Title: I Want to End This Love Game Vol. 7
Author: Yuki Domoto
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 193
Genre: Shojo, Romance
Publication Date: July 14, 2026
The Story
It’s been a hot minute (14 months) since the last volume of I Want to End This Love Game; however, it feels as if we never left. Yukiya is worried about the upcoming relay race because of the personal stakes that he has in it. Even though he’s slow, and his team knows it’s not the best situation, they allow him to be the anchor because they know he’s being a bit selfish and trying to show off. While in an actual competition, this would be frowned upon, this is high school… with high school boys… and high school boys understand what it means when a guy is trying to show off. It’s kind of a brotherhood code, if you will.
We jump right into the sports day, but we don’t get just the relay race. We get to see the other events, too, with the focus being on the Cosplay Dodgeball event. There, the student council president, “Bloodstain” Shirayuri, shows exactly why she was given that nickname, but she was showing off because she, too, has a specific goal in mind… and she tries to realize that goal when she shares a bento with someone. During that moment, she recalls something from a few volumes ago and gives it a shot! Will her little plan work?
Back to the sports festival, it wouldn’t be a sports festival without a little bit of high drama! Suoh ends up twisting her ankle during the dance event. Miku admits that she’s not the fastest runner, but she’s willing to fill in for her. She will now be the one passing the baton to Yukiya! If having the girl he wants to say something to, should he win, wasn’t enough pressure, Yamabuki goes from being a nice guy in the previous volume to someone with a bit of a cocky attitude about the upcoming race. Now, Yukiya has to worry about his childhood crush and a fast-growing rival who is their team’s anchor!
Sadly, we won’t find out the results until the next volume because the baton is about to be passed! Can Yukiya achieve his goals?
Characters
I feel as if this volume furthered the development of our side characters more than Yukiya and Miku. Those two just had their typical banter amongst each other, but Miku is growing more and more curious over what Yukiya wants to say to her. She even has a couple of daydreams about it, much to her embarrassment. That was cute, though.
The biggest focus was on Shirayuri. Her stomach is in knots because she keeps thinking about Kakeru, how he got hurt, how his dreams of playing baseball and making it to Koshien are over, and the sorrow she feels for him. She’s working twice as hard now because she wants to become the shoulder for him to lean on, versus the other way around that it had been before. You can see her determination during the dodgeball event, but then you see the heartwarming interaction between her and Kakeru after the fact. You can tell that she’s at a breaking point when it comes to her feelings, and she ALMOST pulled the trigger, but since this isn’t horseshoes or hand grenades, she pivoted, and it didn’t count, but you can tell that those two are getting closer.
Yamabuki has something to prove as well. We get a little glimpse into his life, how he enjoys music, likes creating his own songs, but he has a certain inspiration for doing so. As you can guess, as his relay team’s anchor, he wants to show off a bit, too. It’s funny that he has the same goals as Yukiya, but when he confronts Yukiya about why he wants to be the anchor, Yukiya completely dodges the question with a generic answer. It’s apparent that Yamabuki didn’t believe him, because when he walks away, he has a very serious glint in his eye, meaning that he knows Yukiya is aiming for something, and he’s not about to give up his goal to him, which makes him a major threat!
Final Thoughts
If I had to nitpick at one thing in this volume, it’s the fact that we’ve now spent two full volumes preparing for this relay race, and when we finally get it, we don’t even see the conclusion to it. I get it, though. All of the anticipation, the build-up, the drama… it makes stopping before the result a compelling cliffhanger… which I wouldn’t have minded had the previous volume not come out 14 months ago. VIZ’s calendar goes through October 2026, and Volume 8 is nowhere in sight, so the result is up in the air for an undetermined amount of time. I would have added the ending of the relay race here, and have Yukiya either wonder “what do I do now!?” if he lost or “how am I even going to say this to Miku!?” if he won.
To be fair, either scenario would have made for a good cliffhanger, so I guess it’s just a personal complaint for me. There’s nothing inherently wrong with it, but stopping there felt a little more jarring had we seen the result.
Outside of that, this was a great volume. They are still doing the running gag of “did that make your heart flutter,” but now, it feels way more natural than it did at the start of this series. Before, it felt like a cheap, overused gag that overstayed its welcome quickly. Now that the series has shifted into a more natural-feeling rhythm, the occasional flutter joke is fine and works well. Shirayuri is now trying out the Love Game excuse, which was cute, so we’ll see if she follows through with it. Why do I have a feeling that more and more people will start using this, and it might spread like wildfire?
We’ll see, though. Anything is possible in the world of manga.
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This item was provided for review by Viz Media
