Title: So Cute It Hurts Vol. 12
Author: Go Ikeyamada
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 192
Genre: Shojo, Romance
Publication Date: April 4, 2017
The Story
Volume 12 of So Cute It Hurts is here and after Volume 11’s direction of long-distance relationships, we are treated to Azusa coming back to Tokyo to spend time with Mitsuru and Mego going to Sendai during Golden Week to visit Aoi. While the relationship gaps were closed, we were also treated to the theme of taking relationships to the next level and each relationship handled that in quite a different way.
Aoi and Mego’s relationship was the more humorous one. Mego’s dad, who is a former SDF solider, and her mother followed the two of them everywhere making sure that they didn’t take that relationship to the next level. In the end, Mego’s dad ends up bonding with Aoi, but he’s still overprotective of his daughter.
Mitsuru and Azusa’s relationship goes a more dramatic route. After spending nine months away, Azusa’s mother gets back on her feet and the two of them move back to Tokyo. Mitsuru wants to take things to the next level with Azusa, but Shogo Toyotomi, the pre-arranged fiancé for Azusa enters the picture and tries to shake things up. Mitsuru, not being someone who wants to be defeated, barges into a press conference and proclaims that he will beat Toyotomi and become the next successor of the Tokugawa corporation… all for Azusa’s sake!
Things then take a dark turn as there is a bit of a time skip. Everything settles down over a two month period and we see Mitsuru improving his grades rapidly to combat Toyotomi, but that halts when both Mitsuru and Mego start sharing the same nightmares. They relate their nightmares to premonitions as they predicted when their grandfather passed away and when their dad got injured during his time in the SDF. The dreams centered around Aoi with black, shadowy hands reaching out for him. Mego leaves for Sendai a day earlier than planned to see him to check on his well-being. When she arrives, Aoi is fine and their relationship goes to that next level, but that night, another nightmare happens and Mego’s words end this volume on a shocking cliffhanger!
That cliffhanger actually has me a bit worried for volume 13. There are certain flags all over the place and after Go Ikeyamada depicted this perfect and ideal relationship, it has me worried that something huge is going to happen to take all of that work away. I really hope that it isn’t the case, but we will have to wait and see just what happens in the next volume.
Characters
In this volume of So Cute It Hurts, Our main characters go through a bit of late-series development… mainly Mitsuru. He even notes that he had been searching for the one thing that would make him into a man and Azusa is that very thing. Because of her, he has taken on more responsibility and, not only that, learned to buckle down and take his studies seriously… especially now that he has someone to fight for.
Our new character Toyotomi is kind of a mixed bag. On one hand, he does seem to like Azusa as he notes that she’s the kind of girl that he admires, but at the same time, he’s just a corporate jerk who puts the company above and beyond everything else in life. So with his miniscule feelings for Azsua aside, it’s mostly an empty love that’s not going to go anywhere. He’s mainly being used as a prop for Azusa and Mitsuru’s relationship and since we are nearing the end of the series, he is playing the role of the “final boss” for Mitsuru. He is kind of an underwhelming final obstacle, though. I think they could have done better.
Outside of that, Mego and Mitsuru’s parents were only there for comic relief and outside of the overprotective father archetype, there really wasn’t much to them.
Final Thoughts
Compared to the last two volumes, Volume 12 of So Cute It Hurts felt pretty average. Things slowed down from a progression standpoint a bit, but it’s a nice breather as we need the chance for everything that happened to settle in. The volume didn’t come off as if it were coasting through, though. There were definitely some key events in here like Mego and Aoi’s first night together, but the introduction of Toyotomi seemed really underwhelming. He doesn’t even seem like a real threat and Mego’s father doesn’t seem to be pushing all that hard to separate her and Mitsuru.
Maybe because it’s so cliché that the impact is lost on me? I don’t know, but this seemed like a mediocre threat for Mitsuru. I’m more interested in Mego’s closing words than anything else. Those words are really shaping up Volume 13 to be really impactful. Either that or it is just a misdirection, which is what I’m actually hoping for here!
All in all, this was a nice simmering volume of So Cute It Hurts with some drama sprinkled in. Still a great read and another good edition to a fantastic series!
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This item was provided for review by Viz Media
