Title: A Star Brighter Than the Sun Vol. 3
Author: Kazune Kawahara
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 197
Genre: Slice-of-Life, Romance
Publication Date: September 2, 2025
The Story
It’s time for the English play of The Wizard of Oz. Kamishiro leveled up his English pronunciation quickly. Despite still being a bit rough around the edges, he managed to pull through; however, Iwa had to place herself in an embarrassing situation as someone in the front row was trying to sneak a lewd picture up someone’s skirt! Later, Kamishiro overheard them gloating about it, taking measures into his own hands. This landed him in the nurse’s office! Iwa heads there to help explain things to the teachers who were questioning him; however, a girl butts in and clears things up. She is Subaru Kamishiro, his cousin!
Afterward, Iwa asks Kamishiro if he wants to go see the new Spy-D-Man movie. He agrees, but can’t give her a time just yet because he has to check what his soccer practice schedule is going to be first. Meanwhile, the cast of the play decides to hold a wrap party. There, Ayukawa joins her and thanks her for helping make the prompting easy. As they talk, he opens up about being too skinny and self-conscious about his body. The more they talk, the more they have in common.
Some time passes, and Kamishiro sets a date to go watch the movie. Afterward, they go out for something to eat when they are approached by two guys with whom they went to junior high school. After a bit of an awkward moment there, Iwa waits outside as Kamishiro hits up the restroom. Two other guys approach her and ask her for directions. Kamishiro steps in and gets the wrong idea about what happens. After that embarrassing moment, they do some more talking, recounting their memories together. They realize that they have known each other for ten years now. That conversation causes Iwa to realize that there is one more thing that she needs to tell him. How convenient that there is a school festival on the horizon.
Characters
We have a new character in Subaru Kamishiro, who is Kouki Kamishiro’s cousin. She’s brash, forward, and very extroverted; however, she seems to have a good heart. Iwa said that she looks up to her; however, Kouki warns her not to. Apparently, she used to bully him back in preschool and continues to tease him to this day. Even though she’s family, he doesn’t exactly view her through a rose-tinted lens. Despite that, she can sense things brewing between the two of them, so I have a feeling that she’s going to stick her nose where it doesn’t belong… on more than one occasion!
Next up, we have some development for Ayukawa. Even though he was just a prompter alongside Iwa for the play, he did take it upon himself to sit and talk with her at the wrap-up party. He was being a bit open about himself, especially how he thinks he’s too skinny, and was glad that their school doesn’t have a pool so that he doesn’t have to swim during P.E. class. Later, Iwa discovers that he’s not only part of the Shogi club, but he’s the club’s only member. He challenges her to a game with a severe handicap on his part since Iwa sucks at Shogi, but he promises to tell her why Kamishiro was so mad during their hiking trip if she wins. At first glance, you would think that he has an interest in her, and maybe he does, but I think he’s more or less just trying to be a buffer to help bring Iwa and Kamishiro together. It’s like he already knows that they have feelings for one another. We’ll see, though.
As for Iwa and Kamishiro, they did a lot of bonding in this volume. From practicing for the English play, to going to see Spy-D-Man together to sharing ten years’ worth of memories, they made it pretty obvious that they are made for one another. On top of that, Iwa continues to recall Kamishiro saying that he’s in love with someone who is a star brighter than the sun, but she’s still a bit too dense to realize that it’s her that he’s referring to. That has been Iwa’s only hangup from confessing her feelings to him; however, that trip down memory lane may have convinced her to put all of that aside!
Final Thoughts
One of my biggest complaints about romance series is when they make it painfully obvious that the two main characters are going to end up dating each other, then they introduce a new character who tries to be a challenger, who ultimately fails. I thought that this series was trying to do that with Ayukawa, but with the way things played out here, I don’t think that’s the case. Sure, they may have a lot in common, and there may have been a few lines uttered there that suggest he may have an interest in her, but when they had that Shogi match, and he promised to tell her why Kamishiro was so angry, it made it quite obvious that he knows about the chemistry between the two of them.
The way I see it, if he were trying to win her over and take her for himself, there’s no way he would offer to divulge that information. The only way he would do that is if he tried to deceive her by feeding her some kind of lie, but he didn’t allow himself to do anything like that. So, that tells me he knows that he’s fighting a losing battle… and a battle that might actually be happening thanks to Kamishiro.
Kamishiro is making it painfully obvious that he’s in love with Iwa. From interrupting the Shogi match to stepping in when those two guys were asking for directions outside of the restaurant, he’s beginning to act more like a protective boyfriend than just a childhood friend. He’s beginning to realize that he may have a chance after all, and it’s all thanks to Iwa indulging him… mainly because she likes him, too.
It seems as if they don’t want to waste much time getting to the confession, which is another good sign. I’m a fan of romance series setting things up, having the confession happen mid-series, then wrapping it up by getting to see them act like a couple. It’s not a direction a lot of romance series take, and I’m not saying that this one is heading there, but with the way this volume ended, there is a high possibility that we could be getting something along those lines. I hope so because that could cut out all of the typical BS a lot of other series like to pull, and just give us all of the good stuff up front, with that rare look of how a couple’s life would go for them after the confession.
I hope that’s what volume four will give us, but we’ll have to wait and see what it brings.
You can also check out other Outerhaven reviews on your favorite social media networks:
Subscribe to us on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theouterhaven.net
Subscribe to us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheOuterHaven
Subscribe to us on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/theouterhavennet
This item was provided for review by Viz Media
