Title: A Star Brighter Than the Sun Vol. 1
Author: Kazune Kawahara
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 211
Genre: Slice-of-Life, Romance
Publication Date: March 4, 2025
The Story
In A Star Brighter Than the Sun, Kamishiro and Iwata were childhood friends. During elementary school, Iwata was always there for Kamishiro. She would drink milk for him when he disliked it at lunch. Whenever he needed help, she was there to give him a hand. Then, in junior high, they separated despite attending the same school. Kamishiro grew up and became quite popular as if he were a small-time indy band that went global. The crush that Iwata had on him began to dwindle as the two of them grew more distant.
Then, they ended up in the same high school together. When Iwata noticed that they were in the same class, she felt that this was a sign that she could chase after her unrequited love; however, a girl named Onodera who came from a junior high where it was uncommon for boys and girls to talk to one another, noticed Kamishiro and developed a crush on him as well!
Eventually, Iwata dares to tell Onodera about her crush on Kamishiro. Onodera immediately drops her pursuit and becomes an ally to help the two of them get together; however, Onodera asked Kamishiro if he had a crush on a girl. When he said that he did, Iwata learned of the news. Now she wonders who this girl is that he likes and if there is any way she can confront him about it!
Characters
Iwata is a very capable girl who is a bit too oversized for her age. She towers over the other girls; however, it makes her perfect for the tennis club. She played in junior high and looked to continue doing so in high school. Of course, her height made her an attractive recruit for other clubs such as volleyball and basketball, but she turned them down and focused on tennis and, randomly, judo. While she is intelligent and well put together from her priorities standpoint, she turns into a total klutz when it comes to Kamishiro. Every time she’s around him, she’s always bumping into him, other people, or other objects. Her mind goes blank when she talks to him and she can never find the right words to say. In other words, she turns into a typical girl in love whenever she’s around him. She’s had her crush on him since they were kids, but now that they are in high school and much older, she feels it’s time to pursue her love interest, but the thought short circuits any courage she may have to confess!
Kamishiro, on the other hand, is portrayed as this handsome and popular boy that all of the girls would love to get with, but when he introduces himself on the first day of high school, Onodera thinks he’s a phony because he said that he’s shy and not good at English. She thought that because he had no trouble talking to Iwata, and when Onodera saw that, she couldn’t help but wonder if he was just playing hard to get. Despite telling Iwata that he isn’t a picky eater anymore, a class trip says otherwise when Iwata sees him picking at his lunch, not wanting to eat his mystery meat. The more Iwata studies him, the more she realizes that Kamishiro hasn’t changed all that much from when he was a little kid. This is a nice way to develop him as a character without changing any of his traits. Deep down, he is still the little kid he once was but he’s become older and mature enough to mask those faults with false confidence. Whether or not he can keep that up remains to be seen; however, Iwata figures it all out for herself simply because she knows him better than anyone else.
Hisui “Sui” Onodera came off as a total competitive snob at first. When she accused Kamishiro of being phony, I kind of penned her as the stuck-up egotistical love rival; however, when you learn that she came from a junior high where relationships were taboo and the boys and girls rarely talked to one another, you realize that she’s just excited that she could pursue a handsome guy. After Iwata confesses her crush on Kamishiro to her, Onodera’s personality changes to an ally and she goes into a best friend mode. She goes into cupid mode but doesn’t exactly make her efforts subtle. Despite her more friendly attitude, she accepted defeat rather easily and claimed that she could easily fall in love with any other guy so perhaps there is a bit of her that is kind of stuck-up and egotistical. While she doesn’t exactly flaunt it heavily like one would expect, it does add a bit of a bitter layer to her character.
Final Thoughts
We’re off to a decent start with A Star Brighter Than the Sun, although there are a few things that bothered me. One of the things I hoped for in a romance series was that the two main love rivals would be on equal footing. This series ALMOST gave that to us. Iwata and Onodera were on equal footing. Despite Iwata knowing Kamishiro her entire life, she never tried to confess her feelings to him, which meant that he had no idea how she felt. Onodera came in with no prior knowledge of how Iwata felt and it could have been a true competition to win over Kamishiro’s heart with no clear winner; however, when Onodera conceded and turned into an ally, it threw all of that out the window and made it painfully obvious that Onodera and Kamishiro are going to end up together.
That’s the part that baffled me. They could have made some great moments in this series had they kept things the way they were. There would have been some true drama, but instead, we ended up back at square one where a rivalry meant absolutely nothing and the main characters become destined to be with one another. Now, it makes the whole “Kamishiro has a crush on someone” a moot point because, again, instead of leaving it as an open mystery and introduce someone that COULD have been a candidate, the manga closes with a conversation between Kamishiro and Iwata where it is all but confirmed that Iwata is the girl that he has a crush on… and even though Kamishiro’s vague description was painfully obvious, Iwata was oblivious of the fact that he was talking about her.
That’s kind of insulting the readers’ intelligence a bit, don’t you think?
Nevertheless, despite the flaws and taking the axe to two major plot points that could have been genuinely expanding on the keep the readers guessing, the moments we did receive throughout the volume were insanely cute. From the flashbacks to when Iwata and Kamishiro were children, to when Kamishiro offered Iwata and ride home and her size blew one of his bike tires (lol!), to her helping him study and even discovering after all this time, he’s still the same Kamishiro she knew as a kid, the tender moments outshined the rushed and abandoned plot points.
So, as I said, a decent start that could have been spectacular but it’s pretty clear that this manga intends to be a cute look at the romance between two childhood friends who question if the magic is still there after they’ve grown up and if you look at this series through that type of lens, it passes the test with flying colors which is why despite my gripes, I still enjoyed this one a lot. I’ll definitely keep reading now that I know what to expect out of this series.
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This item was provided for review by Viz Media
