Title: Rainbow Days Vol. 7
Author: Minami Mizuno
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 208
Genre: Romance, Comedy
Publication Date: December 5, 2023
The Story
Volume seven of Rainbow Days picks up with Hashiba passing out after kissing Anna. It turns out that he had a pretty bad cold and was bedridden for several days with a high fever. On top of that, he was so out of it that he forgot to plug in his phone so his battery died which meant that nobody, especially Anna, could get a hold of him. When his fever finally broke and he was feeling well, he realized the status of his phone, plugged it in, and started getting back to everyone who had tried to message him.
Meanwhile, Anna goes on a bit of soul-searching. She’s not quite sure what to make of Hashiba’s kiss and when she tries to confront him about it, he gives an answer that shocks and stuns her. So much so that she begins to avoid Hashiba until she can figure things out for herself. Eventually, she does dig deep enough to find an answer but rather than deliver that answer to Hashiba, she decides that she’s going to keep it to herself for now.
We then take a short break to see the boys attempt to cut Taizo’s hair. I would elaborate more but the entire chapter was just that… along with all of the hijinks that resulted from it.
Finally, Valentine’s Day is coming up and people are starting to make plans. This time, the manga shifts focus to Nozomi who is practicing baking cakes for the holiday. She has a specific goal in mind and if you thought that goal was Keiichi, then you would be correct; however, Keiichi embarks on a bit of a soul-searching mission himself. This brings him to have a conversation with Nozomi… the results of which and the events that develop from the conversation are what bring our volume to a close.
Characters
Interesting development in the Hashiba x Anna relationship story. It leaves things a bit open for Hashiba to have a revelation down the line; however, after the events that transpired in this volume, it’s very clear that they are going with the plot of having the reader know that both characters realize their feelings but the characters themselves are still oblivious that each other feels the same way. It’s a classic trope in romance stories because it provides a safe environment for the reader without making them guess if the characters love each other or not but instead, makes them sit back and wait for the payoff moment to happen. When and where it will happen is anyone’s guess at this point but since the next volume is the halfway point in the series, I can see this getting dragged out a bit longer.
Nozomi x Keiichi had some development as well. I don’t really want to go too far into it but I’ll just say that it’s something that I saw coming. There are quite a few things that build up to what transpired in the conversation between them that add to the “will they ship?” tension, too which makes the results of that conversation much more impactful. I really want to see where they take this relationship next as this has been one of those stories that kind of floated around from time to time but now that it was used to close out the volume, that spotlight is shining just a bit brighter now and it has my attention!
Sadly, no change to report with Spit Girl. I was hoping for a little more give to her after everything that happened at her apartment but… seems that her relationship story is the one that is put on floating status for now.
Also, poor Taizo’s wet hair…
Final Thoughts
While two relationships had significant development, I felt that progression-wise, Nozomi x Keiichi moved forward while Hashiba x Anna stalled. I get it, though. They are the two main characters of the series, relationship-wise, and they are primed to be the happy ending that we all want to see. There is no reason to give us that happy ending in the seventh volume of a sixteen-volume series. I don’t mind it playing out a bit more as watching them interact with each other has been rather cute.
I had a feeling that Spit Girl would revert back to her normal self and it seems that she has done just that. Normally, I would be annoyed with something like this as it kind of ignores the development that the series just spent giving to her; however, with the shift in focus to Keiichi x Nozomi, it makes sense for her to be in a holding pattern for now. There’s still plenty of time and plus, she has a really tough tsundere shell to break. I wouldn’t expect her to completely pivot at this point in the series.
Outside of that, there wasn’t much to this volume but there didn’t need to be. With one of the chapters being filler, we only got three solid chapters pushing our stories forward but what we did get was quite satisfying.
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This item was provided for review by VIZ Media.
