Title: My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lvl999 Vol. 2
Author: Mashiro
Publisher: Inklore
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 192
Genre: Slice-of-Life, Romance
Publication Date: September 3, 2024
The Story
We pick up volume 2 by resolving the mystery of who Ruri truly is in real life! Once the mystery is solved, we learn that the guild is comprised of just four people who have played together for a long time. Ruri’s real-life sister Runa; however, doesn’t take kindly to Akane and swears that she’s going to do whatever it takes to drive her out of the guild!
She hatches a plan by apologizing for the way she acted and wants to make it up to Akane by inviting her out. She picks a date and time that Yamada is supposed to be coming over to tutor her. At the last minute, she cancels her plans but sends someone rather dangerous to meet Akane instead! Realizing what she could have done, everyone bands together to go looking for Akane. Once the situation is resolved, Runa feels deep remorse for what she did.
This leads to a rather cute arc where Runa, with Ruri’s help and guidance, tries to get Akane and Yamada together! A perfect, yet sad, opportunity arises when Akane’s computer literally goes up in smoke. Yamada is asked to go help repair it and Runa comes along for the ride! What wild plans does she have to try and get them closer?
Characters
Without spoiling Ruri’s real-life identity, I will say that she’s a rather peculiar person in real life. She is very warm and caring of the people around her but at the same time, she’s kind of an oddball who is a bit too attached to her in-game character. The way she likens her character to herself is a bit disturbing but once you get to know the real her, you can see that she’s about as harmless as they come. She seems like a really cool friend to have who deeply cares about the guild and the members in it!
As for Ruri’s sister Runa… the biggest problem that I have with her is that they resolved her issues WAY too quickly. When she announced that she wanted to drive Akane out of the guild, I thought that this would be a long, drawn-out process that would result in both comedy and drama, spanning over multiple volumes but instead, we ended up resolving the issue within two chapters. That was rather disappointing as I thought that Runa had great potential to become a temporary antagonist for the series. Instead, she was quickly relegated to a comic relief character, doing a complete 180 in about 4 total chapters worth of time.
Granted, looking at what we got with Runa from a face value standpoint, it was great and I did enjoy her hijinks and laughed at them a bit but… it was way too soon to pull the trigger on that. Then again, maybe that’s not what this series was aiming to become so, in that regard, it made sense. Still, her development felt a bit on the rushed side.
As for Yamada, it’s a very slow process but he is beginning to question why he can’t interact with girls. We see a few clips of his past with an unknown character that is, obviously, the root cause of his awkwardness… or maybe he’s always been that awkward and this girl just became a reason for him to just not bother at all? Whatever the case may be, we weren’t given the full story and with this being the second volume, I wasn’t expecting everything to be revealed. I’m a fan of slow burns with some breadcrumbs being tossed around here and there and that is exactly what we got. Despite that, recalling those moments in the past has made him begin to think about things which is a good thing for Akane!
Final Thoughts
After a strong start, we get a strong follow-up! Again, I felt Runa’s development was way too rushed but with it out of the way, we can get back to focusing on Akane and Yamada. Now with exterior forces at play, we could see several layers to this love story develop! One thing that I like is that everyone is in agreement that Akane and Yamada should be an item and the fact that everyone in the guild wants to work behind the scenes to help make that happen is really cool. What makes it better is that they’re doing this without Yamada or Akane realizing what’s happening because neither of them is truly committed to their feelings at this point!
This gives you a sense that everyone else is eager to push them together but it’s obvious that their efforts are premature. Sometimes the hand of fate must be forced and the external pressure can help get them together but I can’t see that happening until Yamada does some serious soul-searching. If I had to become an armchair booker and put my fan fiction cap on, I’d say that their efforts backfire and make Yamada aware of what’s happening. He backs off harshly and it causes Akane to worry. That’s when she will confront Yamada apologize on their behalf and get him to open up. At that point, Yamada can probably spill his guts or maybe give us just a fragment to help us better understand him better. I would vote for the latter. Have him say just enough to not tell the whole tale but enough for something to resonate within Akane… something that will make her heart flutter… be it a mutual understanding, sympathy, or whatever avenue you want to take.
I can see that playing out but, then again, I didn’t see Runa abandoning the villainess role after two chapters. With this manga already proving it can be spontaneous, who knows what will actually happen? Plus, that final page serving as a mild cliffhanger needs to be handled first and that’s where we’ll pick up our journey in volume three!
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This item was purchased for review.
