Title: The Shiunji Family Children Vol. 5
Author: Reiji Miyajima, Reiji Yukino (art support)
Publisher: Yen Press
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 192
Genre: Romance, Comedy, Harem
Publication Date: February 24, 2026
The Story
My theory about the character on the front cover getting a full volume’s attention was broken with Volume 5. Even though Seiha is on the cover, she only received a small portion of the volume’s space for development.
Overall, the theme of this volume is a family vacation to Karuizawa at one of their cabins. When they arrive, Arata can’t get what happened between him and Ouka out of his mind from the previous volume. He takes a seat in their sauna, but doesn’t remember it being that hot inside. He comes out to find Ouka sitting there keeping track of his time. She challenges him to see who can stay inside it the longest. Even though he refused, he still got roped into doing so.
After this, we get some time alone with him and Minami. She wants to see the rose maze, which strikes him oddly. Plus, she’s dressed in a skirt, and for a tomboy like her, that’s highly unusual. Then she starts asking what he thinks his ideal girlfriend would be like.
Next up is Seiha’s turn. At a waterfall spot, there is a place where you can jump off a rock. When Seiha did, she lost her top, so Arata had to help her find it. Lastly, we get a scene with Banri at the same spot where she climbs onto Arata’s back and wants him to get closer to the waterfall.
Once he takes his turn with each of the girls, the day ends. At night, Kotono, Ouka, and Minami are having a conversation with one another where they say something rather suspect… and Arata overhears the whole thing! What makes matters worse is that the final page drops a major revelation on us… one that might complicate things even further!
Characters
Everyone had a chance to develop here… but I’ll save you the trouble of having to read an analysis of them one-by-one because every single scenario is the same plot point… they’re all in love with Arata. I know… shocking, right? I mean, that’s not exactly a spoiler because that’s the entire point of the existence of this manga series… to put a main character in the middle of a family harem that turns out to not actually be blood related. Of course, they’re all going to be in love with him!
The actual development here came from Sion. He’s the one who suggested that they all come to Karuizawa because he looked it up in the town hall and realized that’s where he was born. He came there in hopes of meeting his real parents, but ended up failing in his search. He talks to Arata about it, and it makes him wonder if he would like to meet his real parents, too, but Arata, being Arata, answers with his go-to perfect answer, which in turn gets Sion to agree with him.
The one thing that is becoming a bit unrealistic right now is Arata’s ignorance of the fact that all of his “family” members are in love with him. Even though they couldn’t be any more obvious, he’s either in denial or just really stupid. It’s like, unless someone walks up to him and says “Arata, I love you,” to his face, he has no clue about their feelings. Of course, there have been some moments in the past couple of volumes, and this one, where he kind of got the hint, but his lack of understanding is a bit on the unbelievable side at this point. Hopefully, after the way things ended here, his character will stop playing dumb.
Final Thoughts
I feel as if Oprah sponsored this volume because it was like “you get a confession, and you get a confession, and you get a confession!” I didn’t cover Kotono’s arc in here. After all, she didn’t need to get a confession because everyone already knows… including Arata… that she’s in love with him, but she’s the most awkward situation of the five girls because she’s the only one under the legal age! It just seems as if everyone is humoring her about her feelings without any belief that she would end up with him. Ouka took her seriously in the previous volume, though, so who knows?
The camping trip or vacation (whatever you’d like to call it) just served as a vehicle for everyone to realize “Hey! We’re not blood-related! Let’s all take turns letting our non-biological-related brother know that we want to carry his babies!” Each scenario, though, was rather cute. I thought Minami’s was the best because it was so out-of-character for her. I’m used to seeing her as the boyish tomboy, but here, she was cute and acting like an actual girl! (Well, she is, but you get what I mean). Kotono was equally as cute because she tried so hard.
Everyone else’s just felt like a random confirmation of their feelings. Not a bad thing, though, but the real mystery came from the final page. I have a feeling we may not get the reveal next time, but we could. When we do, how will they react? It’s an interesting plot twist, for sure, though, and it spices things up quite a bit!
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This item was provided for review by Yen Press
