Title: Sakura, Saku Vol. 9
Author: Io Sakisaka
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 199
Genre: Romance
Publication Date: November 11, 2025
Final Thoughts
We are here at the final volume of Sakura, Saku, and, according to my previous review, it wasn’t an ending I was looking forward to because it was painfully obvious that Saku and Haruki were going to end up together. The method they employed, however, would have been something that could have saved this series from many of the issues I saw within it. I will say that the things that happened did justify things a bit, but I think things were a bit rushed to let them breathe and settle in. It was the resolution that was needed, with Saku getting a stern wake-up call by practically being told she’s an idiot (which she was), but it seemed like so many interventions happened on both sides to prolong that moment.
There was a moment when I thought that it would go the route that it needed to go… with Haruki telling her everything in an honest way, but at the same time, would Saku have even believed it? She needed that wake-up call, but when I reflect on the series, there was just so much unnecessary content that happened throughout.
Starting with Saku having her previous bag returned to her was an excellent start. The thrill of figuring out who returned it to her, so that she could express her gratitude, was an excellent premise that sought to do something different in the romance genre; however, as the search went on, the relationship between Saku and Haruki became super apparent. No matter who ended up giving her the bag, it became obvious these two would end up together. To me, that kind of destroyed the one aspect of this manga that could have been a driving force if it were leaned into more.
Instead, we didn’t get that. The series broke down into the typical trope that a majority of romance series fall into, which is introducing a third wheel that has no chance whatsoever at winning over the main girl. Iyru was one of those characters who was set up to fail from the very beginning. Plus, his attitude and character development made him seem more controlling and aggressive, which are not endearing traits that make a reader want to cheer for him.
Then, on top of that, we had Saku sabotaging her own character with completely nonsensical thinking. I’ve complained ad nauseam about it in past reviews, so I’ll save you the broken record approach, but it was some of the most illogical reasoning I’ve heard out of a main character as to why she couldn’t accept Haruki’s word that he loved her. The guy flat-out confessed to her with complete honesty, and she couldn’t accept it because of some fabricated scenario that she didn’t take a single second to try and understand. Even when Haruki dispelled it, she continued to believe her own delusions.
Then, to try and salvage all of this in just three chapters with every character under the sun coming in and weighing their opinions felt rushed, and in the end, we still got the painfully obvious result that had been set up eight volumes ago.
This is the third romance series I’ve read by Io Sakisaka. Ao Haru Ride had some nonsensical issues with its main cast, and while Love Me, Love Me Not was better, I had hoped she would have outdone herself with Sakura, Saku, but unfortunately, this series ended up coming off the worst of the three I’ve read.
Despite that… was it truly a bad series? No. It wasn’t. There were some enjoyable and cute moments in it. It starts off strong with a unique hook, but just falls into a nonsensical mess littered with tropes that you can find in almost any other slice-of-life romance story in a school setting. Because of that, it took something that seemed to be special and made it fall into the average category. While the resolution could have been seen a mile away, the one who should have given the wake-up call to Saku was Haruki, but instead, we had Kotono deliver the speech that needed to be said. It would have been more impactful if the two main characters had hashed it out. Sure, it might have been ugly at times, but I think Haruki should have been the one to break through her walls and get her to realize how dumb she was acting. If he truly wanted to be with her, he wouldn’t have let Kotono take her away mid-sentence.
Overall, it was a decent series, and anyone who just wants to read a romance story might find some enjoyment out of it, but this definitely wasn’t Io Sakisaka’s best work… especially when this year alone, I’ve started several romance series that offer something different and more enjoyable that doesn’t rely on overused tropes.
If she pens another one, I hope she creates another unique premise, but sticks to it rather than falling into another paint-by-numbers trap.
Overall Score: 2.5 / 5
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This item was provided for review by Viz Media
