Title: How Do We Relationship? Vol. 3
Author: Tamifull
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Digital
Pages: 208
Genre: Yuri, Romance, Comedy
Publication Date: June 8, 2020
The Story
Vol. 3 of How Do We Relationship? starts off with Miwa and Saeko having a bit of an issue with each other in the fact that they can’t really open up about each other’s past. This puts a small strain on their relationship as with their 4-month anniversary coming up, Saeko begins to feel as if things are imbalanced between the two of them. This leads Saeko to actually let Miwa do her for a change but it ends up being extremely awkward.
This situation leads Miwa to open up a bit to Saeko about her past all stemming from the fact that she has a high school reunion coming up and there is a girl that will be there that she doesn’t really feel like seeing; however, in the end, she decides to go to it anyway. This takes us into Miwa’s backstory and while it’s not as gruesome or dark as Miwa made it out to be, the situation once the flashbacks are over, lead us to believe that Saeko’s bad feeling about Miwa meeting up with her old friend could put a huge monkey wrench into their relationship!
Characters
While Saeko’s past is still wrapped in mystery, it’s becoming more and more obvious as to what happened to her. The biggest clue comes about during the night they spend during their anniversary and Miwa does a certain something that causes their little session to come to a screeching halt. If Saeko didn’t act like that for the obvious reasons, then I’d be interested to see what Tamifull comes up with as the actual reason but I think it’s pretty obvious at this point.
Miwa, on the other hand, well, her backstory was the main focal point for the back half of the volume and how her and Shiho became friends. At first, Shiho didn’t like Miwa but she began to grow on her. Shiho had a rough time with her parents in the sense that they were the stereotypical Asian family where grades were king and those who did well got rewarded and those who didn’t, got shunned for their minimal academic exceptionality. This caused Shiho to be bullied by her sister and even drove her to thoughts of suicide but it was Miwa’s friendship that pulled her out of that hole. Things did get awkward towards the end of high school but there were some feelings there between the two of them. Miwa was scared that if she met up with Shiho at the reunion, those feelings would, once again, manifest and it would end up affecting her relationship with Saeko.
We also got introduced to Yuria… a new character that seems to be comic relief. She ends up working at the same café as Saeko and she’s studying to be a beautician. She seems to be a little on the excitable side and doesn’t seem to be the sharpest knife in the drawer. Her attitude is also a bit out there but this should make her a fun character overall.
Final Thoughts
Right now, I hate to say it because we just received a majority of a volume dedicated to it but I’m interested in learning more about Saeko’s backstory than Miwa’s. Miwa’s doesn’t have that dramatic punch to it. She had feelings for Shiho but never told her. Shiho MIGHT have feelings for Miwa but it’s not really confirmed. Sure, there are a lot of obvious hints being thrown at the reader; however, I think it’s a misdirection. I think Shiho is just overly grateful for Miwa pulling her out of her depression that she really thinks of her as a great friend. Shiho realized that by her distancing herself from everyone, including Miwa, was the wrong thing to do so she’s trying to make up for it.
I really think that’s the direction they’re going to take and all of this tension and worry in Miwa’s head is just that… phantom thoughts all stemming from her own romantic desires without even considering whether or not Shiho actually felt the same way. Even if Shiho does have romantic feelings for Miwa, what good will it do her now? Miwa will have to come clean with the fact that she is already dating Saeko and we’ll either get some drama that will write Shiho out of the picture (which would be a waste at this point in time) or (most likely) we’ll get Shiho playing the part of the supportive and understanding friend. As a thank you for saving her life and teaching her how to be free, Shiho will stick around and just be another friend to Miwa.
There seems to be a lot of darker drama surrounding Saeko, though. The biggest clues were the fact that her entire middle school photobook was missing. She admitted to throwing them out and lied about not having any friends. If I were to wager to guess, since Saeko looked like a boy when she was younger, she actually discovered her lesbian tendencies and actually decided to dress up as a boy in order possibly normalize the rationale behind wanting to date girls and it ended up really, REALLY bad for her. Given her reaction to something that Miwa did to her, I’m guessing there was a boy who found out Saeko’s secret and, maybe, tried to “forcefully teach her” what a normal relationship should feel like.
Of course, I’m just speculating based on the information provided but if it’s not something that dark and filled with drama, I would tend to question why Tamifull is going this route with the types of clues given?
This volume definitely picked things back up from the last and it is turning into quite the series. Now that I sat here and ranted about what I think is going to happen, I’m interested in seeing what actually does happen! Bring on Volume 4!
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This item was provided for review by Viz Media
