class trip ends. When we return, we will witness the fallout.
Characters
The main girls get all of the attention here!
First up is Anna. We all knew that she had realized her love for Hashiba and, therefore, predictably rejected Mocchi. The aftermath of that rejection got her down and questioned what love truly is and why it hurt so much for the people involved. This causes Hashiba to pump the breaks but not without some assistance from Tsutsui. Anna worries about this so much, she ends up with a low-grade fever. Even after she recovers, she’s still not sure what to think and seems depressed about everything. I’m sure that once she figures it out, things will get better for her. The problem will be Hashiba and if he can realize that his timing is off…
…which he kind of does! Later on, he finally gets to talk with Anna but, thankfully, he realizes the gravity of the situation and just feels a bit awkward about meeting up with her. He realized it was too soon and that she still needed some time. Plus, there was a bit of a miscommunication when they were approached by two people who were looking for some directions. This served as the catalyst for his realization that he was moving a bit too fast with her. It does extend the drama for a bit but we still have six more volumes to go. Plenty of time for things to sort out and for Hashiba to make his ultimate move.
The big spotlight here was Tsutsui. After ten volumes of thinking she would be nothing more than just Spit Girl, we finally learn about her past. She was once a happy child living with her brother who she affectionally calls Ma-kun. He did everything for her, even came home early to take care of her, but all of that changed when it was time for him to get married and move away. Before that, he did her hair up in pigtails and told her she looked cute. Well, nobody at school thought that. Some even thought that she was trying to steal all the attention away from a popular girl. This continued on into Junior High and it caused her to shut herself off to the rest of the world. She hated both boys and girls alike until one day, during gym class, Anna approached her to be her volleyball practice partner. From there, they hit off… albeit very slowly. Anna became the only person that she could trust and, in a weird way, a replacement for her brother.
Tomoya reassures her that not everyone in the world will cast her aside or abandon her. He proclaims that he’s there for her which, I believe, was the ultimate crack in her tsundere armor. Things were left unresolved but I’m curious to see how this goes… and what that means for her confession to Anna. She seems to be having second thoughts because she’s beginning to realize that she has been nothing more than a third wheel all along. She is definitely in a maelstrom of thoughts and emotions right now but it has finally made her an endearing character.
Final Thoughts
I’ve been waiting for this moment with Tsutsui for a while and now that we’ve been given it, I can say that I am not disappointed in it at all. I kind of figured that she would have a backstory such as this so I’m glad that I was able to guess correctly, although, it didn’t stop it from being emotional. You came out of it not only understanding her but you also just wanted to hug her and tell her that everything is going to be okay… then, as if you get to live vicariously through the manga, Tomoya does exactly that. Anticipating your readers’ feelings and then showing them what they feel is not an easy task but things lined up in the most perfect way and I’m glad that it unfolded as it did! It took Tsutsui from a loathsome character who looked to be best suited for comic relief and transformed her into someone you could truly sympathize with!
The Anna x Hashiba story got sidetracked but I figured that would happen. As I mentioned in past reviews, when you have a story centered around two characters, their shipping is usually saved for last because that is the big payoff. We will have to wait a little longer for their relationship to become official but it will still be sweet when it happens.
Outside of Anna x Hashiba and Tomoya x Tsutsui, not much else happened. The volume chose to put the spotlight here to finish out the trip. Next time, though, all bets are off the table as we will deal with the fallout and, perhaps, give some other characters some time to shine while Anna and Tsutsui figure things out for themselves off-camera. We’ll see, though.
Excellent volume! One of the best of the series, in my opinion. Can’t wait to see how the final six will shape up!
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This item was provided for review by VIZ Media.
