Title: The Shiunji Family Children Vol. 6
Author: Reiji Miyajima, Reiji Yukino (art support)
Publisher: Yen Press
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 160
Genre: Romance, Comedy, Harem
Publication Date: July 28, 2026
The Story
We begin with Arata overhearing Ouka, Minami, and Kotono all professing their love for him, but he can’t let them know that he heard. When Ouka walks to school with him the next day, she is extra clingy, and that makes him replay what he heard over and over again in his head. He eventually distracts her, then runs away.
Later that day, Kotono works up the courage to ask if Arata is busy this Saturday. When he’s not, she says that there is someplace that she would like to go. When Saturday arrives, they find themselves at Ture Park, a popular theme park that doubles as a date spot. Of course, Arata has an idea of what’s going on, but he’s trying his hardest to pretend that this is just an outing between brother and sister.
As they go through the park, Kotono tries to replicate all of the dating advice that she saw on an Instagram video. I have to say that for replicating something she saw online, she did a pretty good job at it, and even Arata noticed that she was being more assertive than normal. This visit to the theme park took up the majority of the volume, but we did end with the girls buying Arata new pajamas, where they force him to pick which ones he likes best… then, we get a glimpse at which girl is next to be featured in the spotlight!
Characters
After the previous volume’s focus on everyone, we get a major focus on Kotono. As I mentioned in the story section, her biggest development comes in the form of confidence; however, that confidence is only external. Throughout their time at Ture Park, a lot of her dialogue is in the form of inner monologues. She’s constantly second-guessing everything that she’s doing, wondering if it’s the right thing to do, how he sees her, what she should do or say next, thinking about the video she watched, and finding the perfect moments to execute her strategy. As I said, Arata noticed this drastic change in her, right down to the way she was dressed. He knew she was treating it as a date, but he was trying his hardest not to say anything.
This made Kotono really endearing. Being the youngest, she still has a childlike innocence about her, and that shines through here. The funny thing is, the manga depicts her as a child trying to play the part of an adult… and then, Arata has a talk with her about all of that, which is a semi-fourth wall break, as if he’s calling out the reader for thinking the exact same thing; telling us to view her in the same way the he had been for the entirety of their outing. I thought that was pretty well done!
If anything, this volume really made you feel for Kotono. You can tell that she is truly in love with Arata and it’s not just some fleeting feeling. She even condemns her sisters in one of her inner monologues, saying it’s not fair that they are trying to make their moves when she made it known that she loved him first. She has that regret inside of her that they’re not respecting her feelings and trying to take him away, when she had made it known for years before they found out they weren’t blood-related, but that is where her naivety comes in because she was so young when she said that; everyone just thought it was just being a cute little kid.
Now that they’re older, and they realize she’s serious, that realization came around the same time they all found out about their blood-related status, so her previously known feelings were semi-cast aside, and they think they are on equal footing. To Kotono, that was never the case, and it crushes her on the inside, and that’s the part that makes your heart wrench for her. It’s even worse when Arata makes it known to the reader that he can’t view them as anything more than his sisters, so it gives you this feeling that Kotono is trying really hard for something that will never happen. That hurts to read even more, but at the same time, her determination to not let that stop her shows the strength she is developing, as well, and that is also endearing.
While Minami is still my favorite of the sisters (because I just love tomboy characters and they will always trump other archetypes), Kotono made herself to be my second favorite in the series by a very slim margin with this volume! We must protect her at all costs!
Final Thoughts
For once, my Final Thoughts section is going to be short because this was a very character-centric volume where 90% of it was focused on Kotono, and my thoughts above say everything that I wanted to say.
I will say that the opening chapter with Ouka was a bit awkward. Arata promised not to let it be known that he overheard them, but his actions here said otherwise. Thankfully, Ouka didn’t catch on. The second-to-last chapter was fun as a thinly-veiled “pick me above all others” game using pajamas as the proxy. Of course, with Arata being practical, I saw his answer from a mile away. While I won’t spoil which girl is next, it’s pretty obvious that the next volume will be the same as this one, with her taking up the majority of the focus, and I’m okay with that. When we get a full volume dedicated to a character, it allows you to completely absorb yourself into them. I actually prefer this method more than sprinkling in bits and pieces here and there. It feels more personal that way.
If I had one gripe…
“No matter who lands him, I don’t want to hear any complaints.”
I get it. He’s replaying the memory in his head, but did we really need so many copy/pastes of that scene throughout the volume? It felt cheap, and it got annoying really quickly. There are better ways to recall that scene through written dialogue rather than just pasting the same scene and passing it off as a memory.
That’s my take on it… and I don’t want to hear any complaints.
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This item was provided for review by Yen Press
