Title: Not Your Idol Vol. 3
Author: Aoi Makino
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Physical
Pages: 211
Genre: Slice-of-Life, Drama, Romance
Publication Date: October 7, 2025
The Story
Do you remember where you were sixty-one months ago when the last volume of Not Your Idol (Sayonara, Miniskirt) came out here in the United States? It has certainly been a long time, hasn’t it? I remembered bits and pieces of the first two volumes, but thankfully, there was a story summary in the beginning, and the first 20-ish pages did a phenomenal job of getting people caught up while making it all seem seamless if you were to read all three volumes back-to-back-to-back. So, let’s blow the dust off this one and jump back in!
When we last left our series, Miku had revealed that she had been stalked and later sexually harassed. Hikaru felt sorry for her and ended up wanting to protect her, even if that meant becoming her boyfriend. Of course, while Nina was still trying to figure out if Hikaru was the one who had assaulted her, she came to the conclusion that he wasn’t and grew closer to him, but when she saw him dedicating more of his time to Miku, they drifted a bit apart.
Now, things get complicated because there is talk going around that Miku was faking her story all along. Plus, with Hikaru taking so much time away from the judo club to be with Miku, he is in danger of being cut from the team. The whole reason why he started taking judo, to begin with, was to protect his younger sister Rikka, who had been sexually harassed by a teacher at school, and as such, became a hikikimori, shutting herself up in her room, never coming out. Plus, he was also taking judo because he wanted to become strong enough to protect Nina as well.
All the while, Nina is conflicted about everything, and begins to loathe Miku because she sees a lot of what Miku’s doing as what she used to do when she was a part of Pure Club. This all stemmed from a lingerie photoshoot they did as a group before they got their big break. Nina felt that they had sold their bodies in exchange for popularity, and this becomes a recurring theme throughout this volume, especially when it comes to Miku. Things get worse when it’s revealed that Pure Club had to do another lingerie photoshoot to regain their popularity after Nina left the group. What made matters worse was that when she was notified that Miyu had overdosed on sleeping pills because of it.
Suddenly, things start culminating from Miku’s situation, how Hikaru realized something about it, and how it relates to the situation that Rikka went through, as well as his own feelings on women, how they are portrayed, and more. All of this is noticed by Nina, who makes a shocking decision to close out our volume.
Characters
There was so much character development in this volume, it’s insane. I guess I’ll start with Miku since she grabbed the most attention.
Miku is a mixed character… one who can never learn their lesson. She’s very arrogant in an innocent sort of way. The kind that smiles and acts cheerful, blowing off serious situations as if they were no big deal. In other words, she has all the makings of a psycho…. But is that truly who she is? The accusations pile up when some of her classmates find the stalker’s photos on her phone. Then, another one of her classmates said that they found her when she was supposedly assaulted, but all of her clothes were in perfect condition, as if there were no signs of a struggle. This led everyone to label her as a liar and someone starved for attention, which made you hate her character even more. Without spoiling things, Hikaru realizes something and brings it up, confronting Miku about it, and even though it’s supposed to garner some sort of sympathy for her, the way she acts and carries on with that aforementioned attitude makes you shake your head to the point where you feel kind of infuriated at her. You’d have to read it to understand, but if the intent was to make her a chaotic neutral character, then they succeeded.
Hikaru received a lot of development here as well. In the beginning, he was so obsessed with protecting others that he lost sight of what was important. Over the course of the volume, he slowly realizes what he needs to do. He does a bit of that inward retrospective that most characters go through when they need to better themselves, and it worked. His sister, Rikka, was the catalyst for all of it because he realized what was going on with Miku, and because of such, he came to understand the way Nina had felt about everything. Plus, he also gained the courage to stand up to his judo club captain because he was symbolic of everything that Nina hated about being an idol. The nice thing is, he didn’t need Nina to explain a thing to him, or nudge him in the direction to help him figure it out. He did it all on his own. In the end, it made Hikaru a better person for it, and it became painfully clear that he was not Nina’s attacker!
As for Nina, she went through a bit of inward retrospective as well. At first, she had her convictions about why she quit being an idol, and when she saw that Pure Club went ahead and did another lingerie photoshoot, she became infuriated, but all of that changed when she received the news about Miyu. After talking with them and scolding them for not using their natural talents to try and become popular, the group got together and realized Nina was right. So, by way of Nina, all of the members of Pure Club had some growing up to do, even their manager realized what had happened and accepted blame for everything. Where Nina goes from here remains to be seen; however, she did make two huge decisions, ones that could have huge implications on the series going forward.
There were other developments with Rikka, Tsuji, and a bit more with Miku, but I refrained from mentioning those as they could be considered big spoilers, the last one with Miku especially. I’ll let you discover those on your own, but I will say Miku’s added a TON of new drama to worry about!
Final Thoughts
If there was a way to say “guys, I’m back from a half-decade hiatus,” this was it. Out of the three volumes in this series, this one had so much going on with it that I couldn’t help but feel this was the most impactful volume of the series. There are other bits and pieces that I left out that also add to this story, but it’s almost impossible to cover them all. While the story didn’t progress a lot because it spent a great deal of time fleshing out its characters, it still progressed enough to make you feel that sense of movement. You knew we were heading forward, unlike most character-driven volumes where the story felt as if it came to a standstill. This allowed for a great balance that allowed us to explore some character arcs, add mystery, drama, and point us in the direction of the future without giving us a full view of what’s to come. It leaves you guessing and ending the volume on the way that it did, opening up multiple routes.
Even with some of the events (especially a single panel that was incredibly impactful), we still have multiple avenues to explore. Miku’s story isn’t over yet, Nina’s is heading in an interesting direction, Hikaru still has a lot to prove, Tsuji has won over my respect in this volume, Rikka is making great progress, and we still have the main reason why this series exists: Nina’s attacker.
Needless to say, this volume made me realize why I enjoyed the series so much. This is one of those series that I need to know what happens next, and while the U.S. has no release date yet, I’m happy to say Volume 4 came out in Japan back on June 25, which means we don’t have to wait five more years to see the next part!
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This item was provided for review by Viz Media
