Title: Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible Vol. 10
Author: Nene Yukimori
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 177
Genre: Slice-of-Life, Romance, Comedy
Publication Date: November 7, 2023
The Story
Summer break is over and it’s time to return to class for a new semester but first… apple pie with Akina and Saki!
With the pie filler out of the way, everyone returns to class. Shiraishi and Kubo are back together once again and we get some more cute moments with them together; however, the major story here is the school festival. Their class decides to do a haunted house which causes Kubo to become nervous because she doesn’t like the dark or scary things. Despite that, she comes up with the perfect job for Shiraishi… to be a ghost!
Kubo didn’t realize that volunteering Shiraishi to be a ghost would cause a problem. As the main attraction of the haunted house, he becomes the center of attention at school! The haunted house planning committee hogs him all to themselves and that means that Kubo loses a lot of chances to talk to him or even walk home from school with him. She understands why but she’s also conflicted because this isn’t something she wished for.
Despite that, the festival begins and it turns out that the haunted house is a hit. Kubo wants to hang out with Shiraishi during the festival so they make plans for when he takes a break from being a ghost; however, a judge is coming around and they want him to continue. This works out because as Kubo is waiting, she’s asked by someone else to hang out but she turns them down by saying the one thing we all hoped she’d say!
Characters
Both Kubo and Shiraishi had a bit of development here with Kubo getting a pretty major boost at the end of the volume.
Shiraishi’s development, advanced in millimeters because it just restated everything that we knew so far. He keeps wondering about his feelings for Kubo but we’ve already seen him pseudo-acknowledge those feelings in past volumes so there wasn’t much to call new here. Despite that, at least he’s still thinking about it, and his reflection on when he and Kubo first met put a really big emphasis on him doing a bit of soul-searching. While it wasn’t much, it still meant that he was continuously thinking about Kubo and trying his hardest to convince himself that his feelings were, indeed, real.
In Kubo’s case, she was her typical self but that took a hard turn once Shiraishi was getting all of the attention from the festival committee. She was made to realize just how painful it was to be separated from Shiraishi and what it’s like to not talk or hang out with him daily. However, if that feeling of pain wasn’t confirmation enough, a pivotal moment happened. While it was like a “well, duh” moment more than anything, it was like a heavy weight lifted from our shoulders because there was finally some acknowledgment. With only two volumes left, I have a feeling we’ll get the big moment when volume eleven drops. I mean, it’s a festival, right? This is one of those tropes that give way to the perfect moment so we’ll see.
Final Thoughts
Another cute volume! Kubo stole the show this time around by going through a roller coaster of emotions. It has been painfully obvious that she likes Shiraishi; however, when you saw her experience that pain and heartache of not being able to interact with him, you truly felt the gravity of her love for him. The only major question that has not been answered yet is ‘Why?’ Even with Shiraishi’s flashback, we still don’t know why Kubo opted to start talking to him, why she took an interest in him, and why she fell in love with him.
Because that’s still up in the air, I can see the festival bringing them together as a couple and we can wrap it up with volume twelve in epilogue fashion. I can see Kubo walking down the school hallway hand-in-hand with Shiraishi recalling how they met and revealing why she fell in love with him in some sort of inner monologue. It’s one of those setups where I don’t think Shiraishi will ever know the reason himself but I don’t think he needs to know.
If his flashback were any indication, he’s just overjoyed that someone decided to pay attention to him and recognize his presence. That alone seems like it would be enough for him and if you don’t believe me, look at his progression. His thoughts about Kubo, his feelings that he’s trying to confirm, all stemmed from the fact that she did something so simple… she talked to him. She treated him like he wasn’t invisible. It moved him so much that he had fallen in love with her. He doesn’t need to know the reason. So, an inner monologue to close out the series would fit perfectly and if Nene Yukimori wants to finish the monologue with some tongue-in-cheek branding, the final line of the series could be “and that’s why I wouldn’t let you be invisible.”
If that happens, I’m going to go play the lottery. Wish me luck.
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This item was provided for review by VIZ Media.
