Himari and Mio are identical twins, but Himari is calmer and more collected while Mio is very expressive and emotional. So of course Mio starts bawling when she learns her sister has enrolled in a boarding school. But Himari really wanted to go to that school, and the twins promised to meet up every Wednesday.
But after being attacked by some hired thugs, Himari avoids going to school. Even months after the incident and wanting to go to school, Himari can’t bring herself to go since she’s afraid of men now. Then, a sick Mio pops up and asks Himari to pretend to be her at Mio’s school to cheer on her (Mio’s) crush, Asaka! Mio thinks it’s a good way for Himari to ease into getting back to normal. Himari agrees, but can she really pull off being her bubbly twin? Especially when Mio is close friends with Tsukiyono, a boy nicknamed the Prince?
Twins swapping lives is a common trope, and Himari and Mio being identical (and both sporting long hair) means the girls’ trickery is more believable than in other manga. In addition, Mio stays home so she doesn’t have to impersonate Himari, and the younger twin also ropes her best friend, Shizuku, to assist Himari. Himari is also only going on occasion and not for a steady, long period of time.
All of these are reasons why people like Tsukiyono notice oddities about “Mio” on certain days but don’t suspect anything beyond her being under the weather…well, at least for now. Tsukiyono is called the Prince because of his looks and his kind demeanor. He and Asaka are members of the volunteer club, which basically means they help wherever is needed, but Tsukiyono seems to go above and beyond being someone to rely on. There are hints he has a reason for wanting to be useful, so I’m sure the manga will get into that.
But as “Mio” seems to detect a bit of his true self, Tsukiyono will likely draw even closer to her. Which means love triangle shenanigans, as it seems the whole school knows about Mio’s enthusiasm for Asaka. Meanwhile, Shizuku, a rather quiet, mature girl like Himari, also has a crush on Tsukiyono. Got a lot of one-way arrows right now, but Asaka would be surround by question marks. He has relatively few scenes, and while he appears to be rather sullen, it could be only because of Mio’s fangirling. Hard to tell though, as it could be his nature, but that would be a rather odd combination considering he’s also a volunteer club member. Maybe he just likes doing different things? I don’t know; either way, he’s given very little characterization besides being Mio’s crush.
Mio doesn’t operate here as the dual or even secondary heroine, so I guess that’s why she’s relatively unimportant. I do wish Mio had been given a more prominent role besides pushing Himari forward. Although that’s a wonderful display of sisterly affection, I do think having more scenes with her at school would have better shown the difference between Mio and Tsukiyono’s friendship versus Himari/Fake Mio and Tsukiyono’s chemistry. And perhaps explain what about Asaka has Mio so charmed versus the more kind and talkative Tsukiyono.
With fairly standard shoujo art and a straightforward plot about learning to overcome (not clinically described but essentially) PTSD, Sunbeams in the Sky looks to be a simply sweet series. But outside Himari and Tsukiyono, the manga doesn’t seem like it will do much with two of its main supporting characters and is setting the other up for heartbreak. I think it would have been better with a more ensemble cast or rework it to only occasionally feature Mio and take out the other two.