Title: Ruri Dragon Vol. 2
Author: Masaoki Shindo
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 192
Genre: Slice-of-Life, Comedy, Supernatural
Publication Date: August 5, 2025
The Story
At the conclusion of the first volume, Ruri was quite electric… literally! She was producing electricity from her body; however, as soon as it began, things ended. She called her mom and talked to her about it, and as we would expect, her mom completely blew her off… for now. After Ruri got home, however, the story was different. She explained that some dragons naturally store electricity in their bodies and have to release it from time to time. She mentioned how her father once summoned an actual lightning bolt during an argument. While her mother doesn’t have much of a clue as to how to manifest it, she suspects that it has something to do with the blood flow in the body.
This brings us to a mother-daughter day at a local sports center. We learn that Ruri’s mother is a natural athlete, unlike Ruri. Her mom even questions whether or not Ruri is her daughter due to her lackluster skills. After an exhausting day, some classmates spot Ruri and invite her to come along. As if it were perfect timing, Ruri’s mother gets a call from work, so Ruri ends up going bowling with them (she sucks at that, too!)
As if a day at a sports center wasn’t enough, the school’s sports festival is coming up; however, Ruri wants nothing to do with any of the games. Her teacher notices this and offers up a spot on the planning committee instead. She shoots him down, but he uses some blackmail to talk her into it. There, she gets paired up with Maeda, a girl from her class who already admits that she doesn’t like Ruri. Now, the two of them must co-exist!
Characters
The biggest focus in this volume was on Maeda. She is quick to judge people and isn’t afraid to speak her mind about them. That bluntness of hers is well-known throughout the school, and Ruri becomes the latest target of it. There are some nice moments where they are forced to co-exist, such as having cleaning duty after class together, and being on the sports festival planning committee. Ruri uses that opportunity to try and find the reason as to why Maeda dislikes her. Of course, Maeda tells it to her straight, but as the volume proceeds, Maeda learns little by little that she had misjudged Ruri. Whether or not this is going to change, Maeda remains to be seen, but for someone who is so close-minded, it’ll be interesting to see how she develops.
As for Ruri, she doesn’t change personality-wise; however, we learn through her mother that there are NINE dragon traits, and so far, Ruri has only shown fire breathing, healing, and electric discharge. This means there are six more unknown traits that have yet to be discovered! Things are about to get wild with her, for sure!
Outside of this, there wasn’t much in the way of development. You could count Yuka standing up for Ruri, but not to Maeda directly. She explains a bit about Ruri and how Maeda pegged her incorrectly, but it’s a small and minute detail now. Perhaps it will be expanded upon in the future? Maybe Yuka is the one to possibly change Maeda’s mind? We’ll see.
Final Thoughts
After an incredible start, we started the second volume quite strongly. The vibes from the first volume carried over, Ruri had to deal with a new mysterious trait, we got some more banter from her mother, and then… it kind of just fell off into an ordinary shonen high school trope fest… and what’s worse is that we didn’t even get a cliffhanger ending. It’s like someone had their foot on the gas with this series, then slammed on the brakes.
I felt that the thing with Maeda took a bit too long. I did like how they teased it, but then it kind of got repetitive with Ruri and Maeda being forced to co-exist. As to not slow down the pacing, I would have hit Ruri with everything at once… as in why Maeda disliked her. I would have probably made that the ending to stir up some drama and saved the character development for the third volume. The first half hooked me, and the pages were turning, but in the second half, things began to drag, and I began to wonder how much more I had to read before I got to the end. That’s not a good thing.
I gloated about this series after its first volume, and I still stand by those words. It was one of the strongest starts to a new manga series that I’ve read in quite some time. That’s why I was excited for the second volume. Again, that first half justified my excitement, but the second half has made me shrug my shoulders, not caring how long the third volume takes to get here.
When you have a story where your main character is half-human, half-dragon, and she’s trying to get through everyday life dealing with traits and powers, with a nonchalant mother who doesn’t make things easier, you need to stick to those guns. I get that part of it is going to be slice-of-life, but when everything unique about this series is pushed aside and practically forgotten for the sake of dragging out this thing between Maeda and Ruri for far longer than it should have, and then you end the volume on just a basic moment, and no hook to get you to want to read the next volume, it takes those high hopes for this series and gives them a reality check.
Mind you, nothing in this volume was bad, per se, but given the tone and expectations the first volume set, this follow-up felt like the ball got dropped harder than Ruri on a volleyball court. I just hope this isn’t a sign of things to come, and this series just fades away into mediocrity. If so, this would win the biggest wasted potential award of 2025. Here’s hoping Vol. 3 picks back up and proves me wrong.
You can also check out other Outerhaven reviews on your favorite social media networks:
Subscribe to us on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/theouterhaven.net
Subscribe to us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheOuterHaven
Subscribe to us on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/theouterhavennet
This item was purchased for review.
