I’m really, really torn on this volume.
On one hand, Toji’s family situation is given a lot of attention when his in-laws swing by the house. As much as he has been enjoying spending time with his high school friends, of course Toji is bothered by the fact he’s not raising his daughter. And that decision reaches a crossroads here: should Toji leave his baby girl in the care of his in-laws who are heartbroken that they’ve lost their daughter, or is it time for him to raise her? Sae in particular has a lot to say about this, and we all know she isn’t one to keep her mouth shut.
Speaking of Sae, Momo starts realizing that she can’t go around being Toji’s guardian and Sae’s babysitter. Momo has been trying to keep the two of them apart to the point that Kairi has felt ignored, but now the two women finally form the love-hate, frenemy relationship that we saw at the end of Peach Girl. More of this, please, with Sae being her mischievous self while Momo has to try to keep her on a tight leash or clean up her messes.
Unfortunately, there’s a very real possibility that the Peach Girl ending is under threat. Although their relationship seems to be becoming stable again, Kairi overhears something that you can tell bothers him a lot. It’s even worse considering that’s the note the volume ends on.
As I’ve said before, I don’t think Ueda is planning on redoing the ending of the original manga, to have this turn out to be some kind of netorare story. Couples do go through rough spots and may think fondly upon their first loves even though they’re in a happy relationship. I just think that in the Peach Girl universe, there are lot of other ideas Ueda could have explored rather than this…
You know, like the whole single father aspect. Without going into the details, let’s just say there’s nothing like a 3 AM wake-up call. Or rather an all day wake-up call. Ueda continues to draw the comedic scenes with a lot of charm, and I’m sure many parents will look at zombie-Toji and be like, “Still looks better than I did when my kid was a baby!” The story, the visuals, everything with the baby was really well done.
So much so that I’d like to see Momo and Kairi go through the perils of pregnancy and raising their own kids with Toji and Sae living next door. Plus Sae has a lot of work to do if she’s going to convince her widower roommate he’s ready for a relationship — and with her of all people.
And it’s also going to take a lot of work to convince me that Ueda just isn’t messing with the Kairi/Momo relationship just for the heck of it. The continuing scratching at closed doors just is a major downer in this series, and in this volume in particular.