Tokyo Tarareba Girls Vol 3
Rating: 3/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher!
When it finally seems like Rinko has caught a break, it disappears almost as quickly--thanks, once again, to Key. Meanwhile, Kaori finds out that she's not the only one her ex is cheating on his girlfriend with, and Koyuki learns her married boyfriend's wife may not be as estranged as she seemed. And yet, faced with the relentless void of loneliness, the three continue to make choices even they know they'll regret.
Oh Key, you're more of an a-hole with each volume, aren't you mate? There's a time and a place for truth bombs and that wasn't it. He really needs to work on his timing. To give him credit this volume...he did muster up some kindness which had me shook as I was reading the volume!
I wasn't too sure about Rinko and her options this volume, when she was presented with the opportunity I was like "Yeah Rinko, own it!" but then she just...I get she needed inspiration but she shouldn't have gone to the bar because I knew it wasn't going to work out for her, I knew what it was going to look like. Yeah she went to the Cinema bar which is goals, by the way, and yeah she met hot bar guy aka Okuda. I was rooting for her and that relationship but it feels like it's come at the expense of her career. I honestly do feel for her, I'm rooting for her so much but she's not perfect. She makes mistakes like any of us do. I was so happy for her and this relationship but I can see exactly how it's going to go and it's already making me sad for her.
I'm still looking at her friends like...."ladies, this is going to end in tears" and it just keeps getting worse for them but they're afraid of being lonely and alone which is completely understandable and relatable but I also really want to shake them. Which is probably how our friends feel when they watch us do something dumb.
Volume 3 has some cute moments, and some funny moments, but this volume is more than a little bit...grim. My heart dropped for Rinki when she had the job stolen out from under her...by her assistant, and Key made his comment. She's struggling, Key isn't the most encouraging in the first place and once again she's been told she isn't good enough anymore. It really hits you in the feels but I'm operating on the whole "Things have to get worse before they get better" thing...which means things should be getting better for Rinko and co soon right? RIGHT?!
Tokyo Tarareba Girls Vol 2
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher!
Turns out, sex isn't everything. After a misspent night with a hot model (and a little too much booze), Rinko wakes up feeling more depressed than ever, unable to shake her growing suspicion that, at 33, she's doomed to be forever alone. Her friends Kaori and Koyuki think they have found cosmopolitan bliss in an unavailable ex and a married man, but the daylight only brings increasingly devastating "what-ifs." And with younger, fitter, hungrier women entering the ring, these three will have to brawl their way to the win...or risk throwing in the towel for good.
It happened. Rinko did the thing I was screaming at her NOT to do and it reaaaally doesn't help her. Honestly, Key is such an a-hole, the things he says to her, and then bringing Ryo to the bar I was like.....ffs Key you ****. Their bickering does provide some much needed humour however, I'm starting to wonder if I'm supposed to like Key? Yes, he says some things that you could argue are the truth but still.
I enjoyed getting to see Kaori's background and her history and get to know her a bit bitter, even if it did end on a depressing note with her ex...I also felt vaguely hopeful for Koyuki but...nope. I was expecting the series just to focus on Rinko so it was a nice surprise to see Kaori and Koyuki getting some drama and story of their own!
The thing is...her two friends are embarking on 'relationships' that you know aren't going to end well and they deserve so much better but they don't seem to think that they do and it makes me kind of sad how they view themselves and the sadder thing is that the thoughts they're thinking are probably true of a lot of women thanks to how society is. Which you know...is probably the point of this series. Rinko has a bit of a struggle with her feelings too, but I feel like she gets a much needed reality check in this volume.
I'm enjoying the pace to this series, and it's going in directions I wasn't entirely expecting!
Tokyo Tarareba Girls Vol 1
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher!
Rinko has done everything right. She hustled her way through her 20s to make it as a screenwriter, renting her own office in a trendy Tokyo neighborhood. Everything should have gone according to plan... So at 33, she can't help but lament the fact that her career's plateaued, she's still painfully single, and she spends most of her nights drinking with her two best friends in their favorite pub. One night, drunk and delusional, Rinko swears to get married by the time the Tokyo Olympics roll around in 2020. But finding a man--and love--may be a cutthroat, dirty job for a romantic at heart.
To be one hundred percent honest, this isn't the usual art style I like when it comes to manga, but the synopsis sounded like it was going to be fun and entertaining and I did enjoy this volume!
Rinko is relatable in many aspects, even if you aren't the same ages as her or in the same position. I really felt for her, and I could sympathise with her and see her point of view quite easily. I just felt my heart drop for her more than once throughout the volume. Yes she makes some questionable choices, but I can't entirely blame her. Despite the fact I'm not the same age as Rinko, some of the things she struggled with hit a bit close to home for me too. Friends being married and having kids and that sort of thing.
I loved her friends, Koyuki and Kaori, and I loved their banter and how realistic they where. The codes they had to meet up, and the conversations and the drinking. Yes, they do drink a biiiiit too much because I don't know anyone who goes out and drinks as much as these girls do! And it's actually to the extent Rinko see's talking food which was a chuckle, but at the same time I was like "slow down girl!".
Another of the supporting cast that I liked was Mami! She was totally adorable, she seems to genuinely care for Rinko, and she really has Rinko's back with the other writer, and I'm really hoping to see more of the friendship between the pair grow as Rinko seems kind of...lowkey resentful of her a little bit.
My rather large issue with this volume...is Key. If I was Rinko, I'd have punched him, I'm not going to lie. He's incredibly rude, he judges Rinko and her friends instantly and spouts his opinions completely unasked for. As if that wasn't enough of an a-hole thing to do, he then ends up working with Rinko and keeps banging on about how bad her writing is, and how boring it is and she ends up losing the job. I don't get what his angle is? Yeah he kinda shows he cares a bit towards the end, but I just don't get him and I'm not sure how I feel about a romance between the two of them because he actually made me angry!
Tokyo Tarareba Girls is comedic, and entertaining, with some brilliant strong female friendships and it does kind of hit you in the feels as you see the struggles Rinko has to face and how she's feeling. But I'm fully rooting for Rinko, although I personally think she can do better than Key -_-
