Title: Strawberry Fields Once Again Vol. 1
Author: Kazura Kinosaki
Publisher: Yen Press
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 192
Genre: Slice of Life, Yuri, Romance, Supernatural
Publication Date: December 15, 2020
The Story
I’ve seen some odd setups for romances before (I’m looking at you Tonikaku Kawaii) but this one was a bit out there… and I liked it!
Strawberry Fields Once Again revolves around two girls: Akira Kouno and Pura Sakurasaka. Akira is an otaku who loves her otome games. She also believes that the only romance worth having is a 2D one. That all changes when Pure shows up out of the blue and confesses her feelings for Akira… with a twist… that they were already together and planning a marriage in the future! This means that Pure has traveled back in time seven years into the past (She was 24, now 17) in order to go to high school with Akira because it was one of her wishes to do so.
There was no real explanation as to how Pure even time traveled. It was simply an “I wished I could go to school with you so I leaped backward in time” type of deal. Of course, Akira just writes it off as some weird psycho babble and considers Pure a stalker. However, Pura won’t leave Akira alone and the more she hangs around her, the more Akira’s feelings begin to change. They change enough to the point where Akira actually considers her a friend.
From here, the start of one of the oddest yuri relationships I’ve seen yet begins!
Well… that was something! When I read the synopsis, I thought that it would have been a little heavier on the sci-fi aspect. Instead, Kinosaki-san simply just used the time travel thing as a plot device rather than something that would get explained with more depth. It does make for a rather odd premise and does set up Pure to be some sort of nut job character but she knows things that Akira hadn’t even told her which means that her claims could actually be legit.
They don’t really make it much of a hook as the volume tends to focus on Pure and Akira’s developing friendship. There are some pretty cute moments in here such as when Akira has to go to cooking class and Pure makes them matching aprons. It also allows Akira to open up and talk to her groupmates as well which is something that she hadn’t done before in the past. The story is a bit far-fetched, albeit, interesting.
Characters
There are only three real characters in this first volume, two of which got the majority of “screen time.”
First up is our main character Akira Kouno. Again, she is an otaku who loves otome games. Her parents had a really rough relationship to where she believes romance destroyed it. This is why she believes in 2D relationships more than real ones. She closed her heart off to the real world, yet, somehow, she ended being Pure’s fiancée in the future? Obviously, something had to happen for all of that to change but what that something is, we don’t know yet (and I wouldn’t expect to know in a debut volume). Akira’s personality is what you would expect… cold, emotionless, but not really mean. She’s just very protective of herself and cautious as to who she lets into her life. You almost just want to give her a hug!
Pure Sakurasaka has a last name that takes a couple of tries to pronounce correctly but at least it’s not as bad as Sasami Sasasegawa from Little Busters! Pure is pretty outgoing and knows a couple of languages due to traveling and living abroad in places such as Hong Kong and Italy. She’s definitely not shy but maybe she’s a bit too optimistic that Akira would recognize her and accept her after jumping seven years into the past. Her intentions are just like her namesake but they just don’t come across that way. In fact, they come off as someone who isn’t all there mentally which is why I thought the story was a bit far-fetched.
Of course, this is the world of manga, and stranger things have been accepted. Heck, even in American cartoons… like the one time in M.A.S.K. where Matt Trakker’s son, Scott, was crushed by a boulder but he was saved by aliens who took him up in their spaceship and “fixed him up” before returning him to Earth. After explaining it to his father, he was just like “That’s great, son!”
So, again… stranger things have happened…
Lastly, we have Akira’s brother Ruri… who I thought was her sister at first glance. My bad!
Ruri is a neet and a shut-in. He has stayed locked away in his room for one whole year since their mother passed away. He’s doing something in there but nobody knows just what that something is. We do see him talking to a person in a business suit (presumably his father or maybe an employer we don’t know about?) so there was a bit of a clue. Also, it was mentioned by Akira that he is highly intelligent and was even offered to attend universities across the globe but he turned down all of their offers once their mother passed. Some definite mystery there with Ruri which I’m sure (or hope) will be explored.
Final Thoughts
Honestly, not sure what to make of this series. It is cute in its own way but it is certainly out there. Sadly, the mystery behind Ruri is a bit more enticing than the Akira x Pure relationship that the manga is trying to build. I’m not saying that the main story of the series is bad, though… I’m just saying Ruri is a bit more interesting. Hopefully, that will change; however, if it’s going to do so… it needs to do it quickly because there are only three total volumes of this series and we’re already 33% done!
I hope that this series was meant to be this short as three volumes don’t seem like a lot of time to get things to where they need to be and the last thing that I want to see is this story rushed. While it is far-fetched, there are a lot of interesting aspects to it that I would like to see explored. Plus, breaking someone’s shell only to see them open up and come around is one of my favorite styles of romance storytelling and this has all the makings of it!
I guess you could say that Strawberry Fields Once Again breaks the mold by not being conventional. If you want something like that because you’re sick of the norm when it comes to romance then maybe you should pick this one up and give it a try! It is a yuri story but if that doesn’t bother you, then I’m sure that there is enough here for you to enjoy!
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This item was provided for review by Yen Press
