Title: Shortcake Cake Vol. 11
Author: suu Morishita
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Digital
Pages: 168
Genre: Slice-of-Life, Romance
Publication Date: February 2, 2021
The Story
**WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS**
This is one of those volumes where I can’t talk about what happened unless I spoil some of the things that occurred. If you don’t want to be spoiled, I suggest reading the manga first before continuing on. If I wanted to do a spoiler-free review, it would simply read “Riku and his mother talked and the rest of the volume was the fallout from that moment.”
You’ve been warned.
Volume eleven of Shortcake Cake was another wild roller coaster ride. Riku confronted his mother and heard everything that she had to say. Then, it came time for Riku’s decision to move in with her or stay. Riku chose to stay which ended up shocking Rei. When Rei realized that Riku never intended to move back with his mother, he broke down and broke down hard. He confessed everything to Riku about how he failed as a big brother, how he was jealous that Riku was always so happy, and how he regretted everything. Riku accepts Rei’s apology and ends up moving back into the Mizuhara house with him.
There, Rei’s grandfather welcomes Riku back; however, Riku sets things straight and (along with some strongarming by Rei) ensures that Rei will become the successor of the Mizuhara family. The only loose end to tie up is with Ten.
Riku invites everyone out to a getaway in a home that they rent out; however before they leave… Riku re-confesses his love for Ten in a pretty heartwarming scene. Now officially a couple again, everyone heads off for a little R&R… perhaps a little too much R&R for our lovebirds. The volume ends with Riku getting on top of Ten and asking her what her desires are and that he would give her everything that she asks for.
If that wasn’t a blatant request to have sex, I don’t know what is. I’m sure the naughty stuff will happen while we’re all sitting here waiting for the final volume to arrive. Honestly, though… the series could have ended right here and I wouldn’t be mad at all. Everything seemed to get tied up nicely. Next volume looks to be an epilogue as I can’t think of anymore story to tell other than “this is what happens to our characters now that everything is settled.”
Characters
I think the story summed up the character development but just to quickly recap, Rei was the centerpiece of this volume. His shell being broken and accepting Riku back into his life was really well done.
Riku having the fortitude to stand up to his biological mother and choose Ten and the Mizuhara family over her made sense and was handled well, too. He doesn’t hate her nor does he want to discard her… it’s just that he has his own life now and considered Mahoro to be his true mother since she was there for him up until she died.
Final Thoughts
This was a fantastic volume of Shortcake Cake. The only little qualm I had about it was how quickly Rei changed his mind and wanted his brother back. Then again, I am told that I’m a bit too long-winded in my writing and simpler is better so maybe just being straightforward and to the point works for most people and this is just my personal little nitpick.
Be that as it may, this was the gift wrapping on the series. Next volume will be the bow that completes the package. This has been an amazing ride from beginning to end and has been a really good romance series. I’ll be sure to give my final thoughts of the entire series after volume 12 hits store shelves but until then, I will say that if you’ve been on the fence for this series, get down and land on the side that says “READ IT.” There were a couple of plot points that could have been handled a little differently but it’s not a bad series at all and one that I think most romance buffs would enjoy!
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This item was provided for review by VIZ Media
