Title: I Want to End This Love Game Vol. 5
Author: Yuki Domoto
Publisher: Viz Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 197
Genre: Shojo, Romance
Publication Date: February 11, 2025
The Story
Let the fake dating game begin! Miku and Yukia have agreed to be boyfriend and girlfriend for three days to see if they can make each others’ hearts flutter. It starts off with an innocent phone conversation that sees Yukia’s mother get hilariously involved. Then, they have a tender moment where they stay on the phone until they fall asleep. Next, they end up going shopping together to try and pick out matching outfits. Once that’s over, they head back to Yukia’s place for some sort of suggestive activity but it turns out that it was something… well… you’ll just have to read it for yourself.
On the second day of their fake relationship, Miku wants to go prop shopping with her friends; however, all of them are quite extroverted. She drags Yukia along even though he doesn’t to go. Even when they question him as to why he came, he simply sulks and mentions that he thought that he could just carry some bags or something. It looks like everyone is having fun except for him and despite multiple attempts by Miku’s friends to interact with him, he seems uncomfortable and unwilling to open up.
Things change when one of them mentions that a live streamer is having an event and he asks if Miku wants to go. That’s when something inside of Yukia snaps and he becomes very concerned since he saw recent news stories of streamers doing inappropriate things to girls at these so-called parties. He starts to become a bit protective which leads into the ending of the volume where he questions the future.
Characters
While the volume does the typical banter between Miku and Yukia, the second half of the book shifts completely to Yukia himself, tackling his social insecurities and his introverted personality. I thought it was an excellent portrayal of someone who prefers to be alone, surrounded by peace and quiet. Yukiya looked incredibly uncomfortable hanging with Miku and her circle of friends. This whole arc was brilliantly set up earlier in the book with a simple single-page flashback where Yukia mentioned how Miku has seemed a bit more distant ever since getting more and more friends.
Then, during the outing, despite Miku’s friends reaching out to him, asking him questions, and offering up their ice cream, and other things, he still felt out of place and as if he didn’t fit in or belong. He was so consumed with wanting to disappear and go home that he couldn’t see that the others were trying to accept him. The only reason why he stayed was because of the game Miku and he were playing… pretending to be a couple. It was that deep connection he had with her that made him stay and suffer through the awkwardness of interacting with extroverted people.
I felt that this was a very relatable chapter to a lot of people as it accurately portrayed what some introverts go through. It also made you feel rather sympathetic towards Yukia as a character. I know some people might find him a bit annoying and just wish he would break out of his shell but I think this volume proved that it’s not always that easy for somebody to do that.
Final Thoughts
I thought this was a great volume. It started rather lighthearted with Yukia and Miku’s antics. From shopping to a revisit of a really weird plot point to the phone conversation, and even to Wakana’s little quips and suspicions about them, the first half was a fun read. Then, it turned a bit serious while still mixing in some lighthearted moments but exploring Yukia’s introverted personality and seeing the world from his viewpoint was pretty nicely done.
Then, there was the ending. It wasn’t a cliffhanger because the setup for the overall goal of this series has been painfully obvious from the beginning; however, with the thoughts that he had, maybe, just maybe, we will be arriving at the endpoint sooner rather than later. Then again, it wouldn’t be the first time that the series tried to make us think that in its short run thus far so I wouldn’t be surprised if things got dragged out for a little bit longer. After all, we still have one final day with them pretending to be a couple, and with the way things have gone so far, I’m sure that the final day will either end gloriously or just fall flat. I don’t think it would end in disaster as there are no indications that it would but with Yukia’s question, the former of the two more plausible options seems to be growing in favor!
We’ll have to see next time, though!
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This item was provided for review by Viz Media
