Title: My Clueless First Friend Vol. 2
Author: Taku Kawamura
Publisher: Square Enix
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 288
Genre: Slice-of-Life
Publication Date: June 6, 2023
The Story
Summer vacation is over and it’s time for a new semester to begin! That means it’s time to pick the class reps. Nishimura gets involuntarily volunteered so she regrettably accepts the position. This prompts Taiyou to do the same; however, Kasahara wants to thwart this plan so that she can be class rep alongside Taiyou. It backfires and Taiyou steps down meaning that she’s stuck with Nishimura!
Next, Adachi starts talking to Nishimura because she wants to know more about Hino who has a birthday coming up. She wants to get him a gift because she has a crush on him. Hino is thrown a birthday party in which he receives his gift!
After seats get changed, it’s time for the class field trip. Nishimura is looking forward to sitting next to Taiyou but Kasahara hatches a scheme so that she can sit next to him instead. Just like with the class rep situation, it backfires when Taiyou gets car sick and Nishimura, being the class rep, ends up staying with him!
The last big story arc is field day! Since Taiyou is a fast runner, Nishimura wants him to be in the race. He gets excited and asks Nishimura to climb a playground structure with him. All is well until they need to get down and Nishimura slips. Taiyou protects her and ends up breaking his arm in the process! Their field day plans are in jeopardy! Nishimura must now turn to the people who constantly make fun of her to save the day but are they willing?
Characters
Honestly.. Taiyou and Nishimura from a relationship standpoint didn’t really get much development at all. They are still overly cute… Taiyou is still clueless and Nishimura is still falling for him more and more. It’s a slow burn which is nice because that payoff will be that much sweeter when it finally does happen. Even if it’s not a full-blown “I love you” moment, just the realization hitting Taiyou will be worth all of the effort! I mean, it has to happen eventually, right?
Nishimura by herself, on the other hand, has gotten more development. Just one volume ago, she was the school’s outcast. Not a single friend was in sight and nobody was willing to make an effort. Now, one volume later (or three if you count the fact that the U.S. release is a 2-in-1 omnibus), Nishimura has Taiyou, Hino, and Adachi as friends! She even admitted that she’s finally having fun at school with Kasahara who is a bit of a mixed bag but I’ll touch on her in a minute. It’s refreshing to see the unpopular kid gain friends and start to have a normal school life… and she did it a lot faster than Tomoko Kuroki!
Speaking of Kasahara… she’s all over the place. One moment, she’s joining the others in making fun of Nishimura’s curse, then she’s acting like a love rival because she has a crush on Taiyou, then she decides to help Nishimura out when Taiyou got injured. So… she’s a jerk, jealous, and nice all at the same time. (Although that last quality was because of Taiyou’s sake more than anything). Chaotic or diversified personalities are tough to pull off but Kasahara manages to root all of them within the confines of a single character. You’re not confused when she switches because you know exactly who she is and the type of character she is. From a variety standpoint, she adds so much whenever she’s involved in the story, and having her machinations over Taiyou backfire time and time again is just great comedy!
Adachi is kind of plain. I’m not going to lie or sugar-coat things here. Aside from having a crush on Hino… what is she really adding to the story outside of being the 4th person in the group? With her crush just being revealed in this volume, I’m more than sure that she will get some more time to shine in the future but right now, she’s not doing much outside of indirectly furthering Nishimura as a character… which is fine, too because that’s what support characters are for. I was just hoping for a little bit more from her but there’s still time so I’m not too worried about it yet.
Speaking of… Hino is also just kind of there. Outside of loving tank tops, there are really no redeeming qualities about him outside of being the 3rd guy in the group. Again… there’s plenty of time so that will probably change.
Final Thoughts
Much like the first omnibus, this was super cute. I watched the anime up until they caught up to the first omnibus. I then watched an episode or two afterward which kind of spoiled the first few chapters in this book but I didn’t mind re-reading them as it was still good stuff.
What this series does is take pure, wholesome romance and wrap it around cute characters who are too innocent for their own good. While the bullying aspect might seem off-putting, it’s handled in an innocent way where it adds comedy to the series rather than drama. A lot of that falls on Taiyou who is so clueless, he takes all of Kitagawa’s insults and turns them against him by transforming them into praise for Nishimura. It’s actually a good lesson to diffuse bullies (at least outside of America but that’s an opinion piece on a whole other level and genre).
In the story, I left things open-ended but Field Day does wrap up and you see the results meaning we don’t get much of an ending (i.e. your typical manga cliffhanger) but this series doesn’t need that. You don’t need a hook for the next volume because this series is all about good wholesome cuteness that will make you smile. Knowing that there’s more coming is the hook!
I look forward to Vol. 3 (or Vols. 5-6 if you want to get technical).
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