Title: Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible Vol. 11
Author: Nene Yukimori
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 185
Genre: Slice-of-Life, Romance, Comedy
Publication Date: January 2, 2024
The Story
We begin with the Best in Show Award from the school festival! Of course, Shiraishi’s class wins and he is elected to represent the class on stage. If you thought that he went up there and was overlooked, then you would be correct.
After that, the manga focuses on Kubo and Shiraishi’s feelings. It all begins when they are walking home together and Shiraishi forgets his phone. He goes back and overhears the boy who asked Kubo out during the festival saying he got rejected. At first, it’s a pretty neutral conversation until Kubo’s name gets mentioned. That’s the moment where Shiraishi feels a bit jealous and begins to wonder who Kubo has a crush on. The more he thinks about it, the more he finally realizes that he’s in love with her.
On the flip side, Kubo ends up confessing that she has a crush to her friends. Of course, everyone already knew she had a crush and was in love but they can’t help but feel that she’s even cuter now that she realizes it. After the realization settles in, the volume spends most of its time with both of our main characters completely aware of their feelings for one another, making routine things they’ve done seem awkward.
Then, the final plot of the series is revealed…. The ever-so-popular class trip trope. With it coming up, Shiraishi takes the initiative and wonders if he should ask Kubo to spend their free time on the trip together. Sudo gives him a push and… well… does Shiraishi go through with it? We’ll see the results in the final volume!
Characters
This was all Kubo and Shiraishi. They shared the common thread of realizing their feelings for one another but while Kubo did that in the last volume when that random boy confessed to her, she solidified those feelings and grew by finally admitting to those around her that she has a crush. Even though she doesn’t come out and say who it is… literally everyone who knows her knows that her crush is Shiraishi.
Shiraishi, on the other hand, not only realized his feelings but grew by leaps and bounds by simply taking the initiative. Not only does he ask Kubo about the class trip, but he even asks Sudo for advice on when the right time is to ask a girl out! That is a huge left turn for him that occurred in the span of ¾ of a volume. All he had to do was to hear someone else having an interest in Kubo and it was as if a switch flipped inside of him… an epiphany of sorts. While the realization was rather sharp and sudden for him, I think it represented a lot of things he pushed to the back of his mind all because he thought that someone as invisible as him would never experience something like this. Once he overcame that disbelief, it was like everything came rushing to the front of his mind and filled that now-empty void.
Final Thoughts
To quote Fandaniel from Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker…
“The stage is set but will our heroes deign to play their part?”
In other words, the next volume is the final volume of Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible. Our characters are primed and ready to become a couple… but does it happen? Sometimes, a series will tease and tease and then leave its readers on an open ending without confirmation or concrete resolution. I’ve seen it many times before and I hope that it doesn’t happen here. In any manga that I have reviewed where romance was the main objective, I’ve always worried about this issue. I am the type of person who enjoys a concrete ending. I want to see a confession, a ship, and an epilogue to see how it all played out.
To me, that is a complete ending for a romance series. I’m hoping that we get that here as these eleven volumes have built themselves up to the point where it kind of needs to happen. However, there was one line that Shiraishi said in this volume that makes me worry that we won’t get that conclusive ending.
I guess there’s only one way to find out… Read Volume 12 when it comes out.
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This item was provided for review by VIZ Media.
