Title: The Anemone Feels the Heat Vol. 3
Author: Ren Sakuragi
Publisher: Yen Press
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 178
Genre: Yuri, Slice-of-Life
Publication Date: March 24, 2026
The Story
The third volume really makes you feel the heat as both Mashiro and Nagisa struggle with their feelings for one another. They both realize how they make each other feel, but neither dares to say anything, and this spills over into some activities… such as our obligatory beach episode! Of course, they’re not the only ones struggling with love, as Riri continues to fail at capturing Mizuki’s heart, and time is running out, as Mizuki is set to graduate soon.
When she’s conflicted, she turns to Nagisa for help since she, for the third time now, has overheard all of her failed confessions. Even though Riri feels that her love for her is hopeless, Nagisa sheds some light: not all is lost if she looks elsewhere for what she desires.
Meanwhile, Mashiro visits Nagisa at home for a tutoring session, but Nagisa’s little sisters come to get her because she needs to pick up her brother. Mashiro elects to stay, so Nagisa’s siblings decide to entertain her with a pop quiz on Nagisa! Mashiro learns just how little she knows about her, and things get interesting when they show her Nagisa’s middle school yearbook! Suddenly, everything changes!
Characters
Nagisa has now done a complete 180 from the first volume… and the fact that we were only on the third volume shows how rapid her development has been. She went from not being able to stand looking at Mashiro to deeply caring about her so much that she researched ways for her to enjoy the beach safely… including even bringing the school nurse along for the ride and getting her cousin to drive them there, so Mashiro didn’t have to worry about taking the train. She also spends a lot of time worrying about what Mashiro thinks of her, and she’s the only thing that is on her mind… aside from studying, because that will always be absolute with her!
As for Mashiro, I can’t really say much changed until near the end of the volume. She comes to a certain realization that changes the dynamic of her relationship with Nagisa, adding a bit of drama to the mix. Of course, she’s a bit embarrassed that Nagisa doted on her when they went to the beach, but she also appreciated that she was being thought about and cared for. That only strengthened her feelings for Nagisa, making them enjoy their time together.
On the supporting character side of things, we have the little love rectangle with Riri, Uda, Mizuki, and… to an extent, Akari. So… Riri loves Mizuki, but Mizuki loves Akari… Akari thinks it’s silly for a student to like an adult… but Uda loves Riri, but Riri finds Uda annoying. That’s the gist of it, and honestly speaking… that entire situation could be a rom-com manga in and of itself. The problem here is Riri doesn’t want to give up on Mizuki, as she is dead set on trying to get together with Akari, no matter how futile it is, and with Mizuki graduating soon, Riri is realizing that there isn’t enough time to get Mizuki to come around… if that were even possible, to begin with.
Thanks to a little convincing from Nagisa, Riri might allow Uda into her life, but the problem with this is that with the way Riri acts around Uda, it’s almost as if she’s settling for a consolation prize. I mean, I get that Riri wants to find love and all, but even if she knows Uda likes her, the expression on her face was like she said: “Oh, I guess I’ll just have to settle for Uda after all, huh? Fine… I suppose.” Whether or not that’s how she truly felt remains to be seen, but that was the vibe I got from it. There was a later scene that does contradict my reading of the situation, though, so maybe it was more of a realization that she had to let Mizuki go, and she was trying to convince herself that it was okay to do so.
Final Thoughts
There was a LOT of development in this volume, and some of it I felt was unnecessarily rushed. Towards the end, there was a moment that caused quite a lot of drama, and I thought that would have been the perfect place to end the third volume on. Still, then it all got resolved almost instantly, and another moment that happens that either felt like the final chapter of the series, or something that would lead us into the final volume, but then, when you look at the number of volumes left in the series, we’re only one-third of the way through!
So, my first real gripe was resolving the huge drama all within a single chapter (or less). But… this gripe is a positive thing because it now enables us to experience something that few romance series offer… and with six volumes left to go, there is a LOT we will experience between now and the ending.
I will say that there were a couple of subtle hints thrown in here about what might come in the future. Once you see what unfolds here, you can take an educated guess as to what some of those future plot points could be… especially if you fancy yourself a romance aficionado and have been around the block a time or two (or more). The biggest question I have is whether this manga will take that typical route or do something completely different.
One thing is for sure, though… we haven’t had our culture festival/sports day arc yet, and we all know that we can’t have a high school manga series without one of those… so when is it coming, and with the events that happened in this volume, how different is the premise going to be? We’ll just have to wait and see, and who knows? Maybe we’ll get shocked, and we won’t even get a festival arc—never mind. I realized just how silly that sounded as I was typing it.
In any event, a mixed bag of feelings on this one, but overall still good stuff because, again, it opens the doors for something that’s not super rare, but rather, uncommon in romance stories such as this!
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This item was provided for review by Yen Press.
