In this volume of Perfect World, Nagasawa decides to reveal her current state of mind, which leads Kawana to believe any chance of her getting back together with Itsuki has ended. As she tries to recover from the break up while taking care of her dad, she meets a huge man named Keigo, and learns he’s in a relationship with a disabled woman, Kaede. While those two seem to be a match in every way, it soon becomes clear they might have more issues than they’ve let on, and it all revolves around building a house. Kawana has a chance to potentially stop this relationship from breaking apart. That…might involve seeing Itsuki…
Once again, another volume, and another moment where the heart kinda aches at everything going on. Now, I will say that I think this volume slips up a bit. It tries to find some area where Nagasawa can get back in good graces, and even she realizes what she’s doing is awful…but nothing can change the fact that her meddling has continued to affect Kawana and, indirectly, Itsuki. It also continues to try and see how Kawana and Koreda’s relationship can grow, and ends with them having to stay at a hotel due to pouring rain. And doing the deed. It just feels off. I just think it’s playing out too fast, and that kinda affects the flow of events.
But then you get a story involving two characters that’s really well executed. For Kaede and Keigo, it’s clear that they can’t love each other more than they already do. But Kaede’s sickness is the one thing that they can’t stop, they just have to overcome. The problem is in trying to do the right thing, they end up stepping on each other’s toes. It’s a difficult situation — as Perfect World consistently shows, characters try to do everything with the best of intentions, but it sometimes can lead to bad things. In this case, Keigo’s and Kaede’s futures just don’t seem to line up, and resolving it is a major challenge.
So how Kawana steps in to help is a decent way to show how she can move on with her life, or at least try to, but it’s not easy. She has to find a way to see Itsuki again, who is also trying to change in his own way. Whether she can actually move on…I…I don’t think she can in the long run. Though I guess this also goes for Itsuki too.
I guess what I’m also saying is the status quo is a little unsettling. I will obviously continue to see how everything plays out for these characters, but I can only hope something changes that will get Kawana and Itsuki back on their feet.