Manga: Again 10

Again!! Vol 10 
Rating: 3/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review! 

The curtains close on the drama club and the ouendan's underground performance of I Want to Die: The Musical to a roaring success, but the real drama soon follows Kinichiro, Aki, and the rest of the cast off stage. The group may have successfully set Hanataka on the path to stardom, but when Aki comes to an alarming realization about her relationship with Hiro, and the fate of the ouendan falls into jeopardy once again, one thing becomes certain: Not everything will be like it was before the do-over. 

The performance of the drama club comes to an end and Imamura has some heartfelt and heartwarming words for Hanataka that really hit home, I feel. He might not be all that good with people, but he can be pretty good with words, it would seem. As that arc draws to a close, there's a bit more of a focus on our other time traveller, Aki. 

We haven't really seen all that much of Aki, she's very much a side character but she's also dealing with the whole time travel thing as well, and things are just as different for her as they are for Imamura. However, she's only just starting to suspect what's going on with Hiro, though she's too afraid to outright ask him. I've come to quite like Aki, it has to be said, and I've been rooting for her to kick him to the curb. 

I've always thought that Hiro was a bit of a d*** but I didn't realise quite how much of one he was until this volume. Wow. I felt for Aki so much, but I was also sitting there like 'sweetie, you can do so much better than that trash'. The thing is, poor Aki doesn't have the friends that she had the first time round, things have been changed so much for her but luckily she does have the Ouendan Club and it made my heart all warm and fuzzy to see them have her back and try to help her. Although it did end up becoming quite funny as well! 

Things have been pretty chill with this series, nothing too dire is happening...until now. It would seem that while some of their schoolmates fates have been changed by them, presumably for the better, other things are starting to change without their interference being behind it...like the weather for example. 

There's a lot of things happening in this volume, including a glimpse in to why Usami left school back before the do over after the Ouendan was shut down, but things are starting to take an interesting turn once again as we get a glimpse of the future of the Ouendan...and it seems history might be attempting to fight back? 

Manga: Again!! 8

Again!! Vol 8 

Rating: 4/5

Buy or Borrow: Buy 

Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review! 

The president of Kanan High School's drama club is also its only member: Hanataka. Three years from now, Hanataka is going to be a celebrity famous for her sex appeal, but in high school she's timid, unsociable, shabby-looking, and widely disliked. Kinichiro can't help but be fascinated with her, and convinces Usami to have the ouendan cheer for the drama club's performance at the school festival. It's a new chapter for the ouendan, but is Kinichiro's "help" even welcome? 

I will admit, when everything with the Ouendan was resolved I did wonder how much further this could go, and I wasn't sure where they were going with the focus on Hanataka, amusing as I did find it and her. 

Of course we quickly discover why, you can't change something in the past without everything changing, there's a knock on effect and Hanataka and her drama club are a part of that. Of course our time travellers have to stick their noses in to it all, and so the Ouendan shifts away from focusing on the sports teams a little as they try to help out the drama club. 

If I'm being honest, I feel like this angle/storyline is a bit more interesting than the previous parts of the plot. I loved Hanataka's interactions with Imamura, and her in general she did make me chuckle, and him thinking she was cute was also quite cute. Hiro on the other hand has reached the height of creeper behaviour, time travel really doesn't agree with him. 

I have to say, this volume things take a turn for the weird and slightly ridiculous, with the musical and everything, at the same time you kind of have to laugh at it so I'm actually enjoying this strange turn a lot and I can only begin to imagine the other things that have or will change and need to be fixed! 

Manga: Again!! 7

Again!! Vol 7 
Rating: 3/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review! 

The continuing existence of the ouendan is ensured, now that it's survived its first real field test. But now that Kinichiro's achieved his primary goal, he finds himself at somewhat loose ends, and the prospect of re-living the next three years with all of his foreknowledge brings with it a new set of problems. Meanwhile, Reo's determined to finish what she started with him, one way or another... 

The previous arc comes to a happy conclusion at the start of this volume, and the Ouendan has become quite popular. The Captain and Imamura in particular. But their objective has been achieved, the Ouendan lives to fight another day and there's even some new people who want to join so things are looking up! 

More importantly though, this volume, Hiro and what the deal with him is finally comes to light. He's also giving me some serious evil villain vibes, and he spends a chunk of this volume putting some very bad ideas in to Imamura's head, you know...the cliche "I memorised the lottery numbers let's get rich" kinda ideas that we all know is a bad idea. I do find him interesting though as his life was seemingly perfect, and I was intrigued to see why he thought he needed a do over. 

I did, however, cringe super hard this volume as Hiro was "helping" Shibata, and honestly? He's going to be such a pain. We've got the drama with Shibata and Imamura who's trying to let her down easy by pretending to be a jerk, we've got Hiro and the trouble he's causing but the volume picks up again and starts to get interesting by the end. 

Poor old Fujieda is not having a good time, her life was perfect before and now it's all going to hell. She discovers an idol attended their school before she became an idol, but the idol was bullied for being ugly and so Fujieda finds a "project"...meaning the to be idol's Theatre Club and thus begins the next arc. 

With the Ouendan saved I was wondering what was next for the series, as the major crisis appeared to be over, things slowed down this volume but the next arc could prove to be quite interesting! Although I am wondering how long this can run for now. 

Manga: Again!! 6

Again!! Vol 6
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

The ouendan's members have taken their performance to a new level in support of their baseball team, and now it's up to Suzuki, the team's feckless ace pitcher, to seal the deal. One problem: Suzuki may have a golden arm, but he doesn't have nerves to match. When he hears that his crush, Reo, was spotted kissing Kinichiro, the guy he owes his comeback to, he's terminally rattled. It'll be up to Kinichiro to rescue Suzuki's crumbling will to fight... 

Honestly, this volume had me cheering because they all worked together so well and the cheer was a success and it was so satisfying okay!? I just feel like it was so brilliantly done, and we have history changed....again. 

However....Imamura gets a confession and I could tell straight away from her request that it was going to screw everything up and Imamura....*sigh* he just digs himself a hole doesn't he?! While it does mess with some things though...it wasn't what I was expecting it to be...or rather it didn't play out quite how I was expecting it to. 

The baseball game really does make for some tense reading, waiting to see if things will change...if they'll win, if they can climb back from the score. I also liked that it gave way to a kind of heart warming scene as we see the Captain and Imamura step up for Suzuki and the Ouendan work with the cheerleaders and brass band to plot how to get each of their players to do their best. You could really see the theme of friendship and teamwork. 

Fujieda is literally the worst at keeping their secret though, I mean she's right that there's no rule saying they can't tell people but still. 

I am interested to see how things are going to play out now with Imamura, the Captain and Suzuki now that things have changed. Honestly the volume's pretty tense and it does go down to the wire, but my curiosity lies with what's going to happen after?! Things have changed...but have they changed enough? Plus we have Imamura, he's developing a lot as a character and changing, but there's some interesting stuff he'll have to deal with. Then there's Hiro...what is the deal with him?! 

All in all, I feel like this volume really hooks you, shows how Imamura has been changing as a character, and does brilliantly at keeping you on the edge of your seat! 

Manga: Again!! 5

Again!! Vol 5 
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

Having seen Usami's lonely fate after the collapse of the ouendan, Kinichiro returns to the past again, more determined than ever. He flat-out tells Usami about his time traveling, and the two hatch their plan to change destiny. But when their newfound closeness is misunderstood, it sets off a gossip bomb that threatens to destroy everything. Has all of Kinichiro's time traveling been for naught? 

The secret is out and I can't decide if it's a good or bad thing, like it sends the Captain a little crazy along with the rumours Abe is gleefully spreading about she and Imamura. The way our two time travellers kept talking....it was a matter of time before they got found out, but I was still surprised to see it revealed in this way. It's going to be interesting to see how much it's going to effect the story. 

Anyway, the Ouendan are preparing a new cheer to showcase to us as well as the school and there's a lot riding on this practice game, and we actually do have D-Day in this volume. So we get the build up and then we get the beginnings of the practice game. The baseball team aren't the only ones going to war because our Ouendan is going to be facing off with the Ouendan from the other school led by the moustachioed weirdo. 

I really love how the story is growing and developing, we've seen the Captain change as a character and in this volume she's pretty badass. Plus Imamura is so far out of his comfort zone bless him. I'm actually really proud of his character! The one thing I'm side eyeing though...is there about to be a love triangle developing?! I'm not sure if I'm here for it or not! 

Manga: Again 4

Again!! Vol 4
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

It's day two of the joint practice between the ouendan and the cheerleading club. Having been made ouendan captain for a day, Kinichiro takes the drastic action of ordering Usami to perform the cheerleaders' choreography, which supercharges the practice session, but at the price of Usami's rage. The once-unified club descends into arguing, and once everybody's cards are on the table, will they be able to recover at all? 

First of all, as we start the volume we see Imamura's grand plan and it's an interesting mashup of the Ouendan's moves and the Cheerleaders and it certainly seems like it'll breathe new life in to the Ouendan. The club finally comes to an understanding with each other after a little cht, and everyone agrees to collaborate and bring some new life to their moves, and I'm actually pretty excited to see what they come up with. I'm feeling quite proud of Imamura and his brief stint as Captain for achieving this! 

Then, just as things are looking pretty bright for the club, we have a shock twist. Or at least it was a shock for me. I had been wondering how long this could go on for, and how the time travel had initially worked. Where they dreaming? Had they legitimately gone back in time? How long can this last? How do they get back? And certain parts of the story do seem overly drawn out. But this volume switched things up and got me excited for the series all over again.

Like I said, I was genuinely surprised, I didn't see this coming this early in the series. I figured how things stood currently in the series would be how it carried on for X amount of volumes. Either way, Imamura has a lot of adjusting to do and a lot of questions to wrestle with and I found it all very intriguing. The poor guy really is dealing with a lot this volume. Time travel theory isn't an easy thing to understand. 

Meanwhile, thanks to Aki, we get some more insight in to Imamura and his past. Aki's boyfriend? Not boyfriend? You know...that Hiro dude? Well he pops up a lot this volume, I can't decide if I like him or not, he might be about to be Imamura's new bro friend. Or at least his accomplice and I actually enjoyed seeing the two of them work together to piece things together. 

The story is taking an interesting twist this volume, and we see some of the potential logic behind the time travel and Imamura trying to figure it out. Aside from that we get some more depth to Imamura, and we get to know Hiro who so far has just been there briefly. It would also appear the Captain and Imamura are getting....closer? They also finally slip up with their secret, which should play out quite interestingly next volume! Honestly, kids these days just don't know the time travel rules. *sigh* 

Manga: Again 3

Again Vol 3
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

Kinichiro Imamura is trying to get high school right the second time around. So far, he's managed to reunite the old members of his school's ouendan cheer squad, saving the club from the brink of destruction, but his time-traveling troubles are far from over. With the newly-revived ouendan tasked to cheer at their school's next baseball game, they'll have to cheer harder than ever if they want to bring their team to victory. To pull it off, Kinichiro the cheering newbie is going to have to learn from the very best...

Could the opening scene be described as Rocky style? Perhaps. Was I mentally singing Eye of the Tiger? Definitely. 

This volume we meet the baseball team and specifically poor old Suzuki, who Imamura has to keep from getting injured...and you know, getting his heart broken because they need him to win the upcoming game. I actually felt for the poor guy, being rejected and not wanting to show your face at school is quite relatable, I think! I was mostly cheering the fact that Imamura has his first dude friend, and while being slightly awkward because Imamura hasn't had friends before, and he's kind of bad with advice...it was still heartwarming!

The rival school's Ouendan captain, Iwasaki is a moustachioed creep, I'm not going to lie. He actually made my skin crawl a little bit...maybe that's just me. He just really creeped me out okay. His Ouendan club is...pretty good, you could say, so Usami kind of has a bit of a breakdown when it turns out they have to face off against them. Plus she looks up to the moustachioed creep. 

Things are moving forward for the Ouendan club. We've got a game upcoming, and when they find out who their rival Ouendan team is going to be...it definitely kicks them in to high gear. This volume see's them working through their issues, because while everyone might be back with the club...they still have some unresolved issues to deal with it. They also need to work out how things should be done during practice, because Imamura has a few different ideas to the Captain. Plus Usami is super pushing a boot camp and making them all take part in it and they aren't super happy about it. 

Interestingly, Imamura gets pushed out of his comfort zone as Usami puts a lot of faith in him and his him lead the Ouendan for a day, and he's not used to either really. The poor guy is having to deal with a lot of things he's never had to before and it's interesting to watch him react and change and grow as he's faced with each new thing. 

Things could be about to change for the Ouendan and as we end the volume, we're left with a bit of a cliffhanger as they're about to cheer for the first time under Imamura's new idea...and whatever he's cooked up which is no doubt going to blow everyone away...in either a good or a bad way. I guess we'll see! 

It's been pretty obvious since the start that for the Ouendan to survive they need to change and Usami needs to be more flexible, and Imamura's frustration with her and her way of doing things, and the situation with the Ouendan in general..is pretty palpable and this volume addresses that. 

Manga: Again!! 2

Again!! Vol 2
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

Kinichiro's traveled back in time, and whether this is reality or just an incredibly realistic dream, he's doing high school all over again. He's decided that bringing the school's ouendan cheer squad back from the brink of dissolution is the key to a better high school life, but it might take some begging to get there. Kinichiro's not much good at begging--but a former Ouendan member known as the "Master of Groveling" might be able to pull it off... 

With this volume, Imamura is out to get all the former members back and they're an...interesting bunch. You could also use the word....lively I think. One member in particular, Okuma "the master of grovelling" was pretty hilarious and he drops some serious curse words. Like....seriously. He was better than sexist shouty dude though. 

Interestingly Imamura finds himself having to deal with something he's never experienced before.....friends. Imamura didn't have any friends the first time he did high school, but now he's found himself with a little group. He's definitely making the most of his second chance even if it is kind of by accident, but there's a question about where it's going to go from here. The Ouendan club has been saved...so what happens next? 

I have to say, I'm actually feeling really sorry for Aki, and I kinda cringe when I see her doing something she shouldn't be doing, like "noooooo don't stalk him! Don't do that! STOP!". She's having such a crap time. She got pulled along with Imamura, but she's having a worse time than she did the first time. I'm kind of rooting for her to get back on track!

I have to say, this volume was quite heart warming at points, and I'm loving the pace of the story so far. The art is brilliant, and I'm finding it really interesting getting to know about Ouendan and how Japanese high schools work and like I said...now the Ouendan's back together...are they going to stay together? Are Imamura and Aki going to make it back home? I'm hoping we'll get to see more of Aki and things going well for her! 

Manga: Again!!

Again!!
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

Kinichiro isn't even that bad. It's just that on the first day of high school, his narrow eyes made him look shifty, so people assumed he was trouble. Now it's graduation, and he's looking back on three years with no friends. He never even joined a club. But after a bloody collision and an accidental fall, he wakes up a high school freshman, with the chance to try it all over... AGAIN!! 

Again!! is from the creator of Yuri on Ice, so...I had to read it. I had to. I couldn't not. I freaking love Yuri on Ice and I needed to see what other kind of project Kubo would come up with..plus this sound intriguing and super relatable. Spoiler alert...it was! 

I'm not going to lie...but the High School in the series has the word Minami in it and I may have freaked out a little bit because..you know...Minami....Yuri's little fanboy....I can't even. 

I have to say, I actually really felt for Imamura and it's kind of easy to relate to him. I think we've all felt how he does at one point or another. He's super relatable, and I for one have wished to go back and do something over. I wasn't expecting Aki to go on the journey with him though, she added an interesting element to the story. You have the guy who didn't have a great time at school getting a do over and thriving...and then the popular girl getting a do over and not doing so great. I'm so here for an unlikely friendship between the two of them! 

Again!! is entertaining and a lot of fun, I'm so intrigued to see what he's going to do to change things, and to find out more about the club and so on and what went down to break it up. There's so much scheming so far, and I kind of hope things work out for Aki because I feel for her too for completely different reasons to Imamura!